450 The National Geographic Magazine 



From George C. Husraann, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



Packing Raisins in Layers in California 



wild American grape. He was exceed- 

 ingly elated with his discover}', and in 

 a letter to a friend says that " in bring- 

 ing this grape into public notice I have 

 rendered my country a greater service 

 than I would have done had I paid the 

 national debt." Though the national 

 debt was then $90,000,000, Mr Adlum 

 probably did not exaggerate the value 

 of his discover}'; 



Twenty years later, in 1844, Mr 

 Ephraim Wales Bull, of Concord, Mass. , 

 obtained the famous Concord grape from 

 the seed of another wild variety. The 

 Concord has since become the most 

 widely known, most generally planted, 

 and for all purposes the best American 

 grape yet introduced. Nine-tenthsof the 

 great crop of 85,000 tons of grapes from 

 the Chautauqua grape belt on Lake Erie, 

 in 1900, were Concords. The first Con- 

 cord vine, from which stock the millions 

 of vines of this variety have come, still 

 lives in the garden of Mr Bull's cottage. 



In 1830 there were SS varieties of 

 American vines known. Toda}' there 

 are at least t.ooo. 



In California the Mission fathers suc- 

 ceeded at an early date in growing a 

 European grape for their own use. They 

 had but one variety, which is still largely 

 grown, and is known as the Mission. 

 The Mission vine planted at Montecito, 

 Cal., in 1795, was exhibited at the 

 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. 

 Some of the choicest European varieties 

 have since been introduced and have 

 thriven in their new home. 



Mr George C. Husraann, of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, has recently 

 published an exceedingly valuable paper 

 on "Grape, Raisin and Wine Produc- 

 tion in the United States, ' ' from which 

 these facts are derived.* 



In the United States there are two 

 distinct grape-producing sections — one 



* Year Book of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, 1902, pp. 407-420. 



