[Letter from W. E. Dancy to Roy Klotz, July 19, 1975] Page: 5 of 12
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be able to attend to all of the Munson varieties I already have, here. I am
thinking mostly of having to build trellises and lay waterling lines. But I
will try to do so. Many of tie Munson varieties are so similar to others I have,
or are so specialized that I would never choose them for my own use, will, of
course, be continued for parties in need of them. So that in the next year or
two I will begin rooting all varieties again, with the view of taking them to
Texas. But first, or coincidentally, the power will have to be laid to the pump
and I will have to lay out the proposed trellis lines. I intend to use eight-
foot steel fence posts, to which cross-arms of reinforcing steel are welded,
and so have a Munson-type trellis, which I have never gotten around to install-
ing here. I have heard the rumblings of this change of abode, for some time,
but have thought my daughter would remarry and possibly head out for Nova Scotia
or some other distant point; and of course this might happen still. About one more
major upheaval is all I can plan to undergo. For Income Tax reasons, this property
will not be transferred until I am seventy-two and can utilize the $ 20,000
Capital Gains exemption then due me. It will probably be two or three years
hence when I will actually depart, but I will dispose of-fiis property before
that.
But to return, for I have drifted: Oklahoma and Arkansas, as well
as North Texas, seem to comprise the general section where the Munson varieties
will all do well, or have done well in the past. Some of them may not like it
down on a DRIFTWOOD, Texas rural route.
When I began the search for Munson Grapes, if I could have found
six or eight, spaced evenly through the long ripening season they afford, I
would have been quite content. But the more I read of them and especially the
excitement of actually finding and acquiring them, quite overrides my actual
needs. However, once I have the varieties pretty well distributed over the country,
tjere are probably some that I will graft to something that appeals more to me.
I can not imagine I will miss much if I am deprived of a vine of ONEOVEM (One
of 'em?) or OLITATOO.
On the basis of what it has failed to do this year, and admittedly
I have it in a bad location, my largest disappointment so far has been in the case
of BRILLIANT. It has put on almost no growth and the scant, loose clusters it
set are a constant temptation to remove them to encourage vine growth; in fact,
I may do so yet. Brilliant, next to CLOETA and ELLEN SCOTT, has been my most
rampant growing cuttings venture. I must have the vine sitting on a very large,
flat rock. I once had an apple tree so situated, which effectively dwarfed it to
the degree that it never bloomed or grew beyond a shrubby structure.
Your letter is so enjoyable that I can not begin to thank you
for it. I will try to briefly cover a few of the main points brought up.
Mr. Alexander Mathers, of Matherville, Mississippi, who reputedly
has one hundred of the Munson varieties, has not, so far, responded to my April
letter inquiring their names. True, if he is a planter, he has been too busy
engage in correspondence, and may continue so until winter. Or he may not like
to write letters or fill out questionnaire forms with his variety names. On the
other hand, a man who has one hundred varieties should be keen to find the 101st.
I have enlisted the aid of'Editor John Clift - that redoubtable Munsonian - to
obtain, through his journalistic connections, a lead on Mr. Mathers, who rather
sounds like one of the Landed Gentry; who rides to the hounds and drinks the
King's health. As Clift is a very busy man, I have also appealed to my Mississ-.
ippi Operative, the able William G. Bodker, Esquire, 2636 Cliftwood Drive,
Jackson, Mississippi 39212 (whome you might like to know), who is now retired and
has made another sally for me, to Itta Bena, to find out what became of the NEVA
MUNSON vine of the late William Robinson. So, hopefully, we may know more about
Mr. Mathers' collection and what it contains we are still seeking. He seems to
have more Munson varieties than all the other known sources, combined; so he
must, of necessity, have some of thos e.still eluding us, such as A1V1YTHEST, M
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Dancy, W. E. [Letter from W. E. Dancy to Roy Klotz, July 19, 1975], letter, July 19, 1975; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1353464/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Grayson College Foundation.