Amencan Grape-Growing. 79 



AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING. 



THE GREELY AND LONGWORTH PRIZES. 



No other branch of horticulture or pomology has perhaps attracted so 

 much of the public attention, and given rise to so much discussion, within 

 the last five years, as grape-culture. And deservedly so ; for the advances 

 we have made, the satisfactory results already obtained, warrant the most 

 sanguine hopes of its friends. If we look back only ten years, and com- 

 pare grape-growing as it then was with what it is to-day, we have every 

 reason to feel jxoud. Then, only the Catawba was considered worthy of 

 general culture : now we number our varieties by hundreds. Then our 

 proudest boast was that we could produce an imitation of hock from the 

 Catawba in good seasons : now we have at least twenty-five varieties which 

 will make good wine, of all classes, numbering among them the delicate 

 white wines made from the Herbemont, Delaware, Taylor, Cassady, Cun- 

 ningham, and others ; the pale-red wine of the Concord ; and the dark-red 

 wines of the noble Norton's Virginia, Cynthiana, Ives's Seedling, Clinton, 

 and others. We begin to think of staking our vintages against the most 

 celebrated ones of the Rhine, the Moselle, the Neckar ; and even challenge 

 the famed Burgundy, Roussilon, nay, even the best brands of Port. Ameri- 

 can grape-culture begins to know its importance ; and, with the character- 

 istic energy of the nation, we still press forward, confident that, in a few 

 years, we shall be able to take our place among the foremost of the wine^ 

 producing countries. 



But, gratifying as the result undoubtedly is which has already been ob- 

 tained, and glorious as is the promise of the future, grape-growing is yet 

 in its infancy; and we manifest at every step that we are but beginners. 

 A new variety is brought before the public, satisfactory to its originator, 

 tried perhaps by a few friends in the neighborhood : and at once they go 

 into ecstasies about it ; it is the grape /czr excellence ; should be planted over 

 the whole country ; and every one who is not willing to join in its praise is 

 put down as an ignoramus. But their costly favorite travels : it is trans- 

 planted into a different soil, different surroundings, and a climate not at 



