158 AMEBIC AIS" GRAPE GEOWIKG 



Harwood, in honor of its originator, and it is dissemi- 

 nated both from his nursery and my own as the Har- 

 ivood. We hope that the name will be accepted. 



While the ^'^ lists " of many nurseries teem with a host 

 of varieties, each one of which is recommended to be just 

 what every customer wants, yet the truth seems to be 

 that there is no one region to which many varieties are 

 perfectly adapted. The cultivators of each region find 

 themselves finally driven to a very small number of vari- 

 eties for profit. If the Oynthiana was blotted out in 

 Missouri, or the Isabella and Delaware in New York, and 

 so on, one or two varieties were blotted out from each 

 general locality, it would prove a staggering blow to 

 grape-culture. And if we in Texas have only a few va- 

 rieties suited to oar region, we yet have as many success- 

 ful ones as many older communities that boast of success. 

 It is within the memory of living men, that the famous 

 grape regions of the North were, in grape culture, far 

 behind what Texas is to-day. Already our southern 

 Herbemont can scarcely be surpassed in value by any 

 northern variety. 



The time and skill which have been expended by North- 

 ern horticulturists upon northern families of grapes 

 have vastly improved their vineyards. But we of the 

 extreme South have a similar work to perform, and 

 may well expect that when a corresponding amount of 

 effort has been made to improve the hitherto neglected 

 Southern cBstivalis family of grapes, then may we expect 

 to excel our Northern cousins in the production of the 

 vine, as far as we excel them in the natural advantages 

 of our incomparable climate and the abundance and 

 richness of our natural resources. Perhaps I am an 

 enthusiast, but Avith the light of twenty-seven years of 

 horticultural study and experience in Western Texas, 

 with a fair knowledge of the North and the great 

 Northwest, and in view of our recent progress and 



