[200] Downing, 1857:341.
[201] Pronounced Reezling.
[202] Jacob Rommel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1837. The family moved to Hermann, Missouri, in 1838 where his father, Jacob Rommel, Sr., engaged in the nursery business and became interested in grape-growing and wine-making. In 1860 the younger Rommel removed to Morrison where he entered into partnership with H. Sobbe to grow nursery stock and cultivate grapes. At this time much dissatisfaction was felt among the grape-growers of the Middle West with the standard varieties then grown, most of which were table grapes secured from the East, and were poorly adapted to wine-making and to Missouri conditions. To remedy this defect Rommel originated many new varieties, using Taylor chiefly as a parent. Among others he produced Amber, Beauty, Black Delaware, Elvira, Etta, Faith, Montefiore, Pearl, Transparent and Wilding. Rommel’s seedlings are characterized by extreme vigor and productiveness. They were not designed for table grapes and they lack the qualities to recommend them as such. In 1900 Rommel retired from business and removed to Chamois, Missouri, where he still lives.
[203] Nelson Bonney White was born in the town of Putney, Windham County, Vermont, in 1824. During his younger years he lived for a time in Ohio and in New York but finally settled in Norwood, Massachusetts. White was a cabinet maker by trade, but coming under the influence of E. S. Rogers at the time when Rogers’ hybrids were causing a stir in New England, he took up grape-breeding as a pastime. He is probably the oldest grape-breeder of note now alive, as he has been engaged in this occupation over fifty years. His best known productions are August Giant, Amber Queen, and Norfolk. Two other of his varieties, International and King Philip, are very highly spoken of but have not yet been distributed.
[204] Horticulturist, 16:286. 1861.
[205] Mag. Hort., 9:430. 1843.
[206] Traité gen. de vit., 6:166. 1903.
[207] U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1855:308.
[208] A. J. Caywood, of Marlboro, New York, published the claim that this variety was originated by him, that he had named it Hudson but had delayed sending it out on the advice of several grape experts till it had been further tested. For this purpose Caywood says he sent the variety to about sixty men, among them J. W. Prentiss. Those who examined fruit from the two original vines said they were certainly very similar if not identical.
[209] Edward Staniford Rogers was born in the old family mansion on Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts, June 28, 1826, and died in Peabody, Massachusetts, March 29, 1899. He was the son of Nathaniel Leverett Rogers, an old-time Salem merchant, who, with his brothers John and Richard, was engaged in the maritime trade. Edward Rogers was educated in Master Ira Cheever’s school, a famous Salem school of the day, and, later, he made several voyages in his father’s ships as clerk and supercargo and, finally, passed a number of years in the counting-room of the firm in Salem. After his father’s death, Mr. Rogers lived in the old family home with his brother and their mother, and in the garden back of the house, quite large for a city lot, he indulged his natural taste for horticulture and conducted his experiments in grape hybridization.