INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS
| Portrait of Edward Staniford Rogers | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| Agawam | [158] |
| America | [168] |
| Aminia | [170] |
| August Giant | [172] |
| Bacchus | [174] |
| Barry | [178] |
| Berckmans | [182] |
| Black Eagle | [184] |
| Black Hamburg (reduced size) | [186] |
| Brighton | [192] |
| Brilliant | [194] |
| Campbell Early | [196] |
| Canada | [200] |
| Carman | [202] |
| Catawba | [204] |
| Champion | [210] |
| Clinton | [214] |
| Colerain | [218] |
| Concord | [220] |
| Cottage | [222] |
| Creveling | [224] |
| Croton | [226] |
| Cynthiana | [228] |
| Delaware | [232] |
| Diamond | [236] |
| Diana | [238] |
| Downing | [242] |
| Dracut Amber | [244] |
| Dutchess | [246] |
| Early Ohio | [248] |
| Early Victor | [250] |
| Eaton | [252] |
| Eclipse | [254] |
| Elvira | [260] |
| Empire State | [262] |
| Eumelan | [266] |
| Goethe | [276] |
| Goff | [278] |
| Grein Golden | [282] |
| Hartford | [284] |
| Headlight | [288] |
| Herbert | [292] |
| Hercules | [294] |
| Hidalgo | [296] |
| Highland | [298] |
| Hybrid Franc | [300] |
| Iona | [302] |
| Ironclad | [306] |
| Isabella | [308] |
| Ives | [312] |
| James | [314] |
| Janesville | [316] |
| Jefferson | [318] |
| Jewel | [320] |
| Kensington | [322] |
| Lady | [324] |
| Lady Washington | [326] |
| Lindley | [330] |
| Lucile | [332] |
| Lutie | [334] |
| McPike | [336] |
| Manito | [338] |
| Marion | [340] |
| Massasoit | [342] |
| Merrimac | [346] |
| Mills | [348] |
| Missouri Riesling | [350] |
| Montefiore | [352] |
| Moore Early | [352] |
| Moyer | [354] |
| Muscat Hamburg (reduced size) | [356] |
| Nectar | [358] |
| Niagara | [360] |
| Noah | [362] |
| Norton | [366] |
| Othello | [374] |
| Pocklington | [380] |
| Red Eagle | [384] |
| Rochester | [388] |
| Rommel | [392] |
| Rupestris du Lot | [114] |
| Salem | [398] |
| Senasqua | [402] |
| Triumph | [412] |
| Ulster | [414] |
| Vergennes | [416] |
| Vitis Aestivalis, shoot of | [138] |
| Vitis, Canes of Species of | [100] |
| Vitis, Flowers of | [104] |
| Vitis Labrusca, Shoot of | [150] |
| Vitis riparia, Shoot of | [118] |
| Vitis rotundifolia, Shoot of | [108] |
| Vitis, Seeds of Species of | [102] |
| Vitis vinifera, Shoot of | [154] |
| Walter | [420] |
| Wilder | [424] |
| Winchell | [426] |
| Woodruff | [428] |
| Worden | [430] |
| Wyoming | [432] |
| Wyoming, Shoot of | [152] |
THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK
CHAPTER I
THE OLD WORLD GRAPE
A single species of the grape is cultivated in the Old World. This is Vitis vinifera, the grape of ancient and modern agriculture, the vine of the allegories of sacred record and of the myths, fables and poetry of the Old World countries. It is the vine which Adam and Eve cared for:—
“* * * they led the vine
To wed his elm; * * *.” Milton.
It is the vine which Noah planted after the deluge; the vine of Judah and Israel, and of the promised land. Dionysus of the Greeks, Bacchus of the Romans, found the grape and devoted his life to spreading it; for which he was raised to the rank of a deity—god of vines and vintages. The history of this grape is as old as that of mankind. It has followed civilized man from place to place throughout the world and is one of the chief cultivated plants of temperate climates. This fruit of sacred and profane literature has so impressed itself upon the human mind that when we think or speak of the grape, or vine, it is the Old World species, the vine of antiquity, that presents itself.
The history of the Old World grape goes back to prehistoric times. Seeds of the grape are found in the remains of the Swiss lake dwellings of the Bronze Period and entombed with the mummies of Egypt. Its printed history is as old as that of man and is interwritten with it. According to the botanists, the probable habitat of Vitis vinifera is the region about the Caspian Sea.[1] From here it was carried eastward into Asia and westward into Europe and Africa. It is probable that the Phoenicians, the earliest navigators, tradesmen and colonizers on the Mediterranean, carried it to the countries bordering on this sea. Grape culture was developed in this region a thousand years before Christ, for Hesiod, who wrote at this time, gave directions for the care of the vine which need to be changed but little for present practice in Europe. Pliny, writing a thousand years after, quotes Hesiod as an authority on vine culture. Vergil and Pliny, during Christ’s time, gave specific directions for the care of the vine. Vergil describes fifteen varieties while Pliny gives even fuller descriptions of ninety-one varieties and distinguishes fifty kinds of wine.
The authentic written history of the grape and of its culture really begins with Vergil. Many other writers, Greeks and Romans, had discussed the vine, but none so fully nor so well as Vergil in his Georgics, of which the parts having to do with the vine may still be read with profit by the grape-grower; as, for example, the following[2] in which he tells how to cultivate and train:—