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190 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INDUSTRY Noah downwards, a description of two hundred and eighty varieties of grape, and instruction on the "establishment, culture, and management of vineyards." The work is dedicated to Henry Clay in recognition of his part in founding the Kentucky Vineyard Society many years before. Compared to anything else on viticultureby American writers, the Treatise was a work of an entirely different and higher order—"the first good book on grapes," as Hedrick says.122 Prince made a serious effort at straightening out the tangle of names used to identify native grapes, and, in his description of native varieties, organized a great deal of local historical information; his prominence as the proprietor of America's best-known nursery made it possible for him to obtain information that no one else could have. Prince promised to publish a second part of his Treatise, to include a "topographical account of all the known vineyards throughout the world, and including those of the United States";123 for whatever reason, this never appeared, and we can only regret what would have been an unparalleled description of early nineteenth-century viticulture in the United States. He did, at least, print a list of his correspondents and sources, which includes some familiar names: Boiling, whose "Sketch" had been given to Prince; Thomas McCall of Georgia, "who has presented me with a detailed manuscript of his experiments and success in making wines"; and Herbemont, Eichelberger, and Spooner.124 Since Prince was able to grow vinifera vines successfully under nursery conditions , he was slow to give up faith in them. A large part of his book is devoted to foreign grapes, which he was confident would grow well in this country. He particularly recommended the Alicante. And no matter what the variety of vinifera, its failure, he thought, could in every case be explained by bad management.125 An equally large part of Prince's Treatise is devoted to descriptions of some eighty native varieties, far and away the most comprehensive account of the subject that had yet appeared. His own experience showed him the need for improved American varieties, and he was himself one of the earliest of the country's hybridizers, though he does not seem to have introduced any grape of his own breeding. The variety with which Prince's name is associated is the Isabella, which his father obtained in 1816 from Colonel George Gibbs of Long Island, an amateur grower, and named after Gibbs's wife. The grape itself is of disputed origin, but it is generally supposed to be from South Carolina.126 The Princes did not promote the Isabella at once, but, after Adlum's success in creating notoriety for the Catawba, they began to put forward the Isabella as a superior rival.127 Unlike Adlum, William Robert Prince was under no illusion as to the value of his labrusca seedling compared to the standard vinifera; still, he wrote of the Isabella, "I have made wine from it of excellent quality, and which has met with the approbation of some of the most accurate judges in our country."128 Prince has little to say about mildew and black rot, the diseases that were the bane of native hybrids throughout the East; there is plenty of evidence that these afflictions plagued grape growers around New York when Prince was writing, but he gives them no particular emphasis in his discussion of grape culture. One no- Isabella and Catawba Grape Vines. OF PROPER age forforming Vineyards, cultivated from and containing all the good qualities which the most improved cultivation for over fifteen years has conferred on the Croton Point Vineyards, are offered to the public. Those who may purchase will receive such instructions for four years, as will enable them to cultivate the Grape with entire success, provided their locality is not too far north. All communications addressed to R. T. UNDERBILL, M. D., New-York, or Croton Point, Westchester County, N. Y., will receive attention. The additional experience of three past seasons, gives him full assurance that by improvedcultivation , pruning, &c., a crop of good fruit can be obtained every year, in most of the Northern, all the Middle, Western and Southern States. Also, Apple and Quince Trees for sale as above. N. B.—To those who take sufficient to plant six acres, as he directs, he will, when theycommence bearing, furnish the owner with one of his Vinedressers, whom he has instructed in his mode of cultivation, and he...

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