Note 61 — Chapter II · AMERICAN GRAPES

But little is known of Dr. James Mease other than that he was one of the editors of The Domestic Encyclopedia, a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society and Vice-President of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society. That he was a student of American grapes is shown in his letter of transmissal of Bartram’s paper to the Medical Repository in which he says: “It is my present intention to publish the description of one species of vine every year in Latin and English, with a coloured plate, and I had made arrangements for the publication of the first fascicle last year; but the very unfavourable season, which had prevented the ripening of the species (Bland’s Grape) I had resolved first to describe, obliging me to defer the task until the present year, when I hope the weather will prove more favourable. Medical gentlemen, and others fond of natural history, and anxious to have the description of American vines and their classification completed, will have it much in their power to assist my undertaking. I have taken measures to have the Bull or Bullet grape of Carolina and Georgia sent me; but I shall nevertheless be much indebted for any specimens of the plant that may be transmitted.”