"A free loose earth is what the vines demand, Where wind and frost have help'd the lab'rer's hand, And sturdy peasants deep have stirr'd the land." This variety does especially well when trained against walls or buildings, attaining under such conditions rare perfection. It is not hardy in any but favored localities in New York and in many parts of the State must have careful winter protection. The vines are not vigorous and are inclined to overbear, to remedy which it must have close pruning, or be grafted on a strong growing stock. In localities where mildew and rot thrive Iona is badly attacked by these diseases. The vines bear early and the fruit ripens at mid-season or shortly after. Iona is a grape for the amateur and for the careful vineyardist. Few varieties are more desirable or satisfactory for the garden when planted in soils to which it is adapted, when given good care, properly protected from cold, and the vines restrained from overbearing. Iona was originated by Dr. C. W. Grant[192] of Iona Island, Westchester County, New York, and the name commemorates the scene of the viticultural labors of one of the founders of American viticulture. Grant states that Iona is from seed of Diana planted in 1855, the plant from which fruited for the first time four years later. Caywood, however, says that Grant informed him that it was found growing as a chance seedling under a Catawba vine. Since Diana is a seedling of Catawba there is too little difference in the character of the older varieties to enable one to tell from which Iona came. This variety[193] was awarded the Greeley prize of $100, offered by Horace Greeley during the Civil War for a grape adapted to general cultivation in the Eastern and Middle States. The requirements which a variety had to possess to secure this prize were certainly sufficiently high; it was asked that the vine should be as hardy, healthy and vigorous as the strongest American vine and the fruit of a quality equal to the best European. Such a grape would be a boon to European as well as to American grape-growers. Though the prize went to Iona it must not be thought that it meets these requirements. Iona was introduced by the originator in 1864. It was overpraised, extensively advertised, and for some time the prices of vines were kept at an exorbitant figure from which there was a reaction detrimental to the variety. It was placed on the grape list of the American Pomological Society fruit catalog in 1867. Probably no American variety has been the subject of more caustic discussions than this one and it is only within the last few years that its merits could be impartially estimated. Iona was extensively tried in all the grape regions of America but has been generally dropped as a commercial grape. It is still to be found in all varietal vineyards, in occasional commercial plantings and somewhat commonly in gardens.