Thomas Volney Munson

Thomas Volney Munson (September 26, 1843 – January 21, 1913) often referred to simply as T.V. Munson, was a horticulturist and breeder of grapes in Texas.

Thomas Volney Munson was born in Astoria, Illinois. He was a son of William Munson (1808-1890) and Maria (Linley) Munson (1810-1890). Munson was an 1870 graduate of the University of Kentucky. Shortly after completing his education, he married and moved to the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1873 he became interested in the improvement of the various species of grapes native to the United States and planned to do systematic work in the way of developing new varieties by cross pollination and hybridization. His experiments failed because of climatic rigors and a visitation of the Rocky Mountain locusts. Undismayed, in April 1876 Munson moved to Denison, Texas, where two of his brothers had already relocated.

While primarily remembered as horticulturist, Munson was interested in a variety of fields. He is credited with several inventions, including a primitive helicopter. He became recognized as a botanist as well as a viticulturist. He wrote Native Trees of the Southwest under the direction of the United States Department of Agriculture and submitted a similar thesis in 1883 to satisfy requirements for the master's degree at the Kentucky Agricultural College. Munson died in Denison, Texas.

Munson made extensive use of native American native grape species, and devoted a great deal of his life to collecting and documenting them. He released hundreds of named cultivars, but his work identifying American native grape (especially those from Texas) is of great significance today for their use in rootstock. Though breeding for wine quality seems to have occupied a great proportion of his effort, his work on development had the greatest impact on viticulture. This work provided European grape growers with phylloxera-resistant root stocks, allowing them to recover from the devastating epidemic of the late 19th century while still growing the ancient Vitis vinifera cultivars. These rootstocks are now used worldwide. In honor of this work, the French government named him Chevalier du Merite Agricole of the French Legion of Honor, and Cognac, France, became a sister city to Munson's home of Denison.

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