AGRICULTURE. 245 



ductiveness, earliness of ripening, and earliness of bearing, by 

 many foreign varieties, which are not inferior in any respect. 



There were probably two hundred thousand bearing vines 

 in the State in 1848, and they still continue productive. Very 

 little was done to increase their number until 1856, and then 

 the business of grape-growing and making wine for the market 

 was commenced. The new vineyards then set out were planted 

 with Mission grapes, the only varieties of which cuttings in 

 large quantities could be obtained. A few foreign vines had 

 been imported in 1853, '54, and '55, by nurserymen, but there 

 was little demand for them. When it became clear that Cali- 

 fornia would produce wine largely, the foreign varieties came 

 into demand. It was not until 1859 that the superiority of 

 the foreign grapes, as a class, over the Mission grapes, was ei- 

 tablished by trial. 



About two hundred varieties of grapes are cultivated in 

 California, including the most noted stocks of Spain, France, 

 Germany, Hungary, and the Eastern States. All of them 

 thrive as vines, but most of them do not give satisfaction, 

 either for productiveness or flavor, and are therefore not mul- 

 tiplied. In the Eastern States the European vines will not 

 live in the open air, the winters being too severe for them ; 

 but here we have most delicate varieties from Spain and Mo- 

 rocco, side by side with the Catawba and Isabella. 



Flavor is a matter of vast importance in fresh fruit, and 

 the want of it is the great defect of the Mission grape, which 

 will not command more than one-third of the price of the 

 best foreign varieties in the San Francisco market. For wine, 

 the foreign grape has an equal or still greater advantage. 

 Flavor and fruitiness are not less needed there than in fruit to 

 be eaten fresh at the table. The lack of delicate flavor is one 

 defect of the wine made from the Californian grape, and the 

 evil can only be remedied by the use of the foreign stock. 



For wine, the Zinfindel, Berger, Riessling, Black Malvoisie, 

 'German Muscat, French Muscat (of Frontignan), Burgundy, 



