The air currents and rainfall of the region are especially favorable. The in-shore breeze of the day and the off-shore breeze at night keep the air in constant motion, thus preventing frosts in spring and autumn, and probably cause in part the great degree of immunity to black-rot and mildew. Unfortunately, data to determine accurately the rainfall of the district cannot be had but such as have been taken indicate that the rainfall is comparatively light for the maturing months of August, September and October and not heavy for the three preceding growing months. Residents of the grape belt claim that most of the heavy showers pass over the hills or down the lake. The whole region is proverbially free from heavy dews. Rain and dew are favorable to black-rot and other fungi and the lack of them still further accounts for the immunity to these pests in the region. The history of the rise of grape-growing in Chautauqua County forms an interesting chapter in the economic development of New York. The first vines in the Chautauqua district were planted by Elijah Fay[97] in 1818, near the present town of Brocton. These were wild vines of _Vitis labrusca_ from Deacon Fay's boyhood home in New England. The vines grew luxuriantly but the fruit was not satisfactory and in 1822 this worthy pioneer obtained at great trouble roots of Miller's Burgundy, Sweetwater and Black Hamburg. But the second experiment was even more disastrous than the first as he got no fruit. The real start was made in 1824 when Mr. Fay obtained vines of Catawba and Isabella from Prince of Flushing, Long Island. The vines were trained on trellises. The vineyard covered a plot two by eight rods in extent. From a rise of land near this spot one now sees grapes everywhere, probably a greater acreage of them than can be seen from any other spot east of the Rocky Mountains. In 1830 Deacon Fay made ten gallons of wine, the first for the region. In 1834, Lincoln Fay, a nephew of Elijah Fay, started the sale of grape vines but not many vines were sold for commercial plantings until as late as 1850. In 1859 there were in the town of Portland but twenty acres of bearing grape vines where now are thousands. During the decade that followed, the Concord was generally introduced giving the viticulture of the region a great impetus. Grapes were not yet grown for table use to any great extent and a large acreage could not be used for wine-making. In 1859 a wine-cellar was built by Fay, Ryckman[98] and Haywood at Brocton and for a long while this company used almost the total crop of the region. It was not until the early seventies that the grape-growers sought other markets than the wine-cellars. In 1870 there were about 600 acres of vineyards in Chautauqua County.