AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 189 



centers of production, the largest of which is the 

 Keuka district. Next in importance is the territory 

 extending southward from the lower end of Canan- 

 daigua Lake. The third section is more scattered 

 and lies on either side of the middle part of Seneca 

 Lake, reaching over to Komulus. These several dis- 

 tricts are not connected by grape plantings. The 

 land consists of the steep slopes along the deep val- 

 leys, the slopes being most pronounced in the first 

 two districts. Topography and elevation appear to 

 bring about the conditions favorable for the grape in 

 this region. The Keuka-Canandaigua districts have 

 a longer and warmer season than the Chautauqua and 

 fruit matures two weeks earlier and is largely out of 

 the way before the latter crop comes into market. 

 The rainfall is higher and the air more moist, as a 

 result of which the vines are more subject to mildew 

 than in the Chautauqua region. The soils of the 

 Seneca district are much tlie same in series as in 

 the Chautauqua belt, Dunkirk, but the crop is grown 

 more on heavy soils of the Ontario series. In the 

 other two regions the soils are of the Lordstown and 

 Wooster series, probably mostly of the former of silt 

 loam texture and very stony. These latter forma- 

 tions are relatively thin and friable, which, together 

 with tlie lay of the slopes, doubtless combines to give 

 the large supply of heat favorable to the crop. The 

 best parts of the Central Lakes districts are planted 

 solid to grapes to the exclusion of other crops. 



The Hudson district has been designated as the 

 birthplace of American viticulture. Here are the 



