324 FRUIT-GROWING 



the early attempts theirs were the only ones 

 to carry any measure of success. This favor- 

 able outcome was due to the fact that they 

 planted in the South and Southwest, eventually 

 as far as California — in the only part of the 

 country where the exotic varieties had a chance 

 to show what they could do. 



Among the English colonies repeated endeav- 

 ors were made to establish vineyards along 

 our eastern coast and as early as 1616 Lord 

 Delaware imported cuttings for this purpose. 

 The early colonial literature is full of refer- 

 ences to attempts at wine making and fre- 

 quently expert growers and wine makers were 

 brought over from France. The greatest care 

 was used in growing the vines, but without 

 exception they all "took a sickness" and died. 

 So insistent were the early colonists that the 

 country be made to produce its own wine that 

 the assemblies repeatedly passed laws requir- 

 ing the planting of grapes or granting a bonus 

 to those who would produce a given amount of 

 wine in a given length of time. 



The last notable effort at growing of Vitis 

 vinifera was in 1802 when a colony of Swiss 

 settled at Vevay, Indiana, and there planted a 

 large acreage on the hills overlooking the Ohio 

 River. They no doubt thought that in the 

 newer "western" soil they would avoid the 

 trouble which had followed all the earlier ven- 



