We have had Rafinesque's survey of the grape industry of the country in
1830 and Buchanan's in 1850. The next record, and a far more complete
one than either of the above, is found in a consular report made by E.
M. Erskine, Secretary of the British Legation at Washington, to the
British government in 1859. Mr. Erskine reported the acreage as
follows:[76] "The banks of the River Ohio are studded with vineyards,
between 1,500 and 2,000 acres being planted in the immediate vicinity of
Cincinnati, with every prospect of a vast increase. At Cleveland, Ohio,
on the southern shore of Lake Erie, there are 100 acres under vine
culture; at Hermann, on the Missouri, 80 miles west of St. Louis, 150 or
200 acres are cultivated almost entirely by Germans; at Booneville,
higher up the same river; at Belleville, on the 'rolling prairies' of
Illinois; at Reading, in Pennsylvania; in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee,
Arkansas, and generally, in at least twenty-two out of the thirty-two
States now constituting the Union, vineyards of more or less promise and
extent have been planted. * * *
"About 3,000 acres are cultivated as vineyards in the state of Ohio; 500
in Kentucky; 1,000 in Indiana; 500 in Missouri; 500 in Illinois; 100 in
Georgia; 300 in North Carolina; 200 in South Carolina, with every
prospect of a rapid increase in all. It is calculated that at least
2,000,000 gallons of wine are now raised in the United States, the
average value of which may be taken at a dollar and a half the gallon."
Grape-growing in New York was not considered worthy of mention by
Erskine; and Buchanan nine years before reported only a few vineyards
about New York City. In the regions of this State now almost wholly
devoted to grape-growing a start had hardly been made in 1850. Yet there
were some commercial vineyards at this time. Deacon Elijah Fay, the
pioneer grape-grower in what is now the great Chautauqua region, planted
the first vines in that district in 1818 and though grape-growing did
not become of importance until three or four decades later yet this
planting was the foundation upon which Deacon Fay built until, largely
through his efforts and example and those of his children, grapes were
grown everywhere about his home. It is doubtful, however, if there were
a hundred acres of commercial vineyards in this region when Erskine made
his report in 1859.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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