PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION. 

 1894. 



A book of which, twent^'-five years after its first publication, a new edition is de- 

 manded, a mere (rrape-Catalogue which has been read by the people of many nations and 

 translated into many of the principal languages of the civilized world, requires no excuse 

 for its republication. Its third edition (1883) was received with such favor by the public 

 and the horticultural press, that the demand for it exceeded our expectations. The entire 

 edition was soon sold out, manj^ orders for copies remaining unfilled. The question why 

 a new edition did not make its appearance long since maj^ therefore be raised. 



At the time when we Americans gloried and rejoiced in having saved the French vine 

 by means of our Phylloxera-resisting varieties, at the time when we had reconstituted her 

 ravaged vineyards, our own were suffering from the annually increasing fungoid diseases 

 of the grape. Rot and mildew became so destructive and discouraging that grape-grow- 

 ing, to a large extent, east of the Rocky Mountains, was considered a failure until some 

 preventive or remedy for those diseases might be discovered. At the same time the finest 

 European grapes were grown so successfully and abundantly in California that the price 

 of wine and table-grapes was reduced below^ the cost of their production in this part of 

 the United States. 



But owing to the fact that some exceptionally favored regions were exempt from 

 eryptogamic maladies, and to the love and enthusiasm entertained for the grape by some 

 of its old cultivators, its culture was still maintained. 



Now, however, with the discovery of a remedy for grape diseases, renewed confidence 

 to successful grape-growing has been inspired and, encouraged bj' many of our veteran 

 viticulturists, we yielded to the flattering demand for a new edition. 



Mr. B. T. Galloway, Chief of Division of Vegetable Pathology, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, has kindly prepared for this edition an article on the I)iseases of the Grape 

 and their Treatment. 



The classification of the true grape-vines, by our late Dr. Geo. P^ugelmann, — the last 

 work of this great botanist, — has been continued, as it were, by the studies and observ- 

 ations of Prof. T. y. Munson, illustrated by photo-gravures from nature. 



Prof. C. V. Riley, whom health considerations forced to resign the honorable position 

 of Chief of U. S. Entomological Department, before his departure for P^urope, kindly 

 revised the article (contained in previous editions) on Insects of the Grape. 



The excellent treatise on grafting, after the French of the late lamented Aime 

 Champin, also the articles on planting, training, pruning and wine-making, have been 

 revised and enlarged by us with the kind assistance of eminent practical viticulturists. 



In fact, the Grape Manual is largely a new work, containing interesting, instructive 

 and valuable information to the cultivator of the grape and furnishing a work rich in 

 material for a record of past failures, present hopes and progress in viticulture. 



Another improvement, herein attempted, is the descriptive part of our Catalogue, 

 which makes it a complete dictionary of all American varieties, old and new ; a very 

 valuable feature long desired for various reasons, though objected to by some on account 

 of excessive voluminousness. But the typographical arrangement employed makes the 

 greater or less importance and general popularity of varieties recognizable at a glance. 



The completeness of our list may also prove valuable to collectors and experimenters, 

 and should aid producers of new varieties in avoiding the duplication of names. 



We have endeavored to give correct and accurate descriptions, made clearer by many 

 portraits, true to nature, and have tried to avoid overdrawn or exaggerated illustrations. 



Yet, with all that, we are aware of deficiencies in this work, and while we feel as 

 though we had fallen short of the end we aimed at, we i^till hope that, '-after all, it will 

 be of some use to mankind." 



BISII & SON & MEISSNER. 



