SPREAD OF OTtAPB- GROWING 67 



ble thai his grape was really nut the Isabella, 

 bat a closely similar variety. 



Progressive horticulturists were now fully con- 

 vinced of the importance of the native grapes. At- 

 tempts to grow tlit* European varieties in the open 

 air were still made here ami there, but there were m> 

 longer any sustained or concerted efforts to introduce 

 them, and everyone began to Peel that the hope for 

 American grape-culture lies m the amelioration of the 

 nativ.- species. Various persons made definite attempts 

 to secure promising wild forme of grapes. Prince de- 

 scribed eighty-one native grapes in his "Treatise on 

 the Vine," in 1830. Even Johnson, in 1806, while 

 recommending chiefly the European grapes, says that 

 "the sorts of vine- are too numerous to mention, even 

 if confined to the American alone;" bul he evidently 



had in mind the wild forms rather more than those 



which had been brought into cultivation. As early as 

 1820 ..i- 1821, .Mr. Berbemont, of South Carolina, had 

 sent out a circular requesting cuttings of native grapes, 

 page 78.) Longworth made a similar request in 

 the Cincinnati i;<i:,it, in 1848 or 1849, ami twenty- 

 four varieties were eenl him in the spring of 1849. 

 Prom 1840 on. the annual crops of novel varieties 

 haw afforded a continuous fund of inspiration t<> 

 those with grape-growing proclivities; bul by far the 

 greater part of the novelties have fallen by the wa\ . 

 ami are now forgotten. No doubt, then- have been 

 two thousand or three thousand varieties, more or less, 

 disseminated in the lasl ftftj oi sixtj years, most of 

 which are offspring of our native -peri.-. 



Aboul 1830, grapes were planted at Hammonds 

 port, at tin- southern extremity of Keuka Lake, in 



