"He Sowed; Others Reaped": Ephraim Wales Bull and the Origins of the ‘Concord’ Grape

Edmund A. Schofield

While Emerson and his colleagues were designing a philosophy for the unique needs of an expanding nation, one of their townsmen was quietly developing a grape to match the demands of its rigorous physical environment

The Origins and Spread of "The Vine" era, grapes and wine were of considerable In their peregrinations over the ages, the importance to Middle Eastern and Mediterra- grape and mankind have crossed paths, have nean peoples. Thousands of years ago the even trod the same path, many times. East Egyptians were well acquaintcd with the use and West, for millennia, they have followed and properties of wine, which their traditions similar routes of history, myth, and ro- say were revealed to them by Osiris. Their mance-first in the Northern Hemisphere, in chief vineyards were planted on the banks of Asia, in Europe, in North America, and then, the Nile. Joseph’s dream, described in Gene- within the last few centuries, in the Southern sis, gives evidence that the vine was culti- Hemisphere as well. Companion to mankind vated in Egypt at least eighteen hundred years from dimmest antiquity, the grape has been before Christ. Grape seeds have been found one of mankind’s most important, most es- with mummies in Egyptian tombs that are at teemed fruits. least three thousand years old, and details of In the West, the story of the grape has been grape growing appear in mosaics of the Fourth largely the story of Vitis vinifera Linnxus- Dynasty of Egypt (2440 B.C.) and later. "the vine"-from which all cultivated varie- Viticulture was practiced very early in ties of grapes were derived before Europeans Palestine ("And Noah began to be a husband- came to North America. Cultivation of the man, and planted a vineyard."-Genesis vine-called viticulture-is a very ancient 9:20). By 600 B.c., the Phoenicians probably art: from earliest times and in every country, had carried varieties of wine grapes to Greece, wherever it would thrive, the vine has been which were carried thence to Rome and on to cultivated with care, especially here in the southern France. Hundreds of varieties now West. What wheat is to other cereals the vine are cultivated in the vineyards of the wine- is to other fruits-the most important in growing country there. Ancient records show Western eyes, as rice is in Eastern eyes. Asia that the Chinese had vineyards of native Minor, somewhere between and south of the grapes at least one thousand years before Black and Caspian seas, apparently is its Christ. During the second century B.C., Vitis home. From Asia Minor, its culture spread vinifera was introduced into China from both west and east. western Asia, by way of Persia and India. In early history viticulture was carried out Viticulture flourished in Greece during largely to supply grapes for winemaking. Homer’s time. It was Dionysus, god of revelry Long before the beginning of the Christian and protector of the vine, who gave them the 5

vine, they say, and taught them viticulture. and the wine varieties, on the other, spread Viticulture must have been introduced very along different routes. early into Italy also, by the Greeks. The Centuries later, when Europeans colo- Roman writers Virgil, Cato, the Plinys, Varro, nized lands around the globe, the grape was and Columella describe numerous varieties always among the plants they took along. In of the vine, list many types of wine, and give the fifteenth century viticulture became es- directions for training and pruning vines and tablished in Madeira and the Canary Islands. for making wine. Later it spread to South Africa, Australia, and For a time the Romans seemed to prefer South America. The first wine grapes were Grecian wines to their own; not until about brought to California from Mexico late in the the first century of the Christian era did eighteenth century. During the first half of Italian wines begin to find favor in their own the next century grape growing and wine- land. In Virgil’s time the varieties in cultiva- making became established in California and tion seem to have been exceedingly numer- expanded rapidly between I8G0 and 1900. ous ; and the varied methods of training and culture now in use in Italy are in many cases Grapes and Their Uses identical to those that Columella and other Most grapes (Vitis spp.) are coarse, woody Roman writers described. vines that cling to their supports by means of Because viticulture was so important in tendrils. Some species native to arid regions Roman life, it is often referred to in Roman are almost-erect shrubs rather than vines. poetry, such as Virgil’s Georgics. Bacchus, Grapes are members of the Vitaceae, or Viti- god of the vine, whom the Romans identified dacex (the Grape, or Vine, Family). The genus with Dionysus, was enormously popular at name Vitis, which is the classical Latin name Pompeii, which was destroyed in A.D. 79 by for the grape, was conferred by Carolus the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Archxolo- Linnxus. Over the years Vitis has been vari- gists have found the sites of many vineyards ously defined to include or exclude the genera at Pompeii, some of them surprisingly large. Cissus and Ampelopsis, from which it is dis- They have found also numerous wall paint- tinguished on the basis of small differences in ings of the vine, countless wine shops, and floral structure. (Cissus was the Greek name innumerable amphoras. All of this arch~ol- for the ivy, and Ampelopsis, the name created ogical evidence attests to the importance of by Michaux, comes from the Greek ampelos, the grape as a staple of daily life in Pompeii the vine-i.e., the grape-and opsis, and verifies the information on viticulture appearance.) Vitis is widespread in the North- given in the writings of Pliny the Elder, Cato, ern Hemisphere, especially in the temperate Varro, and Columella. regions. Defined strictly, it includes around During Roman times grape culture ex- sixty species; when Ampelopsis and Cissus tended inland from the coast, moving up the are included, it consists of some two hundred Rhone River valley of France and as far north fifty species. as the Rhine and Moselle valleys. By the As noted, grapes may be cultivated for any second century A.D. the Romans had taken of a number of purposes: for making wine, for the vine to Germany. example; for eating out of hand as "table Well before the second century, raisin and grapes"; for drying as currants and raisins; for table grapes had spread around the eastern preserving as jams, jellies, and preserves or for end of the Mediterranean Sea to the countries nonalcoholic beverages; and, latterly-owing of North Africa. Because the customs and to the elegance and rich color of the leaves of religions of North Africa differed from those some grapes or to the shade they afford-as of the northern coast of the Mediterranean, ornamentals, perhaps one of their least the raisin and table grapes on the one hand, known uses. Several species recommend themselves as In one of these ... a native of that part of ornamentals: Europe where grapes grew ... found vines hung with their fruit, which induced Leif to Vitis coigneti~, known as the gloryvine, is a hand- call the country Vineland." The English some, fast-growing, climbing vine. Its very large, colonists found the coast of what is now New heavy leaves reach ten inches in diameter and turn red in the fall. Probably the fastest growing of the England to be profuse in grapes. In 1621, grapes, gloryvine is ideal as a screen, its shoots Edward Winslow wrote that in New England increasing their length by as much as fifty feet in a "are sweet and single season, and a single plant of Vitis coignetia? grapes, white and red, and very " can cover a thousand square feet of trellis in a few strong also." It and inedible years. produces inconspicuous Governor’s in Boston was fruits. Hardy to Zone 5, Vitis coigneti~ was intro- Island, Harbor, duced into the United States from Japan by the granted to Governor John Winthrop in 1632 Arnold Arboretum in 1875. on condition that he plant a vineyard or or- Vitis amurensis, the Amur grape, is a vigorous vine chard on it. The island early became known as native to the Amur River region of eastem Asia. "The Governour’s Garden." In the Middle Hardy to Zone 4, it is grown as an ornamental. Producing black fruit, Vitis amurensis comes into Atlantic region, the native grapes also at- its own in the fall, when its coarse foliage turns tracted the attention of colonists and travel- crimson to Introduced to horticulture purplish. ers. In in for around 1854, this species is hardier than Vitis Virginia 1607-09, example, coignetia?. Captain John Smith saw "[o]f vines, great in Vitis cahfornica, the California grape, is hardy to abundance many parts, that climbe the Zone 7. It is native to the West Coast, from Oregon toppes of the highest trees in some places, but to California and like Vitis amurensis is effective in these beare but fewe grapes. But the rivers the fall, its coarse leaves tuming red at that season. by Although rather dry, its glaucous-white fruits are, and Savage habitations where they are not nonetheless, pleasant-tasting. overshadowed from the sunne, they are cov- Vitis riparia, the riverbank grape, is a very hardy, ered with fruit, though never pruined nor high-climbing vine that is native to a large area of manured." The Spanish colonists of Florida the United States. /It is hardy to Zone 2.) Vitis riparia produces purple-black fruit that are covered and the French voyageurs were attracted by with a dense bloom, and it bears leaves with lus- the abundance of grapes. Even as far north as undersides. Its staminate flow- trous, bright-green the voyageurs found the banks of ers are fragrant, but they are too small to be effec- Michigan tive ornamentally. streams festooned with grapevines. John Adlum’s vineyard near Georgetown in the District of Columbia, which was Grapes of the New World planted in 1820, first successfully produced North America has been called a natural grapes on the Atlantic coast. His introduction vineyard: the first record of the continent is of the ’Catawba’ into general culture would also a record of its grapes, which grow wild in eventually yield valuable new cultivars. In the greatest profusion in the wooded parts of 1860, nine-tenths of the 5,600 acres of vine- the continent, from the Great Lakes to the yard established east of the Rocky Mountains Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic to the were ’Catawba’ grapes. Pacific. When the early explorers visited The Mission Fathers in California were the North America, wild grapevines were so first to grow successfully a variety (’Mission’) prominent that the region was repeatedly of Vitis vinifera in what is now the United called "Vineland." Leif Ericson, for example, States; they brought it to San Diego in 1769. reached our northeastern shores in about the ’Mission’ remained the leading variety grown year 1000. "Farther south and westerly they until 1860, when European varieties were went," says Justin Winsor’s narrative, "and introduced. Between 1860 and 1870 in Cali- going up a river came to an expanse of water, fornia there was a rapid increase in the acre- where on the shores they built huts to lodge in age of varieties derived from native American for the winter, and sent out exploring parties. grapes. It was during this time that the culti- 7

var ’Concord’ became the leading commer- the most extensive plantings near the south- cially grown grape of American origin. ern shores of the Great Lakes. The vine of Europe and of history, Vitis ’Concord’ may be the most famous Ameri- vinifera has always led a precarious existence can cultivar; it is certainly the most widely whenever it was introduced into the eastern grown. Because of its wide adaptability it is United States. It has been supplanted there by produced in almost every grape-growing state derivatives of the native species-Vitis la- of the Union. Although often considered as brusca (the northern fox grape), Vitis a?sti- pure Vitis labrusca, it more likely is a hybrid valis (the summer grape), and Vitis rotundi fo- of that species with another species. In fact, lia (the southern fox grape)-and by their most of the older American grapes are hybrids with Vitis vinifera. Being essentially thought to involve more than one species. table fruits, the American grapes are quite Therefore, "Vitis labruscana L. H. Bailey," a different from their Old World counterpart, name used in some horticultural literature, which, as has been said, is a wine fruit. Thus, has been applied to American grape cultivars European writings historically have dealt of Vitis labrusca parentage. with "the vine," American writings with "grapes." But early American writings also ’Concord’: A Hardy Grape for American dealt with the vine and with wine; it was not Vineyards until the middle of the last century that the The story of ’Concord’ is one of the more native grape began to be appreciated and interesting chapters in the history of North understood as a table grape. American viticulture. While not the first or Each species, native or introduced, has only important cultivar developed in Amer- many varieties, is best adapted to specific ica, ’Concord’ may well be the most notewor- regions of the country, and is managed ac- thy. It and Ephraim Wales Bull, its originator, cording to its own special requirements. The are the protagonists of the account that fol- "vinifera grapes," or "European grapes," as lows. The past has been a long prologue to they are sometimes called, are grown in Cali- their story. fornia and other areas with mild climates and, Ephraim Wales Bull came to serious grape- as said, descend from Vitis vinifera. They are growing and to the town of Concord, Massa- cultivated in vast quantities in all major chusetts-after which his cultivar was grape-growing regions of the world except named-in a roundabout way. He was born in eastern North America. Some of the Ameri- Boston on March 4, 1806, the day on which can varieties have been introduced into Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated for his France and other countries that became in- second term as president. The farmhouse in fested with phylloxera in the latter half of the which he was born stood in the area of Wash- nineteenth century, to serve as stocks for the ington Street that would later become known better kinds of European vines, because their as "Newspaper Row," around the corner and roots suffer less injury from attacks of this a mere five hundred feet from the house on insect than do European species. Milk Street where Benjamin Franklin was Vitis labrusca produces purple-black fruit born almost precisely a century before. and has leaves that are dark green above. It is Ephraim was the eldest son of Epaphras Bull, a rampant grower, ranging widely throughout a silversmith who had left the hamlet of Bull’s the eastern United States, from New England Pastures (now Bullsville), New York, for to Georgia, Tennessee, and southern Indiana, Boston. His family was descended from Cap- and is hardy to Zone 5. Vitis labrusca is the tain Thomas Bull, who had come to America parent of most of the American grapes now in in 1635 on the ship Hopewell. cultivation and is the mainstay of grape- Boston was, in those days, a large, thriving growing east of the Rocky Mountains, with town, and Washington Street, now one of the 8’j

principal and most congested thoroughfares the ’Isabella’, ’Catawba’, and ’Sweetwater’ in the "Hub," was a village highway. Cows grapes he had cultivated in Boston had come grazed on Boston Common. Behind the Bulls’ with him to Concord. He was unable to ripen house was a large garden where young the grapes in open culture, however, even in Ephraim indulged a love of horticulture, favorable seasons. This was due, he said, to experimenting in grape growing, among other "the late spring and early autumn frosts, things. which we are liable to in this deep valley of A studious child, Ephraim received the Concord."" Franklin medal at school in 1817, when he Bull had moved to an interesting town was only eleven years old. In 1821 he was ap- during an interesting period of American prenticed to Louis Lauriat in the trade of gold- history. Concord was hardly a typical rural beating-the beating of gold into leaf, then village. There, where "the shot heard ’round much in demand by bookbinders and gilders. the world" was fired in 1775, the American At about this time his family moved to nearby Revolutionary War had begun. Decades later Dorchester, Massachusetts. While pursuing a social movement, American Transcenden- his trade as goldbeater, young Bull devoted all talism, took root and flourished in Concord his spare time to horticultural pursuits, par- around the writer and philosopher Ralph ticularly to small-scale grape growing, in his Waldo Emerson. The land on which Ephraim home garden. (Bull raised the varieties ’Isa- Bull had settled made him next-door neighbor bella’, ’Catawba’, and ’Sweetwater’.) This to the Bronson Alcotts and later to the writer was the period during which ’Isabella’ was Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom he was first grown in Boston. soon on friendly terms. During the years of In 1826 Bull acquired a shop of his own, and struggle before he discovered the famous on September 10 of that year he married Mary grape, Bull was assisted and encouraged by Ellen Walker, a relative of President James these and other neighbors and townsmen, Walker of Harvard College. After their mar- many of whom were members of the Emer- riage the Bulls moved back to Boston, taking son-Thoreau-Alcott Transcendentalist a small house on Fayette Street, in the South group. In strategic ways, many of which will End. Bull was by now a first-class gold-beater, never be known in full detail, Bull worked working long hours in a hot, dusty shop on alongside his Transcendentalist friends when Cornhill (near modern Government Center). antislavery agitation reached its peak in He continued to indulge his interest in horti- Concord just before the Civil War. culture during his off hours, in the small Hawthorne’s son, Julian, recalled Bull in garden garden behind his house. his book, Hawthorne and His Circle. "An- Eventually, Bull developed lung trouble, other neighbor of ours," he wrote, and his doctor advised him to live in fresh air and away from Boston’s chill east winds. In hardly less known to fame [than the Transcenden- August 1836, therefore, he quit Boston, buy- talists], though in a widely different line of useful- ing seventeen acres of land in Concord, a ness, makes a very distinct picture in my mind; this was Wales the inventor of the town located some twenty miles northwest Ephraim Bull, Concord Grape. He was as eccentric as his name; of Boston. There the Bulls lived in a little but he was a genuine and substantial man, and my white on to house the road Lexington. father took a great liking to him, which was Though he continued his trade as goldbeater reciprocated. He was short and powerful, with in a tiny shop behind his home, Bull loved long arms, and a big head covered with bushy hair and a jungle beard, from which looked out a farming more. Whenever the gold business pair of eyes singularly bnlliant and penetrating. He he would have time to in his slumped putter had brains to thmk with, as well as strong and garden. His passion by now was the grape, and skilful hands to work with.... He often came over 9

and sat with my father in the summer house on the hill, and there talked about politics, sociology (though under some other name, probably), mor- als, and human nature, with an occasional lecture on grape culture.

In 1841 Bull bought the Eben Dow farm, which adjoined his property, setting out many trees, shrubs, and vines. The farm’s soil was sandy, and a south-facing slope suggested to Bull great possibilities for grape growing. Determined to develop an earlier-ripening grape that would be hardy in Massachusetts, he obtained from every available quarter vines having local reputations for excellence. (He knew about Jean Baptiste Van Mons’ success in raising pears from seeds and con- cluded that the same process could be applied to grapes.) Again he was disappointed but persevered-eventually turning to wild vines he found growing nearby. He had been watching carefully an early- ripening native of the northern fox grape, Vitis labrusca, growing in a distant part of his garden, noticing, when it fruited at the end of Ephraim Wales Bull in 1861. From Transactions of August 1843, that it possessed at least some of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the the essential qualities he sought. The grape Year 1908. was of good quality, and the idea immediately occurred to him that another generation would be a still greater improvement. He accidental seedling at the foot of the hill. The removed and planted it near his ’Catawba’ crop was abundant, and of very good quality vine, by which it was probably pollinated. for a wild grape. I sowed the seed in the Bull (he informs us) planted the resulting autumn of 1843. Among them the Concord grapes from the wild vine "whole, into the was the only one worth saving." ground, skin and all, at a depth of two inches, The exact source of the accidental seedling and covered the row with boards. is obscure. Bull had bought his house in "I nursed these seedlings six years," he Concord in 1836. That year, he told Liberty informs us further, "and of the large number Hyde Bailey decades later, boys brought up obtained only one that proved worth keeping. from the Concord River some wild grapes and On the tenth of September 1849, I was en- scattered them about the place. A seedling abled to pick a bunch of grapes, and when I appeared in a corner of the garden, evidently showed them to a neighbor who tasted them, the offspring of these truant grapes. he exclaimed, "Why this is better than Isa- The stray seedling grew at the base of what " bella’ !" is now called Revolutionary Ridge, an inter- "I looked about to see what I could find esting landform so named for the key role it among our wildings," Bull would reminisce had played in the battle between the Ameri- later. "The next thing was to find the best and cans and the British on April 19, 1775. Ex- earliest grape for seed, and this I found in an tending a mile or so eastward from the center 10

of Concord, this sandy, gravelly ridge is a vegetables and was nearly overlooked by the kame delta that was deposited some ten to judges. In the perhaps embellished account of twenty thousand years ago in Glacial Lake a journalist, when the show opened and Bull’s Concord by meltwater rushing from the re- new grape had not arrived, treating continental ice sheet. British troops, advancing from Lexington to Concord North two members of the Society went out to Concord and said, "Where are those grapes you promised to Bridge along the road that parallels the Ridge, send inr"" passed Bull’s cottage en route to the bridge, Quite taken aback, Bull stammered, "I did send and passed it again during their ignominious them in, by a neighbor. I was too sick to make the trip but I sent them just as I said I would." retreat to and Boston. The Concor- myself, Lexington Very much puzzled, the committee went back dians, knowing their native terrain far better to the horticultural show. They rummaged than did the alien who to around and found the grapes hidden in a pile of British, kept mainly squashes and turnips and other vegetables. One the public highway, travelled across lots, on look and they knew they had something. They the far (north and eastern) side of the Ridge, looked at the big round, juicy fruit that had rip- ened two weeks before other and rushing from the Bridge to Meriam’s Corner, fully any grape then snitched a couple to eat. They smacked their a fork in the road located only three hundred lips and said, "I’ll bet he girdled the vines-we " yards east of Bull’s cottage, at the eastern tip better make sure there’s no trickery here." of There the Americans So back to Concord they hastened, notebooks Revolutionary Ridge. in hand, and gave poor Mr. Bull quite a going over. ambushed the British troops. In one of his But he showed them the vines and some other romance fragments, the posthumously pub- clusters-far bigger and better than those he had lished Nathaniel Haw- sent to the show. "Septimius Felton," Once convinced, the committee announced to thorne makes Revolutionary Ridge the scene the world that, at last, a grape had been developed of a duel between Felton and a British soldier. that would grow in New England-bigger and better than any grown before. ’Concord’ Makes Its Debut In 1849, Bull paid a visit to the editorial The next issue of Hovey’s Magazine of offices of the Boston Cultivator, telling its Horticulture reported that, "Mr. Bull’s new, editor, Samuel W. Cole, that he had a new and early and delicious native variety, was exhib- promising seedling black grape that he ited before the Massachusetts Horticultural wished to exchange for one of ’Diana’, which Society, on Saturday the third of September, the Cultivator had offered for sale to its read- fully ripe, being more than two weeks before ers. Cole, who owned a nursery in Chelsea, the Diana was mature. It has not only proved had his foreman set the cutting out. It soon by far the earliest grape we have, but also one fruited, but little was made of it. Bull had of the most delicious, having in place of the stipulated that it was not to be propagated for musky flavor of Isabella, the rich aroma of the sale. Catawba, with which, probably its parent was In the spring of 1853, Bull took the limited somewhat fertilized. Specimens were exhib- stock propagated at Cole’s nursery, having ited before the committee who say it fully decided that the best way to publicize the new maintains the high character heretofore cultivar would be to exhibit it at Horticul- given it."" tural Hall in Boston, during that fall’s meet- "We are gratified to announce," Hovey’s ing of the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- continued, "that Mr. Bull has decided to offer ety. Accordingly, ’Concord’ was exhibited for it for sale in April next, and has placed the the first time on September 3, 1853, three entire stock in the hands of Messrs. Hovey & years after it had produced its first fruit. Co. for disposal.... It will be called the It is said that, through some mixup, the CONCORD grape, having been raised in the ’Concord’ originally was exhibited among the town of that name, very near the spot so . 111

memorable in the annals of our history, and corresponded with a Dr. J. C. Bennett of Great known as the Concord battle ground." Falls, Iowa, who he hoped would market When Hovey & Company introduced it in ’Concord’ in Iowa. "The Charter Oak and the the spring of 1854, it attracted considerable Concord are entirely different in all respects," attention and was placed on the grape list of Bull wrote. the American as one of Pomological Society The Charter Oak is in the "new varieties which well." It very large berry though promise small in bunch, coarse, foxy, and wild. The Con- attracted still more attention in 1855. The cord is as handsome in the bunch as a black ’Black and as next few years found ’Concord’ in the cata- hamburgh [the variety Hamburg’] large, delicate, full of juice, andhas a rich aroma- logs of every nursery in the country, and it and as unlike a wild grape as possible. It is hardy spread rapidly throughout most of the eastern in wood and foliage and berry, which is not the case either with the Catawber or Isa- and midwestem states. Within the brief pe- [’Catawba’] bella with me-both being infected by rot this riod of a year, ’Concord’ was growing in the very season, while the Concord is wholly free Middle West. One source, George Hus- from any of these things. mannn, states that in the winter of 1855 he secured buds of ’Concord’ at Hermann, Mis- By 1860, vineyards of ’Concord’ had been souri, from James G. Soulard of Galena, Illi- planted in Chautauqua County, New York. In nois-half way across the continent. In 18588 1865 it was awarded the Greeley prize and ’Concord’ was placed on the regular list of called, prophetically, "the grape for the mil- recommended varieties by the American lions." During this period horticultural socie- Pomological Society, where it remains. ties would maintain frequent contact with Bull himself took a hand in promoting one another about new fruit varieties and ’Concord’. In August 1854, for example, he cultural practices; by 1867 the Ohio Horticul-

The original "Concord" grape vine, still growing af ternearl y a century and a half. Photograph by the author. 12’1

tural Society was writing about the extensive Dr. Sylvester proceeded to cite a large plantings of the "noble Concord" in Ohio and number of authorities, statements of farmers, Missouri. Within fifteen years of its introduc- nurserymen, vineyardists, and vintners in all tion, thousands of acres of vineyards had been parts of the country, showing that ’Concord’ planted to ’Concord’ all over the country. By was more successful and gave more satisfac- the mid-1870s more ’Concord’ had been tion than any other grape. Horace Greeley planted in the Northeast than all other varie- then spoke: ties put together. It had become the outstand- ing grape for both fresh and processed use. As thc prizc I offcrcd has bccn directly alluded to by Dr. Sylvester, I may say that with the award of Fruit was from the belts of the shipped grapc that committee I had nothing at all to do. When Lake Erie region to most of the major cities of they came to their decision I paid over the $100. the United States. But the end I had in view was not attained by that investigation. I intended to stimulate the produc- tion of new and better vines, and hoped some "The Greeley Affair" grape would be brought out having the hardiness In Horace and to soils and climates of the 1866, journalist ("Go West, young adaptability what the New Concord, good bearing qualities, and, man! Go West!") Greeley, editor of the Concord wants, high and delicate flavor. But the York Tribune, offered a prize of one hundred award was to the Concord, and I could never see dollars "for the best for cultiva- what that man ]not Bull, but William H. Gold- grape general smith of Newark, New Jersey, who recently had tion." ’Concord’ won. When the winner was exhibited the ’Concord’ at a fruit show of the announced before the Farmers’ Club of the American Institute of the City of New York], American Institute of New York City in whoever he was, did to deserve his $100. The Concord was widely cultivated, and all my money Octobcr of that year, there was unanimous did was to advertise a grape already known; thus applause from the audience. Many members improvement was not stimulated, but rather of the later would checked. I am a little discouraged by the result, public express strong oppo- and do not propose to offer another bank note for sition, however, among them Horace Grceley a plate of common grapes. To my taste the Con- himself! A Dr. E. Ware Sylvester described cord has no quality superior to the wild wood grape of my grew up in New the at a Farmers’ Club in boyhood. [Greeley controversy meeting Hampshire.] I admit that it is hardy and prolific; March 1869 (Horace Greeley was in atten- but after all, is it much of a frui t? I hope others will dance), sparking a lively exchange: take up this matter, and at length brin out a grape hardy, productive, adaptive and highly flavored. An effort has been in progress to discover among our native grapes, one which in healthfulness, P. T. Quinn responded to Greeley’s re- hardiness and productiveness, should be adapted marks : to the wants of the million. To this end the prize of offered Horace $100 was, years ago, by Greeley, As a member of that committee, a word of expla- have since been awarded. You are and other prizes nation may be in order. There were two commit- well aware that the was to the Greeley prize given tees. The first decided on the Iona, and Dr. Grant Concord. This out a torrent of abuse brought claimed the award as the originator of the Iona. from those interested in other and mainly vines, But there was a protest, a delay, a change in the even Dr. Greeley, with his usual kindly feelings, personnelle of the comrruttee, and the feeling thought it best to applya Tribune soothingplaster with those who made the final award was that a to the wounded head of Iona island. cultivar [The grape like the lona, known only to a few amateurs, ’Iona’ was Dr. C. W. Grant of Iona developed by did not come up to the requirements of Mr. New which is situated in the Island, York, Greeley, and should not receive the money. Hudson River about forty miles north of New York City.] To the base insinuations which were made in the public prints, the members of the Greeley responded that Greeley committee made no reply, and make none now; they were willing that time and expe- What I complain of is the eagerness of the com- rience the great regulators of agricultural mat- mittee. I did not care if they waited five years, and ters, should justify, as they were sure to do, the thus gave grape culturists a chance to enter new award of the committee. varieties. How do we know but Caywood’s grape, 13

for instance, the Walter, is as hardy and well were worth saving; but, growing more criti- suited to different soils as the Concord? If the cal, he discarded most of them. prize were now open the Walter might take it for aught I know. Marshall P. Wilder, a noted nineteenth century horticulturist, stated that, "Had Mr. Dr. Sylvester countered that Bull done nothing else for the benefit of mankind, than originate the Concord grape, Two years or more have elapsed since that award, his name would be held in grateful remem- and has any grape risen up that could contest the brance, while the fruit of the vine shall cool palm with the Concord? This last fall, did not Concord receive the silver cup at Cincinnati for the parched tongue, or the juice make glad the being the best wine grape, and the best table heart of man." Judge Hoar asserted that "had grape? Bull conferred such a public benefit as origi- the Concord in the Old A Mr. Fuller assured Greeley that his nating grape World, the government would have conferred its money had not been wasted: recognition upon him, whereas in his own what he had of While I agree with Mr. Greeley as to the qualities country given years patient of the Concord, yet I must say that he never put study and toil to attain, was accepted as a out $100 that has done more good to the farmers mere matter of course."" of this country. It arrested attention everywhere, Wales Bull received scant began to buy Concord vines who never Ephraim pecuni- boughtand people before. Ithas been the means of planting a ary reward for his work after selling stock to vine in 10,000, yes, 100,000 yards and gardens. Of Hovey & Company. He had sold ’Concord’ course we are not to rest in the Concord; but it is vines at so much better than no grape, besides it affords directly five dollars apiece during the the best sort of a stepping-stone to something first year, receiving a total of $3,200 in net superior. income, but almost nothing thereafter be- cause the commercial nurseries were propa- his harsh is said Despite remarks, Greeley gating and selling it to the public in vast to have the ’Concord’ "a relented, calling no " quantities and to Bull. for the millions." paying royalties grape He did garner many honors nonetheless: he was invited to lecture at Harvard on grape Life after ’Concord’ Bull’s success with ’Concord’ did not end his experimenting. On the contrary, it led him to grow twenty-two thousand seedlings over a period of thirty-seven years, of which he se- lected twenty-one for introduction. A white grape, which he believed to be the most beau- tiful he could produce, he named ’Esther’ in honor of his mother, for example; another, later production he named ’Cottage’, out of love for his home, the little house which survives to this day as "The Grapevine Cot- tage" ; yet another, ’Rockwood’, he named after his lifelong friend, Judge Ebenezer Rock- wood Hoar. ’Iona’ and ’August Rose’ were his later introductions. seed- among Many A corner of Ephraim Wales Bull’s house, showing lings he left unnamed. At one time he had one Bull’s workshed. Courtesy of the Concord Free hundred twenty-five vines that he thought Public Library. 14 ’

Bull deserved to benefit handsomely from his dedicated and painstaking work in devel- oping’Concord’, but nearly all profits from it went to the commercial nurseries. Had his later cultivars been properly introduced they might have brought him wealth, but because ’Concord’ had failed to be profitable, he hated commercial grape culture and, refusing to putt them on the market properly, grew disap- pointed and embittered. Thus, Bull had to be content with less tangible rewards: much respect and affection at home and a modest fame abroad. He saw his’Concord’spread over the continent, leav- ing great wealth in its wake, while he, its originator, grew more and more impover- ished. From a simple, frank, neighborly man he became a suspicious recluse, spending his days tending plants in a small greenhouse behind his cottage. This became the chief sol- ace of his lonely later life. Ephraim Wales Bull died on September 26, 1895. The epitaph on his grave is an apt Monument to the and ’Concord’ grape Ephraim description of his life: "HE sowED; OTHERS Wales Bull erected in front of the Grapevine Cot- REAPED."" tage and the original ’Concord’ grapevine by the town of Concord. The True Place of ’Concord’ Today, a century and a half after it was devel- growing, for example; he was elected a oped, ’Concord’ remains the preeminent member of the Massachusetts House of grape of the eastern United States. It is well Representatives from Concord and was adapted to conditions in that part of the coun- chairman of the committee on agriculture; he try, whereas the European varieties are not. later held the same position in the Massa- According to a recent survey, more than sev- chusetts Senate; and he was appointed to the enty percent of the grapes produced in the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. northeastern, north central, and northwest- The Massachusetts Horticultural Society ern states are of this cultivar. As a progenitor awarded him three medals for the production of many other cultivars’Concord’ has an even of the ’Concord’ grape and the best seedling greater claim to fame. Among the more grapes, including, in December 1873, a gold familiar cultivars of ’Concord’ parentage are medal "for the production of the best hardy ’Worden’, ’Martha’, ’Cottage’, ’Niagara’, ’Dia- seedling grape, the Concord, which has mond’, ’Moore’s Early’, ’Highland’, ’Cole- proved, after a thorough trial, so universally rain’, ’Brighton’, and ’Black Eagle’. A score of adapted to general cultivation throughout the others are either directly or indirectly linked United States, and the most reliable grape for to the family tree of ’Concord’. vineyard cultivation in Massachusetts." Other claims have been made for the Later, he became an honorary member of the ’Concord’, some of them patently false or Society. exaggerated-although no doubt made in 155

good faith-some of them true. Local folk- these that provided stocks for susceptible lore, for example, claims that ’Concord’ and vines in Europe and elsewhere, not ’Concord’ varieties derived from it "saved the vineyards or its descendants. In any event, the folklore of Europe": is in error on at least one other score: "the Emperor Napoleon" died decades before his Cuttings of ’Concord’ went to Europe directly agent is alleged to have visited Bull, and there from Ephraim Wales Bull’s own vineyard in the is no evidence that the French of late 1870s or early 1880s, when the phylloxera government was devastating the vineyards of France. An agent the time dispatched an agent or agents to of the Emperor Napoleon came to America to obtain ’Concord’ from Ephraim Wales Bull. investigate American grapes. The agent visited of the French Bull in Concord and was presented with a bunch Representatives government, of ’Concord’ cuttings. led by Pierre Viala, did visit other Americanss during those bleak years for French viticul- The phylloxera is an insect, Phylloxera ture, however, even visiting William Gilson viti folia? Fitch, that is indigenous to the east- Farlow of Harvard University, who was a ern and central United States. Imported into cryptogamic botanist, but they would have Europe between 1858 and 1863 on American had little or no reason to visit Bull. vines taken there for grafting purposes, it has Nevertheless, ’Concord’ holds a venerable since reached almost every vine-growing place in American viticulture. After nearly country in the world. The first definite record one hundred fifty years, it is still propagated that the phylloxera had reached Europe was and planted from coast to coast, and its end in made in 1863, in England; soon thereafter it nowhere near. Until ’Concord’ appeared, was identified in France, through whose vine- grape growing in eastern North America had yards it spread rapidly. Within twenty-five been difficult at best. Bull, by developing years it had destroyed nearly one-third of ’Concord’, proved that native species could France’s vineyards-in all, more than two and be employed in viticulture, and that viticul- one-half million acres. By 1885 the phyllox- ture could be made profitable in eastern era had extended to most other grape-produc- North America. ’Concord’ was only one step ing countries of Europe and had reached toward the improvement of the grape, but it Algeria, Australia, and southern Africa. It was was a crucial step. Bull’s success prompted first discovered in California in 1880, but many further efforts to adapt viticulture to there is evidence it had reached that state the trying demands of the New World. more than twenty years earlier, having been introduced along with American vines from Note east of the Rocky Mountains. Because this article is an early version of part of a larger, The truth is that ’Concord’-like Vitis 7a- ongoing project centered on the history of the ’Concord’ grape, some of the interpretations and conclusions must brusca in general-is only slightly resistant remain tentative. to the phylloxera. Other American species and cultivars derived from them are notably resistant to the phylloxera, however; it is Edmund A. Schofield is editor of Arnoldia.