Grape Man of Texas

Wisconsin Bookwatch, May, 2005

Grape Man Of Texas

Sherrie S. McLeRoy & Roy E. Renfro

Eakin Press

PO Drawer 90159, Austin TX 78709-0159

www.eakinpress.com

1571688196 $39.95 1-800-880-8642

Grape Man Of Texas is the biography of Thomas V. Munson, a Texan credited with saving the world's grape crops from the scourge of "phyloxera" more than a century ago. The collaborative work of Sherrie S. McLeRoy (former museum curator and professional author) and Roy E. Renfro (Vice President, Resource Development, Grayson County, Texas), Grape Man Of Texas chronicles the life and work of a Texas horticulturist who, working from his North Texas base, was able to develop more than three hundred new grape varieties suited for production in the climates and terrains of the Southern United States, this was in addition to his innovative grafting of "vinifera" onto certain native Texas rootstocks and thereby achieving a means of keeping the growing of grapes as a viable commercial operation in the face of the "phyloxera" epidemic of the late 1800s which almost wiped out the world's grape production. Munson was awarded numerous accolades for his achievement, including the "Chevalier du Merite Agricole" in the French Legion of Honor. This informative, recommended biography is enhanced with vintage photographs and color reproductions of Munson's life and work.