18 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



did not yield under this treatment, therefore came into dis- 

 repute as poor bearers, while with a little more care in stak- 

 ing, tying, and pruning, they would have produced well. 

 Thus the heavy bearers, Mission, Malvasia, Burger, and Zin- 

 fandel, were given the preference, even at somewhat lower 

 prices for the grapes, and the planting of really fine varieties 

 followed by comparatively few. 



When Chas. A. Wetmore, our past Chief Viticultural 

 Officer, made a trip to Europe, and especially to France, to 

 investigate the resources and methods of those countries, it 

 was but natural that he should be deeply impressed with the 

 magnitude of this, the leading agricultural interest of France, 

 and take the French as models in everything, cultivation of 

 their vineyards, varieties of grapes cultivated, methods of 

 wine making, etc., especially as the resemblance of climates 

 is great in many respects. But he lost sight of the great dis- 

 tance; of our rainless summers, our wet and mild winters, 

 and our immense diversity of soil and climate even in the 

 same vineyard; of our different and more costly labor sys- 

 tem, which compels us to look for the cheapest and most 

 simple mode of culture, compatible with thoroughness. 

 While I do not wish to depreciate the great results obtained by 

 the French vineyardists and wine makers, from which we can 

 obtain most valuable information, yet we should consider 

 that it has taken them centuries to study the methods best 

 adapted to their wants and surroundings, their soil, climate 

 and varieties, and that we cannot hope to excel here, unless 

 we do the same, and adapt our methods to our wants. 

 Practical knowledge, gained here at home, even of a few 

 years, will be a safer guide to us than to blindly follow the 

 practices of a people thousands of miles distant, and who 

 differ just as widely in their application among themselves as 

 we do here. If we try foreign methods, appliances and vari- 

 eties, let us do so cautiously, thinkingly, and with due regard 



