AJifD WIKE MAKING. 135 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE MAKING IN OHIO. 



BY M. B. BATEHAM, SECRETAKY, ETC., PAINESVILLE, O. 



The history of grape culture and wine making m this 

 State may be said to have commenced about thirty years 

 ago, when Nicholas Longworth and a few other citizens 

 of Cincinnati, devoted themselves, with much energy, to 

 the planting of Catawba vineyards, on the clayey hillsides 

 in the vicinity of that city. These vineyards, embracing 

 several thousand acres, were, for a few years, so success- 

 ful as to encourage liberal investment of capital and skill 

 in the business of wine making, and in a little time 

 '' Longworth's Sparkling Catawba " and " Golden Eagle," 

 became widely known as popular brands at fashionable 

 dinners. 



But in a short time that fell scourge, the Rot, began to 

 make havoc in their Catawba vineyards, and after re- 

 peated failures of the crops from this cause, they were 

 generally abandoned. Then followed the death of Mr. 

 Longworth, and his wine business was given up by his 

 heirs, though other parties have continued it in the city. 

 It was found that the Ives Seedling grape resisted the at- 

 tacks of mildew and rot, and made a good quality of 

 cheap wine, hence it was largely planted in that vicinity; 

 but in a few years this also succumbed to the rot and was 

 mostly abandoned. In the meantime several of the wine 

 makers planted Catawba vineyards on the Lake Shore, in 

 Erie County, or made arrangements with vineyardists 

 there to send them annual supplies for their cellars. 



Owing to the general exemption from mildew and rot 

 of the vineyards on the Lake Shore and the Islands, much 

 planting was done in that region ten to fifteen years ago. 



