10 American Grape Training. 



than a century ago that the first American variety 

 gained favor, and so late as 1823 that the first 

 definite attempt was made, in Adlum's "Memoir 

 on the Cultivation of the Vine in America, " to re- 

 cord the merits of native grapes for purposes of 

 cultivation. Even Adlum's book was largely given 

 to a discussion of European varieties and prac- 

 tices'. In 1846 "Thomas' Fruit Culturist" men- 

 tioned only six "American hardy varieties," and 

 all of these, save the Catawba, are practically not 

 in cultivation at the present time. The Concord 

 appeared in 1853. American grape training is, 

 therefore, a very recent development, and we are 

 only now outgrowing the influence of the practices 

 early imported from Europe. The first decided 

 epoch in the evolution of our grape training was 

 the appearance of Fuller's "Grape Culturist," in 

 1864; for while the system which he depicted and 

 which yet often bears his name, was but a modifi- 

 cation of some European methods and had been 

 outlined by earlier American writers, it was at that 

 time placed clearly and cogently before the public 

 and became an . accepted practice. The funda- 

 mental principles of pruning are alike for both 

 European and American grapes, but the details of 

 pruning and training must be greatly modified for 

 different species. We must understand at the out- 

 set that American species of grapes demand an 

 American system of treatment. 



The great .diversity of opinion which exists 



