132 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
suitable wild grape. This practice is car¬ 
ried forward to cross pollenization, and to 
pollenizing one hybrid or another until 
several crosses have been made, and so on, 
ad infinitum. Some grafting on this re¬ 
sistant stock also is practiced, but first 
and above all other considerations is the 
presence of the blood of the original or 
native vine with its inherent resistance to 
diseases which commonly afflict grapes in 
practically all climes, at home and abroad, 
and whereby such diseases are reduced to 
the minimum, if not entirely avoided. But 
the time limit for this paper forbids fur¬ 
ther discussion of this phase of the sub¬ 
ject, and I may only add that the wild 
grapes of Florida are known to be immune 
to Phylloxera, the deadly enemy of Euro¬ 
pean grapes and also of Northern grapes 
planted in the South, and that the hybrids 
we are planting today are commonly im¬ 
mune to this enemy, so far as we know 
and believe. 
In this connection, I want to quote from 
an editorial in the Florida Grower, of July 
19th, 1919, which speaks with evident 
knowledge and authority and which brings 
out my further thought in a very interest¬ 
ing comparison of the old and the new 
eras of the grape industry. It says: “So 
far as the writer knows, there has not been 
a single failure in acreages of hybrid 
grapes in this State, and there have been 
quite a number of acres planted with the 
most gratifying successes made. Not 
simply hundreds, but thousands of people 
of the North, Europe and California have 
tried out raising grapes in Florida, and 
without exception have failed, most of 
them in the first year or two and the re¬ 
mainder after several years trial. Until 
hybrid grapes were introduced it could be 
said without successful contradiction that 
there had not been developed a single suc¬ 
cessful vineyard along the entire Gulf 
coast region of the United States. This is 
not individual opinion, but is the result of 
years of accumulation of data by the 
United States government. Those who 
are still attempting to upbuild the grape 
industry all deserve the highest praise, 
but it would be foolish not to attempt to 
benefit by the experience of thousands 
who have lost fortunes in attempting to 
develop grape growing in Florida, and it 
would also be foolish not to try to derive 
benefit from the experience of those who 
are successfully developing the grape in¬ 
dustry in Florida. It is not a mere asser¬ 
tion, but a fact demonstrated thousands of 
times that only those grapes, whether Cal¬ 
ifornia, Northern or European, combined 
with the native wild grape of the Gulf 
coast region have proven successful 
against downy mildew, phylloxera and 
black rot in Florida. These are the three 
great enemies of grape growing and of 
these downy mildew is the worst enemy. 
It is true that this disease has been suc¬ 
cessfully combatted in the vineyards of 
California, Europe, and the Northern 
States but nowhere is it so destructive to 
vineyards as in the Gulf state region. 
Only grapes of the hybrid varieties have 
successfully combatted these diseases in 
the Gulf coast country. Others have ap¬ 
parently proven successful for a year or 
two and sometimes for four or five years, 
but the fact that there is not a single suc¬ 
cessful vineyard of California, Northern 
