if the
vines would succeed, to make it pay; but they could not shake his faith
in the ultimate success of grape culture. Alas! he lived only long
enough to see the first dawnings of that glorious future which he had
so often anticipated, and none entered with more genuine zeal upon the
occupation than he, when an untimely death took him from the labor he
loved so well, and did not even allow him to taste the first fruits of
the vines he had planted and fostered. Had he been spared until now,
his most sanguine hopes would be verified.

I also well remember the first cultivated grape vine which produced
fruit in Hermann. It was an Isabella, planted by a Mr. FUGGER, on the
corner of Main and Schiller streets, and trained over an arbor. It
produced the first crop in 1845, twenty years ago, and so plentifully
did it bear, that several persons were encouraged by this apparent
success, to plant vines. In 1846, the first wine was made here, and
agreeably surprised all who tried it, by its good quality. The Catawba
had during that time, been imported from Cincinnati, and the first
partial crop from it, in 1848, was so plentiful, that every body,
almost, commenced planting vines, and often in very unfavorable
localities. This, of course, had a bad influence on so capricious a
variety as the Catawba; rot and mildew appeared, and many became
discouraged, because they did not realize what they had anticipated. A
number of unfavorable seasons brought grape growing almost to a stand
still here. Some of our most enterprising grape growers still
persevered, and succeeded by careful treatment, in making even the
Catawba pay very handsome returns.

It was about this time, that the attention of some of our grape-growers
was drawn towards a small, insignificant looking grape, which had been
obtained by a Mr. WIEDERSPRECKER from Mr. HEINRICHS, who had brought it
from Cincinnati, and, almost at the same time, by Dr. KEHR, who had
brought it with him from Virginia. The vine seemed a rough customer,
and its fruit very insignificant when compared with the large bunch and
berry of the Catawba, but we soon observed that it kept its foliage
bright and green when that of the Catawba became sickly and dropped;
and also, that no rot or mildew damaged the fruit, when that of the
Catawba was nearly destroyed by it. A few tried to propagate it by
cuttings, but generally failed to make it grow. They then resorted to
grafting and layering, with much bet