BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



Thus the climate, the mean temperature as 

 well as the extremes, the length of the growing 

 season, the relative amount of rain, the ameli- 

 orating influence of lakes and large rivers, the 

 altitude as well as the soil, have an almost in- 

 credible influence on various varieties of grapes ; 

 and a judicious choice of locations adapted to 

 the grape, and of varieties adapted to our loca- 

 tion, its climate and soil, is therefore of the first 

 importance. 



Unfortunately, this has been and is even now 

 but insufficiently understood. Indigenous wild 

 grapes were found at the discovery of this new 

 world ; the legend tells us that when the Nor- 

 mans first discovered this country "Hleif Eric- 

 son" called the land Wineland. As early as 

 1564 wine was made by the first colonists from 

 the native grape in Florida. Thus during the 

 previous centuries wine has occasionally been 

 made in America from native grapes, and men- 

 tion of it is found (the French settlers near 

 Kaskaskia, 111., made, in 1769, one hundred and 

 ten hogsheads of strong wine from wild grapes) 

 "but neither the quality of the wine nor the 

 price obtained for it offered sufficient induce- 

 ment to persevere." Buchanan. 



The European grape, Vitis Vinifera, was, 

 therefore, considered the only true wine grape. 

 A London Company sent, in 1630 French vigne-, 

 rons into the Virginia Colony to plant grape- 

 vines which they had imported for the purpose ; 

 the poor vignerons were blamed for their fail- 

 ure. In 1633 Wm. Penn tried to introduce and 

 cultivate European varieties in Pennsylvania, in 

 vain. In 1690 a Swiss Colony, grape growers 

 from the Lake of Geneva, tried to raise grapes 

 and make wine in Jessamine Co., Ky., but their 

 hopes were soon frustrated, their labor and 

 fund $10,000, a large amount in those days 

 were lost ; and only when they commenced to 

 cultivate an indigenous grape, which they how- 

 ever supposed to be from the Cape, (see Alex- 

 ander} they had somewhat better success. The 

 attempts with German, French, and Spanish 

 vines, made again and again, proved failures. 

 Hundreds of thousands, (comprising many dif- 

 ferent sorts) of the best European vines were 

 imported, but they all perished " from the vicis- 

 situdes of the climate." Thousands of failures 

 are recorded; not one of durable success; and 

 Downing was fully justified in saying: (Horti- 

 culturist^ Jan. 1851) " The introduction of the 

 foreign grape in this country for open vineyard 

 culture is impossible. Thousands of individuals 

 have tried it the result in every case has been 

 the same; a season or two of promise, then 



utter failure." (Always excepting California, 

 which was then almost unknown, but which is 

 now the greatest wine-producing State of this 

 country. All our remarks on grape culture 

 refer only to the States east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains.) 



While this fact could not be denied, the cause 

 remained a mystery. All pronounced the Eu- 

 ropean grape as " unsuited to our soil and cli- 

 mate;" all attributed its failure to that cause. 

 But we, and doubtless many others with us, 

 could not help thinking that " soil and climate" 

 cannot be the sole causes; for this vast country 

 of ours possesses a great many locations where 

 soil and climate are quite similar to that of some 

 parts of Europe at least, where the Vinifera 

 flourishes ; is it then reasonable to suppose that 

 none of the many varieties which are grown in 

 Europe under so varied climatic conditions, 

 from Mainz to Naples, from the Danube to the 

 Rhone, should find a congenial spot in these 

 United States, embracing almost every climate 

 of the temperate zone? If soil and climate were 

 so unsuited, how is it that the young, tender 

 European vines grow so well, so promising of 

 success, tor a few seasons ; in large cities some- 

 times even for several years? How explain the 

 fact that the finest European varieties of other 

 fruits, the pear for instance, are successfully 

 grown here, and that, but for the curculio, the 

 Reine Claude and German Prunes would flour- 

 ish here as well as there? Slight differences of 

 soil and climate might well produce marked dif- 

 ferences in the constitution of the vine, perhaps 

 also somewhat in the flavor and quality of the 

 grapes, but could not sufficiently account for 

 their absolute failure. Nevertheless our learned 

 Horticulturists looked for no other cause, they 

 went even so far as to teach that " if we really 

 wished to acclimate the foreign grape here, we 

 must go to the seeds and raise two or three new 

 generations in the American soil and climate." 

 In obedience to these teachings numerous fruit- 

 less attempts have been made to raise here seed- 

 lings of the European grape that will endure our 

 climate. Like their parents, they seemed suc- 

 cessful for a time * to be soon discarded and 



* Among the seedlings of foreign grapes, raised in the 

 U. S , which obtained a name and fame, aie : Brinkle and 

 Emily, 'raised by Peter Raabe of Philadelphia; Brandy- 

 wine, originated near Wilmington, Del. ; Katarka and 

 Montgomery, or Merritt's Seedling, raised by Dr W A. 

 Royce, of Newburg, N. Y. To these belong also Clara 

 and Weehawken (see description). N. Grein, near Her- 

 mann, Mo., raised duiing these last years hundreds of 

 young vines from imported Riesling seed; nearly all of 

 them were barren, one, however, proved so far, suffi- 

 ciently prolific and free from disease to allow its origi- 

 nator to make some wine from its fruit last fall (1874), 

 the quality and flavor of which is equal to the best Riesling 

 of the Rhine! 



