VI IlSrTRODUCTIOK. 



been abandoned and rooted up, and the grape supplanted 

 by cereals. 



But while the reverses have been manifold, we can also 

 record some successes, and those who have persevered, 

 now begin to look forward to brighter days. The 

 faithful workers, those who have followed grape-growing 

 because of their innate love for it, have kept on experi- 

 menting, and perhaps no fruit has made greater progress 

 in the accession of new varieties of decided merit, than 

 the grape. If our hopes are no longer so sanguine as 

 before, we think we see our way clear to a sure, if moder- 

 ate, success. The failing vineyards of Europe and the 

 sudden demand for American vines, has shown us the 

 way we should follow ; and the class of grapes on which 

 we can place reliance, was demonstrated to us by our own 

 failures with others. 



It would, therefore, seem a duty, as well as a pleasure, 

 to come once more before my old friends — tell them what 

 I have learned by bitter experience, remedy the defects of 

 my former little book, as far as I see them, and cheer 

 them on if I can. On a recent Eastern trip, when I 

 visited the vineyards of Western New York, and saw with 

 my own eyes, the progress made there, the many varieties 

 of promise, and immense crop of grapes of superior quality, 

 I became convinced, more than ever, that America is yet 

 to be the Vineland of the future, and that each part of 

 our country has its own mission to fulfill ; its own varie- 

 ties to cultivate ; its peculiar class of wines to make, and 

 that our task has but just commenced. This must 

 plead my excuse for the presentation of this little volume. 

 I have been compelled to omit historical remarks, as the 



