40 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



course, only a partial list of American origin. There 

 may be others equally promising, among the seven hun- 

 dred varieties now before the public. I have not touched 

 upon the new varieties of my friends T. V. Munson and 

 Hermann Jaeger, which may be the most promising of 

 them all, as their originators will speak for them in Part 

 II of this volume. 



RETROSPECTIVE. 



This chapter on choice of varieties refers, of course, 

 only to American grapes, suitable for planting and cul- 

 tivation east of the Rocky mountains. It may not be 

 out of place here to glance backward over the last ten 

 years and observe the progress made in grape culture 

 during that period. That immense progress has been 

 made is beyond question. Throughout the country, 

 from Maine to Idaho, and from Florida to Texas, men 

 of skill and energy have been engaged in the work of 

 originating new varieties for the table, the market and 

 the wine-press. As a result the grape and its juices, in 

 some form or other, are no longer the exclusive luxuries 

 of the rich, but the common property of all. The 

 Southern States are prepared to enter the market as early 

 as May, and the State of New York ships its grapes until 

 as late as December, and as far as Denver and other 

 Colorado points. Fresh grapes are thus furnished for 

 eight months in the year. Great advance has also been 

 made in the quality of American grapes. What was re- 

 garded as good enough ten years ago, is so no longer. 

 The varieties originated by Miller, Rommell, Campbell, 

 Rogers, Cay wood and others are nearly all either cast 

 aside or used only for further experiments, only a few 

 remaining as remembrances. But the pioneer experi- 

 menters labored not in vain. They made the path clear 

 for those who were to follow, and we can, without envy 

 or bitterness, step aside while the succeeding generation 

 follows in our footsteps, even surpassing us in the work 



