2 BULLETIN 861, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



involved were discouraged, for others were always ready to attempt 

 the precarious experiment, hoping to find some more favored spot 

 where these varieties would thrive. Such attempts to grow vinifera, 

 or Old World varieties, in the eastern part of the United States were 

 continued over a hundred years, and thousands of dollars were lost 

 in the futile experiments. They served only to prove conclusively 

 that vinifera varieties would not grow successfully in the East. 



In the early part of the nineteenth century the American grapes, 

 species indigenous to this country, such as labrusca, aestivalis, ro- 

 tund/folia, and riparia, were brought under cultivation. Because of 

 their already established resistance to phylloxera, which prevents the 

 growth of vinifera in the East, these varieties for the most part 

 flourished and were relatively productive. Until 1830 the common 

 cultural practice was to transplant and cultivate promising wild 

 vines. By this time three important varieties had been developed, 

 the Catawba, the Scuppernong, and the Isabella. The first two 

 were widely grown in the South and the Middle West and tfye latter 

 in the North. 



Shortly after the middle of the nineteenth century two important 

 developments gave a great impetus to the grape industry. The first 

 and most important was the discovery and dissemination of the Con- 

 cord; and second was the extensive hybridization of American and 

 European varieties. 



Up to this time the only aim of grape growers and breeders was 

 to obtain stock suitable for the manufacture of wine, but following 

 the introduction of the Concord and other varieties of high quality 

 the production of table stock began to assume an increasingly greater 

 relative importance in the East, until in recent years the consump- 

 tion of grapes by wineries has been smaller than the amounts sold 

 as table stock and for unfermented grape juice. 



THE RISE AND FALL OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION. 



The grape industry grew rapidly during the two decades prior to 

 1880, but it was in the decade after 1880 that the greatest expansion 

 occurred. In some sections grape growing was found so profitable 

 that it assumed speculative proportions and many vineyards were 

 planted in sections which were totally unsuited to grape growing. 

 The decade 1889-1899 was a period of readjustment, a reduction in 

 acreage taking place throughout the South and the Middle West, 

 but this decrease was more than offset by large plantings in New 

 York. Hence, the Twelfth Census showed the production in 1899 as 

 18 per cent above that of 1889. The next 10 years, 1899-1909, showed 

 an almost negligible increase in production, but the process of read- 

 justment was continued. 



