Looking for American vineyards: The travel of Dr. Trèmols to the United States in 1880

The Phylloxera plague, which had already destroyed much of the French vineyard, entered the Empordà in 1879. For some time, the catastrophe was sighted, but preventive measures had not stopped its spread. In the same year, the Diputaciò de Barcelona commissioned the Professor of Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona, Dr. Frederic Trèmols I Borrell, who travelled to the United States in order to obtain seeds from American vineyards for the replanting of the vineyards of the province, while being informed of the different varieties and the feasibility of their adaptation to the Catalan territory. In this article we reconstruct, from the memory he published upon his return and the correspondence he maintained with the Diputaciò during his journey, his steps on American soil from which he embarked in Barcelona on January 4, 1880 until his return on May 24 of the same year.