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ISD Reoeeeve tC Reeve neko oY LL S°T oF O,R. THE 1951-52 SEASON 
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BOORDY VINEYAR 
J. & P. WAGNER, Props. 
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yz JAN3 11952 & 
U.S. Department of Agricufure 
I REIT I 
RIDERWOOD, MARYLAND 
Grape Vines For Wine Growers 
This is our ninth annual offering of the French hybrid grape vines. Nine years ago these 
remarkable wine grapes were practically unknown in this country--a few vines grown here by 
experimenters, and that was alle It is agreeable, and a bit awe-inspiring, to realize that 
tens of thousands of these vines, from our nursery, are now growing and yielding good wine 
on farms and in gardens throughout the United States. Articles about them now appear fre- 
quently in the horticultural presse Someone near Birmingham, or Chattanooga, or Fort Worth, 
or Santa Fe, or Rochester, or Springfield, or Providence, or Spokane decides to grow a few. 
He surprises himself by making good winee The news gets around; and presently the nucleus 
of--who knows?--a new American wine-groving district comes into being. 
This is only our way of saying that, each year, demand for the French hybrids has increased 
as people here and there have found out what they are good for. Every mail brings us ques- 
tions from customers old and new about grape-growing and about points in wine-making. Every 
mail swells the body of information which our customers have generously provided on the 
behavior of these grape vines in some part of the country, helping us to hold down our list 
to proved varieties, helping us to say with constantly growing assurance which varieties 
grow best where. This information is at your disposal. 
WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT 
In wine-making, the main thing is the grape. It is much more important, for example, than 
the soil. If the grapes are right, it is possible to make good wine. If the grapes are 
wrong, the product will be unsatisfactory no matter how much care is put into making ite 
All of the famous wines of the world owe their fame to the grape varieties from which they 
are made--the Pinot of Burgundy, the Cabernet of Bordeaux, the Riesling of the Rhineland. 
These and the other classical European varieties--some for fine wine and some for the mass 
production of ordinary wine--grow well in California, producing wine of the European type. 
Elsewhere in the United States the European wine grapes (all of them varieties of a single 
species) are too tender to come through our winters, and in our difficult summers are subject 
to many diseasese It is not practical to grow them. Outside of California we have had to 
depend until recent years on domesticated varieties of our wild native grapes. Some of 
these=--Delaware and Catawba especially--produce wine of good quality. But the wines of 
these varieties mve rather pronounced special flavors and are quite distinct in character 
from wines of the European type. 
Thanks to the development of the French hybrids, it has now become possible to grow red and 
white table wines of the Buropean type in those parts of the United States where, hitherto, 
only wine from the domesticated native grapes could be growne 
These French hybrids are a group of grape varieties which were bred in France by crossing 
the European varieties with certain of the American species. The object in this breeding 
has been to obtain vines bearing fruit like the classic European varieties but possessing 
the tough vine characteristics of the American vines. 
Proprietors, Bonded Winery No. 13, Fifth District 
