PRACTICAL PAPERS—GRAPE GROWING. 373 
the Jesuit planted the still famous “ Mission grape ” in California 
more than 200 years ago. 
The grape has been cultivated and esteemed as one of the choi¬ 
ces fruit from the earliest period. Vine culture has been a con¬ 
stant attendant upon civilization ; step by step they have jour¬ 
neyed together from country to country around the world, until it 
has become one of the most extensively diffused of fruit bearing 
plants. 
The profitable cultivation of the grape in the open air is as yet 
confined to a zone of about two thousand miles in breadth. The 
northern limit of its cultivation is not confined to a given parallel 
of latitude. It has been observed in Europe that as you go east 
the culture of the vine extends to the north. Young says, that 
within the limits of France the difference is two degrees of heat 
in the same parallel. In the United States the difference of cli¬ 
mate is also found, but operating in a reverse manner. As we 
come west from the sea coast, a milder climate is found in the same 
latitude. In the observations of Humboldt, he found that the 
best wines of Europe were produced in the interior, away from 
the sea-board, and remarks, that the cause does not alone reside 
in the lower summer temperature of the coasts, but he attributes 
the difference to the light from a clearer state of the heavens. 
Throughout this zone of two thousand miles the wild vine grows 
almost universally, most probably native to the soil where found. 
IN AMERICA. 
The numerous varieties cultivated in Europe are supposed to 
have originated from one species. Prot. Gray one of the highest 
botanical authorities, classifies the native grapes of this country 
under four species. These growing in the wild luxuriance doubt¬ 
less suggested the cultivation of the vine to the first settlers of 
America, for we learn that it early attracted the attention of the 
colonists. Most naturally they brought from their old home the 
choice fruits to which they had been accustomed, and for which 
the wild grape was a poor substitute, and thus the foreign grape 
was introduced to America. But after many unsuccessful attempts 
continuing through nearly two centuries), to acclimate and grow 
the European varieties in open air culture, the experiment was 
