658 



GRAPES IN CHAUTAUQUA. 



our grape-growing they were almost universally adopted. 

 But even now, what is the meaning of the term ' vinous 

 flavor,' as applied to our gfapes, if it is not a comparison 

 with the European or wine-grape ? And why do we al- 

 most instinctively try to improve the flavor of our grapes 

 by crossing them with foreign blood ? Is not the grow- 

 ing American wine-industry a direct competition with 

 the product of the European vine ? The standard of 

 quality in American grapes is that which flavors the his- 

 tory of Europe. This high standard has had a marked 

 influence upon American varieties, and is one reason 

 for the great improvement of our native grapes. 



" Attempts to cultivate the European grape in the open 

 air in all the northern and 

 central states have always 

 resulted in failure, although 

 the attempts have been nu- 

 merous. Only within the 

 last 25 years have we dis- 

 covered that this failure is 

 largely due to the phyllox- 

 era and the powdery mil- 

 dew — enemies which are 

 native to America, but 

 ■which do little harm to 

 native grapes. The failure 

 of the foreign grapes drew 

 attention to the wild ones, 

 and the Cape or Alexander 

 grape, which gained prom- 

 inence about a century ago, 

 was the first of our natives 

 which attracted the atten- 

 tion of vignerons. Not the 

 excellence of the Alexan- 

 der, but the fact that it 

 would thrive while foreign 

 kinds would not, commend- 

 ed it. It proved a failure 

 for wine, however, and it 

 was not until John Adlum 

 picked up a wilding on the 

 Catawba river early in this 

 century that American 

 grape-culture may be said 

 to have begun. This was 

 the Catawba grape. Sub- 

 sequently there appeared 

 Isabella and Diana, and our grape-culture had received 

 a distinct impetus. Jn 1853 the Concord appeared, and 

 this incident, more than any other single fact, has greatly 

 extended the cultivation of the grape in this country. 

 So far our grapes were pure offspring of the fox-grape, or 

 Vitis labriisca, of the eastern states ; or if the Catawba 

 has some foreign blood, it is a purely accidental mixture. 



"At this time definite attempts were being made to 

 introduce foreign qualities into our hardy but harsh 

 natives. John Fisk Allen, of Massachusetts, showed 

 the first hybrid before the Massachusetts Horticultural 



Society in 1854. His grape, which is known as Allen's 

 Hybrid, was a cross between Isabella and the foreign 

 Golden Chasselas. About this time, also, E. S. Rogers, 

 of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was making experiments in 

 the same dii%ction, and his 13 grapes have gained a wide 

 reputation. These grapes are crosses between the wild 

 labrusca of New England and selected varieties of the 

 European grape. They all combine excellence of flavor 

 with large size and attractive appearance, but none of 

 them have become popular market grapes, because some 

 weakness is present in each one. The introduction of 

 the foreign or I'llis z'inifcra blood, therefore, was not 

 successful in the production of profitable varieties. 



"But the attempt to 

 add vinifera virtues to 

 American grapes did 

 not end with the phe- 

 nomenal labors of 

 Rogers. J. H. Rick- 

 etts, a shoemaker of 

 Newburgh,New York, 

 soon took up the 

 work, following large- 

 ly the lines of his 

 predecessor, except 

 that his American 

 parents were taken 

 from among our best 

 named varieties, a s 

 Concord, Delaware, 

 I on a and Clinton. 

 Twenty-eight of Rick- 

 etts' have been named; 

 of these, 27 possess 

 American blood, the 

 Welcome being whol- 

 ly European. These 

 varieties, as a whole, 

 are of remarkably 

 high quality, and it is 

 not too much to say 

 that they constitute 

 the most marked ex- 

 ample of the refine- 

 ment of American 

 grapes. Every varie- 

 ty, like those of Rog- 

 ers, affords an instruc- 

 tive lesson in the blending of parentages, but like Rogers', 

 too, they are not market grapes. With the high quality 

 of vinifera we have, also, its weaknesses and disadvan- 

 tages, and most of these remarkable varieties are already 

 lost to cultivation. Adelaide, El Dorado, Highland, Jef- 

 ferson and Lady Washington have Concord blood, and 

 the last is interesting because one of its parents was the 

 old Allen's Hybrid ; but even these have place with 

 amateurs, not with market growers. 



"It is not improbable that there may exist among our 

 multitude of hybrids some prizes which have been over- 



