A Narrative of the Life Experience And Work of An American Citizen

ring in Ipswich, which business, I pursued with success and profit until 1837. The financial troubles of 1837 caused the failure of several firms who bought most of my goods, and by such failures 1 lost most of my earnings. Disgusted and discouraged in carrying on a business the success of which depended so much upon the conduct of others, I determined to abandon it, and go west and become a farmer. My return to Ipswich gave me an opportunity to gratify my taste for horticultural pursuits, and I soon had my mother's garden filled with vines and fruit trees. In a few years I bought land and a large number of grape vines, and planted a vineyard. After several years of labor and careful culture, I became satisfied that no known good variety of the grape was suited to our soil and climate, or would succeed here. I thereupon began the search for a good native in the swamps and woods of this region. Whenever I heard of a wild vine bearing fruit called good, I invariably visited it, and 1 have travelled many miles, and for several years, through the swamps, woods, and morasses of this section, in quest of a grape worth cultivating. Some, of course, were better than others, and that all were better or earlier than the general run, were removed to my grounds, but they did not improve, or were hardly as good, when grown in the warm, dry soil of a garden. I then began to plant the seeds of these best natives, andcontinued to do so for three generations of vines, withou...