70 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



The success of Mr. Ricketts in producing quality, at 

 least, from the Clinton, has been as marked as that of 

 Mr. Rommel, and should some of his seedlings prove 

 generally successful, the Clinton may become the pro- 

 genitor of as valuable a class of red, as the Taylor of white 

 wines. Some of the samples I tested with him, were very 

 fine indeed, and entirely distinct from anything tasted by 

 me before, while all show extraordinary keeping qualities. 

 Taking into consideration the small quantities in which 

 these wines were made, and all the disadvantages under 

 which he labored in producing them, they were some- 

 thing remarkable indeed. I have already referred to the 

 varieties which I think ought to be discarded, now that 

 we have so many better ones, but we ought to hold the 

 Taylor and Clinton in grateful remembrance, for the off- 

 spring they have given us, and as nearly all of them seem 

 to have Phylloxera-proof roots, we may look to the 

 CBstivalis and cordifolia as likely to become the founda- 

 tion of the new era of viticulture for the whole civilized 

 world. California, which seems to be the home par ex- 

 cellence of the vinifera, is now importing our cordifolia 

 and CBstivalis varieties. Her vineyards are threatened by 

 as wide-spread a devastation as those of France, and as 

 the cordifolia has the advantage of easy propagation and 

 rank growth over the cestivalis, which is difficult to prop- 

 agate, we may naturally suppose that this class will take 

 the lead. Verily, this country has seen great changes 

 within the last ten years, and in none of the fruits have 

 these been more marked than in the grape. 



