PREFACE. V 



North and South, we may hope for an almost continu- 

 ous supply of table grapes throughout the Union. 



In new varieties of American oiigin, we have also 

 made remarkable progress. Prof. T. V. Munson of Den- 

 ison, Texas, has accomplished wonderful results by cross- 

 breeding and hybridizing, and also by his classification 

 of vines. It has been my aim in this edition not to pub- 

 lish an immensely long list of varieties, but from the 

 many to cull the best — varieties which have proved to be 

 an improvement on those described in the previous edi- 

 tion, and which, as wine or table grapes, have been suc- 

 cessful over the largest territory. That each of the 

 States of this immense country will have to grow the 

 varieties best suited either for table, market or wine, is 

 self-evident. The times when enthusiasts may predict 

 success for universal grapes are past, never to return. 

 We all know now that soil and climatic conditions change 

 the product, and that we cannot have a cosmopolitan 

 grape. I have therefore omitted classification for 

 localities. 



Those who have the progress of humanity at heart, 

 are apt to indulge in daydreams which are seldom real- 

 ized. One of mine has been to see the American nation 

 a community where wine drinking has supplanted the 

 use of the more alcoholic beverages, such as whiskey, 

 brandy etc., and thereby advanced to a state of true 

 temperance I have endeavored to show, in the chapters 

 devoted to wine making, how every one can make a pure, 

 wholesome, light ffine, and I see no cause why I should 

 retract anything I nave said in that respect. I still be- 

 lieve that the pure, unadulterated juice of the grape is 

 the most wholesome of all stimulants, a gift of God to 

 man, tod good to be abused by intemperance or excess. 

 But Vhile I hold this belief, I have no fault to find with 

 that class of grape growers who consider it a perversion 

 and a snare to use the grape for any purpose but the 



