TOWN OF PULTENEY. 



379 



history of grape culture in this town, and the first attempt 

 to ship grapes from this locality to the New York market. 

 The writer, passing over the hills from Prattsburgh, is par- 

 ticularly interested in the prospect of the grape-growng sec- 

 tion of Pulteney. He says : 



" Nearing the village of Harmony ville (South Pulteney) 

 the puffing of steam was distinctly heard, which upon a 

 near approach was found to be connected with an extensive 

 grape-box factory belonging to the Prentiss Brothers, of that 

 place. 



" During a sojourn of a few weeks in that village, I 

 became acquainted with a Mr. J. W. Prentiss, a man of 

 varied intelligence, and, withal, an artist of no mean order 

 in landscape and portrait painting. Being at that time a 

 sort of traveling artist myself, this acquaintance with Mr. 

 Prentiss was to me both agreeable and interesting. After 

 a pressing invitation, I visited him at his house where I 

 could feast my eyes on some of his skill with the brush, as 

 w^ell as to satisfy my appetite on some of his fine Catawba 

 grapes. I was at the time very much surprised that Mr. 

 Prentiss, with all his cultivated tastes, should have chosen 

 to live where he did, one mile below the village on the 

 lake-shore, far removed from the outside world, especially 

 during the winter months, but he seemed to enjoy his 

 solitude. 



" It appears from a little history I remember his giving 

 me at the time, that an eccentric New Yorker, with plenty 

 of money, during a hunting and fishing excursion, selected 

 this place for a residence, and there erected a comparatively 

 splendid house ; but his first impressions didn't keep pace 

 with his after-experience, and to relieve him of his unpleas- 

 ant incumbrance, Mr. Prentiss bought him out. Previous 

 to this, Mr. Prentiss lived back from the lake, towards 

 Prattsburgh, about two miles, where he first commenced 

 the cultivation of the grape. Since his sons have com- 

 menced the making of grape-boxes in the village he spends 

 part of his time there printing labels, and whatever else he 

 can do to help the business along. 



"According to an article in The Wine Reporter^ published 

 by the Pleasant Valley Grape Growers' Association, he ob- 

 tained in the year 1836 two Isabella, one Catawba, and one 

 Sweet Water grape-vines of the Eev. W. W. Bostwick, of 

 Hammondsport, and planted them on an elevation of 800 

 feet above Crooked Lake, and two miles from its west 

 shore. From these he continued year after year to in- 

 crease his stock until he had a vineyard of three acres. 



"Allow me to quote from the same paper a description of 

 his first regular shipment, which, as a matter of history of 

 the grape interest in this country, will be interesting to 

 those who are familiar with Mr. McKay's first effort in the 

 same direction : 



" ' In 1856 he gathered and secured with care, in half- 

 barrel tubs, a portion of his choicest grapes, a ton, shipped 

 them to Bath for New York, where they arrived in due 

 time, and were stored in No. 5 Erie Buildings, in care of 

 M. J). Stairin, Esq., commission dealer in farm produce. 

 Mr. Prentiss came on to New York soon after the arrival 

 of his ton of grapes, — mark the quantity. Stairin not 

 being strictly a fruit dealer, nor very well acquainted with 

 the trade, directed Prentiss to a party in Broadway, who 



reluctantly came to see the thirty tubs of grapes to be sold 

 in the city of New York. He was not a little surprised at 

 viewing the array of tubs and the quantity of grapes. The 

 grapes were fine, and the season of the year favorable, it 

 was admitted, but the quantity — a ton, or it might be 2200 

 lbs. — to be thrown on this market at once ! No one had 

 the coura2:e to undertake it, at least this dealer had not. It 

 was, however, agreed that the task should be undertaken 

 upon condition that three tubs only be offered daily, lest 

 depression suddenly should come, and the market finally be 

 broken. The stipulations were carried out, and in a few 

 days the whole thirty tubs of grapes, of about 75 lbs. each, 

 were disposed of, — sold.' 



" It will probably not be until several generations have 

 passed away that the claims of these men for the herculean 

 efforts in starting into being a vast interest will be properly 

 recognized. Mr. Prentiss is a man about sixty-five years 

 old, of a cheerful and companionable nature, and from 

 appearances is destined to live many years, as we trust he 

 will. 



" In passing through Harmony ville, I could only spare a 

 few minutes to converse with Mr. Prentiss, and requested 

 him to write me by the first mail, with some items of his 

 history that would be interesting to grape growers. True 

 to his promise, the following letter was received by Satur- 

 day's mail : 



" ' Friend Sagar, — It is now elev^en o'clock and a neighbor has 

 just left me, and it's little I can do for you this night. I send you 

 the chips from the Wine Reporter, — the contrast then and now. When 

 I commenced the grape business there were none grown in this county 

 except in gardens. The Vevay vineyards commenced in Indiana had 

 been abandoned. There was the energetic Vermonter, Underbill, of 

 Cro^on Point, North River, and Longworth, of Ohio, were the only 

 ones I knew of that had grape on the brain. 



'^ ' The warm side-hills on Crooked Lake were not worth the taxes 

 for anything then discovered, and grapes seemed to be just the thing. 

 W^e had an eccentric neighbor, a very excellent man, Josiah Dun- 

 lap* by name, who had set out his door-yard, barn-yard, farm, and 

 both sides of the road to apple, pear, peach, plum, and all kinds of 

 fruit that would grow but grapes, so I took the grape, and soon had 

 three acres growing. People laughed at me for putting out so many; 

 but I thought I had got to supply the town to get any myself, so I 

 went in. Well, when I had more than was needed at home, I began 

 to reach out for market, and Bath was the outlet ; but soon McKay, 

 of Naples, came down with his fancy boxes, and raised the price to 

 ten cents a pound, — six was all I thought of asking for them. Mc- 

 Kay must have begun about the time I did, or soon after, and the 

 Naples people know how he "pushed things,'" or rather how his wife 

 did. Then it was small business; now there are at least 400 tons of 

 grapes within one mile of me, and in the same radius there are 500,- 

 000 grape boxes made for the shipping trade. The Prentiss Brothers 

 will turn out this year from 150 to 200,000 boxes ; this, with plan- 

 ing, matching, and re-sawing machines, turning-lathes, and supply- 

 ing builders and joiners, etc., makes only one of four establishments 

 of like kind in this town. Two other box-factories have steam saw- 

 mills attached. 



" ' But time fails ; at another time will perhaps extend these remarks 

 and perhaps say something on the good or evil of the business. 



" ' Yours ever, 



" ' J. W. Prentiss.' " 



Some years after Mr. Prentiss had made a successful 

 attempt at raising grapes, a German vine-dresser, hearing 

 that there was a vineyard in Pulteney, came to see the won- 



* Judge Dunlap was a man of extensive reading and intelligence, 

 and an influential citizen. He was a supervisor of the town, and 

 also a member of Assembly. 



