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EDWARD STANIFORD ROGERS

State of New York — Department of Agriculture

Fifteenth Annual Report — Vol. 3 — Part II

THE

GRAPES OF NEW YQRK

BY

U. p. HEDRICK

li'i'

1

ASSISTED BY ^,- v_*^

N. O. BOOTH '^ jlJ^-
O. M. TAYLOR ^

R. WELLINGTON , ^ O /\

M. J. DORSEY ^ ^ \

H

Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1907

II

ALBANY

}. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS

19 8

"p-o'ii'i

ML PLEASANT I

I r'y r-v •»

NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,

Geneva, N. Y., December 31, 1907.

To the Honorable Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experi-
ment Station :

Gentlemex. — I have the honor to submit herewith Part II of the
report of this institution for the vear 1907, to be known as The Grapes of
New York. It is the second in tlie series of fruit pubhcations whicii is now
being prepared under your authority.

This volume is the result of years of recorded observations by mem-
bers of the Station staff, to which has been added the collection of a large
amount of information from practical growers of the grape. E\^ery effort
has been made to insure completeness and accuracy of statement, and to
make the work a reliable guide as to all the varieties of grapes that are
likely to meet the attention of New York grape-growers. It is believed
that this volume will occupy a usefvil place in grape literature and will be
serviceable to an important industry in this State.

W. H. JORDAN,

Director.

f

■l>^f

of

PREFACE

The purpose of The Grapes of New York is to record the state of
development of American grapes. The title implies that the work is being
done for a locality but in this matter New York is representative of the
whole country. The contents are: Brief historical narratives of Old World
and New World grapes; an account of the grape regions and of grape-
growing in New York, with statistics relating to the grape, wine and grape
juice industries in this State; a discussion of the species of American grapes;
and the synonymy, bibliography, economic status, and full descriptions of
all of the important varieties of American grapes. In the footnotes will be
found brief biographical sketches of those persons who have contributed
most to the evolution of the grape and to grape-growing in America and
some historical and descriptive notices of certain things pertaining to the
grape which do not belong in the text and yet serve to give a better under-
standing of it or otherwise add to the completeness of the book. Color-
plates are shown of varieties which from various standpoints are considered
most important.

In the brief account of the Old World grape there is little that is new.
Its history is on record from the earliest times in the literature of nearly
all civilized peoples. A few facts, selected here and there, have been taken
to serve as an introduction to the accounts of the New World grapes. So,
too, the history of the American grape has been written by others and,
here, only the main facts have been set down as recorded in the score or
more books dealing with this fruit. A few excursions have been made in
hitherto unexplored fields. The purpose of these historical sketches is to
give the reader a proper perspective of the work in hand.

The grape is probably influenced to a greater degree by soil, climate,
and culture than any other fruit, and a discussion of its status cannot be
complete without due consideration of the environment in which it is grow-
ing. Hence there is included as full an account of grape-growing and of
the grape regions in New York as space permits. This part of the work may

VI PREFACE.

serve the prospective planter somewhat in selecting soils and locations Vnit
as it is not written with this as a chief end, it falls far short of some of the
standard treatises'on grape culture in this respect.

Comparatively few statistics are given, only those which are necessary
to show the volume of grape products and the extent of the vineyards in
the State and country at the present time. The figures for the whole
country are surpassed by those of no other native fruit, and only by corn
and tobacco among all the domesticated native plants.

The botany of the grape has been the most perplexing problem to deal
with in the preparation of this work. The variability of the grape is so
great, and the variations are so often toward closely related species, that
it is difficult to tell where one species ends and another begins. This, of
course, has led to differences in opinions. Tlien, too, the several mono-
graphers have not had the same specimens to work with ; men do not have
the same powers of discrimination; and the arrangement of botanical
groups, based upon the characters of the plants and the theory of descent
with adaptive modifications, is not governed by definite rules; hence
liotanical divisions are arbitrary and differ with the judgments of the
botanists who make them. For these reasons we liave as many different
arrangements of species of grapes as there are men who have worked them

over.

Since this work is not written from the standpoint of the botanist
but of the horticulturist, no effort has been made to revise the botany of
the grape. But it has been necessary to select some arrangement of species
in order to make such disposition of the cultivated varieties that their
characters and relationships can best be shown. In making a choice of
the several recent classifications of American grapes, three main considera-
tions have been in mind: First, that the arrangement should separate the
species in the genus freely, thus decreasing the size of the groups so that
they may be more easily studied. Second, that it should show as clearly
as possible the relationships of the various groups and of their development —
the evolution of the grape. Third, that it be an arrangement in good stand-
ing with botanists and horticulturists. After having examined all American
classifications of grapes and all recent European ones, Bailey's classifica-
tion, as set forth in his monograph of the Vitaceae in Gray's Synoptical

PREFACE. Vll

Flora, in the Evolution of our Native Fruits, and in the Cyclopedia of
American Horticulture, was adopted.

The Grapes of New York makes its chief contribution to the pomology
of the country in the description of varieties. The authors have tried to
study varieties from every point of view, not alone nor chiefly, it must be
said, with regard to their cultural value; for most of the varieties pass out
of cultivation and such information would be worthless within a few years
at most. But, rather, the effort has been to determine what elementary
or unit characters the grape possesses as shown in its botanical and horti-
cultural groups. The Twentieth Century begins with the unanimous judg-
ment of scientists that the characters of plants are independent entities
which are thrown into various relationships with each other in individuals
and groups of individuals. This conception of unit characters lies at the
foundation of plant improvement. We are Vjut beginning the breeding of
American grapes and it has seemed to the writer that the most important
part of this undertaking is to discover and record as far as possible these
tmit characters of grapes, thereby aiding to furnish a foundation for grape-
breeding. The great problem of plant-breeding in the future will be to
correlate the characters known to exist in the plant being improved : we
must know what these are before we begin to combine and rearrange them.

The varieties are arranged alphabetically throughout, though, were
present knowledge exact enough, it would be far better to arrange them
in natural groups. Such a classification is probably possible, but it
remains for future workers to search out the relationships which the stnic-
tures and qualities of plant and fruit indicate and to group the varieties
naturally rather than alphabetically. Wherever possible in this work,
however, the relationships of varieties have been indicated as fully as
knowledge permits, thus making a start toward natural classification.

In the lists of synonyms given, all known names for a variety used in
the American literature of the grape are brought together. These lists
ought to be useful in correcting and simplifying the nomenclature of the
grape which, like that of all of our fruits, is in more or less confusion. It is
hoped that the work may become a standard guide, for some time to come
at least, in the identification of varieties and in nomenclature, and that
it will aid originators of new grapes and nurserymen in avoiding the dupli-

via PREFACE.

cation of names. In matters pertaining to nomenclature, the revised
rules of the American Pomological Society have t>een followed, though in
a few cases it has not seemed best to make changes which their strict
observance would have recjuired. The necessity for rules is shown by an
examination of the synonymy of any considerable number of varieties as
given in the body of the work. In .some cases varieties have from ten
to twenty names and very often different varieties are found to have the
same name. This chaotic condition is confusing and burdensome and it
has been one of the aims in the preparation of the work to set straight the
horticultural nomenclature of the grape, thus lessening the difficult}' and
uncertainty of identification and making the comparative study of varieties
easier.

It would be impossible, and not worth while, could it be done, to give
all of the references to be found in even the standard grape literature.
Only such have been given as have been found useful by the writers or as
would serve to give the future student of the literature of grape varieties
a working basis.

A brief history of each varietv' is given so far as it can be determined
by correspondence and from grape literature. In these historical sketches
the originator and his method of work justl)' receive most attention. The
place, date and circumstances of origin, the distributor, and the present
distribution of the variet}% are given when known and are of about equal
importance in the plan of this work.

The technical descriptions of grapes are all first-hand and made by
members of the present horticultural department of the Station from
living plants. But rarely has it been necessary to go to books for any one
character of a vine or fruit though the leading authorities have been con-
sulted in the final writing of the descriptions and modifications made when
the weight of authoritv has been against the records of the Station. Some
differences mvist be expected between descriptions of varieties made in
dift'erent years, different localities and by different men. For most part
the varieties described are growing on the Station grounds but every oppor-
tunity has been taken to study several specimens of each variety and
especialh' of the fruit. In many instances the descriptions have been sub-
mitted to the originators, introducers, or to some recognized grape specialist.

PREFACE. IX

A number of considerations have governed the selection of varieties
for full descriptions. These are: First, the value of a variety for the com-
mercial or amateur grower for any part of the State as determined by the
records of this Station, by reports collected from over 2000 grape-growers,
and by published information from whatever source. Second, the prob-
able value of new sorts as determined by their behavior elsewhere. Third,
to show combinations of species or varieties, or new characters hitherto
unknown in fruit c^r vine, or to portra)' the range in variation, or to suggest
to the ])lant-breeder a course of future development. Fourth, a few sorts
have been described because of their historical value — for the retrospec-
tion of the grape-grower of the present and the future. It is needless to
say that manv of the varieties described are worthless to the cultivator.

In all of the descriptions the effort has been to depict living plants
and not things existing only in books; to give a pen picture of them that
will show all of their characters. An attempt has been made, too, to show
the breeding of the plants, their relationships; to show what combination
of characters exist in the different groups of varieties; to designate, as far
as possible, the plastic types; in short to show grapes as variable, plastic
plants capable of further improvement and not as unchangeable organ-
isms restricted to definite forms.

It is hoped that the color-plates will be of great service in illustrating
the text. All possible means at the command of photography and color
printing have been used to make them exact reprodtictions. The speci-
mens, too, have Vjeen selected with the utmost care. In preparing these
illustrations the thought has been that technical descriptions, however
simply written, are not easily understood, and that the readiest means of
comparison and identification for the average reader would be found in
the color-plates. Through these and the accompanying descriptions it is
hoped that all who desire may accj^uire, with time and patience, a knowl-
edge of the botanical characters of grapes and thereby an understanding
of the technical descriptions. The plates have been made under the per-
sonal supervision of the writer.

With all care possible, due allowance must yet be made for the failure
to reproduce nature exactly in the color-plates. The plates are several
removes from the fruit. Four negatives were taken of each subject with

X PREFACE.

a color filter between the lens and the fruit. A copper plate was made
from each negative, one for each of the fot;r colors, red, yellow, black and
blue. The color-plates in the book are composed of these four colors, com-
bined by the camera, the artist, the horticulturist and the printer. With
all of these agencies between the fruit and the color-plate they could not be
exact reproductions. It must ever be in mind, too, that grapes grown in
different localities vary more or less in all characters and that the repro-
duction can represent the fruit from but one locality. The specimens from
which the plates were made came for most part from the Station grounds.
The illustrations are life size and as far as possible from average specimens.
Acknowledgments are due to Professor Spencer A. Beach of Ames,
Iowa, who, while in charge of this Department previous to August, 1905,
had begun the collection and organization of information on grapes, much
of which has been used in this volume; to Mr. F. H. Hall, who as Station
Editor has read the manuscripts and proof sheets and given much valuable
assistance in organizing the information presented; to Zeese- Wilkinson &
Co., through whose zeal and painstaking skill the color-plates, which add
so much to the beauty and value of the book, have been made; and lastly
to the grape-growers of New York who have given information whenever
called upon and who have generously furnished grapes for descriptive and

photographic work.

U. P. HEDRICK,

Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE.

Preface v

Index to Illustrations xiii

Chapter I.— The Old World Grape i

Chapter II. — American Grapes. 26

Chapter III.— The Viticulture of New York 68

Chapter IV. — Species of American Grapes 95

Chapter V. — The Leading Varieties of American Grapes 157

Chapter VI. — The Minor Varieties of American Grapes 433

Bibliography and References with Abbreviations Used 531

Index 537

XI

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of Edward Staniford Rogers : . . . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Agawam 158

America 168

Aminia 170

August Giant 172

Bacchus 174

Barry 178

Berckmans 182

Black Eagle 184

Black Hamburg (reduced size) 186

Brighton 192

Brilliant 194

Campbell Early 196

Canada 200

Carman 202

Catawba 204

Champion 210

Clinton 214

Colerain 218

Concord 220

Cottage 222

Creveling 2-24

Croton 226

Cynthiana 228

Delaware 232

Diamond 236

Diana 238

Downing 242

Dracut Amber 244

Dutchess 246

XIV INDEX TO ILLUSTRATION'S.

FACING PAGE

Early Ohio 248

Early Victor 250

Eaton 252

Eclipse 254

Elvira 260

Empire State 262

EUMELAN 266

Goethe 276

GoFF 278

Grein Golden 282

Hartford 284

Headlight 288

Herbert 292

Hercules 294

Hidalgo 296

Highland 298

Hybrid Franc 300

loNA 302

Ironclad 306

Isabella 308

Ives 312

James 314

Janesville 316

Jefferson 318

Jewel 320

Kensington 322

Lady 324

Lady Washington 326

Lindley 330

LUCILE 33^

Lutie 334

McPiKE 336

Manito 338

Marion 340

Massasoit 342

Merrimac 346

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. XV

FACING PAGE

Mills 348

Missouri Riesling 350

montefiore 352

Moore Early 352

MOYER 354

Muscat Hamburg (reduced size) 356

Nectar 358

Niagara 360

Noah 362

Norton 366

Othello 3 74

pocklington 380

Red Eagle 384

Rochester 388

Rommel 392

Rupestris du Lot 114

Salem 398

Senasqua 402

Triumph 412

Ulster 4^4

Vergennes 416

VlTIS AESTIWALIS, ShOOT OF. 138

ViTis, Canes of Species of loo

ViTis, Flowers of 104

VlTIS LABRUSCA, ShOOT OF 150

ViTis RiPARiA, Shoot of ii8

VlTIS ROTUXDIFOLIA, ShOOT OF 108

VlTIS, Seeds of Species of 102

VlTIS VINIFERA, ShOOT OF 154

Walter 420

Wilder 424

Winchell 426

Woodruff 428

WORDEN 430

Wyoming 432

Wyoming, Shoot of 152

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK

CHAPTER I

THE OLD WORLD GRAPE

A single species of the grape is cultivated in the Old World. This is
Vitis vinifera, the grape of ancient and modern agriculture, the vine of the
allegories of sacred record and of the myths, fables and poetry of the Old
World countries. It is the vine which Adam and Eve cared for: —
" * * * they led the vine
To wed his elm; * * *." Milton.
It is the vine which Noah planted after the deluge; the vine of Judah
and Israel, and of the promised land. Dionysus of the Greeks, Bacchus of
the Romans, found the grape and devoted his life to spreading it; for which
he was raised to the rank of a deity — • god of vines and vintages. The
history of this grape is as old as that of mankind. It has followed civilized
man from place to place throughout the world and is one of the chief culti-
vated plants of temperate climates. This fruit of sacred and profane
literature has so impressed itself upon the human mind that when we think
or speak of the grape, or vine, it is the Old World species, the vine of
antiquity, that presents itself.

The history of the Old World grape goes back to prehistoric times.
Seeds of the grape are found in the remains of the Swiss lake dwellings of
the Bronze Period and entombed with the mummies of Egypt. Its printed
history is as old as that of man and is interwritten with it. According to
the botanists, the probable habitat of V-itis vinifera is the region about the
Caspian Sea.' From here it was carried eastward into Asia and westward
into Europe and Africa. It is probable that the Phoenicians, the earliest
navigators, tradesmen and colonizers on the Mediterranean, carried it to
the countries bordering on this sea. Grape culture was developed in this

' De Candolle, Alphonse. Origin of Cultivated Plants: 191. 1882.

I

2 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

region a thousand years before Christ, for Hesiod, who wrote at this time,
gave directions for the care of the vine which need to be changed but httle
for present practice in Europe. PHn}', writing a thousand years after,
quotes Hesiod as an authority on vine culture. Vergil and Pliny, during
Christ's time, gave specific directions for the care of the vine. Vergil
describes fifteen varieties while Pliny gives even fuller descriptions of
ninety-one varieties and distinguishes fifty kinds of wine.

The authentic written history of the grape and of its culture really
begins with Vergil. Many other writers, Greeks and Romans, had dis-
cussed the vine, but none so fully nor so well as Vergil in his Georgics, of
which the parts having to do with the vine may still be read with profit by
the grape-grower; as, for example, the following' in which he tells how to
cultivate and train: —

" Be mindful, when thou hast entomb'd the shoot,

With store of earth around to feed the root;

With iron teeth of rakes and prongs, to move

The crusted earth, and loosen it above.

Then e.xercise thy sturdy steers to plow

Between thy vines, and teach the feeble row

To mount on reeds, and wands, and, upward led,

On ashen poles to raise their forky head,

On these new crutches let them learn to walk,

'Till, swerving upwards with a stronger stalk,

They brave the winds, and, clinging to their guide,

On tops of elms at length triumphant ride."-

His directions for pruning are equally fitting for present practice: —

" But in their tender nonage, while they spread
Their springing leaves, and lift their infant head,
And upward while they shoot in open air.
Indulge their childhood, and the nurslings spare;

' Translation of Dryden.

^ Perhaps the most marked distinguishing feature between ancient and modern grape-growing
is the training of vines to trees as indicated in the above verse. Pliny says of this practice: " In
Campania they attach the vine to the poplar; embracing the tree to which it is thus wedded, the
vine grasps the branches with its amorous arms, and as it climbs, holds on with its knotted trunk
till it has reached the very summit ; the height being sometimes so stupendous that the vintager
when hired, is wont to stipulate for his funeral pile and grave at the owner's expense."

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 3

Nor exercise thy rage on new-born life;
But let thy hand supply the pruning knife,
And crop luxuriant stragglers, nor be loth
To strip the branches of their leafy growth.
But when the rooted vines with steady hold
Can clasp their elms, then, husbandman, be bold
To lop the disobedient boughs, that strayed
Beyond their ranks; let crooked steel invade
The lawless troops, which discipline disclaim.
And their surperfluous growth with rigor tame."

The history of the development of the vine from Vergil's time through
the early centuries of the Christian Era and of the Middle Ages to our own
day, is largely the history of agriculture in the southern European countries;
for the vine during this period has been the chief cultivated plant of the
Greek and Latin nations. This history should furnish most instructive
lessons in grape-growing and in grape-breeding.

But interesting and profitable as a detailed account of the development
of the Old World grape would be, the brief outline in the few preceding para-
graphs must suffice for this work. The reader who desires further informa-
tion may find it in the agricultural literature in many languages and dating
back two thousand years.

What are the characters of the European grape and how does it differ
from the native grapes of America? The Old World grape is grown for
wine; the American grapes for the table. The differences in the fruit of
the vines of the two continents are largely the differences necessary for the
two distinct purposes for which they are grown. The varieties of Vitis
vinifera have a higher sugar and solid content than do those of the American
species. Because of this richness in sugar they not only make better wine
but keep much longer and can be made into raisins. The American grapes
do not keep well and do not make good raisins. Taken as a whole the
European varieties are better flavored, possessing a more delicate and a
richer vinous flavor, a more agreeable aroma, and they lack the acidity
and somewhat obnoxious foxy odor and taste of many American varieties.
It is true that there is a disagreeable astringency in some Vinifera grapes
and that many varieties are without character of flavor, yet, all and all,
the species produces by far the better flavored fruit. On the other hand,

4 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

American table grapes are more refreshing; one does not tire of them so
quickly as they do not cloy the appetite as do the richer grapes; and the
unfermented juice makes a much more pleasant drink. The characteristic
flavor and aroma of the varieties of Vitis labrnsca, our most commonly
cultivated native species, are often described by the terms "foxy"' or
" musky." If not too pronounced this foxiness is often very agreeable
though, as with the flavor in many exotic fruits, the liking for it must
often be acquired, and of course may never be acquired; }-et the universal
condemnation of this taste by the French and some other Europeans is
sheer prejudice. The bunches and berries of the European grape are
larger, more attractive in appearance, and are borne in greater quantity,
vine for vine or acre for acre. The pulp and skin of the berries of Vitis
vinifera are less objectionable than those of any native species and the pulp
separates more easily from the seeds. The berries do not shell from the
stem nearly so quickly, hence the bunches ship better.

In comparing the vines, those of the Old World grape are more compact
in habit, make a shorter and stouter annual growth, therefore require less
pruning and training. The roots are fleshier, and more fibrous. The
species, taken as a whole, is adapted to far more kinds of soil, and to much
greater differences in environment, and is more easily propagated from
cuttings, than most of the species of American grapes. The cultivated forms
of the wild vines of this country have few points of superiority over their

^ Bailey gives the following interpretation of the word " fox " and its derivatives as applied
to grapes: " The term fox-grape was evidently applied to various kinds of native grapes in the early
days, although it is now restricted to the Vitis labrusca of the Atlantic slope. Several explanations
have been given of the origin of the name fox-grape, some supposing that it came from a belief that
foxes eat the grapes, others that the odor of the grape suggests that of the fox — ■ an opinion to which
Beverly subscribed nearly two centuries ago — and still others thinking that it was suggested by
some resemblance of the leaves to a fox's track. William Bartram, writing at the beginning of this
century, in the Medical Repository, is pronounced in his convictions: ' The strong, rancid smell of
its ripe fruit, very like the effluvia arising from the body of the fox, gave rise to the specific name
of this vine, and not, as many have imagined, from its being the favourite food of the animal; for
the fox (at least the American species) seldom eats grapes or other fruit if he can get animal food.'
I am inclined to suggest, however, that the name may have originated from the lively foxing or
intoxicating qualities of the poor wine which was made from the wild grapes. At the present day
we speak of ' foxiness ' when we wish to recall the musk-like flavor of the wild Vitis labrnsca; but
this use of the term is of later origin, and was suggested by the name of the grape." Bailey, L. H.
Evolution of Our Native Fruits: 5. 1S98.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 5

relative from the eastern hemisphere, but these few are such as to make
them now and probably ever the only grapes possible to cultivate in America
in the commercial vineyards east of the Rocky Mountains. Indeed, but
for the fortunate discover\- that the vine of Vitis vinifera could be grown
on the roots of any one of several species of the American grapes, the vine-
5'ards of the Old World grape would have been almost wholly destroyed
within the last half century because of one of its weaknesses. This destruct-
ive agent is the phylloxera,' a tiny plant louse working on the leaf and root
of the grape, which in a few years wholly destroys the European vine but
does comparatively little harm to most of the American vines. Three other
pests ai^e much more harmful in the Old World vinevards than to the vines
of the New World; these are black-rot {Giiignardia bidwellii (Ell.) V. & R.),
downy mildew (Plasniopara viticola (B. & C.) Berl. & De Toni), and powdery
mildew ( Uncinnla nccator (Schw.) Burr.).

The susceptibility of the Old World grape to these parasites debars
it from cultivation in eastern America and so effectually that there is but
little hope of any pure-bred variety of it ever being grown in this region.
American viticulture must, therefore, depend upon the native species for
its varieties, though it may be hoped that by combining the good qualities

' The phylloxera {Phylloxera vastatrix Planch.) has four forms: the leaf-gall form, the root
form, the winged form, and the sexual form. Individual leaf insects produce from 500 to 600 eggs,
the root insect about 100, the winged insect from 3 to 8, and the sexual insect but i. The last is laid
in the fall on old wood; the following spring a louse hatches from it and at once goes to the upper
surface of a leaf and inserts its beak. The irritation thus produced causes a gall to form on the lower
side of the leaf. In fifteen days the louse becomes a full-grown wingless female and proceeds to fill
the gall with eggs after which it dies. In about a week females hatch from the eggs and migrate to
form new colonies. Several generations of females occur in a summer. At the approach of winter
the lice go into the ground where they remain dormant until spring when they attack the roots
forming galls analogous to those on the leaves and passing through a series of generations similar to
those above ground. In the fall of the second year some of the root forms give rise to winged
females which fly to neighboring vines. These lay eggs in groups of two or four on the wood of
the grape. The eggs are of two sizes; from the smaller size, males hatch in nine or ten days;
from the larger, females. In the sexual stage no food is taken and the insects quickly pair. The
female produces an egg which fills its entire body and after three or four days lays it, this being the
winter egg, the beginning of the cycle.

There are no remedies worthy the name and the only efficient preventive is to graft susceptible
varieties on resistant stocks. Species are resistant about in the order named: V. rotundifolia, V.
Ttparia, V. rupestris, V. cordijolia, V. bcrlandicri, V. cinerea, V. aestivalis, V. candicans, V. labrusca,
V. vinifera.

6 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

of the foreign grape with those of one or several of the species of this country,
or by combining and rearranging the best characters of the native species,
we may in time secure varieties equal in all respects to those of the Old
World. The comparative resistance of the American species to the phyl-
loxera, the mildews, and black-rot has been due to natural selection in the
contest that has been waged for untold ages between host and parasite.
The fact that the native species have been able to survive and thrive is a
guarantee of the permanence of the resistance thus acquired.

We have said that the Old World grape is debarred from cultivation
in eastern America. It is worth while considering how thorough the
attempts to grow it in this region have been and to give a more exact account
of the failures and their causes, for there are yet those who are attempting
its culture with the hope that we may sometime grow some offshoot of
Vitis vinifera in the region under consideration.

It is probable that the first European grapes planted in what is now
American soil, were grown by the Spanish padres at the old missions in
New Mexico, Arizona and California. Early accounts of some of these
missions speak of grapes which must have been planted before settlements
were made in eastern America. We need take no further account of these
vineyards except to say that in this region the European grape has always
been grown successfully, and that under the skilled hands of the mission
fathers, ever notable vineyardists and wine-makers, these early plantings
must have succeeded.

The English were the first to plant the Old World grape in the territory
in which this species fails because of the attacks of native parasites. Lord
Delaware seems to liave been the original promoter of grape-growing in the
New World. In 1616 he wrote to the London Company urging the culture
of the grape as a possible source of revenue for the new colony.' His
letter seems to have been convincing, for it is on record that the Company
in 16 19 sent a number of French vine-dressers and a collection of the best

' Delaware wrote as follows: " In every boske and hedge, and not farr from our pallisade gates
we have thousands of goodly vines running along and leaving to every tree, which yealds a plentiful
grape in their kinde. Let me appeale, ':hen, to knowledge if these naturall vines were planted, dressed
and ordered by skilfull vinearoons, whether we might not make a perfect grape and fruitfuU vintage
in short time?" Delaware's Relation. Brown's Genesis of the United States. 1611.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 7

varieties of the grapes of France to Virginia. The Colonial Assembly
showed quite as much solicitude in encouraging the cultivation of the vine
as did the Company in London. The year of the importation of vines and
vine-dressers, 1619, the Assembly passed an act compelling every house-
holder to plant ten cuttings and to protect them from injury and stated that
the landowners were expected to acquire the art of dressing a vineyard,
either through instruction or by observation. The Company, to increase
the interest in vine-growing, showed marked favors to all who undertook
it with zealousness; promises of servants, the most valuable gifts that
could be made to the colonists, were frequent. Under the impulse thus
given vineyards were planted containing as many as ten thousand vines.'

In spite of a rich soil, congenial climate, and skilled vine-dressers,
nothing of importance came from the venture, some of the historians of
the time attributing the failure to the massacre of 1622; others to poor
management of the vines; and still others to disagreements between the
English and their French vine-dressers, who, it was claimed, concealed their
knowledge because they worked as slaves. It is probable that the latter
explanation was fanciful but the former must have been real for we are
told that the farms and outlying settlements were abandoned after the
great massacre. But the colony could hardly have recovered from the
ravages of the Indians before efforts to force the colonists to grow grapes
were again made; for in 1623 the Assembly passed a law that for every
four men in the colony a garden should be laid off a part of which was to be
planted to vines.'

In 1639 the Assembly again tried to encourage vine-growing by legis-
lative enactment, this time with an act giving a premium to successful grape-
growers.' Later, about 1660, a premium of ten thousand pounds of tobacco
was offered in Virginia for each " two tunne of wine " from grapes raised
in the colony. Shortly after, some wine was exported to England but

'Discourse of the Old Company, British Stale Papers, Vol. 111:40. See Virginia Magazine
of History, Vol. I ; 1 5 9 .

-Laws and Orders of Assembly, Feb. 16, 1623. McDonald Papers, Vol. 1:97. Va. State
Library.

' The clause in this act reads: " That all workers upon corne and tobacco shall this spring plant
five vyne plants per pol, and the next year, before the first day of March, 20 per pol, upon penaltie
to forfeite one barrell of corne for every one that shall make default."

8 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

whether made from wild i^lants or cultivated ones does not appear. In
spite of the encouragement of legislative acts, grape-growing did not flourish
in Virginia.' The fact that tobacco was a paying crop and more easily
grown than the grape may have had something to do with the failure to
grow the latter. Or it may have been that the cheapness of Madeira, " a
noble strong drink," as one of the Colonial historians puts it, had a depressing
influence on the industry. But still more likely, the foreign plants did
not thrive.

Encouragement of the home production of wine did not cease in Virginia
for at least one hundred and fifty years; for in 1769 an enactment of the
Assembly was passed to encourage wine-making in favor of one Andrew
Estave, a Frenchman. As a result of the act of this time, land was pur-
chased, buildings erected, and slaves and workmen with a complete outfit
for wine-making were furnished Estave. The act provided that if he made
within six years ten hogsheads of merchantable wine — land, houses, slaves,
the whole plant was to be given to him. It is stated that this unusual
subsidy is made " as a reward for so useful an improvement." Estave
succeeded in making the wine but it was poor stuff and he had difficulty in
getting the authorities to turn over the property which was to be his reward
This was finalh^ done by an act of the Assembly, however, the failure to
make good wine being attributed by all parties to the " unfitness of the
land."

An attempt was made to cultivate the European grape in Virginia
early in the eighteenth century on an extensive scale. Soon after taking
office as governor in 17 10, Alexander Spotswood brought over a colony of

' Roger Beverly, writing a century later, describes the early grape-growing in Virginia as follows:
" The Year before the Massacre, Anno 1622, which destroyed so many good projects for Virginia;
some French vignerons were sent thither to make an experiment of their vines. These people were
so in love with the country, that the character they then gave of it in their letters to the company
in England, was very much to its advantage, namely: ' That it far excelled their own country of
Languedoc, The vines growing in great abundance and variety all over the land; that some of the
grapes were of that unusual bigness, that they did not believe them to be grapes, until by opening
them they had seen their kernels; that they had planted the cuttings of their vines at Michaelmas,
and had grapes from those very cuttings, the spring following. Adding in the conclusion, that they
had not heard of the like in any other country." Neither was this out of the way, for I have
made the same experiment, both of their natural vine, and of the plants sent thither from England."'
Beverly's Virginia, Second Edition: 107. 1722.

THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK. 9

Germans from the Rhine and settled them in Spottsylvania County on the
Rapidan river. The site of their village on this river is now marked by a
ford, Germania Ford, a name which is a record of the settlement. That
they grew grapes and made wine is certain, for the Governor's " red and
white Rapidan, made by his Spottsylvania Germans " is several times
mentioned in the pul^lished journals and letters of the time. But the venture
did not make a deep nor lasting impress on the agriculture of the colony.'

Several early attempts were made in the Carolinas and Georgia to
grow the Vinifera grape. It was thought, in particular, that the French
Huguenots who settled in these states in large numbers toward the close of
the seventeenth century would succeed in grape-growing but even these
skilled vine-growers failed. Their failures are recorded by Alexander
Hewitt in 1779 as follows: " European grapes have been transplanted, and
several attempts made to raise wine; but so overshaded are the vines
planted in the woods, and so foggy is the season of the year when they
ripen, that they seldom come to maturity, but as excellent grapes have been
raised in gardens where they are exposed to the sun, we are apt to believe
that proper methods have not been taken for encouraging that branch of
agriculture, considering its great importance in a national view." In
Georgia, Abraham De Lyon, encouraged by the authorities of the colony,
imported vines from Portugal and planted them at Savannah early in the
eighteenth century but his attempt, though carried out on a small scale
in a garden, soon failed.

In Maryland, if the records are correct, a greater degree of success
was attained than in the states to the south. Lord Charles Baltimore,
son of the grantee of the territory, in 1662 planted three hundred acres of
land in St. Mary's to vines. It is certain that he made and sold wine in
considerable quantities and the old chroniclers report that it was as good
as the best Burgundy. Efforts to grow the European grape in Maryland
continued until as late as 1828 when the Maryland Society for Promoting
the Culture of the Vine was incorporated by the State Legislature." The
object of the Society was to " carry on experiments in the cultivation of
both the European and native grapes and to collect and disseminate all

' Fiske, John. Old Virginia and Her Neighbors. Vol. 11:372, 385.
'American Farmer, Baltimore, 11:35. 1829-30. 76., 12:396. 1830-31.

10 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

possible information upon this interesting subject." The organization was
in existence for several years and through its exertions practically all of the
native sorts were tried in or about Baltimore as well as many seedlings.
Besides the achievements of the Society as a body, their Secretary reports
in 1 83 1 that, through the individual efforts of its members, there were
then under cultivation near the city of Baltimore several vineyards of
from three to ten acres each and a great number of smaller ones. This
was several years after the introduction of the Catawba and Isabella for
which grape-growers in other parts of the United States had largely given
up the Vinifera sorts. Seemingly in every part of the Union the grape
of the Old World was tried, not once only, but time and again before its
culture could be given up.

The Swedes made some attempts at an early day to grow grapes on
the Delaware. Queen Christina instructed John Printz, governor of New
Sweden, to encourage the " culture of the vine " and to give the industry
his personal attention. Later when New Sweden had become a part of
Pennsylvania, William Penn encouraged vine-growing by importing cut-
tings of French and Spanish vines; and several experimental vineyards
were set out in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, but all efforts to estab-
lish bearing plantations came to naught. Penn's interest in grape-growing
seems to have been greatly stimulated by wine made by a friend of his
from native grapes which grew about Germantown.

There are no detailed accounts of grape-growing by the Dutch of New
York but the following taken from the writings of Jasper Dankers and
Peter Sluyter, two Hollanders who visited New York in 1679, soon after
the English took possession of New Netherland, indicates that there had
been attempts to cultivate grapes.' " I went along the shore to Coney
Island, which is separated from Long Island only by a creek, and around
the point, and came inside not far from a village called Gravesant, and
again home. We discovered on the roads several kinds of grapes still on
the vines, called speck (pork) grapes, which are not always good, and these
were not; although they were sweet in the mouth at first, they made it
disagreeable and stinking. The small blue grapes are better, and their

' Dankers, Jasper, and Sluyter, Peter. Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80: 130.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. II

vines grow in good form. Although they have several times attempted to
plant vineyards, and have not immediately succeeded, they, nevertheless,
have not abandoned the hope of doing so by and by, for there is always
some encouragement, although they have not, as yet, discovered the cause
of the failure." The ''speck " grape was without question Vitis labrusca
and the small blue grape was probably Vitis riparia.

Thirty years before the visit of Bankers and Sluyter the people of
New Netherland addressed a remonstrance to the home government regard-
ing certain abuses in the colony. This document ' is headed with a chapter
on the productions of New Netherland in which the wild grapes are men-
tioned and their cultivation is suggested. "Almost the whole country, as
well the forest as the maize lands and flats, is full of vines, but principally
— as if they had been planted there — around and along the banks of the
brooks, streams and rivers which course and flow in abundance very con-
veniently and agreeably all through the land. The grapes are of many
varieties; some white, some blue, some very fleshy and fit only to make
raisins of; some again are juicy, some very large, others on the contrary
small; their juice is pleasant and some of it white, like French or Rhenish
Wine; that of others, again, a very deep red, like Tent; some even paler;
the vines run far up the trees and are shaded by their leaves, so that the
grapes are slow in ripening and a little sour, but were cultivation and
knowledge applied here, doubtless as fine Wines would then be made as
in any other wine growing countries."

NicoUs, the first English governor of New York, greatly desired to
grow the vine for wine-making. In 1664 he granted Paul Richards a
monopolv of the industry for the colony stipulating that he could make
and sell wines free of impost and gave him the right to tax any person
planting vines in the colony five shillings per acre.- Richards lived in the

^Documents Relating to the Colonial History of tlie State of New York, Holland Documents,
1603-1656. Vol. I;277.

^ The grant of the bounty is recorded in Volume II, Deeds of New York, page 87, on file in the
ofHce of the Secretary of State at Albany. It runs as follows: —

" Whereas Paul Richards an inhabitant of this Citty of New York hath made knowne to mee
his intent to plant vines at a certaine Plantation that hee hath upon Long Island, called the little
fRefe, which if it succeed, may redound very much to the future benefitt and advantage of the inhabit-
ants within this Government; and in regard, it will require much labour and a considerable charge

12 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

city of New York but his vineyard, as indicated in the grant, was located
on Long Island. It may be assumed that this was the first attempt to
grow grapes commercially in the State of New York. It would seem that
the governor by granting a monopoly of the grape and wine industry took
the surest means of killing the infant industr\'. The Earl of Bellomont, a
later governor of the Colony, wrote to London with assurances of a great
future of viticulture in the Colony.' For over a century after, there were
spasmodic efforts to grow the Old World grape in and about New York
Citv, and at the beginning of the Revolutionary War there were a few small
vineyards and some wine-making on Manhattan Island.

There were many attempts to grow foreign grapes in New England.
John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, had planted a
vineyard in one of the islands, known as " Governor's Garden," in Boston
Harbor before 1630. Vine-planters were sent to this colony in 1629.-

to provide vines and to p'pare the ground and make it fitt for production of wines ; fifor an Encouragemt
to the said Paul Richards in his proceedings therein, I have thought fitt to grant unto him these
following privileges (viz.)

" That all wines of the growth of such vines as the said Paul Richards shall plant, or cause to
bee planted at the place aforesaid, shall be free from any kind of impositions for ever if sold in grosse,
and not by retaile:

" That the said Paul Richards, his heirs, executors, or assignes shall have the privilege to have
such wines sold by retaile in any one house in New York for the term of thirty years to come, from
the time of the first selling of his wines, free from all imposts or excise :

" That every person who shall hereafter for thirty years to come, plant vines within any place in
this Government, shall upon the first yeares improvement pay unto the said Paul Richards, his heirs,
executors, or assignes, five shillings for every acre so planted as an acknowledgement of his being
the first undertaker and planter of vines in these parts. For the confiirmacon of the privileges above
specified, I have hereunto put my hand and seale.

" Given at ffort James in New York this loth day of January, 1664. RIC. NICOLLS."

' Bellomont's letter is as follows: " As to propagating vines in these plantations to supply all
of the dominions of the Crown, I can easily make that appear. In the first place Nature has given
us an index in these Plantations that points to us what may be done in that by the help of art. There
grows wild grapes in all of the woods here in very great abundance ; I have observed them in many
places but especially above Albany on the side of the Hudson river where the vines all along twine
around great trees and fair clusters of grapes appear som'--times above 30 foot from the ground. I
have eaten of the wild grapes which I thought tastefull enough, only somewhat harsh as an effect
of their wildness." Then follows an account of how the French had previously made wine in Canada
but that the Court of France had forbade its being made fearing that it might be prejudicial to the
•wine trade of the French. Earl of Bellomont to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 28, 1700. Documents
Relating to Colonial History of the State of Neu.' York, 4:787-

■ Francis Higginson wrote in 1630: " excellent Vines are here up and downe in the Woods.
Our Governour hath already planted a Vineyard with great hope of encrease."

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I3

There were plantations at the mouth of the Piscataqua in Maine as early
or before Winthrop's plantings were made. In granting a charter to
Rhode Island in 1663, Charles II sought to encourage viticulture in that
State by offering liberal inducements to colonists who would grow grapes
and make wine.' But if grapes were grown, or wine made from the foreign
grape, no great degree of success was attained. Wine was made in plenty
from the wild grapes in all of the New England colonies so that it was not
because of Puritanical prejudices against wine that the grapes were not
grown. The glowing terms in which travelers returning to England
spoke of the native grapes and of the wine from them undoubtedly stimu-
lated those founding the colonies to make every effort to introduce the
cultivated grape even though the cold, bleak climate and thin soils of this
northern region were inhospitable to a plant which thrives best in the
sunny southern portions of Europe.

In only one of the states east of the Rockies is grape-growing recorded
to have gained even a foothold before the introduction of varieties of native
grapes. In this instance there is much doubt as to whether the varieties
grown were pure-bred Vitis vinijera. Louisiana, while owned by France,
grew grapes and made wine in such quantities, and the wine was of such
high quality, so several of the old chroniclers say, that the French govern-
ment forbade grape-growing in the colony. Since the wine-making was
in the hands of the Jesuits who had learned the art in Europe, and since
there were no cultivated varieties of native grapes at that time of which
there is record, the presumption among the early writers was that these
vineyards were of European grapes. Louisiana, however, was a vast and
undefined region and it is not known where these oft-mentioned vine-
yards were located. It is probable in the light of what we now know
that these Louisiana Jesuits made wine from native grapes either wild or
cultivated.

The time covered so far is the two hundred years in which America
was being colonized. We have seen that all of our European forefathers
brought with them a love of the vine, or more correctly, a love of wine, and

' Bellomont records that a company of French immigrants had made good wine in Rhode Island
toward the close of the 1 7th century but they were driven out of the Colony by the English and the
industry ceased. N. Y. Col. Doc, 4:787.

14 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

that tnroughout the period many experiments were made in all parts of the
eastern United States to grow varieties of Vitis vinifera. The experiments
were on a large scale and in the hands of expert vine-growers, as well trained
as their fellow colonists in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and South
America, countries where the colonists grew the Old World grapes as easily
and as well as they are grown in the most favored parts of Europe. It is
certain that the failures recorded for these two hundred years were not
due to lack of effort on the part of the settlers. We now pass to more
recent efforts, even more thoroughly carried out, to grow the grape of the
Old World in this part of the New World. The discussion of these later
attempts cannot be full. The reader can readily turn to the horticultural
literature of the century just closed and find much fuller records of them
than space permits in this work.

One of the first and most notable of the vineyards in the eighteenth
century was that of Colonel Robert Boiling of Buckingham County, Virginia.
An account of his undertaking written by one of the Boiling family some
years later reads as follows: " It is now but little known that this gentleman
had early turned his attention to the cultivation of the vine, and had actu-
ally succeeded in procuring and planting a small vineyard of four acres,
of European grapes, at Chellow, the seat of his residence: that he had so
far accomplished his object as to have the satisfaction of seeing his vines
in a most flourishing condition, and arrived at an age when they were just
beginning to bear; promising all the success that the most sanguine imagi-
nation could desire, when, unfortunately for his family, and perhaps for
his countrv, he departed this life while in the Convention in Richmond, in
July, 1775. Thus all his fond anticipations of being enabled, in a short
time, to afford to h'S countrymen a practical demonstration of the facility
and certainty with which grapes might be raised, and wine made, in Vir-
ginia, were suddenly frustrated; all his hopes and prospects blasted; and
owing to the general want of information, in the management of vines,
among us at that time; and the confusion produced by the war of the revo-
lution, which immediately followed, this promising and flourishing little
vineyard was totally neglected and finally perished."'

^ Atnerican Farmer, Baltimore, 10:387. 1828-29.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. IS

At the time of Boiling's death he was preparing to send to press a
book on grape-growing entitled ^4 Sketch of Vine Culture. The book was
never printed but the manuscript was copied several times and parts of it
were printed contemporaneously in the Virginia Gazette, and subsequently
in the Boiling Memoirs and in the American Farmer ? Boiling's book
was largely a compilation from European sources but it contained the
experiences and observations of the atithor in cultivating European
grapes in America and though not printed, was sufficiently distributed
through manuscript copies and through the papers and books mentioned
above, to give its author the honor of being the first American writer on
grapes.

In an essay on the cultivation of the vine published in the first volume
of the Transactions of the American Pliilosopliical Society- printed in Phila-
delphia in 1 771, a Mr. Edward Antill of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, gives
explicit directions for grape-growing and wine-making.' Antill describes only
foreign varieties and leads the reader to infer, though he does not say so,
that he has grown many varieties of these grapes successfully. But neither
his essay, nor his efforts at grape-growing, seemed to have stimulated a
grape industry worthy of note. This essay of Antill's is the second American
treatise on the cultivation of the grape and was for many years the chief
authority on grape-growing in America. It is greatly to be regretted that
a treatise which was to be quoted for fifty years could not have been more
meritorious. The eighty quarto pages written by Antill give little real or
trustworthy information. It is a rambling discussion of European grapes,
wine-making, the temperance cjuestion, patriotism, " wellfare of country,"
and " good of mankind ". He quotes Columella, gives methods of curing
grapes for raisins, and winds up with a discussion of figs. Yet a hundred
years ago it was the chief work on grape-growing.

A Frenchman, Peter Legaux, founded a company in 1793 for the cul-
tivation of grapes at Spring Mill near Philadelphia. In 1800 he published

^American Farmer, Baltimore, 10:387. 1828-29. ■^^•' 11:172- 1829-30.

' Vol. I ;i 17-198. 1769-71.

' All that is known of the life of Edward Antill is found in Johnson's Rural Economy where he is
spoken of as " Mr. Antill, late of Middlesex County, New-Jersey, a gentleman who cultivated the
grape with sedulous attention." Johnson's Rural Economy: 164. 1806.

l6 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

an account of his venture.' A vineyard of European grapes was set out
and the prospects seemed favorable for the success of the undertaking.
But the grapes began to fail, dissensions arose among the stock-holders,
the vineyards were neglected and the company failed. Legaux speaks of
his experience in grape-growing as follows:^ '' But if the native grapes of
America are not the inost eligible for vineyards, others are now within the
reach of its inhabitants. Some years since I procured from France three
hundred plants from the three kinds of grapes in the highest estimation,
of which are made Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux wines. These
three hundred plants have in ten years produced 100,000 plants; which,
were the culture encouraged, would in ten years more, produce upwards
of thirty millions of plants; or enough to stock more than 8000 acres, at
3600 plants to the acre, set about three feet and a half apart. I have also
about 3000 plants raised from a single plant procured a few years since
from the Cape of Good Hope, of the kind which produces the excellent
Constantia wines. The gentlemen who at different times have done me the
honour to taste these wines can bear testimony to their good quality.
Although made in the hottest season, (about the middle of August) yet
they were perfectly preserved without the addition of a drop of brandy or
any other spirit. And in this will consist one excellency of the wines here
recommended to the notice of my fellow citizens ; that being made wholly of

' Legaux's paper is found as a treatise on the cultivation of the vinj in The True American of
March 24. 1800. The article contains about 2000 words, the main part of it being 'A Statement of
the Expense and Income of a Vineyard, Made on Four Acres of Land, situated in Pennsylvania, in
the 40th Degree of Latitude."

Of Legaux's life, little is known, other than that he was a French vine-grower with an experi-
mental vineyard, as he says in the above article, at "Spring Mill, 13 miles N. N. W. from Philadel-
phia." Johnson speaks of L'.-gaux as a philanthropist; McMahon calls him a " gentleman of Worth
and Science " ; while Rafmesque accuses him of fraud and deception in the matter of calling the native
grapes Bland and Alexander, Madeira and Cape.

Judging the man from his article in The True American and from the words of his contemporaries,
he was a capable, enthusiastic and intelligent grape-grower. His philanthropy is more doubtful.
It is true that he distributed many grape plants but as he himself says to " fellow citizens possessing
pecuniary means." That he practiced deceit in the matter of the introduction of the Alexander
as the Cape is probable. However, his deceit, if such it were, may be forgotten and he should be
remembered as the chief disseminator of the Alexander, the first distinctive American variety of
commercial value.

' T}ie True Americait, March 24, 1800.

THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK. 17

the juice of grapes, they will be light, wholesome, and excite an agreeable
cheerfulness, without inflaming the blood, or producing the other ill effects
of the strong brand ied wines, imported from the southern parts of Europe.
Since 1793, I have confined my attention chiefly to the multiplication of my
vines, to supply the demand for plants, and to furnish an extended vine-
yard under my own direction, whenever my fellow citizens possessing
pecuniary means, should be inclined to encourage and support the attempt."

Out of this venture, however, came the Alexander grape, an offspring
of a native species, and not, as Legaux held, a foreign variety, which, as we
shall see later, was the first variety to be grown on a commercial scale in
eastern America. Johnson,' writing of Legaux's work with the grape, says
that in 1801 cuttings were sent from the Spring Mill vineyards in quantities
of fifteen hundred to Kentucky and Pennsylvania and smaller quantities
to Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, and
indicates that these cuttings in their turn were multiplied so that many
diverse experiments with foreign grapes arose from Legaux's efforts.

Chief of the experiments which Legavix's partial success in vine-growing
stimulated was carried on in Kentucky by The Kentucky Vineyard Society
of which John James Dufour, a Swiss, was leader.- It was to this Company
that Legaux had sent the fifteen hundred cuttings mentioned above as
going to Kentucky. Before founding his grape colony, Dufour had made a
tour of inspection of all the vineyards that he co'ald hear of in what then
constituted the United States. His account of what he saw, given in his
book The Vine Dresser s Guide, is the most accurate statement we have cf
grape-growing in America at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Dufoiir s account, pages 18-24, runs as follows: " I went to see all the
vines growing that I could hear of, even as far as Kaskaskia, on the borders
of the Mississippi; because I was told, by an inhabitant of that town, whom I
met with at Philadelphia, that the Jesuits had there a very successful vine-

' Johnson, S. V.'., Rural Economy: 156. Xew Brunswick, X. J., 1806.

-John James Dufour, bom in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, in 1763, came to America in
1 796 to engage in grape-growing and wine-making. An account of his work is given in the text. In
1826 Dufour published the ViTie Dresser's Guide, which became the authority on the culture of this
fruit at that time. Dufour must be remembered for this book, for the dissemination of the Cape or
Alexander grape, and as one of the pioneer vinej'ardists and wine-makers of the X'ew World.
2

1 8 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

yard, when that country belonged to the French, and were afterwards
ordered by the French government to destroy it, for fear the culture of the
grapes should spread in America and hurt the wine trade of France. As I
had seen but discouraging plantations of vines on that side of the Alleghany,
and as the object of my journey to America, was purposely to learn what
could be done in that line of business ; I was desirous to see if the west would
afford more encouragement. I resolved therefore on a visit to see if any
remains of the Jesuits' vines were still in being, and what sort of grapes
they were; supposing very naturally, that if they had succeeded as well as
tradition reported, some of them might possibly be found in some of the
gardens there. But I found only the spot where that vineyard had been
planted, in a well selected place, on the side of a hill to the north east of
the town, under a cliff. No good grapes, however were found either
there, or in any of the gardens of the country. * * * In my
journeying down the Ohio, I found at Marietta a Frenchman, who was
making several barrels of wine everv year, out of grapes that were growing
wild, and abundantly, on the heads of the Islands of the Ohio River, known
by the name of Sand grapes, because they grow best on the gravels; a
few plants of which are now growing in one of our vineyards, given by
the Harmonites under the name of red juice. * * * The various
attempts at vineyards that I heard of, which I went to see, at Monti-
cello, President Jefferson's place; which, in 1799, I perceived had been
abandoned, or left without any care for three or four years before, which
proved evidently, that it had not been profitable: At Spring Mill, on the
Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, planted by Mr. Legaux, a French gentleman,
and afterwards supported by a wealthy Society formed by subscription at
that City, for the express purpose of trying to extend the culture of the
grape. I saw that vineyard in 1796, 1799 and 1806. On the estate of Mr.
Caroll, of CaroUton, below Baltimore, in Maryland; whither I went on
purpose from Philadelphia in 1796, there was a small vineyard kept by a
French vinedresser, and where they had tried a few sorts of the indigenous
grapes. At the Southern Liberties of Philadelphia, I saw in 1806, a planta-
tion of a large assortment of the best species of French grapes; which a
French vinedresser had brought over the Atlantic. They were at their 2d
or 3d years: they had not been attacked by the sickness: their nurse was

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 9

yet full of hope. — In 1796, I saw also, near the Susquehannah river, not far
from Middletown, a vineyard that had been planted by a German; but who
having died sometime Vjefore, the vineyard had been wholly neglected. I
was told, it had produced some wine; but it had suffered so much delapi-
dation, that I could not recognize the species of grapes."

With full knowledge of the failures of the past in growing grapes,
and after his disheartening visits to a score or more of worthless vineyards
planted with the grapes of his native country, Dufour embarked in the
Kentucky Vineyard Society enterprise and gave the Old World grapes a
thorough trial on an extensive scale, with an abundance of capital, and,
to care for the vines, as skilled labor as could be obtained in the vine-
yards of Europe. As was the case with all past undertakings of the kind
so this one proved a failure. In the words of Dufour "a sickness took
hold of all otir vines except a few stocks of Cape and Madeira grapes."
The promoters became disheartened and the vineyard after being cultivated
for several years was abandoned.

Members of the colony, thinking that a more favorable location might
be found elsewhere in the valley of the Ohio, settled at Vevay, Indiana, in
1802. Dufotir and several of his relatives were granted the privilege of
purchasing lands with extended credit by an act of Congress May ist, 1802.
They purchased 2500 acres at the location of the new colony in Indiana
and began anew the culture of the vine. For a time there was an element
of prosperitv in the enterprise but the vines became diseased and died,
onh' one sort, the Cape or Alexander, gave returns for the care bestowed
and by 1835 the Vevay vineyards ceased to exist. Could Dufour have
foreseen the value of the native grapes for cultivation and dcT'oted the
capital and energy spent on European sorts to the best wild plants from
the woods, grape culture in America would have been put forward half a
century.

Other experiments with Old World grapes were tried in 1803 by the
Harmonists, a religious-socialistic community founded in Germany, but
which finally settled in America. After temporary sojourns in other settle-
ments, the Harmonists founded a permanent colony in Pennsylvania near
Pittsburg. Here they planted ten acres of European grajjes and grew
them with but temporary success, if any, for Dufour in 1826 visited the

20 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

colony and says: "None of the imported grapes do well there except the
Black Juice, of which I saw but one plant; it is too small a bearer to be
worth nursing."' Again there was disaster to an extensive experiment in
the hands of skilled men. Besides having tried grape culture in Pennsyl-
vania, the Harmonists made plantations at New Harmony, Indiana, where
they settled for a time; but exact accounts of this experiment are wanting.

One other of the many organized attempts to grow the foreign grapes
needs mention. When the Napoleonic wars were over a number of Bona-
parte's exiled officers came to America. They were impoverished, and
in order to help them, as well as to insure their becoming permanent settlers
in the United States, the exiles were organized by American sympathizers
into a society for the cultivation of the vine and the olive. The society
was organized in the early fall of 1816 in Philadelphia and the remainder
of the year was spent in prospecting for a suitable location for the venture.
The colony finally decided to settle on the Tombigbee river in Alabama
and petitioned Congress for a grant of land in that region. In the end
the refugees obtained a grant from Congress of four contiguous townships,
each six miles square- for the culture of the vine and the olive.

In 1817, an installment of one hundred and fifty French settlers left
Philadelphia taking with them an assortment of grape and olive plants.
December 12, 1821, Charles Villars, one of the company, reported to the
American government^ that there were then in the colony eighty-one actual
planters, 327 persons all told, with iioo acres in full cultivation, including
10,000 vines and that the company had spent about $160,000 in the venture.
Villars tells in full of the ups and downs of the Society. It was apparent
from the start that the olive could not be grown. The history of the vine-
yards on the Tombigbee, as he tells it, is but a record of misfortune. All
efforts to cultivate the foreign vines resulted only in failure. The few vines
that the vintners made grow yielded a scant crop of miserable quality which
could not be made into wine because of ripening in the heat of summer.
The land was not adapted to growing grapes. The Society, meeting failure
at every tm-n, finally disbanded and the colonists were scattered. For a

' Dufour, John James. Vine Dresser's Guide: 307. 1S26.

^ U. S. Statutes at Large. 3:374.

^ American State Papers, Public Lands, 3 :3o6.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 21

half century after, there were records in the southern agricultural literature
of the attempts of stragglers or descendants of this colony to grow European
grapes in the South. Yet these grapes are not now cultivated in this
region, which seemingly has the climate and the soil of France.

The history of these French settlers on the Tombigbee is a most pathetic
one.' Many of the leaders had been officers of high rank in Napoleon's armies
unaccustomed to field work and the hardships of a new country. Here,
in a rough and hardly explored country, part of which was overflowed half
of the year, visited by all the sicknesses inherent to such a location, they
passed several years in their attempts to grow European grapes. Failure
was predestined because of natural obstacles which by this time were
apparent, and was foreshadowed by so many previous unsuccessful attempts
that it would seem that this culminating tragedy in growing European
grapes could have been prevented. The certain failure of the attempt
makes all the more pathetic the story of the Vine and Olive Colony on the
Tombigbee.^

In closing the record of the Old World grape in America a few of the
later individual attempts to grow this grape must be recounted.

Three generations of Princes experimented with European grapes at the
famous Linnsean Botanic Garden, Flushing, Long Island. Wm. R. Prince'

' For fuller accounts of this dramatic episode in French and American history, and in .American
agriculture, see: The Napoleonic Exiles in America, J. S. Reeves, Johns Hopkins University Studies,
23 Series, pp. 530-656; The Bonapartists in Alabama, .A. B. Lyon, Cidf State Historical Magazine,
March, 1903; The French Grant in Alabama, G. Whitfield Jr., Ala. Hist. Soc, Vol. IV- Tlte Vine
and Olive Colony, T. C. McCorvey, Alabama Historical Reports, April, 1885.

- The last official account of this colony in the records of the United States Government is found
in American State Papers, Vol. III. " In a letter of Frederick Ravesies to the treasury department
dated January 18, 1828, is the following: ' We have suiTered severely from the unparalleled drought
of the last summer; many of our largest and finest looking vines, which had just commenced bearing
luxuriantly, were totally killed by the dry hot weather. Yet, notwithstanding this misfortune, the
grantees, with increased diligence, are using every exertion to procure others which are thought to
be more congenial to the soil and climate, and are now generally engaged in replanting.' ' Quoted
from Studies in SoiUliern and Alabama History, 1904:131.

^ William Robert Prince, fourth proprietor of the Prince Nursery and Linnaean Botanic Garden
Flushing, Long Island, was born in 1795 and died in 1869. Prince was without question the most capa-
ble horticulturist of his time and an economic botanist of note. His love of horticulture and botany
was a heritage from at least three paternal ancestors, all noted in these branches of science, and all
of whom he apparently surpassed in mental capacity, intellectual training and energy. He was a
prolific writer, being the author of three horticultural works which will always take high rank among

22 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

author of -4 Treatise on the Vine, devoted his hfe to promoting the culture
of the grape in America. He tried all of the European sorts obtainable,
" reared " as he tells us, " from plants imported direct from the most cele-
brated collections in France, Germany, Italy, the Crimea, Madeira, etc. ;
and above two hundred varieties are the identical kinds which were culti-
vated at the Royal Garden of the Luxembourg at Paris, an establishment
formed by royal patronage for the purpose of concentrating all the most
valuable fruits of France, and testing their respective merits."' After
nearly a half century of experimentation he gave up the culture of foreign.
grapes and largely devoted the last years of his life to growing and dissemi-
nating native varieties, exercising, probably, a greater influence on the
culture of American grapes than any other of the many men who have
helped improve the grapes of this country.

Nicholas Longworth,' of Cincinnati, Ohio, experimented with the
European grapes for thirty years. His experience is best told in his own
words written in 1846: " I have tried the foreign grapes extensively for
wine at great expense for many years, and have abandoned them as unfit
for our climate. In the acclimation of plants I do not believe. The white,

those of Prince's time. These were: A Treatise on the Vine, Pomological Manual, in two volumes,
and the Manual of Roses, beside which he was a lifelong contributor to the horticultural press. All
of Prince's writings are characterized by a clear, vigorous style and by accuracy in statement. His
works are almost wholly lacking the ornate and pretentious furbelows of most of his contemporaries
though it must be confessed that he fell into the then common fault of following European writers
somewhat slavishly. During the lifetime of Wm. R. Prince, and that of his father Wm. Prince, who
died in 1842, the Prince Nursery at Flushing was the center of the horticultural nursery interests of
the country ; it was the clearing-house for foreign and American horticultural plants, for new varieties
and for information regarding plants of all kinds.

'Prince, Wm. R. .4 Treatise on the Vine: 337. 1830.

' Nicholas Longworth, known as the ' father of American grape culture ", was born in 1783,
in Newark, New Jersey. At an early age he went West making his home in Cincinnati where he
became a lawyer, banker, and a man of large business affairs in what was then the far frontier. From
his boyhood Longworth w.-iS interested in horticulture and as a young man became greatly
interested in native grapes. He was one of the men to whom John Adlum sent the Catawba and he
became its disseminator and a promoter for the region in which he lived, making this grape the first
great American grape and Cincinnati the center of the foremost grape-growing region of the Continent.
He was the first vineyardist to make wine on a Jarge scale and perfected methods of making wine
from the native grapes so that the product was comparable to that from the best wine cellars of
Europe. Longworth introduced the first cultivated variety of the wild black raspberry, Riibus
occidcntalis. under the name of the Ohio Everbearing. His interest in the strawberry was second
only to that in the grape and he not only did much to encourage its cultivation in America but also,

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 23

Sweetwater grape is not more hardy with me than it was thirty years since,
and does not bear as well. I have tried them in all soils and with all
exposures.

" I obtained 5,000 plants from Madeira, 10,000 from France; and one-half
of them, consisting of twenty varieties of the most celebrated wine grapes
from the mountains of Jura, in the extreme northern' part of France, where
the vine region ends; I also obtained them from the vicinity of Paris, Bor-
deaux, and from Germany. I went to the expense of trenching one hundred
feet square on a side hill, placing a layer of stone and gravel at the bottom,
with a drain to carry ofE the water, and to put in a compost of rich soil and
sand three feet deep, and planted on it a great variety of foreign wine grapes.
All failed ; and not a single plant is left in my vineyards. I would advise the
cultivation of native grapes alone, and the raising of new varieties from
their seed."^

The French Revolution drove a wealthy and educated Frenchman, M.
Parmentier, to New York at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He
planted about his place in Brooklyn a large garden in which there were
many grapes. This garden afterward became a commercial nursery from
which was distributed a considerable number of European grapes. Mr.
Robert Underbill at Croton Point on the Hudson was induced to plant a
vineyard of these but they soon went the way of all their kind, leaving
Mr. Underbill only a consuming desire to plant grapes. This desire bore
fruit, as we shall see. When the reign of terror had ceased, Parmentier
returned to France from whence he sent many grapes to friends in America.

after a long controversy with horticulturists and botanists, fully established the fact that many
varieties of this fruit are infertile with themselves and that under cultivation infertile varieties must
have sorts planted near them capable of cross-pollinating them. Longworth took a deep interest
in horticulture generally and gathered about him a group of pioneer horticulturists who did much
for American fruit-growing in the middle of the nineteenth century, in many respects molding and
guiding the horticulture of that time in this country. Longworth wrote much for the contemporary
horticultural magazines and published two small books, " The Cultivation of the Grape and Manu-
facture of Wine" and " Character and Habits of the Strawberry Plant." He died in 1863, aged 80,
at Cincinnati, one of the most distinguished, enterprising and wealthy citizens of his State. For
further discussion of his life see Bailey's Evolution of Our Native Fruits: 61-65. 1898.

'Probably the northern part of the vine region of France; the Jura mountains are in the east
central part.

- Transactions New York State Agricultural Society, 6:689. 1846.

24 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

He left a lasting impress on the horticulture and viticulture of America,
through his experimental efforts with plants and his contribution to
American horticultural literatuie. The Underhills (the father had been
joined by his sons R. T. and W. A. Underhill) planted a vineyard of
Catawbas and Isabellas in 1827. These vineyards grew until they covered
seventy-five acres, the product of which was marketed in the metropolis
and nearby cities. The grapes from this vineyard often sold for twenty-five
cents a pound and supplied the whole market of the region. The grape
industry of the Hudson River Valley began with Parmentier and the
Underhills.

Another Frenchman, Alphonse Loubat, planted a vineyard of forty
acres at Utrecht, Long Island, containing about 150,000 plants of foreign
varieties. Here, we are told, " he strove against mildew and sun-scald
for several years, but had to yield at last, as the elements were too much
for human exertions to overcome."' Loubat attempted to protect his
grapes from mildew by covering them with paper bags and was probably
the originator of the practice of baggmg grapes.

Not infrequently one may still find some varieties of the Old World
grape grown out of doors with a fair degree of success in favored locations
but always by the amateur and never in a commercial vineyard. These
few pages rehearsing repeated failures without a single success, serve to
show the uselessness of attempting to grow foreign grapes in eastern Amer-
ica. Their culture has been tried by thousands on a small scale and by
many individuals with experience, knowledge and capital on a large scale.
With all, the results have been tlie same; a year or two of promise, then
disease, dead vines and an abandoned vmeyard.

The causes for these failures have been indicated. As Dufour savs,
'' a sickness takes hold of the vines." Phylloxera, mildew, rot — native
parasites to which native grapes are comparatively immune— '' take hold "
of the foreign sorts and they die.

It is probable, too, that our climate, at the North at least, is not well
suited to the production of the Old World grape. As a species, the Vinifera
grapes thrive best in climates equable in both temperature and humidity.

Fuller, Andrew S. Record of Horticulture: 21. 1866.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 25

The climate of eastern America is not equal^le; it alternates between hot
and cold, wet and dry. The range in both temperature and humidity is
far greater than in the grape-growing regions of Europe, California, South
Africa or Australia. The fleshy roots of Viiis vinifera are more tender to
cold than are those of the species of northern United States and this would
prevent its culture becoming very general in many regions where native
grapes can be grown.

It is only in the regions west of the Rocky Mountains, and more particu-
larly in California, that the varieties of Vinifera are successfully crrown in
America. The great viticultural interests of the far West are founded upon
the success of this one species. The native grapes can be grown but they
cannot compete in California with Vitis vinifera for any purpose. Never-
theless American species are indispensable in this western region for stocks
upon which to graft the Vinifera varieties, and it is probable that the time
is not far distant when all California vines will be upon American roots.
Within the boundaries of latitude in which Vinifera varieties are grown west
of the Rocky Mountains the grape shows wonderful adaptability; it is found
at all elevations permitting fruit culture; it grows on practically all soils; it
thrives under irrigation or under dry farming; it is given various kinds of
treatment, including total neglect, and still thrives; the number of varieties
grown for wine, raisin and table grapes runs into hundreds. The truly
wonderful success met with in the cultivation of this species west of the
great continental divide makes all the more remarkable the fact that in no
place east of the divide will varieties of it thrive.

We now pass to a consideration of the American grapes, their characters,
the early notices of them, their rise, their success, and their future — a more
pleasing task than to record disaster after disaster in growing the grape of
the Old World.

26 THE GR.\PES OF NEW YORK.

CHAPTER U

AMERICAN GRAPES

The grape is preeminently a North American plant. The genus Vitis is
a large one, from thirty to fifty species being distinguished for the world;
more than half of these are found on this continent. But few other plants
in America, or in the world, inhabit such varied and such extended areas. In
North America wild grapes aljound on the warm, dry soils of New Bnms-
wick and New England, about the Great Lakes in Canada and in the United
States, and on the fertile river banks and in the valleys, rich woodlands
and thickets of the eastern and southern States. They thrive in the dry
woods, sandy sea-plains, and reef-keys of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida
where the vines of the Scuppemong often run more than a hundred feet
over trees and shrubs, rioting in natural luxuriance. They flourish in the
mountains and limestone hills of the Virginias, Tennessee and Kentucky.
They are not so common in the West, yet found in almost all parts of Mis-
souri and Arkansas, and from North Dakota through Kansas to southern
Texas. Some wild grape is found in each of the Rocky Mountain States on
plain or mountain, or in river chasm or dr}- canon. Several species are
found in New Mexico, Arizona and California, where if they did not furnish
the Spanish padres of Santa Fe and San Diego with fruit for wine, they
suggested to them the planting of the first successful vineyards in the
United States.

How did the grape spread from the Carolinas to California and from
subtropical Mexico to the barren plains of Central Canada? Why divide
into its manifold forms in the distriluition? These questions are of practical
import to the grape-grower and Ijreeder who seeks to improve this fruit.
The knowledge of the distribution and evolution of plants obtained in the
last half century is so complete that these questions present few difficulties
to the naturalist of today. In answering them no one would now hold that
the numerous species and their sub-divisions were created separately for
the regions in which they grow. All would take the ground that the differ-
ent wild forms come from one ancestral species. We can waive the question
as to what the original species was and as to where it first grew.

It is certain that grapes have not been distributed over North America

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 27

by the hand of man. Probably they have been growing in the regions
where they are now found since before the migration of the first savages.
The agents of distribution have been natural ones, such as animals, birds,
and lake and river currents. These have widened the area of a species to
limits imposed by the hostile action of other plants and of animals and by
geographical and physical conditions. As a species has encroached upon a
new region, climate, soil, all of the conditions of environment, and the con-
test with other living things, have gradually modified its characters until in
time it became so changed that it constituted a new species.

This descent from an original species with plants changed by environ-
ment has given us, in America, types of the wild grape as widely diverse as
the regions they inhabit. The species found in the forests have developed
long slender trunks and branches in their struggle to attain sunlight and
air. At least two species are dwarf and shrubby, or infrequently climbing,
two to six feet high, growing in dry sands, on rocky hills and mountains
where roots must cling to rocks and penetrate into interstices. Still another
form runs on the ground and over low bushes and is nearly evergreen,
but in the herbarium can hardly be distinguished from a grape whose habit
of growth is strikingly different. Some are long-lived, growing and bearing
fruit for two or more centuries, while others reach no greater age than the
ordinary shrub. Some have enormous stems, a foot or more in diameter,
gnarled and picturesque and supporting a great canopy of branch and
foliage,' while others are slender in stem and graceful, almost delicate, in
character of vine. Not less remarkable than the differences in structure is
the adaptability of the genus and some of the species to varied climatic
conditions. Several of the wild grapes develop full size and display natural
luxuriance and fruit-bearing qualities only in the Middle States, but may

' There is a wild grape vine (probably Vitis aestivalis) near Daphne, Alabama, on the shores of
Mobile Bay, known as the " General Jackson vine " because of General Jackson having camped under
it during the war with the Seminole Indians in 1817-18, which for age and size is truly remarkable.
Mr. E. Q. Norton of Daphne writes of this vine as follows: " There is little known regarding the
Jackson grape vine beyond the fact that the oldest man living here when I came here — 20 years
ago — told me that the Indians told him when he came here as a boy — 90 years ago — that the
vine was at that time an old one, which had been growing longer than any of them could remember.
It was 27 inches through the trunk, four feet above the ground, when I measured it ten years since,
and the vines were running over the surrounding trees for many rods. The grapes were very small,
quite hard and not very juicy."

28 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

be found on dry, gravelly, wind-swept hills far to the north or in some hot
and humid atmosphere of the South, as if to show indifference to wet or
dry, heat or cold.

On the other hand there are many strong points of resemblance between
the score or more of species. The organs and characters that do not bear
the strain of changed environment, nor suffer in the perpetual warfare of
nature, are much the same in all of the species of Vitis. Thus the structure
of flowers, fruits and seeds is practically identical; all have naked-tipped
tendrils; leaves and leaf -buds are very similar; and the various species
usually hybridize freely. They are alike in the unlikeness of individual
plants in any of the species; that is, all of the individuals of the genus are
most variable and seeds taken from the same vine may produce plants
quite unlike one another and quite unlike the parent.

These few facts regarding the evolution and distribution of American
grapes lead to two important conclusions:

First, the species are so distributed throughout the United States,
and individuals of the species grow in such abundance and luxuriance,
as to suggest that we shall be' able to improve and domesticate some one
or more of them for all of the agricultural regions of the countr^^ For
it is proved that nearly all of the wild grapes have horticultural possibilities;
and experience with many plants teaches that the boundaries of areas
inhabited by the wild species of a given region coincide with those suited
to the production of the domesticated plant in that region. It is not possible
to tell where the grape-growing regions of the future are to be located;
for sjDecies and individuals of this fruit are so common that no one can
say where the grape is most at home in America.

Second, grapes are so variable and plastic in nature that, were it not
known from experience, it could be assumed that they would yield readily
to improvement. Besides being variable they hybridize freely and thus
the plant-breeder can obtain desirable starting points. There are indica-
tions that some of the characters of grapes, at least, follow Mendel's Law,
and when once these have been determined, and the more important unit
characters segregated and defined, it ought to be possible to combine and
rearrange the characters of this fruit with some system and surely with
more certainty than in the past.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 2g

This brief introduction leads us to the consideration of American
grapes as cultivated plants. We have seen that it is an absolute impossi-
bility to grow the Old World grape in eastern America. The fruit-growers
in this great region are forced to plant the native grapes if anv. It required
two hundred years to establish this fact and it is less than a Iiundred years
since grape-growers have generally acknowledged it as a fact. What was
known of American grapes during the two hundred years wasted in attempt-
ing to grow the foreign Vinifera? And what has been accomplished in a
century in ameliorating the native grapes?

The earliest European visitors to the Atlantic seaboard delighted in
the wild grapes which they found everywhere and which reminded them
of the Old World vineyards. Had they never seen such a fruit, the wild
grapes could not long have escaped their attention; for the Indians knew
and used them as they did potatoes, corn, and tobacco. In the narratives
of the early voyages the grape is often in the lists of the resources and
treasures of the new-found continent. Unfortunately it was not considered
of great intrinsic value but only suggested to the explorers that the grape
of the old home might be grown in the new home. Could a part of the
exaggerated esteem given by the early European travelers and home-
seekers to sassafras, ginseng and other such plants, have been bestowed upon
the wild grapes which over-run the country, viticulture would have taken
rank with the tobacco, lumber and the fish industries of the early settlers.

In the history of Vinland, or more properly Wineland, we find the
first record of American grapes.' Biarni Heriulfsson, a Norseman, while

' The following is an account of the discovery of grapes in Vinland translated from the Icelandic
manuscript by Reeves:

" When they had completed their house Leif said to his companions, ' I propose now to divide
our company into two groups, and to set about an exploration of the country; one half of our party
shall remain at home at the house, while the other half shall investigate the land, and they must not
go beyond a point from which they can return home the same evening, and are not to separate.
Thus they did for a time; Leif himself, by turns, joined the exploring party or remained behind at
the house. * * *

" It was discovered one evening that one of their party was missing, and this proved to be Tyrker>
the German. Leif was sorely troubled by this, for Tyrker had lived with Leif and his father for a
long time, and had been very devoted to Leif, when the latter was a child. Leif severely reprimanded
his companions, and prepared to go in search of him, taking twelve men with him. They had pro-
ceeded but a short distance from the house, when they were met by Tyrker, whom they received
most cordially. Leif observed at once that his foster-father was in lively spirits. * * * Leif

30 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

making a voyage from Iceland to Greenland, 986 A. D., was driven by a
storm to the coast of New England but did not touch land. Leif the Lt;cky,
son of Eric the Red, about 1000 A. D., visited the country discovered by
Biarni. One of Leif's men, Tyrker, a German who "was born where there
is no lack of either grapes or vines," discovered grapes, whereupon Leif
named the country " Wineland." Other Norsemen in at least two expedi-
tions visited Wineland, supposed to be a part of Rhode Island or Massa-
chusetts, and for centuries after, the land discovered by Leif the Lucky
was known in Icelandic literature as " Wineland the Good." The first
European to touch the New World christened it after its grapes.

The next record we have of American grapes comes from an English-
man, one Captain John Hawkins, who visited the Spanish settlements in
Florida in 1565.' In his account of the colony he speaks of the wild grapes,
comparing them, as did all the early explorers, with those of Europe. He
indicates further that the Spaniards had discovered the value of the wild
grape for domestic purposes and says that they had made twenty hogsheads
of wine in a single season. It is almost certain that this grape was Viiis
rotundifolia, best represented by the Scuppernong, which is commonly
found on the Atlantic sea-coast from Maryland to Florida.

The first English colonists, like the Norsemen, declared the new-found
world to be a natural vineyard. Amadas and Barlowe, sent out by Raleigh
in 1584, described the land= " so full of grapes as the very beating and surge
of the sea overflowed them, of which we found such plenty, as well there as
in all places else, both on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills as on

addressed him, and asked: ' Wherefore art thou so belated, foster-father mine, and astray from the
others ' In the beginning Tyrker spoke for some time in German, rolling his eyes, and grinning,
and they could not understand him; but after a time he addressed them in the Northern tongue; ' I
did not go much further [than you], and yet I have something of novelty to relate. I have found
vines and grapes.' ' Is this indeed true, foster-father?' said Leif. ' Of a certainty it is true ', quoth
he, ' for I was born where there is not lack of either grapes or vines.' They slept the night through,
and on the morrow Leif said to his shipmates; ' We will now divide our labours, and each day will
either gather grapes or cut vines and fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of these for my ship.' They
acted upon this advice, and it is said, that their after-boat was filled with grapes. A cargo sufficient
for the ship was cut, and when the spring came, they made their ship ready, and sailed away; and
from its products Leif gave the land a name, and called it Wineland." Finding of Wineland the Good:
65. Oxford University Press, London, 1800.

' Winsor, Justin. Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. III;6i.

' First Voyage to Virginia, Hakluyt's Voyages, 3;3oi-3o6.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 3^

the plains, as well as on every little shrub as also climbing towards the
top of high cedars, that I think in all the world the like abundance is not

to be found."

Ralph Lane, in a subsequent expedition of Raleigh's, in a letter to
Hakluyt, pronounced the grapes of Virginia to be larger than those of
France, Spain or Italy.'

The region described by Amadas and Barlowe is that of the two great
sounds, Albemarle and Pamlico, on the coast of North Carolina and more
specifically Roanoke Island. It was to this place that Raleigh sent his
expeditions, with one of which Amadas and Barlowe were connected, and
established the earliest colony of Englishmen in the New World. The
first home of Europeans in America was in Vinland, named for its grapes.
The first home of Englishmen was on Roanoke Island, "so full of grapes
that the very sea overflowed them."

A few years later, Thomas Hariot, in a description of Virginia which
must have done much to decide the English as to the advisability of estab-
lishing colonies in America, gave a detailed account of the merchantable
commodities the new countries afforded. Among these he mentions grapes
which he describes as being of two kinds that the soil yields naturally and
abundantly, of which one was small and sour and of the bigness of the
European grape while the other was of greater size and more sweet and
luscious. Hariot concludes his description with the statement that "when
they are planted and husbanded as they ought, a principal commodity of

wine may be raised." -

Of the later accounts given of grapes in Virginia and the Carolinas
by the colonizers and adventurers of the seventeenth century there are
so many that it is impossible to present all and difficult to sort out those
most apt, A few more may be given :

Captain John Smith, soldier, colonizer and Virginian planter, writing
in 1606 describes two sorts of wild grapes. He says:^ "Of vines great
abundance in many parts that climbe the toppes of highest trees in some
places, but these beare but few grapes. Except by the rivers and savage

' Hakluyt' s Voyages, 3 13 1 1 .

2 Discourse of Thomas Hariot, Hakliiyt's Voyages, 3:326.

^Smith's History of Virginia, 1:122 (1629) Reprint 1819.

32 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

habitations, where they are not overshadowed from the sunne, they are
covered with fruit, though never pruined nor manured. Of those hedge
grapes we made neere twentie gallons of wine, which was like our French
Brittish wine, but certainely they would prove good were they well manured.
There is another sort of grape neere as great as a Cherry, this they
[Indians] call Mcssamins, they be fatte, and the juyce thicke. Neither
doth the taste so well please when they are made in wine."

It is worthy of remark that the first English colonist in the New World
noticed that the vines in the vicinity of the Indian habitations and along
the edges of creeks, rivers and swamps, where not overshadowed from the
sun, were covered with fruit. The statement of this fact, coupled with the
one following, " but certainely they would prove good were they well
manured," indicates that the possibility of successful cultivation of the
wild grapes was considered at this early time. In fact, as we have seen,
Lord Delaware at once sought to test the virtues of the native grapes by
bringing over a number of French vine-dressers, who not only planted cut-
tings imported from Europe but proceeded at once to transplant the vine
of the country.' A few years later, according to Bruce, Sir Thomas Dale
" established a vineyard at Henrico not long after the foundation of that
settlement, covering an area of three acres, in which he planted the vines
of the native grape for the purpose of testing their adaptability to the pro-
duction of wines that could be substituted for those of France and Spain. "^

Francis Maguel, who visited Virginia in 1609, stated that the wine made
in the colony reminded him of the Alicante which he had drunk in Spain.'

The first Secretary of the Colony, William Strachey, was somewhat
fulsome in his praise of the new found fruit. Writing^ in 16 10, he says that
the vines burden every bush, climb to the top of the highest trees and are
always full of clusters of grapes though never pruned or manured. He
declares that the grapes are as good as those to be found between Paris
and Amiens and that the wine made by the settlers from the wild grapes
was equal to French or British wine, " being strong and headdy." In

' Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 502.

" Bruce, Philip Alexander. Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. i :2i9.
1896.

'Report of Francis Maguel, Spanish Archives, Brown's Genesis of tite United States : 395. 1610.
* Tlic History of Travailc into Virginia: 120. 1610, printed 1849.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 33

closing his description he states that by art and industry skillful vignerons
could bring viticulture unto such perfection as will enable the colony to
export wine to the mother country.

An anonymous writer in 1649, who sets out to give a " full and true
relation of the present state of the plantations, their health, peace and
plenty," etc., etc., thought that the colony needed only some one to set
an example to the ordinary settlers to induce them to grow grapes. This
writer says: " Vines in abundance and variety, do grow naturally over all
the land, but bv the birds and beasts, most devoured before they come to
perfection and ripenesse; but this testifies and declares. That the Ground,
and the Climate is most proper, and the Commodity of Wine is not a con-
temptible Merchandize; but some men of worth and estate must give in
these things example to the inferior inhabitants and ordinary sort of men,
to shew them the gain and Commodity by it, which they will not believe
but by experience before their faces:" '

A hundred years later, according to Beverly, the grape was scarcely
cultivated, the masses of the people being content with the fruit of the wild
vines which grew everywhere in the forest. So far as is known there were
in Beverly's time, 1722, no named varieties and there had been no efforts
to improve the wild grapes in any way. There are no indications from
the early writings to show that the Virginian settlers even knew how to
propagate grapes. The reason for this neglect is largely to be sought for
in the last sentence in the subjoined footnote from Beverly .= This neglect

' Anonymous. A Perfect Description of Virginia. 1649, Peter Force's Tracts, Vol. II, 1838.

^ " Grape vines of the English stock, as well as those of their own production, bear most abundantly,
if they are suffered to run near the ground, and increase very kindly by slipping; yet very few have
them at all in their gardens, much less endeavor to improve them by cutting or laying. But since
the first impression of this book, some vineyards have been attempted, and one is brought to per-
fection, of seven hundred and fifty gallons a year. The wine drinks at pr^jsent greenish, but the owner
doubts not of good wine, in a year or two more, and takes great delight that way.

" When a single tree happens in clearing the ground, to be left standing, with a vine upon it, open
to the sun and air, that vine generally produces as much as four or five others, that remain in the
woods. I have seen in this case, more grapes upon one single vine, than would load a London cart.
And for all this, the people till of late never removed any of them into their gardens, but contented
themselves throughout the whole country with the grapes they found thus wild." Beverly, Robert.
The History of Virgi)iia : 260. 1722, Reprint, 1855.

34 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

was in spite of the fact that from the first the settlers had noted that when
the vines were open to the sun the crop was improved.

In the northern colonies, as in Virginia, about the first object to attract
the attention of the early settlers was the wild grape. The grape, possibly
more than any other natural product of the soil, is mentioned in the pre-
liminary surveys of the Atlantic Coast as offering reasonable ground for the
expectation that American soils would furnish all of the supplies necessary
for the sustenance and comfort of settlers. A few statements from the
early explorers and visitors in the Middle and New England States will
serve to show how plentiful wild grapes were in these regions and the esti-
mation in which they were held.

In Delaware, Beauchamp Plantagenet, describing a "Uvedale under
Websneck," in his account of New Albion, says that it contains " four sorts
of excellent great vines running on mulberry and sassafras trees; there are
four sorts of grapes, the first is the Thoulouse Muscat, sweet scented, tlie
second the great fox and thick grape, after five months reaped being
boiled and salted, and well fined, it is a strong red Xeres; the third a light
Claret, the fourth a white grape creeps on the land, maketh a pure gold
color white wine; Tenis Pale, the Frenchman, of these four made eight
sorts of excellent wine, and of the Muscat acute boiled that the second
draught will fox ' a reasonable pate four months old : and here may be
gathered and made two hundred ton in the vintage month, and replanted
will mend."

In New England the seventeenth century notices of the wild grape are
even more numerous than similar records to the south luit they are briefer
and the northern observer did not recognize the possibilities of their domes-
tic use and of bringing them under cultivation. This seeming neglect of
the Puritans was not because the northern wild grapes are inferior to those
of Virginia and the Carolinas, but more likely because of the social and
industrial conditions of the colonists. The richer planters in the South
had time for wine-making, the only purpose for which grapes were then
grown, and for growing the grapes. The New Englanders had to struggle
for the necessities of life.

' " Will fox," i. e. intoxicate. See footnote on page 4.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 35

It is significant, too, that the Southerners were fond of wine, and
imported Madeira in large quantities. In New England, rum seems to
have been preferred to wine, and as its manufacture from molasses is very
simple and the latter was to be had from the West Indies at small cost,
wine-making and grape-growing received small attention.

Yet nearlv all of the writers on the resources of the New England Colo-
nies mentioned grapes. Thus Governor Edward Winslow writing in 162 1
of the country in which the Puritans had found a home says: "here are
grapes, white and red, and very sweet and strong also." We have seen
that Winthrop was so impressed with the possibility of grape-growing in
the new colony that he secured a grant of Governor's Island in Boston
Harbor upon which to plant a vineyard. In Thomas Morton's New English
Canaan is found the best account of the wild grapes of New England as
the Puritan found them. He says: ' " Vines, of this kinde of trees, there
are that beare grapes of three colours, that is to say: white, black, and red.

" The Country is so apt for vines, that (but for the fire at the spring of
the yeare) the vines would so over spreade the land, that one should not be
able to passe for them, the fruit is as bigg of some as a musket bullet, and
is excellent in taste."

John Josselyn in Nczv England's Rarities, speaks of a grape having " a
taste of gunpowder," a short but vivid description of Vitis lahrusca} Wil-
liam Wood in New England's Prospect gives still another account of the
grapes of New England.'

' New English Canaan, 1632. Reprinted in Force's Tracts, 1838.

^ Vine, much differing in the fruit, all of them very fleshy, some reasonably pleasant; others
have a taste of Gun Powder, and these grow in swamps, and low wet Grounds. Josselyn, John,
Gent. New England's Rarities: 66. London, 1672.

^ Speaking of the Horne-bound tree (probably hornbeam from his description) he says: " This
Tree growing with broad spread Armes, the vines winde their curling branches about them; wnich
vines affoard great store of grapes, which are very big both for the grape and Cluster, sweet and good:
these be of two sorts, red and white, there is likewise a smaller kind of grape which groweth in the
Islands which is sooner ripe and more delectable; so that there is no knowne reason why as good wine
may not be made in those parts, as well as in Biirdeiiax in France; being under the same degree. It
is a great pittie no man sets upon such a venture, whereby he might in small time inrich himselfe,
and benefit the Countrie, I know nothing which doth hinder but want of skilfull men to manage such
an employment: For the countrey is hot enough, the ground good enough, and many convenient
hills lye towards the south Sunne, as if they were there placed for the purpose." Wood, William.
New England's Prospect: 20. London, 1634.

36 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

The references given are sufficient to show that the value of the native
grapes as a source of food and for wine was recognized by the first settlers
in practically all of the colonies and that their possibilities as cultivated
pjants were considered by some of the colonizers. Yet for two hundred
years there were no zealous efforts made to cultivate American grapes.
Indeed, there are far fewer references to the wild grapes of the country in
the eighteenth century than in the seventeenth. The reasons for this
neglect of a plant which could so easily have Ijeen improved by cultiva-
tion, and this must have been apparent, are several. During all of
this period the European grape was being tried and all hopes for
viticulture were centered about it. Again, fruit of any kind was not a
common article of diet with Americans until even so recently as a genera-
tion ago, and native grapes are dessert fruits, not wine fruits, and wine
was the purpose for which all grapes were grown until the Catawba, the
Concord and the Delaware whetted the appetites of fruit eaters for a
dessert grape.

In the historv of the amelioration of the American grapes we can skip the
period from the early settlement of the country, a period represented by the
above quotations, to the first years of the United States as a lapse of time
in which there were no steps forward and in which even information con-
cerning grapes was scarcely increased. The evolution of American grapes
began with the opening of the nineteenth century, about the only accounts
of grapes during the eighteenth century worthy of note being those of John
Lawson, 171 4; Robert Beverly, 1722; Col. Robert Boiling, 1765; Edward
Antill, 1769; and Peter Legaux, 1800. All of these writers excepting Law-
son were concerned with European grapes, and their relations to grape-
growing were therefore discussed in the chapter on the Old World grape.
It remains, however, to call attention to such statements as were made by
them of American grapes.

John Lawson, a Scotch engineer, spent eight years, Ijeginning in 1700,
exploring and surveying North Carolina. A part of this time he was Sur-
veyor General for the State and through natural desire and vocation he
became familiar with the flora of North Carolina. In his history of that
State, written in 1714, he gives an account of its natural resources in which
the grapes of the region are several times described. He distinguishes six

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 37

kinds, three of which he mentions as having been removed to the gardens.
His fullest account runs as follows:'

" Among the natural fruits, the vine takes first place, of which I find six
sorts, very well known. The first is the black bunch grapes which yield a
crimson juice. These grow common and bear plentifully, they are of a
good relish, though not large, yet well knit in the clusters. They have a
thickish skin and large stone, which makes them not yield much juice.
There is another sort of black grapes like the former in all respects, save
that their juice is of a light flesh color, inclining to a white. I once saw a
spontaneous white bunch grape in Carolina ; but the cattle browzing on the
sprouts thereof in the spring, it died. Of those which we call fox grapes,
we have fotir sorts; two whereof are called summer grapes, because ripe in
July; the other two winter fruits, because not ripe till September or October.
The summer fox grapes grow not in clusters or great bunches, but are about
five or six in a bunch, about the bigness of a damson or larger. The black
sort are freijuent, the white not so commonly found. They aWays grow
in swamps and low, moist lands, running sometimes very high and being
shady, and therefore proper for arbours. They afford the largest leaf I
ever saw to my remembrance, the back of which is of a white horse flesh
color. This fruit always ripens in the shade. I have transplanted them
into my orchard and find they thrive well, if manured. A neighbor of mine
has done the same; mine were by slips, his from the roots, which thrive to
admiration, and bear fruit, though not so juicy as the European grape, but
of a glutinous nature. However it is pleasant enough to eat.

" The other winter fox grapes, are much of the same bigness. These
refuse no ground, swampy or dry, but grow plentifully on the sand hills
along the sea coast and elsewhere, and are great bearers. I have seen near
twelve bushels upon one vine of the black sort. Some of these, v/hen thor-
oughly ripe, have a very pretty vinous taste and eat very well, yet are glu-
tinous. The white sort are clear and transparent, and indifferent small
stones. Being removed by the slip or root, they thrive well in our gardens,
and make pleasant shades."

In another part of his history, Lawson says that in 1708 the French

' Lawson, John. History of North Carolina: 169-171. 1714, Reprint 1S60.

38 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Huguenots on Trent River, North Carolina, were cultivating European
grapes for wine-making.* Again he devotes several pages to the subject
of grape-growing in North Carolina.^ He held that this "noble vegetable"
could be brought to the same perfection as in similar latitudes in Europe.
He states that Nathaniel Johnson had rejected all exotic vines and was
cultivating native sorts from which he was making excellent wine. Lawson
admonishes his readers that in a new country the settlers are under the neces-
sity of making use of the natural products of the soil of which, in Carolina,
the wild grape is most worthy of notice. He calls attention to the
fact that conditions are so different in America that European methods
of cultivation and care cannot be followed. Lastly he states that he had
planted seeds from the white grapes of Madeira from which he hoped to
raise a vineyard. Lawson is deserving of esteem as an energetic pioneer,
an accurate historian, as one of the first American naturalists, and as an
early vineyardist and horticulturist, for he experimented with other fruits
than the grape. Poor Lawson was burned to death In' the Indians in the
prime of his career, cutting short experiments which might have materially
hastened the establishment of viticulture in America.

The best account of the grapes of Virginia given in the later colonial
times is that of the historian Robert Beverly who is very explicit in his
description of the sorts growing wild in that State. He describes them as
follows:^ "Grapes grow there [Virginia] in an incredible plenty, and variety;
some of which are very sweet and pleasant to the taste, others rough and
harsh, and perhaps fitter for wine or brandy. I have seen great trees covered
with single vines, and those vines almost hid with the grapes. Of these
wild grapes, besides those large ones in the mountains, mentioned by Batt
in his discovery, I have observed four very different kinds, viz:

"One of the sorts grows among the sand banks, upon the edges of
the low grounds, and islands next the bay, and sea, and also in the swamps
and breaches of the uplands. They grow thin in small bunches, and upon
very low vines. These are noble grapes; and though they are wild in the
woods, are as large as the Dutch gooseberry. One species of them is white,

' Lawson, John. History of North Carolina: 141. 17 14. Reprint i860.

^ lb.: 1S4-1S9.

'Beverly, Robert. History of Virginia: 105-107. 1722, Reprint 1855.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 39

others purple, blue and black, but all much alike in flavor; and some long,
some round.

"A second kind is produced throughout the whole country, in the
swamps and sides of hills. These also grow upon small vines, and in small
bunches; but are themselves the largest grapes as big as the English buUace,
and of a rank taste when ripe, resembling the smell of a fox, from whence
they are called fo.x grapes. Both these sorts make admirable tarts, being
of a fleshly substance, and perhaps, if rightly managed, might make good
raisins.

"There are two species more, that are common to the whole country,
some of which are black, and some blue on the outside, and some white.
Thev grow upon vast, large vines, and l)ear very plentifully. The nice
observer might, perhaps, distinguish them into several kinds, because they
differ in color, size and relish; but I shall divide them only into two, viz:
the early, and the late ripe. The early ripe common grape is much larger,
sweeter, and better than the other. Of these some are quite black, and others
blue, and some white or yellow; some also ripen three weeks, or a month
before the other. The distance of their ripening, is from the latter end of
August, to the latter end of October. The late ripe common grapes are
less than any other, neither are they so pleasant to the taste. They hang
commonly to the latter end of November, or till Christmas ; all that I have
seen of these are black. Of the former of these two sorts, the French refugees
at the Monacan Town made a sort of claret, though they were gathered
oft" of the wild vines in the woods. I was told by a very good judge who
tasted it, that it was a pleasant, strong, and full-bodied wine. From which
we may conclude, that if the wine was but tolerably good, when made of
the wild grape, which is shaded by the woods from the sun, it would be
much better, if produced of the same grape cultivated in a regtilar vineyard."

Beverly could write with some authority on grapes for he was at that
time much interested in the general question of grape-growing. Besides
he was of an inquiring mind and seems to have been an untiring experi-
menter with the agricultural plants of his own and other lands. Charles
Campbell in his introduction to the reprint of Beverly's Virginia in 1S55,
gives the following account of a vineyard planted by the historian: "John
Fontaine, son of a Huguenot refugee, having come over from England to

40 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Virginia, visited Robert Beverly, the author of this work, in the vear 171 5,
at his residence, near the head of the Mattapony. Here he cultivated
several varieties of the grape, native and French, in a vineyard of about
three acres, situated upon the side of a hill, from which he made in that
3'ear four hundred gallons of wine. He went to very considerable expense
in this enterprise, having constructed vaults of a wine-cellar. But Fontaine
comparing his method with that used in Spain, deemed it erroneous, and
that his vineyard was not rightly managed. The home-made wine Fontaine
drank heartily of, and found it good, but he was satisfied by the flavor of
it that Beverly did not understand how to make it properly. * * *
He had laid a sort of wager with some of the neighboring planters, he
giving them one guinea in hand, and they promising to pa}^ him each ten
guineas, if in seven years he should cultivate a vineyard that would yield at
one vintage seven hundred gallons of wine. Beverly thereupon paid them
down one hundred pounds, and Fontaine entertained no doubt but that in
the ne.xt year he would win the thousand guineas." And Beverly won
the guineas.

Boiling in his Sketch of Vhw Culttire, 1765, mentions native grapes
only as they indicate to him the adaptability of the country for the Euro-
pean sorts. Yet he suggests, and was probably the first to do so, the pos-
sibility of hybridization between American and the European species. He
says: "Would it not be well for us to attempt the raising of new varieties,
by marrving our native with foreign vines? " He then gives a plan whereby
the vines mav be planted as to "so interlock their branches as that they
shall be completely blended together." He says, "they will then feed
from the blossoms of each other, and when the fruit is ripe, and if seeds
are saved from it and sown in nurseries, * * * it is probable
that we shall obtain other varieties better adapted to our climates and better
for wine and table, than either of those kinds from which they sprung.
Beyond these brief mentions Boiling does not discuss native grapes,
though he tells of the origin of the Bland grape, which we now know to be a
native, and wrongly says that it grew from the seed of a European raisin.

Antill, in his Essay on the Cultivation of the Vine, a treatise discussed
in the previous chapter, gives no varieties of native grapes, though he says
that he had just entered upon a trial of them. His brief discussion of

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 4^

American vines is well worth quoting in full as showing the status of the
species known to Antill just previous to the Revolutionary War:'

" The reason for my being silent about vines that are natives of America,
is, that I know but little of them, having but just entered upon a trial of
them, when my verv ill state of health forbade me to proceed: From what
little observation I have been able to make, I look upon them to be much
more untractable than those of Europe, they will undergo a hard struggle
indeed, before they will submit to a low and humble state, a state of abject
slavery. They are very hardy and will stand a frame, for they brave the
severest storms and winter blasts, they shrink not at snow, ice, hail or rain;
the wine they will make, I imagine from the austerity of their taste, will be
strong and masculine.

"The Fox-Grape, whose berries are large and round, is divided into three
sorts, the white, the dark red and the black; the berries grow but thin upon
the bunches, which are plain without shoulders. They delight most in a
rich sandy lome, here they grow very large and the berries are sweetest, but
they will grow in any grounds, wet or dry; those that grow on high dry
grounds generally become white, and the colour alters to a dark red or
black, according to the lowness and wetness of the ground; the situation I
think must greatly affect the Wine, in strength, goodness and colour; the
berries are generally ripe the beginning of September, and when fully ripe
they soon fall away; thus much I have observed as they grow wild. What
alteration they may undergo, or how much they may be improved by proper
soils and due cultivation I cannot say.

" There is a small black Grape, a size bigger than the winter Grape, that
is ripe in September; it is pleasant to eat, and makes a very pretty Wine,
which I have drank of, it was four years old, and seemed to be the better
for its age; the colour was amber, owing to the want of knowing how to
extract the tincture; this Grape is seldom to be found; theie is a Vine of
them near John Taylor, Esq; at Middletown, Monmouth, and there are
some of them in Mr. Livingston's Vineyard at Piscataqua in New- Jersey.
I think they are well worth propagating.

" The frost or winter Grape is known to every body, both the bunches

^Transactions American Philosophical Society, 1:191-193. 1769-71.

42 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

and berries are small, and yield but little juice, but the richness of the Wine
may make up for the smailness of the quantity; the taste of the Grape is
austere till prett}' hard frosts come, and then it takes a favourable turn and
becomes very sweet and agreeable ; this Vine shoots forth great numbers of
slender branches, and might do very well for the south and southeast sides
of a summer-house or close walk, if all the viseless and barren branches were
cut away.

" The Vines of America are fit for strong high espaliers, but if I mistake
not, he must watch them narrowlv, must take away every unnecessary and
unprofitable branch, and trim them sharp and close, that means to keep
them within bounds."

Peter Legaux, in his patriotic address " To the People of the American
States,"' wherein he admonishes them the culture of the vine is a national
duty, was intent, as we have seen, on making the Old World grape grow in
America — even if it were necessary to palm off an American sort as an Old
World kind. He dismisses American grapes with even less attention than
Antill gave them, his sole notice of them being embodied in the remarks
that " with skillful management many of them would make good and whole-
some wines" and that "if the native grapes of America are not the most
eligible for vineyards, others are now within the reach of its inliabitants."
Indirectly he was, however, of great service in distril^uting the first native
varieties, for as Rafinesque says, "by calling our Bland and Alexander
grapes Madeira and Cape, he was instrumental in diffusing them among
those who would not have noticed nor bought them if known as native
vines."

Following Legaux's address of 1800 several treatises were written within
a few years which give us a very clear idea of the status of the American.
grapes at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Chief of these, and
probably in chronological order, is a paper in TJie Domestic Encyclopedia on
the vine, written by James Mease, M. D.- It appears that Dr. Mease wrote

' The True American, Philadelphia, March 24, 1800.

- 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

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 43

in 1802 but the Encyclopedia did not appear until 1804.' Embodied in the
article is an " interesting paper on the vines of the United States drawn up
by William Bartram at the request of the editor." Bartram's paper was
written in the spring of 1802. Mease's discussion of the vine merits
especial attention. While the best of Antill's and Legaux's observations are
made use of, yet much is added to them and the paper is far more reasonable
in every respect than those of either of the two previous Vv-riters, and is
wholly lacking in the ostentatious modesty and circumlocution of Antill
and the grandiloquence and self esteem of Legaux. It may justly be con-
sidered the first rational discussion of the culture of the grape in America.
Mease's paper deserves attention for another reason. It contains the
first public utterance condemning the culture of the Old World grape and
recommending the cultivation of native grapes. He says: "From the
experience, however, of the editor and his friends who have found much
difficulty in naturalizing foreign vines, he recommends the cultivation of
the native grapes of the United -States, particularly the Vitis sylvcstris,
[Vitis aestivalis] or small blue or bunch grape; Bland's, Tasker's or Alex-
ander's, and the bull-grape of Carolina and Georgia." It appears from
the whole discussion by Mease and Bartram in this treatise that the only
varieties of native grapes cultivated in 1804 were, Alexander's or Tasker's
grape, Bland's grape, the Bull grape- of Carolina and Georgia, and the
Raccoon grape.

Two years later, 1806, S. W. Johnson^ and Bernard McMahon ■* pub-
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 favour-
able. 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,"

' The sime year, 1S04, Mease published Bartram's paper, with some omissions, in the Medical
Repository (Second Hexade, 1:19) under the heading, " Account of the Species, Hybrids, and other
Varieties of the Vine of Xorth-America. By Mr. William Bartram, of Pennsylvania." The same
paper was again published in 1830 in Prince's .4 Treatise on the Vine. pp. 216-220.

- Bartram states that " bull " is an abbreviation of bullet; the grapes being so called because they
were of the size of a bullet. He held that the name ' taurina " applied to the species was not proper.

^Johnson's Rural Economy: 155-197. New Brunswick, N. J., 1806.

* McMahon's Gardening: 226-241. Philadelphia, Pa., 1806.

44 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

lished accounts of the cultivation of the vine. Johnson mentions three
American varieties, the " Bull or Bullet grape, Bland's grape and the
Alexander's or Tasker's grape." Johnson has nothing to say of the desira-
bility of cultivating the above or other native sorts and confines his discus-
sion largely to Legaux's work with European grapes. McMahon advocates
the introduction of foreign grapes and says almost nothing about the native
species. As American varieties he mentions those given by Johnson,
omitting the Bull grape.

One of the first, if not the first, extensive centers of native grape-
growing in America was about York, Pennsylvania. In iSi8, Mr. Thomas
Eichelberger, an enterprising German vine-grower, set out four acres of
grapes at this place and demonstrated that grapes could be grown success-
fully. The original vineyard was increased to about twenty acres and
other plantations were made until in 1S26 there were in the immediate
neighborhood of the borough of York one hundred and fift}' acres of vine-
yards. The account of these vineyards states further:' " In Adam and
Westmoreland the culture of the vine is also attended to and one gentleman
in Chester has a vineyard of thirty acres." The grape most commonly
grown in this region was known to the growers as " Black or York Madeira "
and was supposed to have been introduced from the Island of Madeira.
Prince pronounced the grape to be a native and the then commonly grown
Alexander. Other popular sorts in this region were the York Claret, a
native resembling Alexander; and York Lisbon, described as " having
considerable affinity to Alexander but having a larger and more acid fruit."
Beside these there were several less well knov/n sorts none of which is
heard of now. Before the industry began to wane about York the Catawba
and Isabella had taken the place of the first named sorts and these eventually
succumbed for most part to grape diseases. In looking up the history of
varieties of grapes for this work, a surprisingly large number have been
traced back to this early center of the industry, so many that York and
Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania, must be counted among the starting
places of American viticulture.

We have seen that for some years previous to Johnson and McMahon

^American Farmer, 8:ii6. Baltimore, 1S26.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 45

there had lieen efforts to grow Vitis vinijcra in many widely separated
regions. The futihty of attempting to grow the Old World grape became
apparent, so far as we may judge from written accounts, to but few men,
however. To Dr. James Mease must be accorded the honor of first perceiv-
ing and setting forth in print the fact that American viticulture must rise
from native grapes. Possibly the second man to voice the same sentiment
was Thomas Jefferson, ever alert for the agricultural welfare of the country,
who wrote to John Adlum in iSog, speaking of the Alexander grape:'
" I think it will be well to push the culture of that grape without losing
time and efforts in search of foreign vines, which it will take centuries to
adapt to our soil and climate." It is probable that Jefferson, who it appears
was a frec^uent correspondent of Adlum's, stimulated the latter to the
publication of a book on grape culture. This appeared in 1823, " for the
purpose ", as the author says in his preface, " of diffusing some practical
and iiseful information throughout the country on the best method of
cultivating the native grape and of making Wine ".

Thus Adlum's- Cultivation of the Vine was the first American book on
American grapes. The author's intentions, as indicated in his preface,
quoted above, were good ; but his book, as an exposition on native grape
culture, is a failure. The work is concerned for most part with wine-making

'Adlum, John. Cultivation of the Vine: 149. Second Edition, Washington, 1S28.

^ John Adlum, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1759 and died at Georgetown, D. C, in
1836. Adlum was one of the first men to see clearly the possibility of improving the wild grapes of
America and of bringing them under cultivation. He published accounts of this fruit in his Cultivation
of the Vine and in the agricultural papers of his time, thereby aiding in bringing it into public notice
as a cultivated plant. At " The Vineyard ", near Georgetown, he established an experimental plan-
tation of grapes from which he distributed many vines, chief of which were those of the Catawba,
a variety for whose dissemination he is largely responsible. Adlum tried without avail to have the
national government found an experimental farm for the culture of grapes and his effort was one
of the first to secure governmental aid in agricultural experimentation. Beside his work with the grape,
Adlum was deeply interested in other phases of agriculture and in the scientific movements of his
time. He was a soldier of the Revolution, a brigadier-general in the militia of Pennsylvania, a county
judge, and a civil engineer and surveyor. In spite of his work in the early part of the last century
for agriculture and for his State and country, Adlum was practically unknown to the present
generation until a sketch of his life and work appeared in Bailey's The Evolution of Our Native
Fruits from which this sketch is written. Adlum's memory is perpetuated in the name of the
beautiful climbing fumitory of one of the Northern Atlantic States, Adlumnia cirJiosa, bestowed
upon him by his contemporary, Rafinesque. (For a more complete account of Adlum's life, see
Bailey's Evolution of Our Native Fruits, pp. 50-61.)

46 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

and his cultural directions are taken almost wholly, such as they are, from
European books. In the last four pages of the treatise he describes twenty-
two varieties of grapes of which perhaps a dozen are native sorts. In this
edition the Catawba is described as the Tokay but in a second edition,
published in 1828, the name is changed from Tokay to Catawba. Adlum
was one of the first to call attention to the Catawba and was at the time
its chief distributor. He advocated in his book, and in the papers of the
time, the establishment of an experimental farm' upon which could be
grown " cuttings of the different species of the native Vine to be found
in the United States, to ascertain their growth, soil, and produce, and to
exhibit to the Nation, a new source of wealth, which has been too long
neglected."

Adlum did not write from theory alone for he was the owner and cul-
tivator of vineyards near Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, where
he grew both native and foreign grapes. The latter he finally discarded
with the statement that the way to success in America "is to drop most
kinds of foreign vines at once (except a few for the table) and seek for the
best kinds of our largest native Grapes ". The best information from
Adlum's pen regarding native grapes and their culture is to be found in the
American Farmer, published in Baltimore. He wrote mainly during the
years 1824 to 1830. He was neither a clear nor an accurate writer and his
imagination and enthusiasm had full sway at all times; yet. notwithstanding
these faults, he must be counted as one of the geniuses of his day, as devoted
to the welfare of the country, as having almost a prophetic vision, and as
actuated by the best of motives. His struggle for a national experimental
vineyard, the work of his pen, his dissemination of the Catawba and other
grapes, and his vineyard experiments, give Adlum a high place among the
improvers of American grapes.

John James Dufour gives the next glimpse of the beginnings of Ameri-
can viticulture in his Vine Dresser's Guide published in Cincinnati in 1826.
It is but a glimpse, however, for Dufour was a foreigner, and. as we have
seen, came to America to grow the Old World grape. His efforts at grape-
growing furnished the climax to the two centuries of failures in growing

' Adlum, John. Cultivation of tlic Vine. Preface. 1823.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 47

Vitis vinifera in America but did not benefit the new viticulture of the
country greatly.' His only contribution of note was one made in spite
of himself, namely the introduction of the Alexander, which he incorrectly
called Cape, an American grape, as a commercial variety, Legaux having
first brought it prominently to notice. Dufour would never admit that
this variety, the only one to succeed in his vineyards in Kentucky and
Indiana, was a native grape and says of it in the preface of his book: " I
will also trv to save the character of our Cape grapes from being made
merely wild grapes, because some are now found in the woods; and, to
put any one in the way to distinguish wild from tame grapes, I will give the
description of the botanical characters of the blossom of both sorts." In
his text he fulfills the promise in the preface and devotes some pages to
" save the character of our Cape grapes."

Dufour's visit of inspection of the vineyards of the country in 1 799 has
been noted in discussing the Old World grape. In this trip only foreign
grapes interested him and he mentioned the wild species but to condemn
them for cultivation. In his book published twenty-seven years later he
shows no change of opinion and though at this time there were a number
of meritorious native sorts he describes only European varieties. Dufour
was a true foreigner and could find little of value in the New World that
did not come from the Old World.

Rafinesque, writing in 1830, in his American Manual of the Grape Vines,
gives an account of forty-one species of native grapes. Unfortunately his
" species " are founded upon the slightest differences in vine or fruit and
his observations were so poorly made that his botanical studies of the grape
are now wholly discredited by botanists. He gives an account of the
acreage in vineyards existing in the United States in 1825 and 1830. This
is the earliest estimate of the vineyard acreage of the country and is there-
fore a landmark in American viticulture. It is as follov.-s:" "In 1825 I
collected an account of our principal vineyards and nurseries of vines.
They were then only 60 of i to 20 acres each, altogether 600 acres. While

' For a full account of Dufour's attempts to grow European grapes see Bailey's Evolution of O.tr
Native Fruits, pp. 21-42.

^ Rafinesque has also preserved for us the names of many of the vine-growers of his time. The
following is his list :

48 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

now, in 1830, they amount to 200 of 3 to 40 acres, or nearly 5000 acres of
vineyards. Thus having increased tenfold within 5 years, at which rate
they promise to become a permanent and increasing cultivation."

Viticulture took its place in the literature of American pomology with
the advent of William Robert Prince's ,4 Treatise on the Vine. This work,
magnificent compared with similar books of the time, introdiices native
grapes to the fruit-growers of America. Prince was the fourth proprietor
of the same name of the Prince nurseries at Flushing, Long Island, and
he with his predecessors had assiduously cultivated European varieties
of grapes hoping to acclimatize them to American conditions. It is not a
matter of wonder therefore, that much of his book is devoted to foreign
grapes. His collection at Flushing consisted of over four hundred and
fifty sorts and many of these he describes. In spite of his attraction to
the foreign varieties, some of which had been tested in his nursery for two
or three generations. Prince admitted the impossibility of growing them
successfully and recommends to his readers and patrons the cultivation
of native varieties. In the latter regard he says: "* * * after all
my own experiments I have come to this conclusion, that to establish
vineyards of the most profitable description, with a certainty of regular
crops in localities north of the highlands in this state, native varieties alone
should be selected; and the whole of the eastern states will of course be
comprised in this remark."

" Wishing to preserve the names of the public benefactors who had in 1825 established our first
vineyards, I herewith insert their names. They are independent of the vineyards of York, Vevay,
and Vincennes.

" In Xew York, George Gibbs, Swift, Prince, Lansing, Loubat, etc.

" In Pennsylvania, Carr, James, Potter, J. Webb, Legaux, Echelberger, E. Bonsall, Stoys,
Lemoine, Rapp.

" In Delaware, Broome, J. Gibbs, etc.

" In Maryland, Adlum, W. Bernie, C. Varle, R. Sinclair, W. Miles, etc.

" In Virginia, Lockhart, Zane, R. Weir, Xoel, J. Browne, J. Duling, etc.

" In Carolina, Habersham, Noisette, etc.

" In Georgia, Maurick, James Gardiner, S. Grimes, Chccteau, M'Call.

" In Xew Jersey, Cooper at Camden. Another at Mount Holly.

" In Ohio, Gen. Harrison, Longworth, Dufour, etc.

" In Indiana, Rapp of Harmony, the French of Vincennes.

" In Alabama, Dr. S. Brown, at Eagleville."

Continuing, he gives an idea of grape production in 1830: —

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

49

In his treatise, Prince described about seventy varieties of native grapes
and several of the native species. Prince's descriptions of these grapes
are comprehensive and judging from the sorts described by him which we
now have they are accurate. He grew seedhngs from many of them. He
showed a knowledge of the possibilities of hybridization of American species
with Vitis vinijera. He solicited and obtained seeds and vines from all the
settled portions of the Union. His grape correspondents in different parts
of America and of the world must have numbered hundreds. Prince's
enthusiasm and perseverance in grape culture attached to him votaries in
all fruit regions and to him more than to any other man was due that
friendly interchange of knowledge and sentiment regarding grapes which
characterized the half century after the appearance of his book. Such
co-operation as was manifested in grape-growing in the second and third
quarters of the nineteenth centur}- has never l^een known in the culture
of any other species of plant in this country and to it is largely due the
progress of viticulture in leaps and bounds dating from Prince's time.

With the close of the year 1830, we may consider viticulture a firmly
established industry in America with the native grapes as a basis.
Rafinesque's estimate of the acreage at this time is given on a preceding
page (47). It is worth while considering, very briefly, the types of grapes
under cultivation at this stage of the industry, with some discussion of the
origin of the leading varieties.

" The average crop of wine with us is 300 gallons per acre. At York, where 2700 vines are put
on one acre, each vine has often produced a quart of wine, and thus 675 gallons per acre, value $675
in 1823, besides $200 for 5000 cuttings. One acre of vineyard did then let for S200 or 300, thus value
of the acre about $5000: This was in poor soil unfit for wheat, and for mere Claret.

" Now in 1S30, that common French Claret often sells only at 50 cents the gallon, the income
must be less. I hope our claret may in time be sold for 25 cents the gallon, and the table grapes at
one cent the lb. and even then an acre of vineyard will give an income of S75, and be worth $1000
the acre.

" The greatest check to this cultivation is the time required for grapes to bear well, from ^ to 6
years: our farmers wishing to have quick yearly crops; but then when a vineyard is set and in bearing,
it will last forever, the vines themselves lasting from 60 to 100 years, and are easily re-placed as they
decay.

■' The next check is the precarious crops if badly managed. Every year is not equally plentiful
and sometimes there is a total failure when rains drown the blossoms; but an e.xtra good crop of 500
or 600 gallons commonly follows and covers their loss." Rafinesque, C. S. American Manual of
the Grape Vines., Philadelphia. 1830. pp. 43-45.
4

50 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

The first grape to become generally distributed as a commercial
variety, was, as has been remarked before, the Alexander, or Cape. It came
into prominence, through the deception of Legaux and the credulity of
Dufour, as one of the Viniferas commonly grown at the Cape of Good Hope.
It proved, however, to be an offshoot of the fox grape of the woods, Vitis
labrusca, and had been grown, long before Legaux palmed it off as the
Cape, under the names Alexander and Tasker's, Alexander because of its
having been grown by a gardener of this name and Tasker's through its
cultivation on a somewhat extensive scale by a Mr. Tasker in Maryland.
Its history dates back to the years before the Revolutionary War and its
origin was probably on the banks of the Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, hence
another of its many synonyms, Schuylkill Muscadell.

Of the several other native varieties of the Labrusca type cultivated in
1830, two deserve attention for their intrinsic and historical value. The
Catawba, of uncertain origin, as we shall see in its history, and the Isabella,
a native of South Carolina, are both classed by most viticulturists as of the
fox or Labrusca type. The two varieties were distributed among vine-
growers at about the same time but the Catawba, because of its superior
merits, soon took the lead and at the time of which we write was by far
the most popular native grape. These, with the Alexander, may certainly
be considered the forerunners of the cultivated grapes of the species to
which they belong. The Catawba is still in several great grape regions
of the country the standard commercial variety.

While varieties of Vitis labrusca were first cultivated in the North, it is
probable that l'///5 rotundijolia furnished the first domesticated varieties
for the South, and likely, too, before the northern kinds were cultivated.
Among these are the white and black Scuppemongs, or bullet grapes.
Vitis rotundijolia, while it refuses to grow out of its habitat, runs riot from
Maryland to Florida from seashore to mountains and in many diverse soils.
The Scuppemongs' are natural offshoots of this species and are known in

' Tradition relates that the first Scuppernong vine known by civilized man was found on the
coast of North Carolina by Amadas and Barlowe in 15S4 and was transplanted by them to Roanoke
Island. An old vine of great diameter of stem and spread of vine, gnarled in trunk and branch,
evidently of great age, is known as the " Mother Scuppernong " and is supposed to be the vine trans-
planted in 15S4.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

51

the South in legend, tradition and history. Undoubtedly they were culti-
vated for their fruit or as ornamentals in garden or vineyards from the
earliest colonial times. It is certain that wine was made from the different
wild types of Vitis rotundifolia from the settlement of Jamestown and if not
brought under cultivation at an early day it was because the bountifulness
of the wild vines obviated the necessity of domesticating them. It was of
this grape that Amadas and Barlowe wrote in 1584 " in all the world the like
abundance is not to be found."

The word Scuppernong' is often used to designate a group of grapes
rather than as a varietal name; for, there are the black Scuppernong, the
white or green Scuppernong and the red Scuppernong, all much alike except
in color of fruit and in a few minor characters of vine. Indeed, where
Vitis rotundifolia grows wild, all of the forms are often included in the term
Scuppernong. The species is often known, too, as the Muscadine or Southern
Muscadine.

While the Labruscas were becoming established in the North and the
Scuppernongs in the South, two other species, one northern and one southern,
came into prominence with varieties which for wine-making at least were
far superior to any other native sorts. The southern species is Vitis aesti-
valis, best represented then and now by Norton while the northern species
is Vitis riparia and its variety under cultivation was the Clinton, which
still remains one of the best representatives of the species.^ It is strange
that these four species v/ere brought under cultivation only when wild
forms of them, so striking in value that they still remain a hundred
5'ears later standard cultivated varieties, had l-)een found. Vitis labntsca
represented by Catawba, Vitis rotundifolia, by Scuppernong, Vitis aesti-
valis, by Norton, and Vitis riparia, by Clinton, are, after a century of
improvement, with several hiindred varieties, scarcely excelled by others

'Calvin Jones writing June 17, 1817, in the American Fanner, 3:332, from Raleigh, North
Carolina, gives the following account of the n.-ime Scuppernong: " This grape & wine, had the name
of Scuppernong, given to them by Henderson & myself, in compliment to Jas. Blount, of Scuppernong,
•who first diffused a general knowledge of it in several well written communications in our paper — and
it is cultivated with more success on that river, than in any other part of the state, perhaps, except
the Island of Roanoke." It is worthy of note that Scuppernong is largely a sea-board name for
Vitis rotundifolia and is not commonly applied to it outside of the Atlantic States.

' There is some evidence to show that the Clinton contains Labrusca blood.

52 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

of their species. Yet it is not so much the wonder that grape-breeders
have so httle improved ujDon these first varieties, as that our forefathers
could allow them to grow comparatively neglected at their doors for two
centuries while they wasted time in the attempt to grow a foreign grape
that had been a failure from the very start.

Other species had also been tried at this time. Those indefatigable
botanists and horticulturists, the Princes, had grown plants of what we
now know as Vttts aestivalis lincecmnii Munson, Vitis longii Prince, and
Vitis cordifolia Michx., but without finding them of value. It is interesting
to note that the first named species, the Post-oak grape, now promises to
furnish valuable varieties for the South and that it has some characters
desirable for the North if they can be combined with those of our northern
species.

We have followed the grape through the settlement, colonization and
first statehood days of the United States. We have seen that it had its
part, and no mean one, in these dramatic periods. We have found that
the wild grapes of the country, valued but uncultivated for two hundred
years, became through mere transplanting from the woods into the vine-
yards, without the slow modifications which nearly all other plants have
had to undergo, one of our most important fruits. The domestication of
four species of American grapes has been briefly traced. The beginning
of American viticulture has been set, somewhat arbitrarily, at 1830, the
date of the puljlication of William Prince's Treatise on the Vine. It
remains now to discuss the econonTic progress of the mdustry we have
seen launched.

The twenty years following 1830 comprise a period of expansion in grape-
growing unmarked by the introduction of new types or of any new varieties
of particular note. During this time a grape and wine industry of con-
siderable magnitude was developed about Cincinnati, and the Ohio River
became known as the Rhine of America — a title long since lost and now
applied to the Keuka Lake region in New York. According to Buchanan,"
there were 1550 acres of grapes in the Ohio Valley within twenty miles of
Cincinnati; between forty and fifty acres near Hermann, Missouri; a few

' Buchanan, Robert. Grape Culture: 6i. 1S50.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 53

vineyards at Belleville, Illinois; and wine was being made from the Scupper-
nong grape in North and South Carolina. The inference from Buchanan is
that the above plantations were for the production of wine ; for he specifies
that a few vineyards were in cultivation about New York, Philadelphia and
Burlington, New Jersey, "but more with a view to supply the market with
grapes, than to make wine."

The last statement is significant for it indicates a change in the grape
industry which really gave life to the viticulture of eastern America.
Until about 1S50, grapes were considered valuable and were cultivated only
for wine-making. Previous to this time the literature on the grape was
concerned more with wine-making than with cultivation, varieties or any
other phase of the industry. The American grapes, with few exceptions,
do not make good wines; there were few men in the country until within
recent years who understood wine-making; and the American people do not
take kindly to wines. It was not, therefore, possible to establish viticulture
as an indastry of any magnitude in eastern America when grapes were used
for \v'ine alone. It was onlv when the demand for table grapes was created
and when transportation and market facilities permitted the supplv of the
demand that the industry took form and substance. It is a significant fact
that in those regions in the eastern United States in which grape-growing
has been founded and which are chiefly dependent on wine-making, the
industry has not prospered or has flourished but temporarily.

We have had Rafinesque's survey of the grape industry of the country
in 1830 and Buchanan's in 1850. The next record, and a far more complete
one than either of the above, is found in a consular report made by E. M.
Erskine, Secretary of the British Legation at Washington, to the British
government in 1859. Mr. Erskine reported the acreage as follows:' " The
banks of the River Ohio are studded with vineyards, between 1.500 and
2,000 acres being planted in the immediate vicinity of Cincinnati, with
every prospect of a vast increase. At Cleveland, Ohio, on the southern
shore of Lake Erie, there are 100 acres under vine culture; at Hermann, on
the Missouri, 80 miles west of St. Louis, 150 or 200 acres are cultivated
almost entirely by Germans; at Booneville, higher up the same river; at

* British Parliamentary Papers (Library of Congress), Vol. 30. 1859.

54 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Belleville, on the ' rolling prairies ' of Illinois; at Reading, in Pennsylvania;
in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and generally, in at least
twenty-two out of the thirty-two States now constituting the Union, vine-
yards of more or less promise and extent have been planted. * * *

"About 3,000 acres are cultivated as vineyards in the state of Ohio;
500 in Kentuckv; 1,000 in Indiana; 500 in Missouri; 500 in Illinois; 100 in
Georgia; 300 in North Carolina; 200 in South Carolina, with every prospect
of a rapid increase in all. It is calculated that at least 2,000,000 gallons of
wine are now raised in the United States, the average value of which may
be taken at a dollar and a half the gallon."

Grape-growing in New York was not considered worthy of mention by
Erskine; and Buchanan nine years before reported only a few vineyards
about New York City. In the regions of this State now almost wholly
devoted to grape-growing a start had hardly been made in 1850. Yet
there were some commercial vineyards at this time. Deacon Elijah Fay,
the ]jioneer grape-grower in what is now the great Chautauqua region,
planted the first vines in that district in 1818 and though grape-growing
did not become of importance until three or four decades later yet this
planting was the foundation upon which Deacon Fay built until, largely
through his efforts and example and those of his children, grapes were
grown everywhere about his home. It is doubtful, however, if there were a
hundred acres of commercial vineyards m this region when Erskine made
his report in 1859.

The first plantings made about Keuka Lake, now called the " Rhine of
America ", were made by the Rev. William Bostwick at Hammondsport
about 1830. He grew the Catawba and Isabella in a small way in his garden
and for years was the only grape-grower in this part of New York. The
commercial industry in this region was not started until 1853 when Andrew
Reisinger, a German vintner, planted two acres of Isabellas and Catawbas
at Harmonvville in the town of Pulteney. From this start viticulture in
the Keuka region grew apace and there must have been four or five hundred
acres of grapes planted when Erskine's report was made in 1859. The
fact that the region was not mentioned in this report may be accounted
for by assuming that Erskine's figures came from men engaged in making

THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK. 55

wine and at this time wine was not made in large quantities in the Keuka
district.

There had been experimental vineyards about New York City and
along the Hudson for a century before the time of which we are writing,
but these, as we have seen, being largely of foreign grapes, came to naught.
Probably native grapes were first planted there in a commercial way by
the French Huguenots who settled in Ulster and Orange Counties. At any
rate there is record of a vineyard planted by a Frenchman, John Jacques,
near Washingtonville in 1837. The varieties were Isabella and Catawba
and there were, all told, about half an acre. It is interesting to note that
this vinevard is still producing grapes and that some of the vines are as
vigorous as in their first maturity-. Wine-making as an industry has existed
in this region since the vineyard of 1837 came into bearing but it was not
until several years later that table grapes were grown for the market. In
1859 there must have been two or three hundred acres of grapes in com-
mercial vineyards in the country adjacent to the Hudson.

Adding five hundred acres from New York to the 6500 reported for the
United States by Erskine in 1859 we have 7000 acres for the whole country — •
a small estimate, for several other states known to have considerable acre-
ages of commercial vineyards were not taken into account in Erskine's
survey.

Before passing to a further consideration of grape statistics we must
note two important events for American viticulture which took place just
previous to the survey which we have been discussing. One of these brought
about a revokition, — almost brought into existence commercial grape-
growing; the other stimulated and laid the foundation of grape-breeding in
this country. The first was the introduction of the Concord grape; the
second was the production of hybrids between the European and the native
grapes.

The history of the Concord will be found in the discussion of that
variety in the chapter on Varieties of American Grapes. Its advent is noted
here that it may be set as a landmark in the development of American
grape-culture. It is first recorded in 1852 by the Massachusetts Horticul-
tural Society as a seedling exhibited by E. W. Bull. The qualities that
have made the Concord so important in commercial grape-growing are:

56 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Adaptability to varying sets of cultural conditions; fair shipping qualities;
hardiness, productiveness and comparative immunity to fungi and insects.
Its influence on the grape-growing of the country has been great, too,
because from it have come a considerable number of the most valuable
varieties of American grapes; as Worden, Moore Early, Pocklington,
Martha and Cottage, all pure-bred seedlings and many cross-breds.

At a meeting of the American Pomological Society in Philadelphia in
1852, Dr. William W. Valk of Flushing, Long Island, exhibited several
bunches of fruit from a seedling grape which he had grown from seeds of
Black Hamburg produced from blossoms fertilized by Isabella.' The cross
had been made in 1845, the first fruit was borne in 1850, and in 1851 speci-
mens of it were examined by Downing who wrote, " There can be no doubt
that this is the first genuine cross between the foreign grapes and our
natives."- The name of the variety, given by the originator, is Ada. Dr.
Valk gave full accounts of his hybrid seedlings in the Horticulturist in 1851,'
and in the Proceedings of the American Pomological Society in 1852.'' He had
previously written on the subject of hybridization, an interesting paper hav-
ing been contributed to Hovey's Magazine as early as 1845.' All available
information shows that Valk's is the first recorded hybrid between a native
and the foreign grape. Yet the honor of such a production has usually been
given to John Fisk Allen and to the grape, Allen's Hybrid. For the con-
ception of hybridity between species we can go back to the beginning of the
cultivation of native grapes. Nearly thirtv years before, Nuttall, the
then famous botanist of Harvard University, had recommended such
hybridization to American grape-growers.® Dufour mentions its possi-

' American Pomological Society Report for 1852:45.

- Horticulturist, 6:445. 1851.

^ Horticulturist, 6:444. 1851.

* American Pomological Society Report for 1852:45.

^ Magazine oj Horticulture, 11:134. 1845.

'Nuttall says: " It is probable that hybrids betwixt the European Vine (Vitis vinifcra) and
those of the United States would better answer the variable climates of North America, than the
unacclimated vine of Europe. When a portion of the same industry shall have been bestowed upon
the cultivation of the native vines of America, which has for so many ages and by so many nations,
been devoted to the amelioration of Vitis v-inijcra, we cannot imagine that the citizens of the United
States will be longer indebted to Europe for the luxury of wine. It is not however in the wilds of

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 57

bilities in his Vine Dresser's Guide} In 1S30, Prince discussed the whole
matter and gave specific directions for hybridizing.- Indeed it is not
unlikely that Prince, who says he grew ten thousand seedling plants "from
an admixture under every variety of circumstance" grew the first such
hybrid but we have nothing more definite as to this than the above
statement.

In 1854, two years following its report of E. W. Bull's 'new seedling,"
the Concord, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society showed in its exhibits
another grape scarcely less worthy of note than the Concord. It was a
hybrid between the Golden Chasselas and the Isabella produced by John
Fisk x\llen of Salem, Massachusetts. The new variety, the Allen's Hybrid,
mentioned in a preceding paragraph, had some intrinsic value but, of more
importance, was the first introduction of its kind and started similar work
which gave us many interesting and some valuable grapes.

uncultivated nature that we are to obtain vines worthy of cultivation. Were this the case, Europe
would to the present have known no other Malus than the worthless austere crab, in place of the
finest apple; no other Pyrus than the acerb and inedible Pyraster or stone Pear, from which cultiva-
tion has obtained all the other varieties. It is from seed that new and valuable varieties are invariably
to be obtained. There is however at the present time, a variety of one of the native species cultivated
under the name of ' Bland's grape ', a hybrid no way in my opinion inferior to some of the best
European grapes."

' " People who have a good deal of leisure time, ought to make those experiments which take
many years to know the result. If any where in the United States a public Botanic garden should
be established, there would be the proper place, to have a corner of it appropriated solely for the
purpose of trying the raising of new species of grapes, either by seeds or grafts; and if there was a
green or hot house, several species of the best grapes, and even a male plant of the most vigorous
indigenous ought to be introduced in it, and trained so that the crossing of the breed may be easily
done, by bringing two different sorts of grapes together in time of blossoming, and sow the seeds.
I think we may anticipate some very good results from such an arrangement." Vine Dresser's
Guide: 228. 1826.

^ Of hybridization he says: " In all attempts at artificial fecundation, I would recommend
that one of the varieties selected be of native origin, as there exists no want of hybrids between
European varieties alone; a large proportion of those now in cultivation having been doubtless pro-
duced by natural admixture of the pollen, in the vineyards where they originated. For the purpose
of hybridizing, the varieties of Vitis aestivalis should be selected in preference to those of Vitis
labrusca, on account of the much higher vinous properties of the former; and there cannot exist a
doubt but that we may readily produce well acclimated hybrids between the native and foreign
varieties, without the trouble of continuing the course of reproduction for many generations, although
such reproduction from species so dissimilar may continue to present additional modifications of
character." A Treatise on the Vine: 253-254. 1S30.

58 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Soon after the production of Allen's Hybrid, E. S. Rogers of Salem,
Massachusetts, and J. H. Ricketts of Newburgh, New York, began to give
grape-growers varieties, the results of hybrids between Vitis vinijera and
Vitis labrusca, so promising that for a time enthusiasm and speculation
ran riot. Possibly at no other period has the interest in grape-growing
been so keen as during the decade succeeding the introduction of these
hj^brids. It was the "golden era" for the grape propagators. One
old nurseryman tells of carrying, during this boom, over a thousand dollars
worth of rooted grape cuttings on his back from the nurser\- to the express
office.

Though there was no panic among grape-growers as the result of specu-
lation in hybrids, lovers of grapes the country over were greatlv disap-
pointed in the h\-l)rid varieties. The fruit of man_\- of the hybrids produced
at this time is of superior quality and many of them are still grown by
amateurs. But the vines of all first generation hybrids with \'inifera pro-
duced so far, lack hardiness, vigor and usuallv productiveness; thev are
susceptible to fungi and the phylloxera and man>' of them must be cross-
pollinated to secure fruit. It is only when the blood of the native species
greatly predominates, as in Delaware, Brighton and Diamond, that we have
obtained sorts of commercial value through the admixture of foreign blood.
But the interest aroused by Allen's Hybrid still continues and in every
part of the country may be found some man who h\-bridizes grapes with
the hope that through well planned crosses or a lucky chance he may obtain
the grape of grapes for America. Such attempts, stimulated by the hybrids
of the fifties, have produced most of our American varieties.

The time between 1853, the date of the introduction of the Concord,
and 1880 can be singled out as the period in which viticulture made its
great growth in eastern America. The first limit is set because the Concord
gave commercial grape-growing its initial impulse; the second limit is put
at 1880, because at about that time grapes and wine from California began
to compete with the eastern product to such an extent that prices fell and
plantings were curtailed. Curtailment did not begin so early as this in
New York but for the country at large the period of great expansion ended
at about 1880. Fortunately we have an accurate statistical report of the

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 59

condition of grape culture in the United States at this time. It is found in
a work entitled, .4 Report Upon the Statistics of Grape Culture and
Wine Prodviction in tlie United States for iSSo.^ The report was com-
piled by Dr. William McMurtrie under the direction of the Commissioner
of Agriculture.

Statistics are given for all of the states of the Union but a glance at
the tables shows that by this time viticulture had become a specialized
industry and that the areas devoted to it are more or less localized. The
main areas, with their acreage for 1880, may be set forth as follows:

The Eastern region, comprising the States of New York and Pennsyl-
vania, 14,590 acres.

The Middle region, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 17,634 acres.

The Western region, Kansas and Missouri, 10,918 acres.

The Southern region, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina
and Georgia, 10,707 acres.

The Pacific region, California, Arizona and New Mexico, 35,518 acres.

Outside of these five regions there were in the United States, according to
McMurtrie's report, 12,316 acres. The total acreage for the United States
in 1880 was 101,683 acres; the production of wine was 23,453,827 gallons.
Unfortunately the total production of grapes is not given.

The following data are taken from the agricultural statistics of 1890 and
show well the growth of viticulture in ten years though it is probable
that the figures for 1880 were far too low. For the Eastern region,
51,000 acres; the Middle region, 42,633 acres; Western region, 17,306 acres;
Southern region, 17,092 acres; Pacific region, 213,230 acres; for the territory
outside of these divisions, 60,000 acres. Total area, 401,261 acres.
Excluding the acreage of the Pacific division we have 188,031 acres for
American grapes, assuming that all of the grapes grown on the Pacific
Coast belong to Vitis vinifera.

It is interesting to note that in 1890 four-fifths of the grapes grown in
the Eastern region. New York and Pennsylvania, were for table use and that
in round numbers the production for this purpose amounted to 60,687 tons,
requiring 5000 cars for transportation. Of grapes sold to wineries there

' U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Special Report, No. 36. 1880.

6o THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

were 15,172 tons. The varieties most largely grown were, in order named,
Concord, Catawba, Delaware, and Niagara.

In the Middle region, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, about half the grapes
grown were for table use and half for wine. By far the largest part of the
grapes grown in this region was in Ohio, only about one-fourth of the total
area being in the other two states. Between 1880 and 1890, viticulture
scarcely held its own in this division. The decrease in the value of the
product, competition with California, and, more particularly, ravages of
insects and fungi were the causes of the falling off in planting. In some
localities many vineyards were destroyed. The grapes sold for table use in
this region amounted to 50,337 tons; to wineries, 14,456 tons.

So, too, in the Western region, Missouri and Kansas, but little progress
was made during this ten years and for the same reasons, though the devas-
tation in Missouri was caused chiefly by black-rot, which begun to be trouble-
some about 1875. The plantings in Missouri were largely for wine-making
but in Kansas, which contained 5542 of the 17,306 acres for this region,
about half of the crop was sold for table use. The grapes for table use in
this region amounted to 30,794 tons, for wineries, 8290 tons.

The crop in the Southern region was about equally divided between wine
and table grapes, the production in 1889 amounting to 1,165,832 gallons of
wine and 14,539 tons of table grapes. The new plantings about equalled
the acreage destroyed so that in total area the region was about holding
its own. The chief market for the table grapes was in the North where
they were sold early in the season at prices ranging from fifteen to twenty-
five cents a pound.

We are concerned with the Pacific region in that its grape products,
especially its wines, compete with those of eastern America. The growth
of viticulture in the Pacific region in the decade we are discussing was little
short of marvelous. In 1880 the acreage was 35,518 acres and in 1890,
213,230 acres — much greater than that of all the eastern regions, and the
production of grapes being more than proportionately greater because of the
greater productiveness of the vines. In this region 43,414 tons were sold
for table grapes; 173,037 tons for wine; 41,166 tons were made into
raisins and 23,252 tons used for dried grapes and other purposes than

iSpo

1900

Tons of

Tons of

grapes grown

grapes grown

75-859

147,411

64-793

58,917

39,084

14,784

21-534

16,886

280,869

362.323

THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK. 61

table grapes. The grand total for the region was 280,869 tons against
201,270 for all of eastern America. These figures give an idea of how
formidable a competitor to eastern America California had become by
1890.

The census of 1900 shows but little increase in the total production of
American grapes. A few figures will show the relative status of viticulture
in the several regions in 1890 and 1900.

Eastern region . .
Middle region . . .
Western region. .
Southern region .
California region.

All of the regions we have been discussing, in which native grapes are
grown, show a considerable falling off in production excepting the eastern
one where the increase more than counterbalances the decrease in the
other regions. The census report for 1900 shows three new states in the
list of those producing grapes in commercial quantities. In the decade
preceding, Michigan came up from an insignificant commercial production
in 1890 to fifth rank in 1900 with 20,765 tons. Iowa and Oklahoma, states
from which grapes were not reported in commercial ciuantities in 1890,
produced 3701 and 3055 tons in 1900.

The shifting of grape areas indicated in the above paragraph was caused
for most part by the grape diseases. The mildew and rot had ruined the
grape industry in some of the older regions. The newer regions, as in
Michigan, either enjoy comparative immunity from these troubles or the
vineyards had not yet been attacked by them. In the case of the eastern
region. New York and Pennsylvania, in the Chautauqua district, along the
shores of Lake Erie in both states, where the production increased greatly
during this decade, the vineyards are almost wholly immune to black-rot
and are comparatively free from the mildew. In the other grape districts
of this region these troubles are kept well in check by spraying.

62 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

The statistics given in the last few paragraphs show how greatly the
grape-growing of eastern America has increased in the last half century.
When one considers that at the time Erskine made his survey in 18^9 there
were but 6100 acres of grapes in the whole of this great region and that the
culture of the European varieties was impossible, the total acreage grown
in 1900, namely, 237,998 acres, makes an astounding figure. The results
achieved seem all the greater when one considers that many of the best
varieties now grown are the first and scarcely any are further removed than
the second generation from wild plants. It is doubtful if any other culti-
vated plants have attained such importance as our native grapes in so short
a time from the wild state. Yet their domestication has scarcely begun
and few who grow them realize their possibilities.

THE wine' AXD GRAPE JUICE INDUSTRIES.

For over 200 years the grapes grown on this continent were almost
wholly for wine-making. Yet the production of grapes was not sufficient

' Wine is the fermented juice of the grape. When the juice or must of the grape is exposed to
temperatures ranging from 55° to 65°F. the micro-organisms which accompany the fruit, the yeast
of the wine-maker, are transformed from a comparatively dormant state to one of great activity.
The action of the organisms on grape must is called fermentation and through it certain physical
and chemical changes take place whereby the must is changed in taste and in color, and a part or
all of its sugar is changed into alcohol. The methods of making wine differ in different countries
and in different localities depending upon the climate, kind of grapes grown, condition of growth,
and the kind of wine produced, yet the principles and chief processes are much the same and may
be briefly described as follows :

In general grapes are not picked for wine-making until they have reached full maturity thus
insuring a higher sugar content, richness of flavor and perfect color. It is customary to determine
the composition of the must as to sugar and acid content by various instruments devised for the
purpose and if it lack sugar this ingredient is added; if it be too acid water is added: or the composi-
tion may be otherwise changed depending upon a number of circumstances though manifestly
reputable wine-makers change the natural grape juice as little as possible. Soon after harvest-
ing the grapes are crushed. The ancient method, which still prevails in many parts of Europe,
was to tramp the grapes with bare feet or wooden shoes. Tramping is for most part superseded by
mechanical crushers which break the skins but do not crush the seeds. For some wines the stems
of the grapes are removed ; for others it is essential that the grapes be not stemmed. Stemming may
be done by hand, by a rake over a screen, or by specially devised machines. If white wine is to be
made the juice is separated from skins and pulp at once; if red wine is desired fermentation takes
place in the crushed grapes or marc.

Fermentation is carried on in large tanks or vats varying in capacity from 1000 gallons to 10,000
gallons or more. Some wine-makers prefer open vats, others keep them closed. The duration of

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 63

to sustain a wine industry until the middle of the nineteenth century.
When, with the introduction of new varieties of grapes and of better meth-
ods of growing them, the crop became sufficient in volume to support wine-
making as an industrv, its progress was checked bj' the enormous demand
for table grapes, a demand not known in other countries, and by the cheap-
ness of California wines. Furthermore the grapes most commonly culti-
vated, as the Concord, Worden and Niagara, do not make good wines;
and knowledge and facilities for wine-making have not lieen such that the
best wines could be made with varieties adapted for the purpose. All of
these obstacles, to which we may add the fact that Americans are not a
wine-drinking people, have prevented the building up of a wine industry
as it exists in other grape-growing countries.

Although the United States stands second or third in the list of grape-
producing countries it took lowest rank in wine production in 1900, falling

fermentation depends upon many conditions and varies from two or three to fifteen or twenty days,
depending upon the amount of sugar in the must, the temperature, activity of ferments, etc., etc.
Wine-makers observe several distinct stages of fermentation which must be closely watched and
controlled. A most important influence is exerted on fermentation by temperature. The limits
below which and above which fermentation does not take place are 55° and 9o°F. In general it is
desirable that fermentation take place at temperatures ranging about 70°. When it is found
that the sugar is practically all converted into alcohol, or that such conversion has proceeded
far enough, the new wine is drawn or pumped from the fermenting vats into casks or barrels where
it ages though it may require special treatment for clearing. Before bottling it is usually necessary
to rack the wine into new barrels twice or three times to stop secondary fermentations which
invariably take place.

Special treatments result in several distinct classes of wine. Thus we can divide wine into nd
and white as to color. Red wines are produced from colored grapes the color being extracted in the
process of fermentation. White wines are made from light colored grapes or if from colored fruit
the must is not allowed to ferment on the marc and so extract the color. We may again divide
wines into dry and sweet. Dry wines are those in which the sugar is practically all converted into
alcohol. Sweet wines are those which retain more or less sugar. These are often fortified by the
addition of alcohol. A third division is that of still and sparkling wines. Still wines are those in
which the carbonic acid gas formed by fermentation has wholly escaped. Sparkling wines retain
a greater or less amount of this carbonic acid gas.

All of the above classes are further divided into well marked types according to their color and
taste, their alcoholic content, and the countries in which they are produced. The following are the
leading wines made from native gjapes: Catawba, Delaware, Concord, Norton's Virginia, Ives,
Sciippernong, lona. Claret, Port and Champagne. Of these Claret, Norton's Virginia and Ives are
red dry wines. Catawba, Delaware, lona and Scuppcrnong may be either dry or sweet white wines.
Port is a red sweet wine.

64 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

below the small countries of Greece and Switzerland and such compara-
tively undeveloped countries as Chili and Argentine. Since by far the
greater proportion of American wines come from the European grapes of
the Pacific coast, it can be seen that wine made from American grapes is
but a drop in the bucket in the world's production. Reliable statistics
of viticulture in the United States were not taken until 1890, but careful
estimates, as we have seen, had been made by several men at different
periods. These with the last two census reports show the output of wine
in this country to be, in round numbers, as follows:

Gallons

1850 250,000

i860 500 , 000

1870 5,000,000

1 880 15, 000 , 000

1890 24, 000 , 000

1900 30,000,000

According to the American Wiiw Press,' the leading authority on
wines in this country, the vintage of 1907 shows the following figures:

Gallons

Southern States i , 000 , 000

New Jersey 250, 000

New York 4 , 000 , 000

Ohio 2 , 500 , 000

Missouri i , 500 , 000

California, dry 30 , 000 , 000

" sweet 10 , 000 , 000

Western States 500 , 000

All other States 500 , 000

Total wine yield 50 , 250 , 000

Subtracting the product of California from the total we have approximately
the yield of wine from native grapes.

' Vol. 22: No. 3:22.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 65

The manufacture of champagne' from native grapes is beginning to
be an important adjunct to grape-growing and is of especial importance in
New York which is the chief seat of the new industry. According to sta-
tistics from the Bureau of vStatistics of the Department of Commerce and
Labor,- more than two milhon bottles of genuine champagne wine are now
produced annually in the United States. The figures compiled by the
Bureau of Statistics show that the manufacture of champagne has quad-
rupled in ten years and that New York is by far the largest producer in this
class of wines. It is held by the writers of the circular quoted above, and
a careful study seems to have been made of the subject, that the American
product compares favorably with that produced in other countries and that
native champagnes are steadily improving with the increased experience
of the American producer.

The largest manufacturers of champagne are located about Keuka
Lake, Steuben County, New York. About 75 per ct. of the total output
of the country is manufactured here. The process used is the French one
of fermentation in the bottle and a number of distinct brands are made
which in color, taste, sparkle and purity are rapidly approaching the high
quality of the celebrated French champagnes. Considerable champagne is

' Champagne obtains its name from the fact that it is chiefly produced in the Province of Cham-
pagne in France. Its special characteristic is that during fermentation, which is usually brought
about in the bottle, the carbonic acid gas generated is absorbed by the wine. When the bottle is
opened the gas is disengaged and the wine effervesces or " sparkles ". Good champagne requires
grapes of high quality and of special adaptability; the fruit must be well ripened, free from decayed
berries, and clean. The first fermentation takes place during a period of several months in the
regular receptacles for this purpose after which the wine from several varieties of grapes is blended.
Good champagne usually contains some old wine. After bottling, the wine is held at slightly
different temperatures for varying lengths of time to secure proper fermentation in the bottle until
at the end of several months it is held at a comparatively low temperature in which the bottles
remain from three to four years. The bottles must then receive some treatment which will remove
the sediment which has been formed by fermentation. This is usually done by placing them in
racks cork down at about an angle of 45 degrees or a little more. By dexterously shaking and jarring
the bottles the sediment is loosened and deposited in the neck of the bottle. Lastly the sediment is
disgorged by skillfully withdrawing the cork, a small portion of the wine being wasted in the opera-
tion. The bottles are then filled with a dosage of rock-candy dissolved in an old dry wine, the amount
used determining the sweetness of the champagne. The bottles are then corked, wired, capped,
labelled and cased, after which the champagne is ready for the market.

- Champagne: Decrease in Imports and Increase in Domestic Production, April 25, 1907, p. 427.

5

66 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

also made in Orange County in the southeastern part of New York, in
Northern Ohio, in Missouri, and a small amount from European grapes in
California.

The manufacture of unfermented grape juice' is becoming an industry
in New York and promises to substantially increase the production of
grapes. Grape juice is what its name purports, the juice of the grape
undiluted, unsweetened and vmfermented. A good grade of grape juice
contains no preservatives, the necessity for such being removed in the proc-
ess of making, the chief operation of which is sterilization by heat whereby
the germs of fermentation are killed. The product is an ancient one, as
the Greeks, Hebrews and Assyrians used it as new wine ; but the process
of making an unfermented grape juice that could be kept for an indefinite
length of time is quite modern, and is the outcome of the discoveries of the
last half century regarding the control of the agents of fermentation.

The grape juice industry of the countr}- is largely confined to New York
and to the Chautauqua grape belt in the western part of the State. About
one-fifth of the grape crop of this region was turned into grape juice in 1907.
The output of the Chautauqua region is as follows: 1904, 400,000 gallons;
1905, 600,000 gallons; 1906, 1,000,000 gallons; 1907, 1,500,000 gallons. The
Concord is used almost entirely in the manufacture of grape juice though
a few other dark-colored grapes make a ver}' good product. There is but
little demand for a light-colored grape juice but some is made. Since the
European grape does not make a good unfermented juice there is no fear

' Grape juice is made from clean, sound but not over-ripe grapes. The juice is pressed out by
machinery in commercial practice but in the home manufacture of the product, the grapes may be
pressed by the hands. If a light-colored juice is desired the liquid is extracted without heating the
grapes; for a red juice the pulp is heated before pressing and the grapes must be dark in color. In
either case the heating is done in a double boiler so that the juice does not come in direct contact
with the fire. The proper temperature ranges from i8o° F. to 200° F. and must never exceed the
200° mark if the flavor of uncooked grapes is desired. After heating, the juice is allowed to settle
for twenty-four hours in a glass, crockery or enameled vessel after which it is carefullv drained from
the sediment and strained through some sterilized filter. In home practice several thicknesses of
flannel, previously boiled, will do for a filter. The liquid is then filled into clean bottles leaving room
for expansion in the second heating. The bottled juice is now heated a second time after which it
immediately corked and sealed. The principles involved in making grape juice are the same as those
observed in canning fruit and the operation may be varied in the former as it is in the latter if only
certain fundamental processes are followed.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 67

among growers of native grapes of competition from California or Europe.
The rapid growth which this industry has made is most encouraging to
grape-growers for it promises to furnish a permanent and profitable demand
for good grapes.

Raisins' are not made from American grapes.- So far no varieties of
the native species have been developed with sufficient sugar and solid
contents to make a raisin acceptable to the markets. Even were there
varieties from which raisins could be made, it is very doubtful if the climate
of eastern America during picking and curing time is such that raisins
could be made in competition with the product of California, now the
greatest of the world's raisin producing regions, where the climate is almost
perfectly adapted to the industry.

' A raisin is a dried and cured grape. Raisin-making is a simple process. The grapes
are arranged on shallow trays, and placed in the sun to dry, being turned now and then by placing an
empty tray on a full one and turning both over after which the top tray is removed. When the grapes
are properly dried they are put in bins to sweat preparatory to packing and shipping. The finishing
touch in the drying is sometimes given in curing-hou.ses, however, to avoid injury from rain or dust.
Seeding, grading, packing and selling are now separate industries from growing and curing. At
present all raisins are made from varieties of the Old World grape, no American sort having been
found suitable for raisin-making. A variety adapted for making a raisin, something better than
simply a "dried grape ", must have a large percentage of sugar and solids, a thin skin, and a high
flavor. American grapes lack in sugar content and have a skin so thick and tough that the fruit does
not cure properly for a good raisin. The raisin industry in the United States is carried on only in
California, the great bulk of the crop coming from the San Joaquin Valley and a few of the southern
counties of that State. Formerly the raisins used in this country were wholly imported; now this
product of the grape is exported and in increasing quantities. The annual production of raisins is in
the neighborhood of 100,000,000 pounds.

- According to Bartram, the aborigines of eastern America made raisins from the wild grapes.
He describes the process they used as follows: " The Indians gather great quantities of wild grapes
which they prepare for keeping, by first sweating them on hurdles over a gentle fire, and afterwards
dry them on their bunches in the sun and air, and store them up for provisions."

68 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

CHAPTER m

THE VITICULTURE OF NEW YORK

The history of the viticulture of eastern United States shows that the
regions in which grapes have been most largely grown in the past have come
into prominence, had their day, and then suffered a decline. The reasons
for the more or less temporary character of grape regions are becoming
more and more apparent as our knowledge of grape-growing increases.
The grape, more than most other domesticated plants, is profoundly influ-
enced by climate, soil, cultural treatment, and insect and fungus pests.
In any region in which the grape succeeds at all well, conditions aie more
favorable at the start of the industry than later; this is especially true as
regards soils, and the insect and fungus pests. In a discussion of any phase
of grape culture, in a Inroad sense, the conditions under which the fruit is
grown must receive careful consideration. We therefore include in this
chapter a discussion of the characters which most strongly influence grapes
in vine, fruit and general adaptability; also a brief discussion of the regions
in which native grapes have been successfully grown in America; and, more
particularly, an account of the viticulture and the grape regions of New
York.

In their wild state the various species of native grapes seem adapted
to a great diversity of soils and conditions. But under successful cultivation
varieties of the several species are confined to somewhat restricted regions
and even localities. Often a grape variety will succeed on one shore of a
lake or river and not on the other; on one slope of a hill but not another.
It is difficult to point out the determinants of successful grape culture.
Adaptability can be known positively in many cases only by trial; for
neither conditions of soil, nor climate, nor lay of land determines with
certainty the adaptability of a given locality. Oftentimes one variety
of a species may not be successful while another is completely so. Many
varieties reach perfection in one region or locality but not in another
though the conditions may seem very similar. So great is the influence
of local environment, oftentimes, that a variety grown in one locality
might not be recognized as the same grape when produced under other
conditions.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 69

The chief natural factors which govern the distribution of varieties
of grapes are: Latitude and altitude; temperature of air and soil; water
supply; the chemical and physical properties of the soil; air currents; and
insects and fungi.

Latitude and altitude very largely determine the annual temperature,
the amount and intensity of sunlight, and the length of the growing season —
all very important factors in growing grapes. Species and varieties of
grapes are usually adapted to regions having about the same latitude;
northern types do not succeed in the South nor the reverse. Length of
season has more to do with the adaptation of grapes than the degree of heat
or cold, for some southern sorts are hardy in vine in the North but the
seasons in the northern latitude are not sufificiently long for the fruit to
mature. On the other hand, northern varieties mature too quickly in the
South and pass through maturity to decay with too great rapidity. The
metes and bounds of latitude are often set aside in grape-growing by local
modifications. Thus it often happens that valleys in regions not generally
adapted to viticulture are so protected from cold winds, so open to sunshine,
or are so free from fogs or frosts as to furnish ideal conditions for grape-
growing.

Probably the chief factor in determining the adaptability of a region
to grape culture is temperature. Each of the different species and varieties
of grapes requires a certain amount of warmth for its best development
and can endure but a certain degree of cold. The temperature of a region
is chiefly determined Ijy latitude, altitude and proximity to large bodies of
water, though variations in the surface of the country are often important
modifying agents of temperature and especially influence spring and fall
frosts.

The grape does best in an equable temperature and does not thrive in
regions where there is a great daily range. Regions and seasons in which the
temperature is comparatively low in the growing months of May, June and
July and high, with much sunshine, in the maturing months of August,
September and October, produce the best grapes in the latitude of New York.
An average of from 55° to 65° for the first named period and of from 65°
to 75° for the second are ideal temperature conditions for the grape.

This fruit is very sensitive to moisture conditions. Not only must the

70 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

total rainfall for the 3'ear be taken into consideration but its distribution
throughout the seasons must be considered. The grape does best with
comparatively little rainfall. When the rainfall is the least possible amount
for a good growth of vine the grape crop will be the largest, of best quality
and most free from fungi. Wet seasons, and especially wetness during
the months of maturing, are disastrous to both quantity and quality of
grapes. Thus, in New York it is not possible, with most varieties, to produce
good grapes if the average is above six inches each for the three growing
months and five inches each for the maturing months. It is far better for
the crop that it be as low as four inches for the first named period and two
inches for the second period.

Superfluous moisture in the soil favors too great a growth of vine, checks
and weakens the root system, prevents proper setting of fruit, and favors
fungi, but hinders the multiplication of phylloxera. In particular, a com-
paratively dry soil is desirable for grapes because of its influence on the
development of the root system. In dry soils large root systems are devel-
oped in the search for the water that the plant must have. When intense
droughts occur plants that have stood in damp soils have not sufficient
roots to supply the necessary water to the aerial parts and the vines suffer
in consequence. Some species and varieties are better fitted for withstand-
ing an excess of moisture than others.

The soil exercises a great influence in determining the suitability of
a region for viticulture. Several factors act as soil determinants: (i) Fer-
tility; (2) physical characters; (3) soil heat. It is necessary to study each
species, and even their varieties, to discover their powers of adaptation to
different soils and it is possible to indicate here the good and bad qualities
of soils only in the most general way. In the discussion of species and
varieties the soil preferences of the different botanical and horticultural
groups will be stated more fully.

Great fertility, as a natural characteristic, is not necessarv in grape
regions. Fertilizers, and especially the use of stable manures and cover
crops, can be made to supply very largely a lack of fertility. Soils nat-
urally too rich produce an overdevelopment of vine. Some species, as
Vitis rupcstris, grow naturally in very poor soils, the habitat of the latter
being dry ravines and stony places having comparativelv little organic

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 7 1

matter. The varieties of Vitis ritpestris promise well for stocks upon
which to grow other varieties in certain soils. In Europe calcareous or
limy soils are not considered well adapted to grape-growing, but in
America we often find very good vineyards on such soils.

The physical character of a soil has more to do with the welfare of
the grape than fertilitv. Sand and clay are the two distinct types of soils
usually found in general agricultural regions. As one or the other pre-
dominates soils take their character. So far as growth alone is concerned
these two types of soil do not influence the vines much differently, but
the fruit in quantity and equality is greatly influenced by them. According
as to whether sand or clay is in excess a soil is loose or compact, retains
or gives up water, and is warm or cool. A compact soil is made so by an
e.Kcess of clay or of verv fine sand. Grapes require a light friable soil and
compactness is often a serious defect. Usually species and varieties with
large, thick roots are better adapted to compact soils than those with
small root systems, probably because the strong roots have greater pene-
trating power than the weak ones. Lightness and permeability of the soil
may be influenced b}- subsoiling and through the use of stable manure
and cover crops, but a hard soil is generally so ill adapted to grape-
growing that this fruit should not be planted on it.

The heat-retaining properties of a soil must always be taken into
account in growing grapes. The great preference which many varieties
of grapes show for sands, loams, shales and gravels, depends largely upon
the greater amount of heat found in such soils. In northern regions it
is especially needful that the soil furnish an abundance of bottom heat
for the grape. The removal of an excess of moisture is helpful in regulating
soil heat; and, other things being equal, a well-drained soil is warmest.

Grapes grow more or less well in any soil adapted to fruit-growing.
It is not true, even, that the grape is more particular as to soils than other
fruits. But the necessity of having great quantity and high quality of
fruit in profitable viticulture makes it very necessary to take their
preferences as to soil into strict account.

Air currents are of minor importance compared with the other factors
discussed yet are worthy of attention. They are chiefly of importance m
grape-growing in the suppression of fungi. It has long been noticed that

72 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

in regions where there are strong currents of air the dreaded black-rot
and the mildew are not nearly so harmful. Winds may be beneficial, too,
when they bring warm air, when moisture laden, when thev keep frostv
air in motion, and possibly they have an effect on some small insects as
the leaf-hopper. On the contrary they may be detrimental when too dry,
strong or cold. Natural or artificial windbreaks may greatly modify the
effects of wind currents though their value is usually overestimated as
their benefits arc often offset by the undesirable conditions caused.

Lastly, the prevalence or lack of insects and fungi in a region may
decide its value for viticulture. In several instances flourishing viticul-
tural industries have been destroyed in this country by insects or fungi,
or both. In other regions the present supremacy of commercial grape-
growing is almost wholly due to the fact that neither insects nor fungi are
seriously troublesome. The advent of spraying and a better knowledge
of the life histories of insects and fungi are lessening the importance of
the parasite factor in determining the value of a region for grape-growing,
but it is still of high importance.

We are now prepared to take up a discussion of the grape regions of
New York.

The states in which the growing of American grapes takes the rank
of an industry are, according to the census of 1900, in order of production:
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, ]\Iis-
souri, Georgia and Oklahoma. The value of the product in the leading
state was $2,763,711; in the last named state, $128,500. American viti-
culture, so far as native grapes are concerned, is almost wholly confined
to twelve states. But viticultural interests are still further localized. In
New York the industry is divided into four great regions, the Chautauqua
district, the Central Lakes district, the Hudson district, and the Niagara
district. In Pennsylvania and Ohio grape-growing is largely confined to
the shores of Lake Erie; in Michigan to a small district about the towns
of Lawton and Paw Paw; m Missouri, Hermann is the representative
point for grape culture.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 73

THE CHAUTAUQUA DISTRICT.

Of the four grape regions of New York the Chautauqua district is by
far the most important though, excepting the Niagara, the most recent
in development. The Chautatiqua grape belt lies along the southeastern
shore of Lake Erie. It averages about three miles in width and is about
fifty miles long. Its northeastern boundary is in Erie County but not far
from the line dividing Erie and Chautauqua Counties; its western
boundary, in New York, is the Pennsylvania line, an arbitrary division,
for the district passes into Pennsylvania. This narrow belt passes
through the towns of Hanover, Sheridan, Dunkirk, Pomfret, Portland,
Westfield and Ripley in Chautauqua County. Not all, but much, of
the land is suital)le for grape-growing.

The topography, geology, and soils of this grape-belt have been care-
full v mapped and studied.' -

The grape land is, as we have seen, a narrow strip of comparatively
low land which borders the shore of Lake Erie. On the southern boundary
of this low plain is a high hill or escarpment parallel to the lake and sur-
mounting the grape belt throughout its entire length. This escarpment,
the " Hill ", ranges from 500 to 700 feet above the plain and from 500 to
1000 feet above the lake. The plain is gently rolling and ascends from
the bluff of the lake to the escarpment with a grade of from one to two
hundred feet to the mile, forming in some places well-marked foot-hills
to the escarpment proper.

The bed rock, according to Tarr' is upper Devonian shales and sand
stones in both plain and escarpment. On the face of the escarpment and
on the table lands of some of the foot-hills the soil is so thin that the plough
frequently touches bed rock. This seldom comes to the surface on the plain
except in stream beds and in shale ridges, but is to be found in fragments
of greater or less size and in more or less abundance throughout the soils
of the entire district. Everywhere on the plain may be seen ancient beach
lines. These rise usually in two well-detined terraces but not infrequently

' Tarr. R. S., CorncU (.V. Y.) Exp. Sta. Bid., log. 1S96.

■ Burke, R. T. Avon, and Marean, Herbert, Field Operations, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of
Agriculture, igoi.

74 THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK.

there are from two to five distinct terraces between the lake and the escarp-
ment. All conditions point to the theory that these ridges are wave built
and therefore of lake origin. The plain, the gravel ridges, the foot-hills and
the high escarpment are the chief topographical features of the grape belt.

The grape soils of the district, as mapped by the Bureau of Soils of
the United States Department of Agriculture,' are Dunkirk clay, Dunkirk
gravel, Dunkirk gravelly loam, Dunkirk sandy loam and Dunkirk shale
loam. The grapes grown upon the several soils vary somewhat as to quan-
tity per acre, as to flavor and sugar content and as to shipping quality.

The largest areas of Dunkirk cla\' are found running back from the
lake east and west from Barcelona, in the neighborhood of Van Buren
Point and about Dunkirk. In these regions the soil is a clay loam from
several inches to a foot deep resting upon a stiffer and more tenacious
clay. Vineyards located on this soil are very productive but the qualitj^
is not as high as in the fruit growm on the shale loam, though for most
part superior to that produced on the gravel and sandy loams.

Dunkirk gravel soils are foimd on the ridges at the foot of the escarp-
ment on the southern boundary of the district from Pennsylvania to the
eastern boundary of the grape district. Throughout most of this distance
there are from one to three parallel ridges varying from a few rods to a
half mile in breadth; at many places the ridges run into each other or
have been brought together by cultivation. It was upon this gravel that
vines were first successfully grown. Grapes upon this soil ripen a week
or more earlier than upon other soils and these lands are therefore largely
planted with vineyards to supply the early market and they have a larger
proportion of early varieties than vineyards on other soils. The Niagara
is thought to do especially well on Dunkirk gravel.

Dunkirk gravelly loam is found running through practically the
whole grape belt at the base or on the top of the gravel ridges; if at the
base, to lakeward of the ridges. It is a sandy loam with much fine gravel
and is underlaid at a depth of three feet with sand and shale fragments.
On the surface it much resembles the gravel soils having had considerable
top gravel brought there by washing and by cultivation. The grapes
grown on these soils are very similar to those produced on the grav^els

' Burke, R. T. Avon, and Marean, Herbert, Field Operations, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of
Agriculture. 1901.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 75

though there are some minor differences. Some varieties produce larger
berries on this soil, and some sorts, it is claimed, a greater amount of wood.

The Dunkirk sandy loams occur in large irregular areas bordering the
lake or running from the lake bluff back to the escarpment. By far the
largest of these areas is found al:)Out Fredonia and Dunkirk and running
east and west of these towns. A second area is found in the neighljorhood
of Brocton and Portland and especially to the north and west. There are
smaller areas east of Barcelona and northwest of Ripley. Nearly all of
the sandy loam soils are found on undulating or rolling land. The soil is
a brownish-yellow loam from a half foot to a foot in depth. There are
some deviations from the type and yet the true sandy loams can be very
easily recognized. The soil is of rather heavy texture making good farm-
ing land and producing large crops of grapes of slightly inferior quality.

The Dunkirk shale loams are found upon the hill or escarpment.
These form the grape lands farthest removed from the lake. This soil is
comparatively thin, not averaging more than a half -foot in depth and is
hardly ever found a foot deep. It is brown in color with much coarse
fragmentary shale on the surface and underlaid with a considerable
body of heavy clay. Part of the shale loam land lies on slopes too
steep and rough for cultivation but the hillside table lands of this soil
are especialh' well adapted to grape-growing. The grapes grown here
contain much sugar, therefore keep and ship well, have a high flavor, and
are especially sought for in wine-making; grapes on these soils mature
early, have tough skins, but are only medium-sized berries. The yields
are much more variable on this soil than on the others because of the great
variation in the depth of soil. On deep soils of this loam the yield is all
that could be desired. Because of the lay of the land, and the nature of
the soil, there is much washing and cultivation must be done judiciously.

The climate is exceptionally favorable for the grape-grower in the
Chautauqua district. It is, if anything, of more importance than the land ;
for grape soils are not uncommon, but a grape climate as near perfection
as that of this region is indeed rare. The influence of the lake in modifying
the temperature of the region is the chief climatic factor. This influence
need not be dwelt upon here for it is common knowledge that large bodies
of water temper cold winter weather, hold back vegetation in spring, equalize
night and day temperatures of summer, lengthen the growing season and

76 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

ward off autumn frosts. Each of these influences is highly favorable to
the growth of the grape. The escarpment on the southeastern boundary
of the belt has a most decided influence on the climate chiefly because it
confines the influence of the lake to a narrow belt. When the escarpment
becomes low, as at the two extremities of the belt, grape-growing ceases
to be profitable. When the distance between the lake and the escarpment
is great, the climatic conditions are not so favorable.

The air currents and rainfall of the region are especially favorable.
The in-shore breeze of the day and the oft'-shore breeze at night keep the
air in constant motion, thus preventing frosts in .spring and autumn, and
probably cause in part the great degree of immunity to black-rot and
mildew. Unfortunately, data to determine accurately the rainfall of the
district cannot be had but such as have been taken indicate that the rain-
fall is comparatively light for the maturing months of August, September
and October and not heavy for the three preceding growing months.
Residents of the grape belt claim that most of the heavy showers pass
over the hills or down the lake. The whole region is proverbially free
from heavv dews. Rain and dew are favorable to black-rot and other
fungi and the lack of them still further accounts for the immunity to
these pests in the region.

The history of the rise of grape-growing in Chautauqua County forms
an interesting chapter in the economic development of New York. The
first vines in the Chautauqua district were planted by Elijah Fay' in 1818,
near the present town of Brocton. These were wild vines of Vitis labrusca
from Deacon Fay's boyhood home in New England. The vines grew
luxuriantly but the fruit was not satisfactory and in 1822 this worthy
pioneer obtained at great trouble roots of Miller's Burgundy, Sweetwater

' Elijah Fay was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, in 1781. He moved to Brocton, Chau-
tauqua County, New York, in the fall of 1 8 1 1 . The early history of not only the viticulture but of
the horticulture of the Chautauqua region is interwritten with that of the Fay family. Elijah Fay's
children and grandchildren inherited a love of horticulture from their ancestor and several of them,
as mentioned in the te.xt, have been noted for their horticultural work in this region. Lincoln Fay,
a nephew of Elijah Fay, one of the first men to grow and sell grape vines in the region, originated
the Fay currant which was afterwards introduced by him and his son Elijah H. Fay. Of the Fay
family, noted in the annals of grape-growing in this region, only G. E. Ryckman and L. R. Ryckman,
grandchild and great-grandchild of Elijah Fay, are now living. Elijah Fay lived to the ripe age of
eighty, dying in 1S60. His memory should be long cherished as one of the founders of the viticulture
of New York.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 77

and Black Hamburg. But the second experiment was even more disastrous
than the first as he got no fruit. The real start was made in 1824 when
Mr. Fay obtained vines of Catawba and Isabella from Prince of Flushing,
Long Island. The vines were trained on trellises. The vineyard covered
a plot two bj' eight rods in extent. From a rise of land near this spot one
now sees grapes everywhere, probably a greater acreage of them than can
be seen from any other spot east of the Rocky Mountains.

In 1830 Deacon Fay made ten gallons of wine, the first for the region.
In I S3 4, Lincoln Fay, a nephew of Elijah Fay, started the sale of grape
vines but not many vines were sold for commercial plantings until as late
as 1850. In 1859 there were in the town of Portland but twenty acres of
bearing grape vines where now are thousands. During the decade that
followed, the Concord v.-as generally introduced giving the viticulture of
the region a great impetus. Grapes were not yet grown for table use
to any great extent and a large acreage could not be used for wine-making.
In 1859 a wine-cellar was built by Fay, Ryckman' and Haywood at Brocton
and for a long while this company used almost the total crop of the region.
It was not until the early seventies that the grape-growers sought other
markets than the wine-cellars. In 1870 there were about 600 acres of
vineyards in Chautauqua County.

The first talile-grapes of the region were packed in twenty-pound
splint baskets. Dunkirk was the primary marketing place and the fruit
was shipped from here to various large cities by through freight. The
transportation facilities were not satisfactory and in 1880 Jonas Martin
of Brocton tried the experiment of shipping a carload of grapes to Phila-
delphia. This was the first carload of grapes sent from Chautauqua County.
In 1906, 4690 carloads were shipped and 844 were converted into wine and
grape juice, representing all told $2,482,822.^ Until 1883 the markets were
confined to nearby cities but in this year a carload was safel}' sent to Spokane,
after which time markets were found from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
from the Gulf to Upper Canada. The first grape-growers' union was formed
in 1886 as the Chautauqua Grape Growers' Shipping Association and its
organization marked a new epoch in the grape industry of the district.

' The writer is indebted to Mr. G. E. Ryckman of this firm, for the information given here,
^ The Grape Belt, i6: Xo. 20, Feb. 26, 1907.

78 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Smaller and larger organizations have since been formed and at the present
time about 80 per ct. of the entire crop is handled by a growers' union
known as the Chautauqua and Erie Grape Company.

According to Mr. G. E. Ryckman, in the early days of the grape
industry in this region the fruit was shii>]:)ed in round paper baskets hold-
ing from three to five pounds; later these were made of wood. Sometime
in th.3 early seventies twenty-pound splint baskets, which were supposed
to be returned to the owners, were introduced. These were superseded
by the twelve- pound climax basket; tlie size of this basket was soon
reduced to ten pounds, then to nine, then to eight. Meanwhile a small
five-potmd basket made on the same lines as the larger one came into use
but soon shrunk into a four-pound receptacle. The eight and the four-
pound climax baskets are now generally used throughout the region.
Increasing quantities are now being shipped to large cities in trays with
slatted tops holding about forty pounds each; these grapes are used by
the purchaser for wine-making. The wine and grape juice industries cif
the region have been touched upon in the general discussion of these
industries.

An actual canvass made by this Station in the winter of 1906-7
shows there are in the Chautauqua grape belt at this time 30 000 acres of
grapes. The census report of 1900 gave the number of vines for the county
as 11,914,706, which at the usual number of vines per acre gives about
20,000 acres for the district. This figure was probably low, though that of
the Station for 1907 may be somewhat high. The acreage is distributed
in towns approximately as follows: Portland 9500; Westfield 5700; Ripley
5700; Pomfret 4600; Hanover 1950; Sheridan 1950; Dunkirk 600. A
correspondent writes that the grape shipments for 1907 indicate a con-
siderably larger acreage for the towns of Hanover and Sheridan than are
here given. The average yield of grapes is a little less than two tons per
acre for the region. The value of vineyards varies from $100 to S400
per acre.

The crop for the past seven years calculated by The Grape BclV from
figures secured from the railroads are as follows:

' The Grape Belt, i6: No. 20, Feb. 26, 1907.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 79

"Season of 1900 8000 carloads

" Season of 190 1 6669 carloads

"Season of 1902 5062 carloads

"Season of 190:; 2952 carloads

" Season of 1904 7479 carloads

" Season of 1905 5362 carloads

"Season of 1906 5634 carloads'

The seeming decrease in carloads shipped as the years progress is far more
than made up by the greater use of the fruit in local wineries and grape
juice factories.

According to figures gathered in the preparation of this work about
90 per ct. of the grape acreage of the region is set to Concord followed by
3 per ct. of Niagara, 2 per ct. of Worden and i per ct. each for Moore
Early and Catawba with the remaining 3 per ct. made up of a dozen or
more sorts among which Delaware leads.

The shipping season in this district begins early in September and lasts
well into November though late varieties, as Catawba, and small lots of
Concord are held some weeks longer. Improved storage facilities are
yearly lengthening the season.

Several systems of pruning and training are in vogue in the district
but the majority of the vineyards are pruned and trained in a system
peculiar to Chautauqua County. The posts are from six to eight feet in
height, one to each three vines; two wires complete the trellis. The lower
wire is from 28 to 32 inches from the ground and the second from 22 to 36
inches above the first, the distance being changed as the vine comes to
maturity. The grapes are trained according to the upright system and
the vines are renewed to short horizontal arms and but few canes are taken
out each year; the trunk reaches only to the lower wire. The arms are
loosely tied to the lower wire and the canes and bearing shoots to the wire
above. Cultivation varies greatly but the best growers practice close
cultivation and make use of fertilizers; the cover crop is growing in favor.
Spraying is not very general as the region has been remarkably free from
pests. The chief insects now encountered are the grape-vine fidia,' the

' The grape-vine fidia (Fidia viiicida Walsh) is a robust beetle, a quarter of an inch in length,
brown in color but whitened by a thick covering of yellowish-white hairs. The beetle lays its eggs

8o THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

flea-beetle,' the grape leaf-hopper'' and the grape berry moth.^ The
several fungal diseases found in this region are, about in order of importance.

in the cracks and crevices of the bark of the grape vines well above ground. The eggs are produced
in large numbers, often as many as several hundred to the vine. Upon hatching, the larvae quickly
worm their way into the ground and begin to feed upon the fibrous roots of the \'ine, passing from
these to the larger roots. Possibly the chief damage is done on the larger roots which are often entirely
stripped of bark for a length of several feet. The larvae attain their full size, a half inch in length,
by the middle of August, and then hibernate until the following June. The winter is spent in
earthen cells. After about two weeks as pupae in June, the full grown beetles emerge from the
ground and begin to feed upon the upper surface of the leaves, eating out the cellular tissue, thus
skeletonizing the foliage. The adults disappear the succeeding August. The most efficient means of
checking the fidia so far found is an application of an arsenical spray applied during the time the
beetles are feeding on the foliage.

'Grape-vine flea-beetle {Haltica chalybca 111.). — The adult insects are shining steel-blue flea-
beetles measuring about one-fifth of an inch in length. They live during the winter under the bark
of the old vines or in rubbish in the fields. They emerge from their winter quarters during the first
warm days of spring, and feed upon the opening buds and young leaves. Egg-laying begins late in
April or early in May. The eggs are placed singly near the buds or upon the leaves and hatch m
about ten days. The young larvae are dark brown in color but soon become prominently marked
■with black dots and patches. They are full grown in from three to four weeks at which time they
measure about a quarter of an inch in length. They feed on the leaves devouring only the soft parts
at first, but finally eating irregular holes through the leaves. When ready to pupate they go a short
distance into the ground. Tlie adults emerge during the latter part of June or early in July. They
probably feed during all of the summer, finally seeking shelter for the winter as above indicated.

The vines shou'd be sprayed with paris green, one pound to fifty gallons of water, just before
the buds begin to swell or with some other arsenite. Much pains should be taken to make this
application thorough. Later when the worms appear on the leaves, paris green may be applied at
the usual strength, one pound to 150 gallons of lime and water, or combined with bordeaux mi.\ture_
Both upper and under surfaces of the leaves should be covered. Applications of arsenicals for the
grape-vine fidia will help greatly to keep this insect in check.

^ Grape leaf-hopper (Typhlocyba comes Say). — There are several species of leaf-hoppers which
attack the grape but this species is probably the most common in this State. These little leaf-hoppers
are often erroneously called thrips. The adult insects measure about one-eighth of an inch in length.
They vary gre-atly in color but the prevaihng color is usually light yellowish-green. The back and
wings are ornamented with bright red, yellow and brown. They are found upon the vines from
spring until fall. They feed together, sucking the sap from the leaves, principally from the under
surface, causing them to turn brown in patches. The eggs are deposited singly in the tissue of the
under surface of the leaves. The young resemble the adults in form but are not provided with
wings and are green or yellowish-green in color. There are several broods during the season. Some
of the adults of the last brood hibernate in any convenient rubbish about the vineyard. Treat-
ment for young hoppers should be made early in July. To obtain the best results use whale-oil soap
at the rate of one pound to ten gallons of water, directing the spraying with the hand. Vinevards
and adjacent land should be kept as free as possible from grass and weeds as they afford shelter to
the insect.

' Grape berry moth (Polychrosis viteana Clem.). — The young caterpillars feed w-ithin the grapes
finally causing them to turn dark colored and to wither. This injury is sometimes mistaken for che

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 8l

black-rot, downy mildew, or " brown-rot," powdery mildew, and anthrac-
nose, or " bird's-eye rot."

THE CENTRAL LAKES DISTRICT

Several important areas of vineyards are grouped about the central
lakes in western New York. While there are at least three distinct localities
in this district, namely, the areas about the three lakes, Keuka, Canandaigua,
and Seneca, yet the soils, climate, varieties and methods of caring for
vineyards and product are so nearly alike that all may be treated as one
district. The vineyards are in five counties, Ontario, Yates, Schuyler,
Steuben and Seneca. The Keuka area, in Yates and Steuben Counties, is
bv far the largest; and the region is often called the Keuka grape district.
Vinevards surround Keuka Lake and all but the northern end of Canan-
daigua Lake, but only on the banks of the southern half of Seneca Lake
are grapes grown. The somewhat extensive vineyards about Naples,
south of Canandaigua Lake; Bath, sotith of Keuka Lake; and of Romulus
between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, belong in the Central Lakes district.

The geology of the Central or Finger Lakes has been studied by many
workers and the geologicaf history of these remarkable bodies of water is
now well known.' It is very generally agreed that these lakes fill, in part,
preglacial valleys and that the valleys were transformed into lakes by
glacial action. The basins of the lakes may have Ijeen and probably were

black-rot. After devouring the soft parts of one grape the caterpillar goes to another, fastening the
two together by a silken thread. This may be continued until several in a bunch have been destroyed
by one caterpillar. The young caterpillars are very Hght green in color with a brown head. When
full grown they measure about one-fourth of an inch in length and are dark olive green in color tinged
slightly with red. The cocoon is formed on a leaf and is partially composed of two small pieces cut
out of the leaf. The adults of the spring brood emerge in from twelve to fourteen days. The fore-
wings have a bluish tinge and are marked with brown, while the posterior wings are dull brown.
The moths are small measuring nearly half an inch from tip to tip when the wings are spread.
The eggs are probably laid late in June or early in July. There are two broods annually in this
State. As the caterpillars spend most of their lives within the grape berries, spraying does not
entirely control the pest. Yet the arsenicals applied for the grape-vine fidia %vill help much in keep-
ing it in check. Picking and destroying the infested fruit and the leaves containing the cocoons
helps much.

' For a full account of the geology of these lakes and the valleys in which they lie, see the Physical
Geography of New York State by Ralph S. Tarr. New York. 1902.

82 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

deepened by the erosive action of glaciers but it is fairly certain that there
were pre-existing valleys which were dammed by glacial deposit.

The topography is more or less rough and broken. The steep hillsides
of the lakes were formed not only liy erosion but by the tilting of the land.
Beside these hillsides of the lakes to give character to the topography of
the region, there are ranges of hills and the remains of some moraines, so
that m general the land is very uneven. This is especially true of the parts
of it devoted to grape-growing though in some grape sections there are
many stretches of smooth and regular vineyards.

The soils of this great region vary much, as is always the case when
land is made by glacial erosion and deposit of glacial drifts. On a single
farm the soil may V)e thick and fertile in one part and thin and poor in
another; it may consist largely of clay in one part and of sand and gravel
in others. The grape soils in the Central Lakes region are, in particular,
of miscellaneous types, embracing, in one place or another, nearly all of
the soils in the Dunkirk series described in the discussion of the Chau-
taucjua district. Probably the Dunkirk clay loam, often very shaly and
stony, is the most common of the several soils of the region. There are
also considerable areas of a shaly soil which possibly do not belong to the
Dunkirk types, not having been influenced by water action as are true
Dunkirk soils. On the slojDes and hillsides the land is sometimes rough
and stony with but a thin covering of soil and with out-croppings of bed
rock. The influence of the various soils on the grape has not been studied
as in the Chautauqua district but, as noted, the soils in the two districts
are in many cases similar so that the discussion of the influence of the
several types given for the Chautauqua district will apply in large part
to the Central Lakes district.

The Central Lakes have a very perceptible influence on the climate
of the region. The lakes are deep and conserve warmth. The water of
Seneca Lake is so deep, and consequently warm, that it has been known
to freeze over only a few times in the past hundred years. The winter
climate in this region is much less severe than in adjacent territories.
Not only does the water modify the severity of the winter climate but the
enclosing highlands materially assist in keeping in the warmth of the val-
leys. Since the lakes run, generally speaking, north and south, the wmds

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 83

are deflected to these directions very largely. In the summer, both days
and nights are cooler and the climate more equable near the lakes. These
modifications of climate are all favorable to grape-growing.

The first grapes grown in this district, so far as records show, were
set by the Rev. William Bostwick at Hammondsport in 1830. The vari-
eties were Isabella and Catawba and these he succeeded in raising to per-
fection. From this time onward scattering vines were planted in gardens
about the three lakes. About 1836 Mr. J. W. Prentiss, originator of the
Prentiss grape, planted a small vinej-ard at Pulteney from which consid-
erable fruit was sent to market from time to time and the vineyard was
constantly enlarged. In 1853 a commercial vineyard was set out by
Andrew Reisinger, a German vine-dresser, consisting of two acres of Isa-
bella and Catawba at Harmonyville in the town of Pulteney. Reisinger
trained, primed and tilled his vines, operations unheard of before in the
district, and was rewarded with crops and profits which stimulated grape
culture in his and nearby neighborhoods.

In 1855 the Hon. Jacob Larrowe and Mr. Orlando Shephard planted
small vineyards of Isabella and Catawba in Pleasant Valley near Ham-
mondsport and were so successful that in 1858 their vineyards were greatly
increased and others in the valley embarked in the business of vine-culture.
Viticulture was now fairly started and the industry grew apace from 1858
onward. In i860 two hundred acres of grapes were set in Pleasant Valley
alone and elsewhere on Keuka Lake large plantings were made. Grapes
brought from fifteen to thirty cents per pound and a bearing vineyard at
this time was as good as a gold mine.

Plantings were begun in the Yates Cotmty portion of the Keuka
district in 1855 when Mr. W. W. Shirland set a small vineyard of Isabella
in Benton township.

There seem to be no records as to the first plantings about Seneca
and Canandaigua Lakes but all available information indicates that plant-
ings about these two lakes came in the spreading of the industry from
Keuka Lake. E. A. McKay of Naples seems to have had a vineyard of
some extent as early as 1S48 from which he sold fruit. There must have
been vineyards of considerable size about Avon in Livingston County in
the early fifties; for Larrowe, Shephard and others obtained cuttings at

84 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

this place in 1855 for their vine\'ards in Pleasant Valley. Who owned
these Avon vineyards, and what their extent was, does not appear.

The first commercial shipment of any considerable amount beyond
the towns nearby was made in 1854 when Mr. J. W. Prentiss shipped a
ton of Isabella packed in tubs to New York City. The tubs were made
by cutting apple barrels in half and were packed half full when a thin
board partition was put in after which the tub was filled and covered.
The consignment reached the city in fair condition and brought fifteen
cents per pound but a second ton shipped in the same way " broke " the
market.

John Mead of the town of Benton introduced the Concord in this region
in 1 86 1 and the same year Henry Rose of Penn Yan set the first Delaware
to be planted commercially in the district. The Concord soon took the
place of the Isal^ella but could not displace the Catawba as it did in the
Chautauqua district. The Delaware grew in favor and rapidh" assumed
third place in the list of varieties about the three lakes, a position which it
still maintains, though it is closely followed by the Niagara.

B)- 1S60 grape-growing had become so general that the need of further
outlets for the fruit was felt and the Pleasant Valley Wine Company was
formed for the manufacture of wine and brandy. For several years fol-
lowing, this company used about one-third of the output of Pleasant Val-
ley, helping very materially to steady the market for the whole district.
A few years later another large company, the Urbana Wine Company,
was formed; and when still later it was discovered that the champagne
made about Keuka Lake was superior to that made in any other part of
America and that, with experience in making, it rivalled the champagne
in France, wine-making became an important adjunct to grape-growing
in this district. Now there are about twenty five companies making wine
and champagne on or near the shores of the three lakes, the industry hav-
ing its center on Keuka Lake. Wine-making is still in its infancy and
because of the demand it creates for grapes, and the high prices paid by the
wineries, will continue to exert a most favorable influence on the viti-
culture of the district. There is but little unfermented grape juice made
about the Central Lakes.

A valuable asset of this district is its long range of season. Grapes

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 85

ripen from one to two weeks earlier about these lakes than they do in the
Chautauqua belt. Thus the Concords grown here are well out of the way
of those grown in the Chautauqua distiict. The Catawba, which ripens
late and is a " good keeper ", can be kept in fine condition until midwinter
or later. The range of season in this district, then, is from the first part
of September until February or even March.

Though there have been grape-growers' unions for marketing the
fruit of this district at various times, most of it now goes through the hands
of individual buyers. An exception is the product of the large vineyards
of Niagaras in Seneca County, the fruit of which is marketed with that of
the product of other Niagara vineyards of the Niagara district of western
New York through a union of growers.

The grapes in this district are variously trained but the high renewal
system is used chiefly. In this system the head of the trunk is from twenty
to thirty inches from the ground. Usually the trellis has three wires, the
lowest about twenty inches from the ground and the others at distances
of eighteen inches apart. New canes are brought out from renewal stubs
and once in two or three years an attempt is made to bring them directly
from the head of the main trunk. This system is particularly well adapted
to the Catawba and Delaware so generally grown in the lake region.
Thorough cultivation is practiced and the fall cover crop of oats, barley or
clover is coming into favor.

It is difficult to ascertain the acreage in this district. Taking the
figures of the census of 1900 and those of a canvass made by this Station
in the winter of 1906-7 the acreage in the several counties is about as fol-
lows: Yates, 7940; Steuben, 5570; Ontario, 2630; Schuyler, 1014; Seneca,
1540; total 18,694. These figures are slightly larger than the estimates
of grape-growers and buyers but chiefly so because they take in scattered
plantations throughout the several counties. Thus in all of these counties
there are a surprisingly large number of Niagara vineyards in out-of-the-
way places, set during the Niagara boom of the eighties. To this Central
Lakes district might also be added 500 acres of commercial vineyards in
Livingston County; 250 in Cayuga and 250 in Tompkins Counties. The
total valuation of the crop in this district in 1900 was $943,964.

Insects are not as troublesome in the Central Lakes district as in the

86 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Chautauqua district. The grape-vine fidia, or root-worm, one of the worst
of the insect pests of the grape, is not yet destructive in this region. The
grape leaf-hopper and the grape-vine flea-beetle are possibly the worst of
the insects infesting the grapes about these lakes.

But fungi are more troublesome than in the Chautauqua district;
probably because the climatic conditions are more favorable to the develop-
ment of these pests about these smaller lakes than near Lake Erie. The
five most troublesome diseases, named about in order of importance are
black-rot,' down>' mildew,^ or " brown-rot ", powdery mildew,-' anthrac-

' Black-rot {Guignardia bidwellii (Ell.) V. &- R.) usually appears first on the leaves where it foniis
circular, reddish-brown spots on which black pimples, or spore cases, develop. Within these spore
cases, at maturity, are the summer spores. These are distributed by the elements to the growing
parts of the plant and form new centers of infection. The diseased berries show analogous circular
spots bearing spores and as the disease progresses the grapes wither, turn black, and become hard
and shrivelled, sometimes clinging to the vine until the following spring. Growing shoots are attacked
as well as leaves and fruit. During the winter and spring the resting spores are formed, usually
upon the shrivelled berries.

Treatment consists of destroying as far as possible all diseased fruit, old leaves and prunings
and in spraying thoroughly with bordeau.x mixture as follows: —

1. Just as the pink tips of the first leaves appear.

2. From ten days to two weeks after the first spraying.

3. Just after the blossoming.

4. From ten to fourteen days after the third spraying.

5. After an interval of from ten to fourteen days from the fourth spraying.

2 Downy mildew {Plasmopara vilicola (B. & C.) Berl. & De Toni) is a troublesome fungus attack-
ing all of the tender growing parts of the grape. It does most damage to the leaves, upon the upper
surface of which it produces greenish-yellow spots of irregular outline. At the same time a loose
white downy growth appears on the under side of the leaves. This growth consists of short filaments
bearing spores, the summer spores, which are carried by the elements to other growing parts of the
plant, thus spreading the disease. Affected berries, if young, first show a brown spot, and become
covered with the gray down which distinguishes the fungus. On older berries the fungus causes a
brown-purple spot which spreads until it takes in the whole berry, which then becomes soft and often
falls, or they may become hard and persist. At this stage the disease is commonly known as ' brown
rot ". The winter, or resting, spores are produced in the tissue of fruit and leaves and with a
thick protective covering. The vi-inter spores are dark, almost black, in color. Downv mildew
spreads and does most damage in hot wet weather. Spraying with bordeaux mixture as indicated
for black-rot will keep downy mildew in check.

^ Powdery mildew ( Uncintda necator (Schw.) Burr.) is caused by a fungus which lives on the
surface of the leaves. It subsists by means of sucker-like organs which penetrate the walls of the
surface layer of cells. The vegetative portion of the parasite consists of fine white filaments which
spread over the surface of the leaves, shoots and fruit. In the summer these filaments send up
short, irregular stalks upon which large numbers of barrel-shaped spores are produced in chain-like
arrangement. These are the summer spores of the fungus. They are borne in greatest quantity

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 87

nose/ or " bird's-eye rot " and chlorosis,^ or " yellow-leaf ". Vineyards
are very generally sprayed in this district and usually with satisfactory
results. Grape-growers have learned that certain varieties are much more
susceptible to some of the diseases than others and plant accordingly.

on the upper surfaces of the leaves and give the leaf a gray, powdery appearance — hence the name,
powdery mildew. Affected leaves finally become light brown and often fall. Diseased fruits are
gray in color, scurfy, become specked with brown, fail to develop and often burst on one side thereby
showing the seeds. The winter or resting spores are borne in sacs, in the latter part of the season.
The spore sacs, in their turn, are borne in small, black, spherical spore cases, each furnished with a
number of slender appendages having curled tips. The powdery mildew, unlike most other fungus
troubles of the grape, is most prevalent in hot dry weather. The disease is combatted by dusting
with flowers of sulphur or by spraying with bordeaux mixture as for black-rot.

■ Anthracnose (Sphaccloma ampclitinm De By.). — This disease attacks any of the tender portions
of the growing vine. When the leaves are affected dark spots are first formed on their surface. As
the disease advances these spots enlarge, and irregular cracks are often formed through the dead
tissue. Frequently many of these small cracks run together, forming a long irregular slit through
the leaf. Similar marks are formed on the tender shoots, though they are not so noticeable. When
the fruit is attacked the disease is sometimes called bird's-eye rot. Circular spots are formed on the
surface of the berry. The spots may be of different colors and usually have a dark border; as the
spots enlarge and eat in, a seed is often exposed in the center. In rotting the tissue becomes hard
and wrinkled. Sometimes the disease girdles the stem of a fruit cluster, cutting off the supply of
sap from the grapes beyond the diseased line and causing them to shrivel and die.

Anthracnose does not spread as rapidly as some other vineyard diseases, neither does it yield
as readily to treatment. When a vineyard is badly infested with anthracnose, it requires prompt
attention and a careful treatment to control the disease. It is not satisfactorily controlled by bor-
deaux mixture alone. It is suggested that in addition to such treatment with this mixture as is
given for black-rot the plan be followed which is advocated by certain European authorities, of
applying a warm saturated solution of copperas (iron sulphate) in spring when the buds are swelling
but before they begin to open. One per ct. or more of sulphuric acid may be added to the solution
before it is applied. This solution must be handled with care as it is very caustic. It is applied
with swabs or if the acid is not used it may be sprayed. It is essential that the work be done thor-
oughly, covering all the surface of the canes.

- Chlorosis or yellow leaf. — The name is applied to a grape disease in which the foliage turns
yellow, later becoming brown. It is common in several parts of the State but more particularly in
the Central Lakes district. Chlorosis is more likely to appear in wet seasons. Some varieties, as
the Diamond, are much more susceptible than others. In some seasons portions of the leaves may
become yellow but eventually regain their normal color so that at the close of the season the vine
appears to be in a healthy condition. In other instances the yellow color extends over the entire
leaf; brown, dead patches appear; the leaf curls and eventually drops from the vine. If the vine
loses its leaves two or three seasons in succession it is likely to die. One striking peculiarity of the
disease is the fact that a badly diseased vine may appear by the side of a perfectly healthy vine of the
same variety.

The cause of chlorosis, as given by foreign investigators, is the presence of a large amount of
lime in the soil which prevents the roots from taking up an amount of iron sufficient for satisfactory

88 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

HUDSON RIVER DISTRICT.

The region along the Hudson River forms the third largest grape dis-
trict in New York. According to the census of i8go there were 13,000
acres of grapes in this district but in 1900 the returns gave less than half
that acreage. The great falling off was due to the taking out of a con-
siderable number of old vineyards which had been planted with too many-
varieties, or with worthless varieties, or in some other respect were poorly
set plantations. It is doubtful whether the acreage in 1907 is greater
than in 1900 but the industry is in a more healthful and prosperous con-
dition now than then.

An estimate of the present acreage, and its distribution, made in the
preparation of this work, gives the standing of the district as follows by
counties: Columbia, 865 acres; Dutchess, 448 acres; Orange, 865 acres;
Ulster, 4021 acres; total, 6199 acres. Beside the above there are, of course,
some scattering vineyards. There are only two or three wine-cellars in
the district and probably 95 per ct. of the product of the vineyards is sold
for table grapes or to those who make wine in small quantities.

The grape lands of the Hudson River Valley are found very largely
in the geological division known as the Taconic Province.' This province
is a broad valley which extends from Pennsylvania across New Jersey,
taking in Orange and parts of Ulster and Dutchess and Columbia Counties,
then passing out of the State. The rocks in this geological division are
shales, slates, schists, and limestones; and the soil is derived from these
rocks. The grape lands, for most part, are those in which there is much
shale or slate and in more or less coarse fragments, the finer particles being
clay or gravelly loams. The district is more or less hilly, some of the vine-
yards being in valleys of a few acres extent, others in broad, gently undu-
lating plains and still others on comparatively steep hillsides.

growth. Their experiments seem to show that the difficulty may be overcome by applying a small
amount of sulphate of iron around affected plants. But since there are a number of good American
varieties that are not subject to chlorosis, perhaps the better method to pursue is to plant only such
varieties as are known to be free from this trouble.

The standard varieties given in the following hst are, so far as we know, practically exempt
from chlorosis: Moore Early, Concord, Winchell, Delaware, Worden, Niagara, Catawba, Vergennes
and Agawam.

' Tarr, R. S., The Physical Geography of New York State: 4. 1902.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 89

The climate of the Hudson Valley changes rapidly as one goes up the
River because of the diversity of its physical features and the wide variety
of atmospheric influences to which it is subject. In the part of the Valley
in which grapes are grown the summer temperature is high owing to the
position between ranges of mountains and to the southerly winds which
prevail at this season. In the winter the winds are northerly and the
temperature is often low making the cultiire of tender grapes hazardous.
The influence of the river, really a broad estuary in the grape regions, at
all seasons is most favoral ile for fruit-growing.

The lowlands of the Hudson Valley receive a somewhat small amount
of rainfall as compared with the rest of New York because when moisture
is being carried inland from the Atlantic it is largely precipitated by the
mountains and highlands of New England. This is favorable to grape-
growing. Another desirable feature of the rainfall of this Valley is that
the maximum summer downfall is in July whereas in many parts of the
State it is in September or October. This relatively light rainfall in the
maturing months is more .marked in this than in any other of the grape
districts of the State.

The recorded history of commercial viticulture dates back to 1827
when Mr. Robert Underbill and his two sons, R. T. and W. A. Underbill,
planted a vineyard of Catawba and Isabella at Croton Point which eventu-
ally covered seventy-five acres. For some years this vineyard practically
supplied the large markets of the region with grapes. In 1829, Rufus
Barrett of New Paltz, began shipping Isabella grapes in small quantities
to the New York market. Barrett lived in a settlement of French Hugue-
nots, who after having experimented more or less with European sorts,
early in the nineteenth century began planting native varieties. It is
probable that Barrett obtained his inspiration for planting and knowledge
of vine-growing from these Frenchmen.

In 1837 a French vintner, John Jacques, set out a vineyard for wine-
making at Washingtonville, Orange County. The varieties set were
Catawba and Isabella, purchased from Prince of Long Island. Sx^me of
these vines are still living, vigorous and thrifty at three score years and ten.
The original plantation consisted of but a half acre but in 1838 this was
increased to ten acres. This is probably the oldest vineyard of native

go THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

grapes in New York. The third year from the ]5lanting of this vineyard
wine was made, and has been made at Washingtonville ever since, so that
this community may claim the oldest winery as well as the oldest vineyard
in the State.'

William T. Cornell planted a vineyard of Isabellas near Clintonville,
Ulster County, in the year 1845. Mrs. Cornell and Mrs. William A. Under-
hill were sisters, so that Cornell's vines came from Croton Point. A. J.
Cay wood, of Marlboro, was a brother-in-law of Mr. Cornell. Thus the
inspiration of this noted viticulturist to plant grapes, and to originate new
sorts, may be traced directly back to the Frenchman, Parmentier, who,
as we have seen, furnished the Underbills with their vines and gave them
instructions for their care. The Catawba and Isabella were grown almost
entirelv until the introduction of the Delaware and Concord, after which
the first named sorts dropped out entirely, being subject to mildew and
ripening late in the season.

The Valley of the Hudson has more reason to be called the Ijirthplace
of American viticulture than any otlier of the grape-growing districts of
the country. The grape and wine industries, as we have seen, were early
started here. Prince's Linnaean Garden at the mouth of the Valley was
the first distributing agency for American grapes. Its owners did more
than distribute grapes, the}' distributed knowledge and trained men. A.
J. Caywood of Marlboro, J. H. Ricketts of Newburgh, Stej^hen Underbill
at Croton Point, Dr. A. K. Underbill at Charlton. Dr. C. W. Grant at lona,
W. D. Barns of Middlehope, Dr. William M. Culburt of Newburgh, were
notable early originators and experimenters with grapes and from their
vineyards have come some of the best of our native varieties. Kniffin. the
Downings, and Buel are other familiar names in viticulture and horticulture
of those who lived on the Hudson and who have helped to invest the region
with sentiment and with interest for the grape grower.

The number of varieties grown in this region is far greater than in other
parts of the State; as would be expected from its having been the birth-
place of so many and from its nearness to large markets where fancy sorts
can be disposed of to advantage. The Concord leads in acreage followed

'See Story of the Vine, E. R. Emerson: igS. 1002.

THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK. 9I

in order of acreage by Delaware, Niagara, Worden, Moore Early. Bacchus,
Pocklington, Campbell Early, Hartford and Vergennes after which come
a great number of less well-known sorts grown in acre or less quantities.
The value of the crop in this district in igoo was $298,350.

During the early years of grape-growing along the Hudson the methods
of training were essentially those used in Europe. The vines were kept
w-ell headed back and were trained to stakes of varying heights. It did
not take long to discover that for our native grapes the vines must be so
trained as to give the fruit and foliage the greatest possible amount of
sunshine; to regulate the bearing wood; to permit them to bear just so
much and no more fruit; and to control the height of the main trunk.
Soon distinctive systems for native grapes arose and one of the earliest of
these originated with William Kniffin of Ulster County. This system
still bears his name and is most generally used either as it was first practiced
or in some of its modifications. In the Kniffin system, and its modifica-
tions, the trunk is carried to the top wire and the bearing shoots are allowed
to droop; for this reason this method of training is often called the drooping
system in contra-distinction to the upright systems hitherto mentioned in
which the bearing shoots are tied to wires above the canes from which they
grow. The Hudson Valley growers claim that the Kniffin svstem is espe-
cially desirable for the strong growing sorts like Concord, Worden, and
Niagara but admit that for the slender shorter growing kinds like Delaware
and Catawba the upright system is best.

As is always the case when fruit is grown near to the market in which
it is sold, there is little uniformity in the packages in which it is shipped
and the manner in which the fruit is packed. Most of the fruit from the
vineyards along the Hudson goes to market in climax baskets of the two
standard sizes. Some of the growers pack two, or even three varieties,
in one package for the purpose of giving a range in color and quality. The
shipping facilities along the river are unexcelled. Most of the grapes go
by boat down the Hudson to New York City. In this case the fruit is
loaded late in the evening and reaches its destination early the next
morning. The rail connections to New England cities are good and laige
shipments go eastward by rail while smaller quantities go inland and
south. The fruit is not marketed through unions nor has co-operative

92 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

selling been tried, the nearness to market obviating the necessity of
co-operation.

The insect pests in this district are neither numerous nor particularly
destructive, the grape leaf-hopper and the grape-vine flea-beetle being
most common. Spraying for insects is not generally practiced. On the
other hand the fungus troubles are serious, the black-rot having been
especially destructive in some sections. The other diseases are much the
same as in the districts discussed. While all of the fimgi of the district
are amenable to treatment yet spraying has not been generally practiced
nor have the vines been kept as vigorous and healthy through cultivation
and fertilization as to withstand the attacks of the several fungi. The
decreased acreage of grapes along the Hudson during the past decade or
two is due in some measure to the fact that the grape diseases have not
been controlled. With better knowledge of the life-habits of the insects
and fungi which attack vineyards, and means of combatting these pests,
viticulture should regain the prestige it once held in the Hudson Valley.

THE NI.\GAR.\ DISTRICT.

The Niagara district, the smallest of the several grape areas of the
State, lies along the Niagara river and the southern shore of Lake Ontario.
In it are about 4700 acres distributed in counties as follows: Erie, 2100;
Niagara, 1250; Orleans, 375; Monroe, 700; Wayne, 380. In the sotithem
part of Erie County the vineyards are grown mider conditions very- similar
to those we have described in the Chautauf^ua district; the treatment
given is much the same; the grapes are marketed as are those in the dis-
trict to the south and west; and the Concord, as in the larger district, is
the variety most largely grown. But conditions in the northern and east-
ern part of the county more nearly approach those along Niagara river
and the Ontario shore so that the county is included in the Niagara district.

In Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, and Wayne Counties the grape lands
are in what is known as the Ontario plain. This plain has for its western
boundary in the United States, Niagara River; for its northern l>oundary
Lake Ontario; to the south there is a high escarpment, the Niagara escarp-
ment, or " the mountain ", separating the Ontario plain from the Erie
plain which is an eastward extension of the low plain on the south shore

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 93

of Lake Erie. The Niagara escarpment may be seen well at Lewiston
from which point it stretches eastward toward Lockport and westward
into Ontario. The escarpment may be traced to the eastern end of
Lake Ontario where it disappears and the Erie and Ontario plains merge
into one. In the grape-growing counties the Ontario plain varies from
four to nine miles in width.

The jDlain is more or less rolling throughout its entire length; but in
few places are the hills too steep for fruit-growing. The soils are sandy,
gravelly, or clay loams varying greatly in fertility and in adaptability for
the grape. In parts of the district the soils are stony and shaly. They
belong, so far as they have been studied, to the Dunkirk series and are
therefore quite similar to those of the Chautauqua district.

The climate, too, is much like that of the Chautauqua district. The
average midwinter temperature is comparatively high; the summer tem-
perature is equable; and the precipitation of rain and dew light as compared
with inland areas. The influence of the escarpment is not so marked in
the Niagara district as in the Chautauqua belt. A remarkable feature of
the climate of this district is that killing frosts rarely occur before the close
of October, giving a long maturing and harvesting season for the grape.
In the winter the daily range of temperature is small owing not only to
the influence of the water but to the fact as well that this season is a period
of great cloudiness for the region.

In Erie County much of the product of the southern part is marketed
with that of Chautauqua County but to the north, Buft'alo makes a splendid
local market. Several varieties are grown for the home market but chiefly
the Concord and the Niagara. These are packed in the various styles of
climax baskets and in slatted crates — the latter for the home making of
wine. The fruit is carted to the market by the grower, or j^urchased in
the fleld, in the case of wine-making, by the consumer.

Niagara Count}' is the home of the Niagara grape and this variety
is grown here almost exclusiveh'. The product is sold very largeh' by the
grower in the open markets of Buffalo and Niagara Falls and is packed in
the several sizes of climax baskets. In the counties to the east of Niagara
the product, almost exclusively Niagaras, is sold at Rochester or neigh-
boring towns or shipped to the large eastern cities. Much of this fruit is

94 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

sold through the Niagara Grape Market Company, a co-operative union,
with headquarters at Lockport, New York.

The Niagara region is the newest of the grape districts of the State.
There were few plantings along the shore of Ontario until 1886 when the
Niagara grape was introduced and vineyards were put out in consideraljle
numbers throughout the whole extent of the district followed by still
heavier plantings during the succeeding several years. It was soon demon-
strated that the region was well adapted to grape-growing and especially for
the Niagara grape but that there were many soils and locations wholly
unsuitable for vineyards. Consequently during the 3'ears that followed the
bearing of the first grapes, many vineyards have been abandoned so that
there are now scarcely as many acres as at the close of the first period of
expansion about 1900. The insect and fungus pests are much the same
as in the Chautauqua district though the dreaded grape-vine fidia is not
yet nearly so common, but, on the other hand, the black-rot is far more
destructive, probably because the Niagara grape is very susceptible to this
fungus.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 95

CHAPTER IV

SPECIES OF AMERICAN GRAPES.

THE GENUS VITIS.

The genus Vitis was formed and named by Tournefort,' a French
botanist, more than two hundred years ago. In his work, Institutiones
Rei Hcrhariac, pubhshed in Paris in 1700, he gives the following descrip-
tion of this genus:

" The Vitis is a genus of plant with a (A) flower shaped like a rose,
with many petals placed uniformly in a circle, out of the middle of which
arises the pistil (B), with stamens pressed together (C), the flower (D,E,F)
folds upward; the pistil develops into an edible berry (E), fleshy, full of
juice, and usually with four seeds (H,I), the seeds are pear-shaped (K)."

The capital letters in the parentheses refer to illustrations. These
indicate that Tournefort had a very clear conception of the flowering
parts of a grape. He gives twenty-one species under this genus of which
nine are American, one, however, being our Virginia creeper. Tournefort's
work is all very indefinite; others of the species than those credited to
America may be American, and it is quite possible that of the nine some
would not be classed among the grapes to-day. Each species is credited
to some previous botanist and it is evident that Tournefort was a compiler
rather than an original worker with grapes.

The next botanist who contributed to our knowledge of this genus was
Linnaeus, the great Swedish systematist, who, in his Genera Plantarum, 1754,
gives the following description of the flower (Like Tournefort's, Linnaeus'
book is written in Latin and the extracts here given are free translations) :

" Calyx. Five-toothed, small.

" Corolla. Petals five, rudimentary, small, caducous.

' Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, a French botanist of considerable reputation in his day, was born
at Aix, Provence, in 1656 and died in 1 708. He was educated by the Jesuits for a priest but following
a natural inclination he later became a botanist. In 1683 he became professor of botany at the
Jardin des Plantes in Paris. While occupying this position he made trips through western Europe,
Greece and Asia Minor. His principal work, and the one quoted here, is Institutiones Rei Hcrbariae
in three volumes, published in Paris in 1700. He was one of the most prominent systematic bota-
nists who preceded Linnaeus.

g6 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

" Stamens. Filaments five, subulate, erect, spreading, caducous,
anthers simple.

" Pistil. Ovary egg-shaped, style none, stigma obtuse headed.

" Pericarp. Berry nearly round, large, one cell.

"Seeds. Five, plump, terminate cordate, base contracted, partially
divided into two cells."

Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum of 1753, gives seven species as
belonging to this genus, three of which are credited to America. One, how-
ever, Vitis arborea, is not classed among the grapes by present-day botanists.

Marshall,' the first American botanist we have to consider, for neither
Tournefort nor Linnaeus had ever been on this continent, in his Arbustrum
Arnericanuiu, 1785, describes the genus Vitis in terms so nearly identical
with those of Linnaeus as to lead one to suspect that it is merely a trans-
lation from the Genera Plantarum. Marshall gives five species. One of
these is certainly not a grape and one other is indeterminate.

Thomas Walter," in his Flora Caroliniana, 1 788, gives a brief description
of the genus very similar to the foregoing but he also speaks of the masculine
and feminine forms of the flowers, a point that does not seem to have been
noticed by any botanist of an earlier date. He speaks of the corolla adhering
at the top and coming ofi" as a cap, one of the distinguishing characters of
Vitis. This latter point had, however, been noted In- Tournefort, and his
figvtres show that this is what he means when he speaks of the flower as
folding upward. Tournefort, however, seems to have been under the mis-
taken impression that Ampelopsis (Ampelopsis quinquijolia Michx. is our
common American form) opens its flowers in the same way, as he includes

' Humphrey Marshall was born in the town of West Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1722, of Quaker
parents. He was a cousin of John Bartram, their mothers being sisters. Like Bartram, he had few
opportunities for education, not going to school after he was twelve years of age. He was a stone-
m.ison by trade, studying botany in his leisure moments. In 177.5 he started a botanic garden at
Marshallton. In 1785 he published Arbustrum Americanum, The American Grove, or An Alphabeti-
cal Catalog of Forest Trees and Shrubs, Natives of the American United States. This work had been
in preparation about five years previous to its publication. It is said to be the first botanical work of
a native American. Marshall died in 1801.

■ But little is known of the life of Thomas Walter. He was a native of Hampshire, England,
and migrated to St. John's Parish, South Carolina, where he had a plantation on the Santee River.
Here he died in 1788 at about the age of forty-eight years. His only publication of note is the
Flora Caroliniana, published in the year of his death. He must have been in correspondence with
European botanists of that time as his herbarium is preserved in the British Museum.

m. PLEASANT LIBRARY

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 97

this under Vitis. Walter gives only three species and his descriptions of
these are very brief.

The first European botanist who made an extensive study of American
plants in their habitats was Andre Michaux, a French botanist who traveled
extensiveh' in North America at about the close of the eighteenth century.
In his Flora Boreali- Americana, which was published in 1803, he gives a
brief generic description of Vitis which includes all of the essential charac-
ters given by Walter. He also questions the male and female characters
mentioned by Walter.' Michaux mentions five species of the American
grapes. His descriptions are clear and every species described can readily
be recognized so that there is no question among botanists as to what
species was meant in any instance.

An interesting contribution to our knowledge of the grapes of North
America is that of William Bartram.^ Bartram's opportunities for becom-
ing familiar with these plants were probably greater than those of any
other person of his day, he being a resident of America, and his father
having been a botanist, so that he was trained from childhood to observe
plants. The following is an extract from an article of Bartram's in the
Domestic Encyclopedia, 1804:

' Grapes are not to-day considered dioecious but polygamo-dioecious, a distinction which will be
defined later.

- John Bartram was bom near the village of Darby in Delaware (then Chester) County, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1699. Bartram is generally credited with having established the first botanical garden in
America. This garden was founded about 1728, some four miles south of what was the town of
Philadelphia and is now a part of the Park System of that city. He was bred a Quaker but owing
to his liberal opinions was excluded from that Society in 175S. During his life he was in corre-
spondence with ma'iy of the leading scientific men of Europe to whom he sent many specimens of
plants and other t?.ings of scientific interest. He made many trips into various parts of the colonies,
to Ontario, Lake George, the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia, in search of information. The last of
these journeys, that to the southern states, was made after he was seventy years of age. Bartram
is blamed by all of his contemporaries for not having pubUshed more than he did. His death
occurred in 1777.

William Bartram. son of John Bartram, was born in 1739 and died in 1823. Much of his work
was done in connection with his father under whom he received his botanical training. His best
known work is his Travels tn the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida (1791), in which he gives an interest-
ing account of that region, including descriptions of a number of new southern plants. His article on
grapes which is here quoted was published in the Domestic Encyclopedia, 1804, and also in the Medical
Repository of the same year.

7

\l U^

98 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

" The most obvious characters which distinguish the grape vines of
America from those of the old continent are : i . The berries of all the Ameri-
can species and varieties that I have seen, approach the figure of an oblate
spheroid; that is, the poles are flattened, and the transverse diameter is
longer than the polar: however, I have observed that Alexander's grape,
and some of the bul or bullet grapes, approach nearer to an oval or ellipsis
which is the figure of all foreign or European grapes that I have seen; viz.
a prolate spheroid. 2. Most of the American species and varieties have a
glaucous and yellowish pubescence on the under surface of their leaves.
3. All that I have observed in the northern and eastern districts of the
United States are polygamous; i. e. those vines which bear fruit (female)
have hermaphrodite flowers (pentandria monogynia) ; but the males have
only five stamina, without any female organ, and are alwa5's barren. One
should suppose, from Walter so strongly marking this character as to
induce him to place the Vitis in the class Dioecia, when Linnaeus and the
other European botanists had placed it in Pentandria (he himself being an
European), that all the grape vines of the old continent are hermaphroditous
and Pentandrian. I know not from my own observation, whether the bull-
grape of Carolina is hermaphroditous or dioecious, and therefore rest satisfied
with Walter's assertion." Bartram gives four species.

Nuttall,' in his Genera of North American Plants and Catalogue of the
Species, gives a rather stereotyped description of the genus biit in addition
in fine t^'pe he gives the following:

" Leaf simple and cordate, angularly or sinuately lobed, rarely digitate
or pinnate (Cissus?), flowers numerous, in compound racemes, not uncom-

' Thomas Xuttall was bom in Settle in Yorkshire, England, in 17S6. He migrated to the United
States in 1807, making his home in Philadelphia where he became acquainted with William Bartram
and Dr. Barton. It was largely owing to the influence of these men that he turned his attention
to botany. Xuttall was an extensive traveler and made botanical expeditions into many parts of the
country. He explored the Middle West up to the Rocky Mountains and made a trip around the Horn
to California. From 1825 to 1834 he was connected with Harvard College. In 1842 he was called to
England by a bequest from an uncle left to him conditional on his residing for nine months of each
year in England; compliance with this request caused a cessation of his botanical work in America.
He died at Xutgrove, Lancashire, in 1859. Xuttall's first and probably greatest work was his Genera
of North American Plants and Catalogue of the Species, published in 1818. Besides various accounts
of his expeditions he made an addition of three volumes to Michaux's Sylva bringing that work up
to six volumes.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 99

monly producing 4, 6 and 7 petals, with a corresponding number of stamens,
calix mostly entire, or obsoletely crenate, a glandulous disk surrounding the
germ; tendril dichotomous, sometimes producing flowers, therefore analo-
gous to a sterile raceme."

It is evident that Nuttall was in doubt as to the distinguishing charac-
ters between Vitis and the allied genus, Cissus. While he has the species of
the two genera in the same position they would now be placed, his reference
to pinnate-leaved species is somewhat misleading as no pinnate-leaved
species are known to-day in either Europe or America. He uses, however,
the distinguishing character between these two genera that we now accept,
that is, Vitis has petals that adhere at the tops and come off in the form
of a cap or calyptrum, while in Cissus the corolla does not fall off as a cap.
Nuttall mentions six species as belonging to this genus: Vitis labnisca,
V. aestivalis, V . cordijolia, V . riparia, V. rotundifolia, and V. palmata, with
a question mark after the last species. None is described. His work is
apparently a discriminating compilation of the work of earlier botanists.

Many other botanical workers wrote on this genus during the period
covered and some of them did very valuable work in describing the various
species but their work has not been referred to because it did not add to the
knowledge of the genus as a whole.

The first man to write a monograph on American grapes was Rafin-
esque,' who published in 1830 a paper bound volume entitled American
Manual of tJic Grape Vine, etc. Rafinesque, who was long a resident of
the United States, had an opportunity to acquire knowledge on the subject
upon which he wrote second to none other. His description of the genus

' Constantini, Samuel Rafinesque was born in Galata, a suburb of Constantinople in European
Turkey, in 1783. He was of French-German descent,, his father being a French merchant of Marseilles,
and his mother of Sa.xon parentage. In 1S02 he came to Philadelphia. While here he was busied
with mercantile pursuits, occupying a position as clerk, but studied botany out of office hours for
amusement. In 1S05 he went to Sicily where he spent the next ten years. Here he commenced the
extensive series of publications which have made his name so well known to scientists. In 181 5 he
returned to the United States, traveling about from place to place for some time and finally settling
in Lexington. Kentucky, where he became a professor in Transylvania University. He left Lexington
in 1825, removing to Philadelphia, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying in poverty in 1840.
Rafinesque's biographer gives 420 differently titled articles on nearly all scientific subjects as the
product of his pen. His monograph on grapes, entitled American Manual of tlte Grape Vine and The
Art of Making Wines, etc., was published in Philadelphia in 1830.

lOO THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

is similar to that of his predecessors and very good ; but here all similarity
ends and practically all value. After having made forty-one species, the
greater portion of which have names given by himself, he says: "By the
above enumeration of our Grapes I have done for this genus what Michaux
did for our Oaks. Owing to the great confusion of former authors, and
the difficulty of comparing the leaves and fruits of all the species, it is
hardlv as perfect as I should wish. Rigid botanists may perhaps wish to
reduce this species to a minor number or consider some as hybrids: if
they can find good permanent collective characters, let them reduce our
Grapes and Oaks to a dozen species. But the angular or striated branches,
the long or short petioles, the oval, cordate or reniform leaves, etc., must
always be deemed essential specific characters, and several of my new
species, such as V. bracteata, V. angulata, V. peltata, V. canina, V. blanda,
V. longifolia, V. acerifolia, V. amara, V. prolifera, etc., must be deemed
very distinct." None of those of which he says " must be deemed essential
specific characters" is now so considered and the species which must be
" deemed very distinct " are many of them unrecognized and none of
them known by the name which he gave.

Le Conte, about the middle of the last century, did much work in the
botany of grapes, publishing several papers in the Proceedings of the Academy
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. These were in the nature of mono-
graphs although they were not, so far as known, published separately. He
gives twelve species generally taken from other authors.

A little later than Le Conte, Engelmann of St. Louis, gave his attention
to the genus Vitis, clearing up a number of disputed points. His work was
published in various reports and later in the Bushberg Catalogue and Grape
Manual. Engelmann 's studies are particularly valuable in that he was the
first botanist working with grapes v/ho lived in the middle west and the
territory over which he ranged in his botanical expeditions was compara-
tively virgin. This was about the time of the reconstitution of the French
vineyards by the use of American roots as stocks on which to graft their
French vines to enable them to resist phylloxera. Many thousand cuttings
and rooted vines of American grapes were sent to France annually for this
purpose. The value of grafting on resistant stocks had stimulated an
interest among French scientists in grapes generally and particularly in

I.

V.

bicolor

2.

V.

cordi folia

^■

V.

rotiindifolia

4-

V.

doaniana

5-

V.

longii

6.

V.

labrusca

/■

V.

rupestris

8.

V.

npana

9-

V.

vinifera

10.

V.

aestivalis

CANES OF SPECIES OF VITIS

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. lOI

the American species. While their aid in separating species was but slight,
owing to their distance from the field where the plants were growing, yet
the investigations of Planchon, Millardet, and others as to the comparative
value of various characters in separating species, were of great importance.
These investigations were utilized by Engelmann to a considerable extent.
Owing to its simplicity, and somewhat perhaps to the place of publication,
his work obtained favor among grape-growers to a greater extent than that
of any of his predecessors. In his earlier writings he gives six species but
in the last edition of the Biishberg Catalogue thirteen are enumerated.

Shortly after and partly coincident with Engelmann, Munson, of Texas,
made valuable contributions to our knowledge of American grapes. Mun-
son is, what none of his predecessors had been, a cultivator of grapes and a
breeder of new varieties as well as a botanical student of the subject. The
region in which he lived was comparatively new to botanists, and it was
partly, perhaps, on this account that he raised the number of species from
the thirteen given by Engelmann to twenty-five. At the present time it
appears doubtful if all of these will ultimately be given specific rank. Many
of them undoubtedly will, and others of them will be recognized at least
as varieties. Munson is regarded to-day as the chief authority on grapes
of the semi-arid and mountainous districts of the West and is one of the
leading authorities on American viticulture.

The last man who has paid special attention to the grapes of North
America is Bailey, of Cornell. In his latest classification he gives twenty-
three species of American grapes. Bailey is the only American botanist
of experience and recognized standing in general botany who has paid
special attention to the grape. His monograph of the genus Vitis which,
with some changes, has appeared successively in Grays Synoptical Flora,
The Evolution of Our Native Fruits, and the Cyclopedia of American Hor-
ticulture, is the most complete work we have on this subject. With his
permission we have followed his arrangement of species in The Grapes of
Neiv York.

With this brief history of the formation of the genus Vitis as it now
stands we pass to a consideration of the botanical characters of Vitis.

From the time when botanists first commenced to work on the grape
there has been a constant search for taxonomic characters for separating

I02 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

the various species clearly and distinctly. Many of the earlier descrip-
tions, while they are correct so far as they go, do not mention enough
characters to enable one to distinguish between similar species. It has
been found that dependence upon the shape of the leaf, size of berry, size
of plant, date of ripening, and similar characters, is very uncertain and
unsatisfactory and that, while these characters are always mentioned in
descriptions as indicating the intrinsic value of a species, they are of little
value from a systematic standpoint. There are, however, several char-
acters of Vitis which have great taxonomic importance.

One of the fundamental characters which determine a species is con-
tinuous or intermittent tendrils, first noticed by Professor A. Braun' of
Berlin. Vitis labnisca, the common Fox grape, is peculiar in that there
are tendrils, or an inflorescence, opposite nearly every leaf; this arrange-
ment is known as continuous tendrils. All other species have two leaves
with a tendril opposite each and a third leaf without a tendril : such species
are said to have intermittent tendrils. Continuity of tendrils is a variable
character and to ascertain which of the two forms is present it is necessary
to have vigorous, healthy, typical canes. The lowest leaves of canes usu-
ally have no opposite tendrils. This character is shown in the color-plates
of the several species.

A closely related character is that of the number of inflorescences
borne b}' a species. All species excepting Vitis labrusca average two
inflorescences to the cane but the last named species, at least in some of
its subdivisions, may bear from three to six inflorescences, each of course
in the place of a tendril opposite a leaf.

Professor Millardet of Bordeaux first called attention to the value of
that part of the cane known as the diaphragm as a means of distinguishing
species. The cane of the grape vine contains a large pith, and in most
species this pith is interrupted by woody tissue at the joints; this woody
tissue is the diaphragm. The presence or absence of the diaphragm and its
thickness are of taxonomic value. In Rotundifolia, the southern Fox grape,
the diaphragm is absent; in Riparia, the Riverbank grape, it is very thin;
in Rupestris it is slightly thicker; while Cordifolia, Aestivalis, and Labrusca
have thick diaphragms. This character is studied best in the year-old canes

' Mo. Etit. Rpt.. 1874:71.

¥ f

V. Ki:i'ESTKiS

• f

f

f f

« t

v. AESTiVALis

v. tioanIaxa

f

♦

f

^ f

V. l;;PAniA

f

V. LONGil

tl

V. LAHKCSf.'A.

V. vi.viFERA

1^

t f

V. AKSTiVAI.is l-iNCKCIMii

» f

V. BicoLOR

V. BERLAXDlKRi

f

f f

v. KOTrrnnFOLiA

f

V. LABR. V V. VI'n.

V. LARi:. ■< V. Rip

SEEDS OF SPECIES OF VITIS

[Natiiia.- Sizk ami Em.ai;gki>1

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 103

of the grape. The color-plate of canes shows the range in thickness of
diaphragms as they occur in several species.

The time of flowering is of considerable value in distinguishing species.
Unfortunately it requires live plants and a certain time of year in order
that this character be noted. The first American species to flower is Riparia.
Rupestris flowers shortly after; next, Labrusca; Aestivalis a little later,
although the Lincecumii variety of Aestivalis blooms slightly before
Labrvisca; Cordifolia is very late in coming into bloom, and Cinerea still
later. Vinifera, the European grape, blooms shortly after Labrusca. The
cultivated offspring of all wild grapes retain the blooming characters of the
species from which they are derived.

Other characters that have been found of great value are those connected
with the seed. The ability to use the seed characters, however, cannot
readily be acquired except by the use of an illustrated manual and some
experience in selecting the seeds, as they are quite variable on the same
plant. The weight of the seeds differs in different species, but varies so
much inside the species that it is not of much value from a systematic
standpoint. In general, it may be said that the Labruscas have the largest
and heaviest seed of our American grapes; Riparia has the smallest seed,
with Aestivalis occupying an intermediate position. The size of the seeds
in Aestivalis, however, is more noticeable on account of the small size of
the fruit. The color-plate illustrates the different characters to be found in
grape seeds and a study of this plate with the technical descriptions of the
several species will show how important seeds become in classifying grapes.

Attention is called to the characters given by Bartram as distinguishing
the European from the American species. The flrst difference that he men-
tions is in the shape of the fruit, that of the Vinifera being more or less
oval and that of American species roundish or oblate. Recent technical
descriptions of our American species give the fruit as spherical where the
shape is mentioned at all. On the other hand it is known that most of the
cultivated varieties of European grapes are oval. Does this mean that all
of our cultivated American varieties which show oval berries, such as Isa-
bella, Catawba, and others, contain Vinifera blood? It could not be said
without careful study that this is true but it is certainly worthy of con-
sideration. This point seems to have escaped the attention of our later-day
botanists.

I04 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

The sexual status of the grape has always been a source of misunder-
standing. The earlier botanists spoke of American vines as dioecious, that
is, bearing staminate and pistillate flowers on separate individuals. In this,
as was noted on page 98, they were corrected by Bartram, in so far as Ameri-
can species were concerned, he stating that the vines of America were
polygamous (showing staminate and hermaphrodite plants). Bartram
did not presume to speak as to the sex of the flowers of the Old World grape.
Later it was determined that the cultivated varieties of Europe were always
hermaphrodite and that staminate forms were unknown. Engelmann'
e.xplains this so well and with such apparent satisfaction that we cannot
do better than quote him here. " All the true Grape-vines bear fertile
flowers on one stock and sterile flowers on another separate stock, and are
therefore called polygamous, or, not quite correcth', dioecious. The sterile
plants do bear male flowers with abortive pistils, so that while they never
produce fruit themselves, they may assist in fertilizing the others; the
fertile flowers, however, are hermaphrodites containing both organs —
stamens and pistils — and are capable of ripening fruit without the assist-
ance of the male plants. Real female flowers without any stamens do
not seem ever to have been observed. Both forms, the male and the
hermaphrodite, or if preferred those with sterile and those with complete
flowers, are found mixed in their native localities of the wild plants, but of
course only the fertile plants have been selected for cultivation, and thus
it happens that to the cultivator only these are known ; and as the Grape-
vine of the Old World has been in cultivation for thousands of years,
it has resulted that this hermaphrodite character of its flowers has been
mistaken for a botanical peculiarity, by which it was to be distinguished,
not only from our American Grape-vines, but also from the wild grapes of
the old world. But plants raised from the seeds of this as well as any other
true GrajDe-vine, generally furnish as many sterile as fertile specimens,
while those propagated by layering or by cuttings, of course, only continue
the individual character of the mother-plant or stock." The accompanying
plate shows various forms of grape flowers.

He further says in a foot-note: " These fertile plants, however, are
of two kinds; some are perfect hermaphrodites, with long and straight

' Bush. Cat.. 1883:9.

CO

c-

>

00

o

►J

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I05

stamens around the pistil, the others bear smaller stamens, shorter than
the pistil which soon bend downward and curve under it; these may be
called imperfect hermaphrodites , approaching females, and they do not seem
to be as fruitful as the perfect hermaphrodites, unless otherwise fertilized."

Beach ' tested many of our cultivated varieties bv sacking the clusters
at blooming time and thus determined their capacity to fertilize them-
selves. From the data thus secured he divides them into four classes:
I St. Those that are able to fertilize themselves so that the clusters are per-
fect or varying from perfect to somewhat loose. 2d. Those in which the
clusters are marketable, varying from moderately compact to loose. 3d.
Clusters so loose as to be unmarketable. 4th. Those which are self-sterile
or showing no fruit on covered clusters. Of 169 varieties tested, he found
38 belonging to the first class, 66 to the second class, 28 to the third, and
37 to the fourth.

Later it was found that the reason why certain varieties were self-
sterile was on account of impotent and abortive pollen, the percentage of
abortive pollen grains varying with different varieties and this percentage
determining the degree of self-sterility. The upright or depressed stamen
is not an invariable criterion of the condition of the pollen although it is
usually. There are a few instances in which upright stamens bear impotent
pollen but these are verv exceptional. Munson made similar tests of vines
of twenty-two" American species of vines secured from their habitats. In
every case he found that they showed only two forms, the staminate vines
and the self-sterile hermaphrodite, no perfect hermaphrodites being found.
While of some of the species the number of vines tested was a half dozen
or less, in most instances many vines were tested from different places.
This is particularly interesting in that it becomes a puzzle as to where our
perfectly hermaphrodite cultivated forms could have come from if such
forms are not present in the wild vines of our woods and prairies.

The structure of the bark is an important distinguishing character for
some species; in particular as to whether it peels off and whether in large
flakes or in narrow strips or shreds. So, too, the color of the bark is often
of taxonomic importance. The form and color of the leaves are often

> A', r. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:518. 1898. N. Y. Sta. Bui. 157. iS
^ Tex. Sta. Bill.. 56:239. 1900.

Io6 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

considered, but these characters are variable and may be misleading. The
lobing of leaves is a fairly uniform character in most species, some having
lobed and others having entire leaves. As to color and texture, the upper
surface of the leaf in some species is smooth, glossy and shining and in
others rough and dull with varying shades of green. The lower surfaces
show similar variations with the addition of varying conditions of pubes-
cence and down or even of cobwebs. In young seedlings the shape and
surfaces of the leaves are apt to be quite different from those on the old
plants, a character of systematic importance with some species. The
flower, as compared with this organ in other genera, is of little importance
in distinguishing the species of Vitis, there being an unusual similarity in
the structure and appearance of the flowers of the several species.

The number of species of Vitis is very uncertain; as, indeed, is their
habitat, except that they are generally confined to the temperate or sub-
tropical regions. Some writers give the number as less than fifty but in
all territories the number seems to depend on the thoroughness with
which the region has been worked over botanically, and also on the judg-
ment of the botanist doing the work. Gray recognized four species as
being indigenous to America. Engelmann in his latest publication (Bush-
hcrg Catalogue, 1883), thirteen, while Munson gives twenty-five. Bailey
in Gray's Synoptical Flora, gives twenty-three species. Planchon (in 1887)
gives twenty-eight species for the world. Seventeen of these are credited
to America, ten to Asia, and one, the Vinifera, of unknown nativity. AH
of these lists, however, are known to be incomplete. Bessey' says that the
grape is not native to the southern hemisphere, and Planchon credits none
to any section south of the equator. Bailey credits two to Australia in a
work not intended to cover more than those of American interest. And a
correspondent- from that continent writes us giving a list of nineteen
named and botanically described species indigenous to Australia. The
number of species of grapes in the world depends upon the arbitrary-
limits set for a species and our knowledge of the genus is yet too meager
to set these limits with certainty.

' Gar. ojtd For., 8:47. 1895.

2 W. Brennan, Gilgandra, N. S. W.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

107

SPECIES OF AMERICAN GRAPES.

CONSPECTUS OF NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF VITIS.

A. Skin of mature berry separating freely from the pulp.
B. Nodes without diaphragms' tendrils simple. .

V. rotundifolia.
V. munsoniana.

B.B. Nodes with diaphragms; tendrils forked.

C. Leaves and shoots glabrous at maturity and without bloom.
Tendrils intermittent (V. cincrea and V. arizonica are partial
exceptions and might be looked for under C.C.).

D. Leaves thin, light, bright green, generally glabrous
below at maturity except perhaps in the axils of the
veins (V . champini an excejition) with a long or at
least a prominent point and usually long and sharp
teeth or the edge even jagged. (V . bicolor might be
looked for here.)

E. Leaves broader than long; petiolar sinus usu-
ally wide and shallow. ( V . trelcasei might be

sought here.)

E.E. Leaves ovate in outline; petiolar sinus
usually medium to narrow,

F. Diaphragms thin; young shoots not red.

3-

V.

rupestris.

4-

V.

monticola.

5-

V.

riparia.

6.

V.

treleasei.

7-

V.

longii.

8.

V.

champini.

F.F. Diaphragms thick; young shoots

bright red 9. V. rubra.

D.D. Leaves thickish, dull colored or grayish green, often
holding some close dull pubescence below at maturity,
shoots and leaves nearly always more or less pubescent
when young; the teeth mostly short; the point mostly
rectangular and conspicuous.

E. Plants strong, climbing, with stout persistent
tendrils.

F. Young shoots cylindrical, glabrous or

very soon becoming so 10. V. cordifolia.

F.F. Young shoots angled, covered the

first year with tomentum or wool 11. V. baileyana.

12. V. berlandieri.

13. V. cinerea.
E.E. Plants scarcely climbing, tendrils perishing

when without support 14. V. arizonica.

D.D.D. Leaves orbicular, scallop shaped; species of the

Pacific Coast 15. V. californica.

Io8 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

C.C. Leaves rusty or white tomentose or glaucous blue below,
thick or at least firm. (l'. cinerea, V. arizonica and possibly
V . calif ornica might be sought here.)

D. Leaves flocculent or cobwebby or glaucous below

when fully grown (i. e. not covered with a thick dense

felt-like toraentum except sometimes in I', doaniana).

E. Shoots white tipped; ends of the growing

shoots and the under surface of the leaves

whitish or gray i6. V. girdiana.

17. V. doaniana.
E.E. Shoots rusty tijjped; the unfolding leaves
and (except in V. hicolor) the young shoots dis-
tinctly ferrugineous ; mature leaves either rusty
or bluish below or sometimes becoming green
in r. bicolor ig. V. aestivalis.

19. V. bicolor.

20. V. caribaea.
D.D. Leaves densely tomentose or felt-like beneath

throughout the season ; covering white or rusty white.

E. Tendrils intermittent 21. V. candicans.

22. V. simpsoni.

E.E. Tendrils mostly continuous 23. V. labrusca.

.\.A. Skin and pulp of mature berry cohering. (Old World) 24. V. vinifera.

I. VITIS ROTUNDIFOLIA :\Iichx.»

I. Trans. Am. Phil Soc, 1771:339. 2. Michaux. 2:231. 1803. Muscadine grape. 3. Bar-
tram, Dom. Enc, 5:289, 290. 1804. V. taurina; V. vulpina; Bull grape. 4. Muhlen-
berg, 1813:27. V. VERRUCOSA- V roiundifolia; Fox grape; Bull grape. 5. Pursh, 1:169.
1814. Bull grape: Bullet grape. 6. Xuttall, 1:143. 1818. 7. Elliott, 2:687. 1824. V. vulpina;
Fox grape. 8. Rafinesque, 1830:16. V. \v\.pi>i.K- V . miiscadiyia; X . rotundifolia; V . incisa. g. (?)

' Andr^ Michaux was a French botanist, born at Satory, Versailles, in i 746. He took up the study
of botany and made many trips to foreign lands in behalf of the French Government. One of these
was an expedition to North .■\merica where he remained from 1785 to 1796 exploring the country
and gathering many botanical specimens through Canada, Nova Scotia and the United States as far
west as the Mississippi. His chief works are Histoire des chenes de VAmerique Seplentrionalc ( History
of the Oaks of North America), iSoi; and Flora Boreali Americana, 1803. He described and named
Vitis rotundifolia, V. aestivalis. V. cordifolia, V. riparia, and V. rubra, as well as giving much
information on other species. Michaux died on the Island of Madagascar in 1802.

F. Andr^ Michaux was born at Versailles In 1770 and died at Vaureal in 1855. He was a son of
Andr<5 Michaux and also a botanist, and like his father employed by the French Government to
explore North America with a view of introducing valuable plants into France. He published in
1810-13 a Histoire des Arbres Foresticres de VAmerique Septentrionale which was later translated
into English under the name North American Sylva. He also published A Voyage a l-ouest des Monts
AUeghanys, 1804.

SHOOT OF riTIS ROTUNDIFOLIA

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. IO9

lb., 1830:17. V. angulata; Arkansas; Bushy grape; Currant grape; False Scxippernong. 10. lb.,
1830:17. V. verrucosa; Warty grape. 11. (?) lb., 1830:17. V. peltata; 1'. Floridana. 12. Le
Conte, Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 6:273. 1853. V. vnlpina; V. acerijolia; V. angulata; V. verrucosa;
Bullace grape; Bull grape; Muscadine; Scvippernong. 13. Weller, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1853:306.
ScuppERNONG. 14. Le Conte, 76., 1857:231. V. vulpina; V. acerijolia; V. angulata; V. verrucosa;
Bullace grape; Bull grape; Muscadine; Skuppernong. 15. White, Horticulturist, 12:457. 1857.
V. vulpina. 16. Ravenel, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1859:538. V. vulpi.na: V. rotnndijolia; Mustang;
Bullace grape; Bullet grape; Bull grape. 17. Buckley, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1861:484. Muscadine;
Bullace. 18. Koch, III. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1868 :Si. V. vulpin.\; Muscadine; Southern Fox grape.
19. Saunders, U. S. D. A. Rpt., 1869:83, 85. fig. V. vulpina; Bullace grape. 20. Wylie, Jour, of
Hort., 7:164. 1870. Scuppernong; SitHact'. 21. Ih., Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1871:116. Scuppernong.
22. Engehiiann, Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1872:62. V. vulpina; Soutlwrn Fox grape; Bullace grape; Bullit
grape; Muscadine. 23. lb.. Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 13, 14, 19. V. vulpina; V. rotundifolia; South-
ern Fox grape; Bullace grape; Bullit grape; Muscadine. 24. Bush, lb., 1883:26. V. vulpina. 25.
Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:138. V. vulpina; Scuppernong; Muscadine. 26. lb., Am. Pom.
Soc. Rpt., 1885:97. Scuppernong; Muscadine. 27. lb.. Gar. Mon., 28:140. 1886. 28. Planchon,
De Candollc's Man. Phan., 5:362. 1887. Fox grape; Muscadine; Bullace; Bullet grape; V. angulata;
V.vulpinaf. 29. Munson, Soi". Pro;i;. ,4g. Sf/. /?/'/., 1887:59. Muscadine. 30. Vo.,U. S. D. .A. Pom.
Bui., 3:14. 1890. 31. lb.. Gar. and For., 3:474, 475- 1890. Muscadine. 32. Woodworth. Ark.
Sta. An. Rpt., 3:93. 1890. V. vulpina. 33. Munson, Am. Card., 12:661. 1891. 34. Bailey,
/6., 14:353. 1893. Scuppernong. 35. Munson, Bits/;. C'uZ., 1894:20, 22, 29. V. vulpina; Muscadine;
Southern Fox grape. 36. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:420. 1897. Muscadijie; Southern Fox grape;
Bullace; Bullit; Bidl grape. 37. Britton and Brown, 2:41 1. 1897. V . vidpina; Soutlicrn Fox grape;
Bullace grape. 38. Munson, .4 ;». 6^arii., 20:688. 1899. 39. lb., rt-.v. S/a. Sii/., 56:219, 232, 234, 241,
272. 1900. fig. Southern Muscadine. 40. Earle, .4Za. Sta. Bui., 110:74. igoo. 41. Viala and
Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:42, 43, 45. 42. Newman, S. C. Sta. Bui., 132:1. 1907. Bullis.

Vine variable in vigor, usualh^ very vigorous, climbing high, sometimes, when
without support, shrubby and only three or four feet high; when growing in the shade
often sending down aerial roots. Wood hard, bark smooth, not scaling off except in
old age, with prominent warty lenticels; shoots short-jointed, angled, with fine scurfy
pubescence; diaphragms absent; tendrils intermittent, simple. Leaves below medium
in size, broadly cordate or roundish; petiolar sinus rather wide, usually shallow; margin
with obtuse, wide teeth; not lobed; dense in texture, rather light green color, glabrous
above, glabrous or sometimes pubescent along veins below. Cluster small (6-24 berries),
loose; peduncle short; pedicels short, rather thick. Berries large, globular or some-
what oblate, black or greenish-yellow; skin usually thick, tough, and with a musky
odor; pulp rather tough; ripening unevenly and dropping as soon as ripe. Seeds
two to four, very large to medium, shaped something like a coffee-berry, somewhat
flattened, shallowly and broadly notched; beak very short; chalaza rather narrow,
slightly depressed with radiating ridges and furrows; raphe a narrow groove. Leafing,
flowering and ripening fruit very late. (See Plate.)

Rotundifolia, or the southern Fox grape, seems to have attracted the
attention of travelers in America from an early period. The references

no THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

made in the journals of the explorers of colonial times can frequently be
recognized as pertaining to this species. Rottmdifolia seems to have
escaped the attention of botanists, however, until the time of Michaux,
who named and described it. Possibly the reason for its being overlooked
was because of the supposition that this was the species Linnaeus had
described under the name Vulpina.' The uncertainty as to who first
described Rotundifolia created a confusion that was not definitely cleared
up for nearly a hundred years and was responsible for the fact that half
the botanists called it Vitis rotundifolia and a nearly equal number Vitis
vulpina. Rafinesque, in 1830, described some three or four species within
the bounds of what is now known as Vitis rotundifolia. None of these,
however, has been accepted by later botanists.

The habitat of this species is southern Delaware, west through Tennes-
see, southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, Arkansas (except the north-
western portions), to Grayson County, Texas, as a northern and western
boundary, to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf on the east and south. It
becomes rare as one approaches the western limit but is common in many
sections of the great region outlined above, being most abundant on sandy,
well-drained bottom lands and along river banks and in swamps, thick
woodlands and thickets.

Vitis rotundifolia has for years been the favorite grape in manv sec-
tions of the South. This is largely dtie, no doubt, to the fact that they
have been usually compared with Labrusca or Laljrusca-Vinifera varieties
of northern origin which are not well adapted to southern conditions.
With the introduction of native varieties of "bunch grapes"- of merit,
the southern species may lose in popularity. It must be said, considering
the fact that southern agricultural literature has been filled with recom-
mendations of Rotundifolia grapes for nearly a century, that the cultivation
of varieties of this species is comparatively limited.

The climate most suitable for Rotundifolia is that in which cotton
grows and it thrives best in the lower portions of the cotton belt of the
United States. On account of the late ripening of the fruit it requires a

' For discussion of V-itis ludpina see foot-note under Vilis riparia.

^ All grapes, other than the Rotundifolia, are in the South known as " bunch grapes " because
they are sold on the market in clusters, the Rotundifolia being sold off the stems.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. Ill

long season. Vines of Rotundifolia have been known to withstand a win-
ter temperature as low as 12 degrees below zero, but under ordinary con-
ditions this would undoubtedly be much too severe for most Rotund if olias.
They do not suffer from the effects of hot summers but will not withstand
drouth and are not well adapted to semi-arid conditions. All growers
of varieties of this species agree that it does best on light sandy or alluvial
soils; and while it may grow on rather heavy clays, if all other conditions
are favorable, its vigor will be lessened.

The fruit of Rottmdifolia is very characteristic. The skin is thick,
has a leathery appearance, adheres strongly to the underlying flesh, and
is marked with lenticel-like russet dots. The flesh is more or less tough
but the toughness is not localized around the seed as in the case of Labrusca.
The fruit and must of all the varieties of the species are characterized by
a strong, musky aroma and are lacking in sugar and acid. Some varieties
yield over four gallons of must per bushel. Wine-makers are divided in
opinion as to its value for wine-making, but at present the most promising
outlook for Rotundifolia varieties is as wine grapes. Rotundifolia does
not produce fruit suitable for the table chiefly because the berries ripen
unevenly and when ripe drop from the cluster. The common method of
gathering the fruit of this species is to shake the vines at intervals so that
the ripe berries will drop on sheets spread below the vines. The juice
which exudes from the point where the stem is broken off causes the
berries to become smeared and gives them an unattractive appearance.
Owing, however, to the tough skin, the berries do not crack as badly as
other grapes would under the same conditions but still they are not adapted
to long distance shipments.

Under reasonably favorable conditions the vines attain great age and
great size, and when grown on arbors, as they usually are, and without
pruning, they cover a large area. The vines are planted from fifteen to
forty feet apart in the vineyard, and the first year or two are trained to
posts. Later the tops of these posts are connected by cross-bars and an
arbor is thus formed. Pruning usually consists of removing dead wood
but a few growers have always taken exception to the customary non-
pruning method of treating the Rotundifolia. Lately Newman, of South

112 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Carolina, has published a bulletin ^ in which he recommends that the vines
be pruned and raised on a trellis as is customary with other grapes. He
gives figures to show that the damage to Rotund if olia vines is due to
the bleeding that follows pruning and that this bleeding may be obviated
by pruning in the fall or early winter. The success of such a practice
would undoubtedly place the culture of Rotund if olia varieties on a better
commercial footing.

Rotundifolia is remarkably resistant to the attacks of all insects and
to fungal diseases. The phylloxera do not attack its roots and it is con-
sidered as resistant as any other, if not the most resistant of all American
species. It is grown from cuttings only with dilficulty. However, under
favorable circumstances, and with skilful handling, this is a successful
method of propagation. Under iinfavorable circumstances, or where only
a few vines are desired, it is better to depend on layers. As a stock upon
which to graft other vines this species has not been a success. Wylie
found great difficulty in crossing Rotundifolia with other species, and the
crosses did not thrive under cultivation. Lately Munson has introduced
several Rotundifolia hybrids.

2. VITIS MUNSONIANA Simpson.

I. (?) Rafinesque, 1830:17. V. pelt.^ta; I'. Floridana. 2. Munson. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt.,
1885:07. v. floridana; Florida grape. 3. lb., Gar. Moii., 28:140. 1886. V. floridana; I', pcl-
tata: Florida grape. 4. lb., Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:59. Everbearing grape. 5. lb.. Gar.
and For., 3:474, 475. iSqo. 6. lb.. U.S.D.A. Pow. B;;/.. 3:14. 1890. 7. Ih., Mich. Hort. Soc.
Rpt., 1893:116. Bird grape; Everbearing grape. 8. lb., Bush. Cat., 1894:20. Bird grape: Mustang
grape of Chapman. 9. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:421. 1897. Mustang grape of Florida; Bird
grape: Everbearing grape. 10. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bid., 56:232, 241. igoo. Florida Bird grape.
II. Viala and Ravaz, Am. \'ines, 1903:42, 41^.

Vine not very vigorous, a slender grower, usually running on the ground or over
low bushes. Canes slightly angular; intemodes short; tendrils intermittent, simple.
Leaves smaller and thinner than Rotundifolia and rather more circular in outline; not
lobed; teeth rather open and spreading; petiolar sinus V-shaped; botli surfaces smooth,
rather light green. Cluster with more berries but about the same size as Rotundifolia.
Berry one-third to one-half the diameter, with thinner and more tender skin; black,

' S. C. Sta. Bid. 132. 1907.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. II3

shining; pulp less solid, more acid and without muskiness. Seeds about one-half the
size of Rotundifolia, similar in other respects. Leafing, flowering, and ripening fruit
very late.

In 1830 Rafinesque described, under the name Vitis pcltata, or Vitis
■ftoridana, "a very singular species, lately found in Florida." This descrip-
tion is brief and includes many characters of no taxonomic value. In 1885
or 1886, Mr. J. H. Simpson of Manatee, Florida, sent a specimen of a grape
growing in his locality' to Munson which was taken to be Rafinesque's Vitis
peltata. He consequently described it under the name Vitis floridana but
the species was not generally accepted. Later Simpson gave it the name
Vitis uninsoniana.

Its habitat is central and southern Florida and the Florida Keys,
and it is said to be the only grape growing on these Keys. It extends
south of the habitat of Rotundifolia and blends into this species at their
point of meeting.

Munsoniana appears to be a variation of Rotundifolia, fitted to sub-
tropical conditions. It is tender, not enduring a lower temperature than
zero. In the matter of multiplication it differs from Vitis rotundifolia
in that it can be propagated readily from cuttings. Like Rotitndifolia it
is resistant to phylloxera. The species is of no value horticulturally.

3. VITIS RUPESTRIS Scheele.

I. Scheele, Linn., 21:501. 1S4S. 2. Ravenel, U. S. Pat. Off. Rf't., 1859:530. Mountain grape
of Texas. 3. Buckley, 76., i86i :485. Rock grape. 4. Prince, Gar. Mon., 5:73. 1S63. Bush grape
of Texas. 5. Engelmann, Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1872:61. Sand grape; Sugar grape. 6. Jaeger, Mo.
Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1883:41. 7. Engelmann. Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 12, 14, 18. Rock grape; Sand
grape; Sugar grape. 8. Bush, lb., 1883:21, 26. 9. Munson. Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:132. Sand-
beach grape; Sugar grape. 10. Campbell, Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:84. 11. Munson, lb., 1885:97,
98. 12. lb., 5of. Prom. .Ag. Sci. Rpt., iSST.^q. Sugar grape; Sa>td grape; Beach grape. 13. Plan-
chon, Dc CandoUe's Mon. Phan., 5:323, 346. 18S7. Sand grape; Sugar grape; Mountain grape.
14. Munson, Gar. and For., 3:474. 1800. 15. lb., U. S. D. .4. Pom. Bui., 3:7, 9. i8go.
16. lb., .4))!. Gard., 12:650. iSoi. 17. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. Rock grape; Sand
grape. 18. Munson, Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22. 19. Husmann, 1895:110, 188. 20. Britton and
Brown, 2:411. 1897. Sand grape; Sugar grape. 21. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:421. 1897.
Sand grape; Sugar grape; Rock grape; Bush grape; Mountain grape. 22. Beach, X. Y. Sta. An.
Rpt., 17:537, 557. 1898. 23. Munson, Te.x. Sta. Bah, 56:234, 235, 239, 259. 1900. Rock grape.
24. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:42, 82.

114 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Small, much branched shrub or sometimes, under favorable circumstances, slightly
climbing. Diaphragm thin but slightly thicker than Riparia; tendrils fe^v, or, if
present, weak, usually deciduous. Leaves rather small; young leaves frequently folded
on midrib; broadly cordate or reniform, wider than long, scarcely ever slightly lobed,
smooth, glabrous on both surfaces at maturity; petiolar sinus wide, shallow; margin
rather coarsely toothed, frequently a sharp abrupt point at terminal. Cluster small.
Berries small, usually larger than Riparia, color black or purple-black. Seeds small,
not notched; beak short, rather blunt; raphe slightly distinct to indistinct, usually
showing as a narrow groove; chalaza of medium size, pear-shaped, sometimes distinct,
but usually a depression only. Leafing, blossoming, and ripening early (blossoming
soon after Riparia).

Rupestris seems to have been first described and named by Scheele
in 1848 in a contribution on the flora of Texas to the periodical Linnaea.
Ravenel, in 1859, states that this grape is found in Texas and is there
known as the Mountain grape. It was mentioned and described by Buckley,
Engelmann, and all of the later botanists. (See Plate.)

This species is an inhabitant of southwestern Texas, extending east-
ward and northward into New Mexico, southern Missouri, Indiana and
Tennessee to southern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Its
favorite places are gravelly banks and bars of mountain streams or the
rocky beds of dry water-courses. Rupestris is usually considered drouth-
resistant but Munson states that it is short-lived in the upland sandy soils
in northern Texas, where, owing to long droughts, the land dries out deeply.
Here, he says, it is not so successfully resistant to drouth as Lincecumu.'
This species is quite variable both in type and growth. It was intro-
duced into France at about the same time as Riparia, and the French
vineyardists selected the most vigorous and healthy forms for grafting
stock. These pass under the various names of Rupestris Mission, Rupestris
du Lot, Rupestris Ganzin, Rttpestris Martin, Rupestris St. George, and
others. In France they are stated to have given particularly good results
on bare, rocky soils with hot, dry exposures. In California, Husmann^
states, "It does not flourish in dry locations here, and as it suckers pro-
fusely and does not take the graft as readily as the two former classes
[Riparia and Aestivalis], it is not largely propagated." It has not been

* Bush. Cat., 1894:22.
^ Husmann, 1895:188.

RUPESTRIS DU LOT

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. II5

stifficiently cultivated in this country east of the Rocky Mountains so that
it can be said what conditions of soil and climate best suit this species
other than the general conclusions that may be drawn from the conditions
present where the species is indigenous.

The clusters of fruit are small, with berries about the size of a currant
and varying from sweet to sour. The berry is characterized by inuch pig-
ment iinder the skin. The fruit has a sprightly taste wholly free from any
disagreeable foxiness. According to Munson, it is too unprodt:ctive to be
profitable. The sugar and acid content of the must is not known. Jaeger
states that Rupestris wine sent to France was there judged as decidedly
the best American claret yet tested.

Rupestris under cultivation is said to be very resistant to rot and mildew
of the foliage. It is considered hardy by those familiar with it in the
Southwest, and Campbell states that it withstood, without injury, 32 degrees
below zero at Delaware, Ohio. The attention of hybridizers was attracted
to this species over thirty years ago and various hybrids have been produced
by Jaeger, Munson, Campbell and Millardet, all of whom considered Rupes-
tris of great promise for grape-breeding. The root system of Rupestris
is peculiar in that the roots penetrate at once deeply into the ground instead
of extending laterally as in other species. Like those of Riparia, the roots
are slender, hard, and resistant to the phylloxera. The species is easily
propagated by cuttings. According to Husmann' the vines bench-graft
readily but are difficult to handle in field grafting.

VITIS RUPESTRIS DISSECTA Eggert.
I. Bailey, Gray's Syn. Ft. 1:422. 1897. V. rupestris, var. dissecta.

Vitis rupestris dissecta was named by H. Eggert of St. Louis, the
name being placed on herbarium specimens but apparently not published
by him. According to Bailey it differs from the typical forms of the species
in having " more ovate leaves and very long teeth, and a strong tendency
towards irregular lobing." It is found in Missouri.

' Husmann, G. C, California Fruit Grower, Mar. 14, 1908

Il6 THE GRAPES OF N^EW YORK.

4. VITIS MONTICOLA Buckley.'

I. Buckley, Proc. Phil. Acad. Xat. Sci., 1861:450. 2. lb., U. S. Pal. Off. Rpt.. 1861:485.
White grape; Mountain grape. 3. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 12, 14, 15. 16. Mountain grape
of West Te.Nias. 4. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1885:134. Mountain grape. 5. lb., Soc. Prom.
Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:59. Mountain grape. 6. lb., [/. 5. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:13. 1890. V. Texana.
7. lb.. Gar. and For.. 3:474, 475. 1.S90. 8. II)., Am. Card., 12:586. 1S91. Sweet Mountain
grape, g. lb.. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. 10. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:422. 1897. Sweet
Mountain grape. 11. Munson, Te.x. Sta. BuL, 56:230, 232, 234, 239, 260. 1900. Sweet Mountain
grape. 12. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:42, 96.

Vine of moderate vigor, climbing, or, in the absence of support, frequently shrubby.
Canes very slender; shoots angled, more or less pubescent; diaphragms medium to
rather thin; tendrils medium in size, intermittent, usually bifid, deciduous. Leaves
with stipules short, broad; leaf-blade small and thin, cordate, entire, notched or shortly
three-Iobcd; petiolar sinus rather deep and medium to narrow in width, sometimes
overlapping, rounded;, margin broadly and obtuseh' toothed; apex usually acuminate;
upper surface smooth, glossy; lower surface grayish-green, more or less pubescent when
young; pubescence confined chiefly to ribs and veins. Clusters short and broad, com-
pact, with medium to short peduncle. Berries medium to below in size, black or gray
with thin bloom. Seeds large, usually slightly notched; chalaza rather narrow; raphe
a groove. Leafing, flowering, and ripening fruit very late.

Vitis monticola was named and described by Buckley in 1861. There
seems to have been some misunderstanding by later botanists as to e.xactly
what Buckley's species of this name is, and in spite of what has been written
on the subject, it seems as though some of the botanists are still describing
different species. Tlie seed, in Engelmann's figure, resembles that of the
Rupestris very closely, while as figured by Viala the seeds resemble those
of Cinerea or Cordifolia.

Monticola inhabits the limestone hills of central and southwestern
Texas.

The frtiit of this species has a very sweet and somewhat peculiar flavor.

' Samuel Botsford Buckley was born in iSog, in Yates County, New York, and was educated at
Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1S36. In 1866 he was appointed State Geologist of
Texas w-here he resided until he died in 1884. Buckley traveled extensively in connection with his work,
explored the southwestern region of the Appalachian Mountains, as well as the southwestern portion
of the United States. He was at great disadvantage in his pubhcations in that they were prepared
without the benefit of a library. His articles on grapes were published in the Proceedings of the Phila-
delphia Academy of Natural Sciences for 1S61, and in the United States Patent Office Report for
the same vear.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. II7

The vines can be propagated from cuttings only with difficulty. The
species is adapted to a hot, dry climate and limestone land. It is found to
be very resistant to ph\'lloxera and is sometimes recommended as a stock
for Vinifera but is not generally considered as valuable in this respect as
Berlandieri. It is without value for its fruit and is of no horticultural
importance to the eastern American grape-grower.

S. VITIS RIPARIA' Michx.

I. Tournefort, /);i/. Rci Herb., 1:613. 1700. V. C.\n.\densis aceris folio. 2. (?) Linnaeus,
Sp. PL, 1753:203. v. vuLPiN.\. 3. (?) Walter, 1788:242. V. vulpi.\.\. 4. (?) Willdenow, 1:1 181.
1797. v. vuLPiN'.'V. 5. Michau.x, 2:231. 1803. 6. (?) Bartram, Dom. Enc, 5:291. 1804. V.
serotina; Winter grape. 7. Push, 1:169. 1S14. V. odoratissima. 8. Xuttall, 1818:143. 9.
Elliott, 2:688. 1824. Winter grape? 10. Torrey, Fl. of .Y. & M. Sta., 1826:121. 11. Rafin-
esque, 1830:15. River grape; Bermuda vine; Mignonette vine. 12. lb., 1830:16. V. odoratissima.
13. Prince, 1830:193. V. odoratissima; Sweet scented. 14. Torrey, Fl. of N. Y., 1:147. i843-
Winter grape. 15. Le Conte, Trans. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 6:273. 1853. V. dimidiata. 16.
lb., 6:272. v. vulpina; 1'. aestivalis of .some; 1'. cordifolia of many; V. callosa; V. hyemalis;
Winter grape. 17. Buckley, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1861:483. V. cordifolia, var. riparia. 18.
Saunders, U. S. D. A. Rpt., 1869:82, 85, 87. V. cordifolia, var. riparia. 19. Engelmann,
Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1872:61. 20. lb., Bush. Cat., 1883:10. 11, 12. 14, iS. Riverside grape. 21. Bush,
lb.. 1883:23. 22. Munson, Am. Pom. Soe. Rpt., 1885:97. 98. Riverside grape. 23. lb... Am. Hort.
Soc. Rpt., iSSsu.^i. Riverside grape. 24. lb., Soc. Prom. Ag. Sei. Rpt., 1887 -.sc). Riverside grape.
25. Planchon, De Candolle's Mon. Phan., 5:323, 352. 1887. V. vidpina; V. incisa; V. inter-
media; V. odoratissima; V. Virginiana; \'. Canadejisis aceris folio. 26. Munson, U. S. D. A. Pom.
Bui., 3:9. 1890. 27. lb., Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890. 28. Bailey, Am. Card., 14:353. 1893.
fig. V. vulpina; r. riparia. 29. Husmann, 1895:175. V. cordifolia. 30. lb., 1895:188. 31.
Britton and Brown, 2:410. 1897. fig. V. vulpi.va; T. riparia; \'. cordifolia, var. riparia; River-
side grape; Siveet scented grape. 32. Bailey, Gray's Syn. Fl., 1:422. 1897. V. vvlpinw Riverbank;
Frost; V. riparia; V. serotina; V. odoratissima; V. Illinoensis? ; V. Missouricnsis? ; V. tenuifolia? ;
V. cordifolia, var. riparia; V . vulpina, var. riparia. 33. Munson. Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:218, 219. 230,

' The description of Vitis vulpina by Linna;-us is so meager, including the leaves only, that for
many years botanists were in doubt as to the species intended. Muhlenberg was the single excep-
tion when he gave Linnaeus' Vulpina and Michaux's Cordifolia as synonymous. Whether he did this
from knowledge, or whether it was by chance, it is impossible to say. He states no reasons and
consequently received no following among other botanists. Elliott supposed that Linnaeus intended
to describe the southern Rotundifolia and this view seems to have been generally accepted.

In the late eighties or early nineties, Planchon first, and later Britton, by referring to Linnaeus'
specimens, determined that the latter's Vulpina was the same as Riparia, and in accordance with
botanical rules, presented the name Vulpina as the correct name for this species. Bailey, however,
states (Ev. Xat. Fr., 1898:102) that he found two specimens in the Linnaeus collection labeled Vul-
pina, one of v/hich was the true Riparia and the other Cordifolia. Since a change of the name would
bring confusion to more than ninety years of botanical and horticultural literature, it seems inadvis-
able to make one on such contradictory evidence.

Il8 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

239, 260. 1900. V. vulpina; Riverside; V. riparia. 34. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:42,

104.

Vine vigorous to very vigorous, climbing. Shoots cylindrical or slightly angled,
usually smooth, slender; diaphragms thin; tendrils intermittent, slender, usually
bifid. Leaves with large stipules; leaf-blade medium to large, thin, entire, three, or
lower ones often five-lobed; sinuses shallow, angular; petiolar sinus broad, usually
rather shallow; margin with incised, sharply serrate teeth of variable size; of a light
green color, glabrous above, usually glabrous but sometimes slightly pubescent on ribs
and veins below. Cluster medium to small, generally compact, shouldered; peduncle
short. Berries small to medium, black with a heavy blue bloom. Seeds usually two
to four, small, usually slightly notched, short, plump, with very short beak; chalaza
narrowly oval, depressed, indistinct ; raphe usually a groove, sometimes slightly distinct.
Very variable in flavor and time of ripening. (See Plate.)

The first mention we have of Vitis riparia is by Tournefort in 1700, who,
without further description, calls it Vitis canadensis accris folio, or Maple-
leaved Canadian grape.' Linnaeus in 1753 described mixed specimens of
Cordifolia and Riparia under the name of Vitis vulpina. His description
is as follows:" " Leaves cordate, dentate-serrate, glabrous on both sides."
Walter and Willdenow copy the description of Linnaeus. The first descrip-
tion which is clear, and the identity of which has never been questioned, is
that of Michaux in 1803, under the name Riparia. He says: "Leaves
unequally and sharply dentate, slightly 3-lobed. Petioles, veins and
margins pubescent. Called by French residents Vignc des battures. Habitat
along the banks and on the islands of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, etc."
Bartram, in 1 804, under the name of Vitis serotina, or Winter grape, describes
a vine which may be Riparia or may be Cordifolia as it has some of the
characters of both.

Linnaeus' description seems to have thoroughly confused all of the
earlier botanists. They were in doubt, first, as to what species was
intended for Vulpina; second, as to the distinguishing characters between
Riparia and Cordifolia. Gray classed Riparia as a variety of Cordifolia.
Engelmann was the first to draw attention to the specific characters which
separated these two sorts and these he gives as follows: ist. Riparia has
thin diaphragms, Cordifolia thick. 2d. Riparia blooms early, Cordifolia

' Planchon is our authority for calling this Riparia.
^ Translation from the Latin.

SHOOT OF flTIS RIPARIA

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. Iig

late. 3d. Riparia propagates readily from cuttings, Cordifolia only with
difficulty. 4th. Seeds of the Riparia have indistinct or almost indistinct,
depressed chalaza and raphe, while the the chalaza and raphe of the Cordi-
folia seeds are elevated and distinct. To these Bush' added the further
distinguishing character that on the shoots the small terminal leaves of
the Cordifolia open as soon as formed, while those of Riparia remain
folded for some days after they are formed, become larger and then expand
gradually.

Riparia is the most widely distributed of any American species of grape.
It has been found in parts of Canada north of Quebec and from thence
southward to the Gulf of Mexico. It is found from the Atlantic coast west-
w^ard, most botanists say to the Rocky Mountains, but Munson gives the
western limit as Salt Lake. Since Munson is more familiar with the district
lying west of the Rocky Mountains than any other botanist who has paid
attention to grapes, he is probably correct. Usually it is found on river
banks, on islands or in upland ravines.

Riparia has always been considered of great promise in the evolution
of American grapes. It can hardly be said that it has fulfilled expecta-
tions, there probably being no pure variety of this species of more than
local importance, and the results of hybridizing it with other species have
not been wholly successful. The reason why attention was early turned
to Riparia was because of the qualities presented by the vine rather than
those of the fruit, particularlv its hardiness and vigor. However, both of
these qualities are quite variable, and it is only reasonable to suppose that
in such a widely distributed species, plants found in a certain region would
have adapted themselves to the conditions there present; thus it should
be expected that the northern plants would be more hardy than those

' Isadore Bush was born at Prague, Bohemia, in 1S22. Bush was one of those Germans who,
taking part in the troubles of the Fatherland in 1848, found it necessary to seek a home in the New
World. He went to Missouri upon his arrival in the country and there spent the remainder of his
life. During the Civil War he was secretary to General Fremont and at various times occupied
many other positions of trust. He established the Bushberg nursery which for many years was the
leading grape nursery of this country. With the aid of Engelmann and others he wrote the Bushberg
Catalogue and Grape Manual, a work which has passed through many editions and has probably
been more popular and useful than any other book on American grapes published in the English
language. Bush died in St. Louis in i8g8, having been a citizen of that place for forty-nine years.

I20 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

from the South and the western prairie forms more capable of resisting
drouth than those from humid regions; this is found to be tiie case. It is
consequently impossible to say what conditions best suit this species; it
may be said, however, that it is adapted to a great variety of soils and
locations; Riparia vines, or certain ones of them, have withstood a tempera-
ture of 40 to 60 degrees below zero and they show equal ability in with-
standing the injurious effects of high temperatures in the summer. On
account of its habit of early blooming, the blossoms sometimes suffer from
late frosts in the spring.

While Riparia is not a swamp grape and is not found growing
under swampy conditions, it is fond of water. In the semi-arid regions
always, and in humid regions usually, it is found growing along the banks
of streams, in ravines, on the islands of rivers, and in wet places. It is not
nearly so capable of withstanding drouth as Rupestris. Riparia likes a
rather rich soil but in France has been found to do poorlv on limestone
land and calcareous marls. The French tell us, however, that this is a
characteristic of all our American grapes and that the Riparia is more
resistant to the injurious effects of an excess of lime than either Rupestris
or Aestivalis.

As was noted in the botanical description, the fruit of Riparia is usually
small, there being occasional varieties of medium size or slightly above.
The clusters are of medium size and, if judged from the standpoint of number
of berries, might frequently be called large. The flavor is usuallv sharply
acid but free from foxiness or any disagreeable wild taste. If eaten in
quantity, the acidity is apt to affect the lips and end of the tongue. When
the acidity is somewhat ameliorated, as in the case of thoroughlv ripe or
even overripe and shriveled fruit, the flavor is much liked by manv people.
The fiesh is neither pulpy nor solid and dissolves in the moutli and sepa-
rates readily from the seed. The must of Riparia is characterized bv an
average amount of sugar, varying considerably in the fruit from different
vines, and by an excess of acid. There is no disagreeable aroma, or foxi-
ness, in the juice of this species, but the wines made from pure must of
Riparia grapes, unless kept for a long time, or otherwise treated, are too
sour. On this account many recommend adding sugar and water to the
m.ust to reduce the percentage of acid.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 121

Riparia is very resistant to phylloxera, the roots are small in size,
hard and numerous and branch freely. The roots feed close to the surface
and do not seem to be well adapted to forcing their way through heavy
clays or a hardpan formation; but as such soils are unfavorable for all
grapes, this character is of little economic importance. Riparia grows
readily from cuttings and makes a good stock for grafting, and its union
with other species is usually permanent. At the time when Riparias
were first sent to France to be used as a stock in reconstituting the
French vineyards, it was found that many of the vines secured from the
woods were of too weak growth to support the stronger-growing Viniferas.
On this account the French growers selected the more vigorous forms of
the Riparias sent them to which they gave varietal names, as Riparia
Gloire, Riparia Grand Glabre, Riparia Scribner, Riparia Martin and others.
With these selected Riparias the graft does not outgrow the stock. Riparia
is less resistant to rot than Aestivalis but somewhat more resistant than
Labrusca. The foliage is rarely attacked by mildew. One of the chief
failings of this species is the susceptibility of the leaves to the attack of
the leaf -hopper. This defect is quite serious in some grape-growing regions.
The Riparias are generally late in ripening and it is found that the fruit
is better in quality in long seasons and that it should be left on the vines
as late as possible. There are some early ripening varieties of this species,
however.

VITIS RIPARIA PRiECOX Engelmann.

I. Prince, 1830:104. V. odoratissima : June Grape. 2. Engelmann, Mo. Eiit. Rpt., 1872:61.
3. lb., Bttsh. Cat., 1883:18. June Grape. 4. Bailey, Am. Card., 14:35.5. iSg;. V. vulpina,
var. PR.icox; June Grape: \'. riparia, var. pmco.x. 5. lb., Gray's Syii. FI., 1:422. 1897. V.
VULPINA, var. PR.BCox; June Grape.

The first record of Riparia Prascox is a statement by Prince in 1830 that
Nuttall had told him that the June Grape growing on the Mississippi was
the true Vitis odoratissima (a sweet scented Riparia which later botanists
have not recognized as a distinct species). In 1872 Engelmann refers to
it, saying that it grows on rocky river banks in the vicinity of St. Louis and
that it is brought to market in July. He says further in the Bushherg
Catalogue that from the first of July on, ripe fruit is to be found through
August and September. Bailey states in the American Gardening that

122 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Eno-elmann in his herbarium had given this variety the name prcccox but
did not know whether it had been pubHshed or not.

The variety differs from the typical form of Riparia only in the ripen-
ing season and possibly in the berries averaging smaller. The early ripening
season might make it of horticultural importance as a breeding stock
although in other respects the fruit characters are not such as would

recommend it.

6. VITIS TRELEASEI Munson.'

I. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:423- 1S97. 2. Munson, Tex. Sta. But., 56:230, 239. 1900.
Smooth Canyon Grape.

Plant shrubby and much branched, climbing little, the small and mostly short
(generally shorter than the leaves) tendrils deciduous the first year unless finding support,
internodes short, the diaphragms twice thicker (about 1-16 inch) than in V. riparia
and shallow-biconcave; stipules less than one quarter as large as in V. riparia; leaves
large and green, very broad-ovate or even reniform-ovate (often wider than long),
thin, glabrous and shining on both surfaces, the basal sinus very broad and open making
no distinct angle with the petiole, the margin unequally notch-toothed (not jagged
as in V. riparia) and indistinctly three-lobed, the apex much shorter than in V. riparia;
* * * cluster small (2 to 3 inches long) ; the berries ^ inch or less thick, black
with a thin bloom, ripening three weeks later than V. riparia when grown in the same
place, thin-skinned; pulp juicy and sweet; seeds small. * * * Little known,
and possibly a dry country form of V. riparia. In habit it suggests V. arizonica
var. glabra, from which it is distinguished, among other things, by its decidedly earlier
flowering and larger leaves with coarser teeth and less pointed ape.x:.

According to Mvtnson Vitis trclcasci inhabits "ravines and gulches of
western New Mexico, Arizona and southern Utah." This species was
named by Munson but the only description we have been able to find is

' Thomas Volney Munson, the well-known nurseryman, viticulturist, and plant-breeder, was
born near Astoria, Illinois, September 26, 1843. He graduated from Kentucky University, Lexing-
ton, Kentucky, in 1870. His nursery has for thirty-one years been located at Denison, Te.xas.
Munson has introduced more hybrid grapes than any other man in America and probably in the
world. He has paid great attention to grape botany, particularly to the southwestern species.
Monographs on grapes, from his hand, have appeared in the proceedings of various horticultural
societies and in horticultural journals. Bulletins written by him have been issued by the United
States Department of Agriculture and the Texas Experiment Station. He has at present a book
ready for publication entitled Foundations of American Grape Culture. The varieties produced by
Munson are particularly successful in the Southwest where conditions are such that most of our
northern varieties fail. The most valuable of those that have been thoroughly tested are Brilliant,
America, Carman, Gold Coin and Rommel.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I23

that of Bailey given above in which we have changed his "vulpina" to
" riparia." The species is of no importance horticulturally.

7. VITIS LONGII Prince.'

I. Prince, 1830:184. Long's Arkansas. 2. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:18. Long's; V.
Solonis. 3. Munson, ,4)». Hori. Soc. Rpt., 1885:1^2. Y. '!>iijEvo Mexicana; Wooly Riparia. 4. lb.,
Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt.. 1887:50. V. Novo Mexicana; Munson's Riparia. 5. lb., Gar. and For.,
3:474. iSgo. v. Solonis. 6. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bid., 3:9. i8go. V. Solonis. 7. lb.. Am.
Gard., 12:660. i8gi. V. solonis. 8. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. V. solonis; Bush
grape. 9. lb.. Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22, 24. V. solonis; Sand grape; Beach grape; Bush grape. 10.
Bailey, Gray's Sy)i. FL, 1:423. iSqy. V. Solonis; V. Nuevo Mexicana; Long's. 11. Beach, N. Y.
Sta. An. Rpt., 17:537, 557. i8g8. V. solonis. 12. Munson, Tex. Sta. Buh, 56:218, 230. 1900.
V. Solonis, Gulch grape: Bush grape.

Vitis longii is a vigorous form of tlie Riparia tj'pe with pubescent
young growth, differing from the typical Riparia in having more circular,
less lobed leaves and more incised teeth. Its leaves are frequently pubescent
beneath. Another form with dentate margin of leaf has been known under
the name of Nuevo Mexicana or Novo Mexicana. The references to these
two forms are inextricably confused. Engelmann refers to this grape
which he says he found growing in the botanic garden of Berlin under the
name of Vitis solonis. After careful investigation he decided that this
name was a corruption of Vitis longii, or Long's grape, which had been
brought from the headwaters of the Arkansas river by Major Long's
expedition into that then unknown country in the early part of the
last century. Many botanists consider this a hybrid of two or more other
species, Riparia, Rupestris, Candicans and Cordifolia being offered as
probable parents.

Its habitat is northern Texas "westward into New Mexico, eastward
into Oklahoma and northward into Kansas and southeastern Colorado."

Vitis longii was first described by Prince in 1830. The fi'uit is small
and sour and it appears to be of no horticultural promise.

VITIS LONGII MICROSPERMA Bailey.

I. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:50. V. Novo Mexicana Var. ; Munson's Riparia.
2. Munson, Rev. Vit., 3:160. — . V. Solonis, var. microsperma (cited by 3). 3. Bailey, Gray's
Syn. FL, 1:423. 1897. V. Longii, var. microsperma. V. Solonis, var. microsperma.

Vitis longii microsperma is a small seeded, vigorous form of Vitis

' See page 2 1 .

124 THE GRAPES OF N'EW YORK.

longii growing on the Red River in north Texas. It is said to be more
resistant to drought than the normal form.

S. VITIS CHAMPINI Planch.'

I. Planchon, Joiirn. La Vignc amer., 6:22. 1SS2 (cited by 4). 2. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc.
Rpt., 1885:137. 3. lb., Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:101. 4. Planchon, De Candollc's Mon. Plum.,
5:323, 327, 328. 1887. Champin grape. 5. Munson, Gar. and For., 3:474, 475. 1890. 6. lb.,
U. S. D. A. Pom. Bill., 3:11. 1890. 7. lb.. Am. Card., 12:661. 1891. Champin grape. 8. lb..
Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22, 25. 9. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:423. 1897. 10. Beach, .V. Y. Sta. An.
Rpt., 17:536, 557. 189S. II. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bid., 56:232, 234, 235, 240, 26S. 1900. fig.
Adobe Land grape. 12. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:145.

Vine rather vigorous, climbing (sometimes semi-erect). Shoots thinly pubescent,
somewhat angled, generally cylindrical when mature; diaphragms thin; tendrils inter-
mittent, strong, bifid or trifid. Leaves small to rather large, slightly reniform or broadly
cordate, usually entire but frequently shortly thrce-lobed; petiolar sinus wide to medium;
dark green, glabrous above with thin cobwebby tomentum below, becoming more or less
glabrous when mature. Clusters of small or medium size; peduncle medium in length.
Berries large, black, slight if any bloom, very persistent, of sweet flavor and tender
pulp. Seeds closely resembling Candicans. Blooms just before Labrusca. Variable
in ripening season.

Champini was named and described in 1882 by Planchon. He states
that it is probably a hybrid between Viiis candicans and Vitis nipestris
and that it is not distinctly defined and of a itnifomi character, but shows
in its variable forms different combinations of the characters of these two
species. There seems to be some doubt among other botanists as to the
parentage of Champini and it is variously credited to Candicans, Rupestris,
Monticola and Berlandieri.

This species is found growing in the limestone hills of southwestern
Texas, covering about the same area as Berlandieri. According to Munson

' Jules Emile Planchon, a French systematic and horticultural botanist, was born in Ganges
(Herault) in 1823, and died at Montjiellier in 18S8. Planchon was a writer of many valuable mono-
graphs on botanical subjects and in combination with F. Sahut and J. Bazille discovered that the
cause o£ a mysterious and serious malady which had been affecting the French vineyards for some
years, was due to an insect on the roots, the phylloxera. Later, he and C. V. Riley determined that
this insect was a native of America. Planchon was one of the first to suggest, and always urged,
the reconstitution of French vineyards by the use of American stocks. During the later years
of his life he was professor of botany in the School at Montpellier. His most noted contribution to
grape literature is his monograph of the grape vine and other plants of the Ampelopsis family which
appeared as the second half of the fifth volume of the continuation of De CandoUe's Prodromus
Systematis Naturalis.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 25

it is less common in the bottoms and is not so plentiful as the latter species.
Associated with it in different parts of its habitat are the four species
mentioned above as possible parents.

Champini is particularly well adapted to hot dry regions and will
withstand considerable lime in the soil. The species is susceptible to mildew
and black-rot. It can be readih- grown from cuttings and grafts well in
the vineyard, though the different forms are quite variable in these respects.
At one time this species was considered of great promise as a stock for
Vinifera for hot, dry regions but as it has proved inferior to Berlandieri
in its capacity to withstand limy soils and phylloxera, and as it is not
more vigorous, it has been generally dropped. The berries are large and
of pure flavor, and as the vine is vigorous, it may prove of value as a source
of cultivated varieties for the Southwest but it is of little or no value to
the eastern grower.

9. VITIS RUBRA Michx.

I. Vahl.' Syinb. Bot.. 3:42. 1704. V. palmata. 2. Willdenow, 1:1 iSo. 1707. V. palmata.
3. Muhlenberg, 1813:27. V. palmata. 4. Pursh, 1:170. 1S14. V. Palmata. 5. Xuttall, 1:143.
1818. V. palmata. 6. Rafinesque. 1830:18. V. palmata; Palmate grape. 7. lb.. 1830:18. V.
virginiana; Virginia grape. 8. Floy-Lindley, 1833:152. V. palmata; Pahnated leaved. 9. (?)
Le Conte, Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 6:274. 1853. V. palmata; V. Virginiana: Bland's grape.
10. (?) lb.. U.S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1857:231. V. palmata; Palmate-leaved vine; Bland's grape; V.
Virginiana. II. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 12, 14, 17 V. pal.mata; V. rubra: Red
grape of the Mississippi Valley. 12. Munson, Am. Hori. Soc. Rpt., 1885:133. V. palmata; I'.
rubra. 13. lb.. Am. Pom. Soe. Rpt., 1885:1)7. V. palmata; Palmate-leaved grape: V. rubra. 14.
lb.. Soc. Prom. .Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:50. I', palmata: Eggert's grape. 15. Planchon, De Candolle's
Mon. Phan., 5:35,2. 1887. V. riparia, var. palmata; V. Virginiensis; V. Virginiana. 16.
lb., lb., 5:354. 1887. V. palmata. 17. Sargent, Car. and For., 2:340. 1889. fig. V. palmata;
1'. rubra. 18. Munson, Ih., 3:474, 475- iSqo. V. palmata. 19. Munson, U.S. D. A. Pom. Bui.,
3:13. iSqo. V. palmata. 20. lb., .-!)». ffiird., 12:586. 1891. 21. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:423.
1897. V. palmata; V. monosperma; V, rubra: V. riparia, var. palmata: Red grape: Cat grape.
22. Britton and Brown, 2:410. 1897. fig. V. palmata; Missouri grape. 23. BaUey, Ev. Nat. Fr.,
1898:105. V. palmata; Red grape: Cat grape. 24. Munson, Tex. Sta Bui., 56:230, 239. igoo.
\'. palmata; Cat Bird grape. 25. Bailey, Cyc. Am. Hort., 4:1952. 1902. V. monosperma; Red
grape. 26. Viala and Ravaz, .4));. Vines, 1903:42, 113.

' Martin Vahl, a Norwegian, was born in 1749, and died in 1804. As a pupil of the great Linnaeus,
Vahl became a prominent worker in botany and natural history in Denmark and was an author
and writer of note on these subjects, publishing much on botany. He traveled extensively, but it
does not appear that he visited North America, though he wrote three large volumes on the flora
of tropical America. It is probable that he named and described Vitis palmata from herbarium
specimens.

126 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Vine slender, of only moderate vigor, climbing very high. Shoots smooth, angled,
long-jointed, bright red; diaphragms thick to medium; tendrils intermittent, long,
usually bifid. Leaves with short, broad stipules; leaf-blade broadly cordate in outline,
rarely entire, frequently very deeply three or even five-lobed, lobes long, acuminate;
margin with broad, shallow, serrate teeth; petiolar sinus rather broad and shallow;
upper surface dull dark green, smooth; lower surface frequenth^ somewhat pubescent
on ribs and veins; petioles red. Clusters medium to large, loose, seldom compound;
long peduncle. Berries small, black, without bloom, not juicy- Seeds one or two,,
large, plump, rounded, with very short beak, slightly notched; chalaza narrow, rather
indistinct; raphe indistinct.

Vitis rubra and Vahl's Vitis palmata are badly confused. The species
was first described by Vahl in 1794, from plants cultivated in the Jardin des
Plantes in Paris and supposed to have been sent by some missionary' from
the Mississippi Valley. It was so named on account of its tendency to
five-lobed leaves. Vahl erroneously gives its habitat as Virginia. About
the same time, Michaux discovered, on the banks of the Mississippi and
adjacent streams, a grape which he called Vitis rubra, on account of
its characteristic bright red shoots. The descriptions of these two varie-
ties were copied from time to time by other botanists, but with no addi-
tional details of any importance until Engelmann, in 1883, made the claim
that they were identical. There is no question as to the identitv of
Michaux's Rubra, but some botanists question whether Palmata is a
synonym. We have taken Michaux's name as the one to which there is
no question, although Engelmann was so careful a worker that it is highly
probable that he is correct in considering the two species synonymous.
Munson considers the species as probably a multiple " hybrid of Cordi-
folia with Riparia, with possibly a trace of Cissus blood, indicated in the
fruit, seed and leaf." There seems to be but little evidence to support
this supposition. Planchon says it is principally on the evidence of Mil-
lardet that he admits this as a separate species and that perhaps it would
be better to consider it a variety of Riparia closely allied to Vahl's Palmata.

Vitis rubra is an inhabitant of sandy, rich, moist, alluvial river bottoms
in Missouri and Illinois, to Louisiana and Texas, in which region it is quite
restricted and apparently not plentiful.

But little is known of the horticultural characters of Vitis rubra.
In spite of its having been classed with Riparia, it appears to resemble

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 127

more closely Vitis cordifoUa, having the thick diaphragms and late bloom-
ing characters of the latter species, but the seeds resemble those of Riparia.
Rubra grows readily from cuttings and the roots are said to be very resist-
ant to phylloxera. It is not suthcienth' vigorous, however, to be recom-
mended as a stock. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental but is
of no horticultural importance beyond this.

10. VITIS CORDIFOLIA Michx.

I. (?) Linnaeus, Sp. PL, 1753:203. V. vui,pin.\. 2. (?) Marshall, 1785:165. V. Labrusca.
3. (?) Walter, 1788:242. V. vulpina 4. (?) Willdenow, i:ii8i. 1707. V. Vulpina. 5. Michaux,
2:231. 1803. 6. (?) Bartram. Dom. Enc, 5:291, 1S04. V. serotina. 7. (?) Muhlenberg,
1813:27. V. vulpi.N'a; V. cordifoUa; Winter grape. 8. Pursh, 1:169. 1814. V.incisa: V. vulpina;
Winter grape; Chicken grape. 9. Nuttall, 1:143. 1818. 10. Elliott. 2:688. 1824. 11. Rafinesque,
1830:15. V. vulpina; Frost grape; Winter grape; Fox grape. 12. Prince, 1830:194. Winter grape;
Chicken grape; Frost grape; V. serotina; V. incisa; V. vulpina. 13. Torrey, Fl. of .V. Y., 1:147.
1843. Winter grape; Frost grape. 14. Le Conte, Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 6:273. 1853.
V. pullaria; Chicken grape. 15. Darlington, Fl. Cest.. 1853:50. Chicken grape; Winter grape;
Heart-leaved Vitis. 16. Buckley, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt.. 1861:483. Winter grape; Fox grape.
17. (?) Saunders, U. S. D. A. Rpt.. 1869:82, 85, 87. 18. Engelmann. Mo. But. Rpt., 1872:60. Winter
grape; Frost grape; Chicken grape, ig. lb.. Busk. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 12, 14, 17. Frost grape. 20.
Bush., lb., 1883:24. 21. Munson, Atn. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:97, qS. 22. lb.. Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt.,
1885:13V Frost grape; Sour or Pungent Winter grape. 23. Planchon. De Candolle's Mon. Phan.,
5-323, 350. 1S87. v. vulpina, var. cordifoUa; V. vulpina; V. Virgi)iiana. 24. Munson, Gar. and
For., 3:474. 1890. 25. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:12. 1890. 26. Britton and Brown, 2:410.
1897. Frost grape; Cltickcn grape; Possum grape; Winter grape. 27. BaWey, Gray's Syn. Fl.. i:ji24.
1897. Trtw Frost grape; Chicken grape; Raccoon grape; V. pullaria; V. vulpina, var. cordifoUa.
28. Beach, N. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:557. 1898. 29. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:218, 231, 240. 1900.
Sour Winter grape; Frost grape. 30. Viala and Ravaz, .4;;;. Vines. 1903:42, 76.

Vine very vigorous, climbing. Shoots rather slender; internodes long, slightly
angular, usually glabrous, sometimes slightly pubescent; diaphragms thick; tendrils
intermittent, long, usually bifid. Leaves with short, broad stipules ; leaf-blade medium
to large, cordate, entire or sometimes indistinctly three-lobed ; petiolar sinus deep,
usually narrow, acute; margin with rather coarse angular teeth; point of leaf acuminate;
upper surface rather light green, glossy, glabrous; glabrous or sparingly pubescent
below. Clusters medium to large, loose, with long peduncle. Berries numerous and
small, black, shining, little or no bloom. Seeds medium in size, rather broad, beak
rather short; chalaza oval or roundish, elevated, very distinct; raphe a distinct, cord-
like ridge. Fruit usually- sour and astringent and frequently consisting of little besides
skins and seeds. Leafing, flowering and ripening fruit very late.

Owing to the fact that Cordifolia and Riparia have been badly
confused in the past, the limits of the habitat of this species are difficult

128 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

to determine. Pursh gives the northern Hmit as Canada, and Buckley
speaks of its being found at Lake Winnipeg, but all other, and some prob-
ably better informed, authorities give the northern limit as New York or
the Great Lakes. The eastern limit is the Atlantic Ocean and the southern
limit the Gulf of Mexico. It extends westward, according to Engelmann,
to the western limits of the wooded portion of the Mississippi Vallev in
the North, and, according to Munson, to the Brazos River, Texas, in the
South. It is found along creeks and river banks sometimes mixed with
Riparia, having about the same soil adaptations as that species. It is a
very common species in the Middle States and is frequently found growing
on limestone soils but, according to Viala, is not indigenous to such soils.

It might be said that this species was first described by Linnaeus in
1753 under the name Vulpina, as his description was from mixed speci-
mens of Cordifolia and Riparia. The first description, however, of which
there is no question is that of Michaux in 1803. From this time on there
are many descriptions under various names and much disagreement as
to the limits of the species and its relation to Riparia. Engelmann in
1872 states that Riparia is generally a smaller plant than Cordifolia
and that the fruit ripens earlier and is pleasanter tasting. It was still
considered by many botanists that these differences were too slight to
separate the forms as different species, i^ut in 1883, Engelinann further
enumerated other differences which are given under the description of
Vitis riparia. Since this time, the specific difference of the two forms has
never been questioned.

Cordifolia makes a good stock for grafting, being vigorous and forming
a good union with most of our cultivated grapes. It is seldom used for this
purpose, however, on account of the difficulty of propagating it by means
of cuttings. For the same reason vines of it are seldom found in cultivation.
It is probably of no importance horticulturally.

VITIS CORDIFOLIA FCETIDA Engelm.

1. Engelmann, Am. Nat., 2:321. 1868. V. cordifoli.\, var. fcetid.\. 2. lb., Mo. Ent. Rpt.,
1872:60. 3. Bailey, Gray's Syn. Fl., 1:424. 1897. V. cordifoli.\, var. fcetid.\.

Apparently the first record of Vitis cordifolia foetida is Engelmann's
mention of it in the American Naturalist of 1868. In 1S72 he speaks as

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 129

though this is the common Mississippi Valley form, for he says: " In this
valley at least the fruit has a strongly and even fetidly-aromatic taste ".
The variety apparently is similar to the typical Cordifolia in every respect
excepting the aromatic fruit.

VITIS CORDIFOLIA SEMPERVIRENS Munson.

1. Munson, Rev. Vit., 5:165. f. 53. (cited by 2). 2. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL. 1:424. 1S07. V.
CORDIFOLIA, var. SEMPERVIRENS. 3. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines. 1903:78. /fij. oj leaf.

Vitis cordifolia scmpcrvircns is a south-Florida form of Cordifolia
named and first described by Munson in the Rcvnc Viticolc. It differs
from typical Cordifolia in having leaves which are thicker, narrower, more
oblong, with a long lanceolate point, completely glabrous and more or less
glossy on both surfaces. These leaves remain on the vines very late in
the season. This variety is said to be very resistant to an excess of lime
in the soil.

VITIS CORDIFOLIA HELLERI Bailey.

I. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:424. 1S97. V. cordifolia, var. Helleri. 2. Viala and Ravaz,
Am. Vines, 1903:79. V. cordifolia var.

Viiis cordifolia hcllcri is first mentioned by Bailey in 1897. It differs
from the ordinary forms of Cordifolia in having more circular leaves with-
out the lanceolate point. Viala and Ravaz state that such forms are found
in clay soils. Bailey refers to it as an upland south-Texas form found at
altitudes of from 1600 to 2000 feet.

II. VITIS BAILEYANA Munson.

I. Munson, U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:14. 1890. V. Virginiana. 2. lb.. Gar. and For., 3:474,
475. 1890. v. Virginiana 3. lb.. Mieh. Hort. Soe. Rpt.. 1893:116. Possum grape. 4. lb..
Bush. Cat., 1894:20. V. Virginiana. 5. Britton and Brown, 2:411. 1897. V. Virginiana. 6.
Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:424. 1S97. Possum grape. 7. Munson, Te.t. Sta. BiiL. 56:231. 240. 1900.
Possum grape.

Vine climbing, but of only medium vigor (less vigorous than Cordifolia). Canes
slender, with short internodes, and with very many short side shoots; shoots
angular, densely whitish or rusty pubescent or woolly along the angles; mature canes
round, nearly smooth; diaphragms thick; tendrils intermittent, usually trifid. Leaves
with blade long, cordate, frequently smaller than Cordifolia, shortly but distinctly
three-lobed (lobes mostly pointed and much spreading), bright green, but not shining,
above, gray below, slightly pubescent at maturity only on veins; ape.x short, acuminate,

9

130 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

acute or blunt; teeth comparatively small and notched-like, regular, not prominently
acute. Clusters large; peduncle long; pedicel slender, short, making the bunch very
compact. Berries very small, black with little or no bloom, intensely acid until very
ripe or frosted. Seeds small to very small, slightly notched on top; chalaza depressed,
oblong-oval; raphe broad, slightly distinct. Leafing, flowering and ripening fruit
very late.

This species seems to have been first described by Munson in i8go
under the name of Vitis virginiana. In 1893 he issued a leaflet changing
the name to Vitis baileyana.

It is an u]3land species growing in the mountain valleys (800 feet and
upward) of southwestern Virginia, West Virginia, western North Carolina,
Tennessee, northern Georgia and the uplands of western central Georgia.

Baileyana can be propagated from cuttings only with difficulty. It
is of no importance horticulturally.

12. VITIS BERLANDIERI Planch.

I. Planchon, Compi. Rend. Acad. Set. Paris, 91:425. 1S80. (cited by 5). 2. Joitrn. La Vigne
amcr., 1880:318. (cited by 5.) 3. Gar. Man.. 23:25. 1881. V. aestivalis, var. monticola; V. monii-
cola seedling; V. cordifolia coriacca. 4. (?) Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:15. V. monticola. 5.
Planchon, De CandoUc's Man. Pltan., 5:323, 341. 1S87. V. monticola. 6. An. Hort., 1889:101.
7. Munson, U. S. D. A. Pom. Bid., 3:14. 1890. V. Monticola, Mil. 8. lb., Gar. and For., 3:474,
475. 18(30. 9. lb., .4)11. Card., 12:659. 1S91. 10. lb.. Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22, 29. V. monticola,
Engelm. 11. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:425. 1897. Mountain grape; Spanish grape; Fall grape;
Winter grape. 12. Beach, -V. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:536, 557. 1898. 13. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bid.,
56:231, 2^4, 235, 240, 261. 1900. fig. Little Mountain grape. 14. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines,
1903:42, 61.

Vine moderately vigorous, climbing; shoots more or less angled and pubescent;
pubescence remaining only in patches on mature wood; canes mostly with short inter-
nodes; diaphragms thick; tendrils intermittent, long, strong, bifid or trifid. Leaves
with small stipules; leaf-blade rather large, broadly cordate, notched or shortly three-
lobed; petiolar sinus rather open, V- or U-shaped, margin with broad but rather shallow
teeth, rather dark glossy green above, grayish pubescence below when young; becoming
glabrous and even glossy except on ribs and veins, when mature. Clusters large, com-
pact, compound, with long peduncle. Berries small, black, with thin bloom, juicy, rather
tart l:)ut pleasant tasting when thoroughly ripe. Seeds few, medium to small, short,
plump, oval or roundish with short beak; chalaza oval or roundish, distinct; raphe
narrow, slightly distinct to indistinct. Leafing, flowering and ripening fruit very late.

This species was described under the name Vitis berlandieri by Plan-
chon in 1880. The description was made from herbarium specimens col-

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I3I

lected by the Swiss botanist, Berlandier,' in Texas in 1834, and also from
living plants which had been shipped into France. Planchon states that
this is the Monticola of Engelmann, but not the Monticola of Buckley.
Buckley's description is admittedly unsatisfactory but it does not seem
that Planchon is justified in saying that Engelmann was mistaken when
the latter probably had better opportunities for determining Buckley's
meaning than Planchon.

Berlandieri is a native of the limestone hills of southwest Texas and
adjacent Mexico. According to Munson, it grows " in the same region
with V. monticola but is less restricted locally, growing from the tops of
the hills all along down and along the creek bottoms of those regions."
Its great virtue is that it withstands a soil largely composed of lime. It
is superior to all other American species in this respect. This and its
moderate degree of vigor (not cjuite so vigorous as Cinerea, according to
Munson) has recommended it to the French growers as a stock for their
calcareous soils. The roots are strong, thick and very resistant to
phylloxera.

It is propagated by cuttings with comparative ease, but its varieties
are variable in this respect, some not rooting at all easily. While the fruit
of this species shows a large cluster, the berries are small and sour, and
Berlandieri is not regarded as having any promise for culture in America.

13. VITIS CINEREA Engelm.=

I. Engelmann. Gray's Man., Edition 5, 1867:679. V. aestivalis, var. cinerea. 2. (?) lb.,
Am. Nat., 2:321. 1868. V. aestivalis, var canescens. 3. lb., Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1872:61. V.
AESTIVALIS, var. cinerea. 4. Ih., Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11. 12, 14, 16. Z)o7£'j!>' gra/>t' of Mississippi
Valley. 5. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:133. 6. lb., Am. Pom. Soc. Rpl., 1885:97, 98.
Ashy-leaved grape; Sztcet Winter grape. 7. lb., Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:59. Aslty grape; Sweet

'Jean Louis Berlandier was a Belgian pupil of the great De CandoUe, but left Europe about
1S28 for America and became a druggist in Matamoras. Mexico. He was one of the first botanists
to explore northern Mexico and Texas. In attempting to cross one of the small streams south of
the Rio Grande in 1851, he was drowned. Many of his papers, plants and some paintings are pre-
ser\-ed in the herbarium of Harvard University and his services to botany are commemorated by
the genus Berlandiera, dedicated to him by De Candolle. and the species Vitis berlandieri here
described.

- George Engelmann was born at Frankfurt-on-the-Main in 1809. He was educated at the
Universities of Heidelberg, Berlin and Wurzburg, receiving a doctor's degree in medicine from the
latter institution. In 1832 Dr. Engelmann sailed for America and spent some months in exploring

132 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Winter grape. 8. Planchon, De Candollc's Mon. Phan., 5:323, 343. 1887. 9. Munson, U. S. T). A.
Pom. Bill., 3:14. i8qo. 10. lb., Car. and For., 3:474, 475. 1890. 11. Britton and Brown, 2:409.
1897. V. aestivalis, var. catiesceits; \'. aestivalis, var. cincrca: Downy Rrapc. 12. Bailey Gray's
Syn. FL, 1:425. 1897. Sweet Winter grape. 13. Beach, .V. \ . Sta. An. lipt., 17:536, 557. 1898.
14. Munson 7"i-v. Sta. Bui., 56:218, 231, 240. 1900. Sweet Winter grape; Ashy grape. 15. Viala
and Ravaz. .4?);. Vines. iqo3:42. So.

Vine vigorous, climbing ; shoots more or less angled, covered with grayish pubes-
cence which persists into winter; diaphragms thick to very thick; internodes medium
to long; tendrils intermittent, long and strong, bifid. Leaves large, cordate, seldom
lobed but frequently notched; frequently resembling a linden leaf; petiolar sinus
medium in depth and width, rounded; margin shallowly but sharply toothed; upper
surface cobwebby when young, becoming glabrous and dull when mature ; lower surface
and petiole covered with grayish cobwebby pubescence. Cluster large, rather loose;
peduncle long; pedicel slender. Berries small, black, with little if any bloom. Seeds
small, plump, short beak; chalaza round or oval, distinct; raphe ridge-like, distinct to
slightlv distinct. Ripening very late, becoming sweet after frost.

Cinerea is very closely allied to Aestivalis and was for a long time con-
sidered a part of that species. In 1867 Engelmann described it under the
name Vitis aestivalis, var. cinerea, but in 1883 he made it a species and it has
been generally regarded by botanists that the points of difference between
the two forms are such that the Cinerea deserves specific recognition.

Its habitat is New York, west to Nebraska and Kansas with about
40 degrees as a northern limit, southward to the Gulf. Cinerea grows along
streams mostlv in lim}- soils, and is seldom found in very dry land. It
covers about the same range as Cordifolia excepting that it grows nearer
the Gulf and extends across the Rio Grande into Mexico.

The species is very late in blooming, later even than Cordifolia. It
can be propagated from cuttings only with difficulty. It is probably of
no importance horticulturally unless it be for wet lands.

the forests of the Mississippi Valley studying the plants of the region, having become deeply absorbed
in botanv. He soon after began the practice of medicine in St. Louis where he spent the remainder
of his life, dying in 1884. Engelmann was one of the most patient and devoted students of natural
history of his time. He mastered several difficult genera of plants, doing his work so well that his
monographs will long remain, not only authorities on the plants described, but models for the syste-
matic botanist. .Vmong the genera to which he devoted his time was Vitis, upon which he pub-
lished se\eral monographs. These appeared in various publications, particularly the Proceedings
of the Academy of Science of St. Louis in i860, the American Naturalist for 1868, Riley's reports as
entomologist of Missouri for 1872 and 1S74, and the third and all later editions of the Bushberg
Cataloiinc.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 133

VITIS CINEREA FLORIDANA Munson.

1. Munson, U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:14. 1890. V. cinerea, var. Floridana. 2. Munson,
Gar. and For., 3:.ij4. iSqo. V. cinerea, var. Floridana. 3. Ba'dey, Gray's Syn. FI., 1:42 ^. 1S97.
V. CINEREA, var. Floridana.

Vitis cinerea floridana was named by Munson in 1890. It differs from
the regular form of Cinerea in having the growing tips and sometimes the
veins on the under side of the leaves more or less covered with rusty tomen-
tum. The cluster is also longer-peduncled and more compound. It is
found in Florida and Arkansas.

VITIS CINEREA CANESCENS Bailey.

I. Engelmann, Am. Nat., 2:;2i. 1868. V. aestivalis, var. canescens. 2. Bailey, Gray's
Syn. FL, 1:425. 1897. V. cinerea, var. canescens.

Vitis cinerea canescens was first mentioned l^v Engelmann in i86S
under the name Vitis aestivalis, var. canescens. He does not describe it
further than to say that it approaches Cordifolia. Baile'S"'s determination
of its position was made from Engelmann's lierbarium specimens. He says:
"A form with rounded or heart-like leaves, the upper half of tlie leaf lack-
ing the triangi.:lar and 3-lobed sliape of the type." This variety has been
found in Missouri, Illinois and Texas.

14. VITIS ARIZONICA Engelm.

I. Engelmann, Am. Nat., 2:321. 1868. 2. Parry, U. 5. D. A. Rpt.. 1870:416. V. .Arizon-
ENSis. 3. Engelmann, Mo. Enl. Rpi., 1872:62. 4. lb., Biisli. Cat., 1883:10, 12, 14, 16. Arizona
grape. 5. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:132. Arizona grape. 6. lb.. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt.,
1885:97. Arizona grape. 7. Planchon, De Candollc's Mon. Phan., 5:32,5, 342. 1887. V.
Californica; V . Arizonensis; V.riparia. 8. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Set. Rpt., 1887:59. .■irizona
grape. 9. lb.. Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890. lo. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:10. 1890. 11. IV>.,
Am. Gard., 12:660. 1891. Canyon grape. 12. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. Gulch grape.
13. Munson, Bush. Cat., 1894:20. Canon grape. 14. Husmann. 1895:4, 189. 15. Bailey, Gray's
Syn. Fl., 1:425. 1897. Canon grape. 16. Beach, iV. V. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:536, 557. 1898. 17.
Munson, Te.v. Sta. Bui., 56:230, 239. 1900. Do7vny Canyon grape. 18. Viala and Ravaz, Am.
Vines, 1903:102.

Vine weak in growth, shnibby or climbing moderately, numerous angular branch-
lets; diaphragms thick. Leaves mostly small, cordate, with rather open rounded
petiolar sinus, entire or indistinctly three-lobed (sometimes distinctly lobed on young
plants), coarsely and regularly toothed; thick, rigid, slightly rugose above, when young,
white-woolly below, becoming nearly glabrous with age. Clusters small, compound;

134 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

peduncle slender, of medium length. Berries black, small to medium in size ; pleasant
in taste. Seeds two to three of medium size; chalaza oval in shape, slightly distinct;
raphe flat, usually inconspicuous, rarely prominent.

Arizonica was named and first described by Engelmann in 1868. It
was later described by Parry, botanist of the Department of Agriculture,
from specimens sent to him by Dr. Charles Smart, an army surgeon sta-
tioned in southern Arizona, in 1867. Parry says that Engelmann considered
it a distinct species and had provisionally named it Vitis arizonensis. As
to the name, this is evidently an error in quoting Engelmann.

Its habitat is " Western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Chihuahua
(Mexico), and South Utah."

This grape is adapted only to the arid districts of the West. When
raised in humid climates it is subject to the attacks of mildew and black-
rot. As might be expected from its habitat, it endures intense drouths.
It grows well on limestone, pebbly, or alluvial soils. It has a considerable
degree of resistance to phylloxera, grows readily from cuttings, and according
to Munson, can withstand zero temperature without injury. As the Euro-
pean grapes can be raised in its native countr\', it is not there regarded as
valuable, althottgh the fruit is said to be rich in sugar and to be of pure
flavor. It has been used in California as a stock, but is not regarded in
any section very favorably and its use has never become extensive probably
owing to its lack of vigor. It suckers less than Rupestris. Arizonica blos-
soms about the time of Labrusca. It is of no value to the grape-growers
of the East and probably of none to those of the West.

VITIS ARIZONICA GLABRA Munson.

I. Munson, Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890. V. Arizonica, var. glabra. 2. lb., U. S. D. A.
Pom. Bid.. 3:10. 1S90. v. Arizonica. var. glabra. 3. lb.. .4;)!. Card.. 12:660. iSgi. V. .Ari-
zonica, var. glabra. 4. lb., Bush. Cat., 1894:20. V. Arizonica, var. glabra. 5. Bailey, Gray's
Svn. Fl., 1:426. 1897. v. Arizonica, var. glabra.

Vitis arizonica glabra was named b}' Munson in 1890. It differs from
the regular form in having glossy, glabrous leaves which are mostly larger
and thinner. The variety is found in the region from Albuquerque, New
Mexico to Truxton, Arizona, and northward into southern Utah.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I35

15. VITIS CALIFORNICA Benth.'

I. Bentham, Bot. Sidpli. Voy., 1844:10. 2. Buckley, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt.. 1861:479, 4S3.
Calijornia grape. 3. Engclmann, Mo. Eiit. Rpt.. i872:(i2. 4. lb., Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 12,
i.l, 15. Call jornia grape. 5. Munson. Avi. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:1,^7. 6. Flancbon, De Candolle's
l\Ion. I^liat'... 5:32.3, 339. 18S7. 7. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rft., 1887:59. California grape.
8. Hammond, Gar. and For.. 2:39. 1SS9. Wild grape. 9. Munson. U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui.,
3:10. iSi)o. 10. lb., Gar. and For.. 3:474. 475. 1890. 11. lb.. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1893:116.
12. Husmann, 1895:4. 189. 13. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL. 1:42(1. 1897. 14. Munson. Te.w Sta.
Bui.. 56:230, 239. 1000. North California grape. 15. Viala and Ravaz, Am. I'ines, 1903:42, 50.

Vine vigorous, climbing, but shrubby if left without support; shoots cylindrical or
slightly angled; diaphragms of medium thickness to rather thin; tendrils intermittent,
bifid or trifid. Leaves with stipules medium to small; leaf broadly cordate; petiolar
sinus variable, usually wide and open, usually entire, sometimes slightly tri-lobed; teeth
variable in size, blunt; smooth above and varying below from glabrous to much whitish
pubescence. Clusters small to medium, usually compact; peduncle mostly long and
slender. Berries small, black with rather abundant bloom. Seeds small to medium,
plump, slightly notched, if at all; chalaza oblong-oval; raphe slightly distinct or
invisible.

Californica was named and described by Bentham in 1844. It was
later mentioned l3\' Newberry, Torrey and others. As these descriptions
were all made either from herbarium specimens or by botanists traveling
through the region, they are not so definite as those made later.

The habitat of Californica is the northern half of California along
streams west of the Sierra Nevada mottntains and north into Rogue River
Valle}' in southern Oregon, its northern limit.

This species is interesting in that it is a native of a region of North
America not originally infested with phylloxera, but in wliich phylloxera
has since been introduced. As might be suspected, it has little more
resistance to this insect than Vinifera and less than any other American

' George Bentham was born near Plymouth, England, in 1800. His father was a man of con-
siderable wealth and the son was privately educated. Early in life he showed an inclination toward
botanv, writing a book on The Plants of the Pyrenees and Lovjer Languedoe which was published
when he was only twenty-six years old. For a time he studied law in which he showed consider-
able talent and where his original views attracted some attention. Later, however, he gave his
attention to botany almost exclusively, joined the London Horticultural Society and the Linnaean
Society, and was more or less closely connected with the workers at Kew. In connection with
J. D. Hooker he wrote the Genera Plantariim. Others of his well-known works are Flora
Aiistraliensis and Handbook of the British Flora. Bentham died in 1884.

136 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

species. The roots are thick and fleshy, resembUng Vinifera. The fruit,

while pleasant, is too small to be of cultural value. It is too tender for

planting in the open ground where the thermometer drops much below

freezing. California growers state that it does not flourish in dry shallow

soils. It is ver\- susceptible to attacks of mildew, to which it usually

succumbs when planted east of the Rocky Mountains. Californica grows

readily from cuttings. It is sometimes used in its native country as an

ornamental on account of its highly colored autumn foliage but is otherwise

of no value.

16. VITIS GIRDIANA Munson.

I. Munson, Soc. Prom. .4?. Sci. Rpl.. 1887:50. Caliiornia grape. 2. lb., U. .'^. D. .4. Pom.
Bui., 3:10. iSqo. 3. lb.. Gar. ami For.. 3:474- iS'io. 4. lb., .4hi. Gard.. 12:660. iSqi.
Vallfv srapc. 5. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:426. 1807. Valky grape. 6. Munson, Tcr. Sta.
Bui.. 56:2,^0, 2^50, iqoo. South Caliiornia grape. 7. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vtncs, 1903:50.
V. Californica, var. Oirdiana.

Vine vigorous, climbing; shoots scarcel}- angled, more or less covered with grayish
pubescence; diaphragms medium to thick; tendrils intermittent, bifid or trifid. Leaves
with medium to small stipules; blade broadly cordate, rather thin, entire or obscurely
three-lobed (sometimes distinctly three-lobed on young shoots) ; pctiolar sinus usually
narrow, rather deep; margin with many small and acute teeth; under surface covered
with thick grayish persistent pubescence. Cluster medium to large, compound, rather
loose; peduncle of medium length, slender. Berries small, black, with thin bloom;
skin thin but tough; medium to late in ripening. Sweet when ripe with a sharp
pungency in the skin. Seeds similar to those of Vitis califoniira.

Girdiana was separated from \'itis californica by Munson in 1887.
It is closely allied to, and is by n^any botanists still considered a variety of
Californica. Wild hybrids with \'itis vinifera are frequently found in
regions where it is indigenous.

Girdiana inhabits southern California in the region west and north of
Yuma and the valleys of southern California southward into Mexico. Its
northern limit is approximately the Mojave desert. Tlie individuals of the
species are very numerous, covering shrubs and trees in the regions where
it grows.

The species is very suspectible to mildew and Ijlack-rot, and like
Californica is not resistant to phylloxera. Girdiana is more sensitive to
cold than Vinifera. Analyses show that tlie fruit of the species is deficient
in sugar and acid. Girdiana is but little known but certainly is of no value

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 137

to the grape-growers of the East or North and probably of none to those of

the Southwest.

17. VITIS DOANIANA Munson.

I. All. Horl., 1889:101. 2. Munson, U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:9. iSqo. 3. Tb., Gar. and
For., 3:474. 1890. 4. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. Doan's grape. 5. lb.. Bush. Cat.,
1894:20, 22, 24. Doati's i^rapc. 6. Sears, Gar. and For, 9:434. 1896. 7. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL,
1:427. 1897. 8. Beach, .Y. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:530, 557. 189S. 9. Munson, Tex. Sta. But.,
56:232, 234, 235, 240, 268. 1900. /fg. Texas Panhandle Lar^^e Grape. 10. Viala and Ravaz, Am.
Vines, 1903:154.

Vine vigorous, climbing or shrubby if left without support ; wood on mature canes
cylindrical or slightly angled; diaphragm thin; tendrils intermittent, bifid, rather weak.
Leaves medium in size, broadly cordate, notched or lobcd and with a triangular apex;
petiolar sinus medium in depth, usually narrow; margins with rather large, notched-
like teeth; upper surface of a peculiar bluish-green, frequently somewhat rugose with
more or less tomentum; lower surface usually with a dense whitish pubescence which
shows also on shoots. Cluster medium to small. Berries variable in size, average
medium, black with a thick bloom. Seeds somewhat resembling Labrusca but with
shorter beak and more distinct chalaza; has characteristic groove extending from
chalaza to beak.

Doaniana is quite variable, some specimens being nearly glabrous
at maturity while others are densely covered with white pubescence. Mun-
son has separated the species into two forms which he calls the early Doani-
ana and the late Doaniana. The species was described and named by
Munson in 1890.

It is foiuid chiefly in northwest Te.xas lirit it ranges from Oklahoma
to Ijeyond the Pecos River in New Mexico. It is considered by Bailey and
Viala to be a probable hvljrid with Vitis candicaus as one of the parents.
Doaniana is exceedingly hard}', withstanding great cold as well as great
heat. It apparentl}' prefers rather light soils as it is indigenous to sand-
banks along rivers and the beds of sandy ravines.

Munson states that in cultivation it does well in any but very limy
soils. The fruit is of comparatively good quality but the skin possesses
some of the pungencv of Candicans. The berries are quite persistent,
hanging to the pedicel some time after ripe. The vines are not pro-
ductive. The character of the must is apparenth' unknown. The roots
are hard, penetrate deeply into the soil, and are resistant to ph}-lloxera
though somewhat variable in this respect. Doaniana grows readily from

138 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

cuttings and grafts well in the vineyard. The species blossoms with or
just before Labrusca. It is of doubtful value to the southern grape-grow-
ers and is of no value in the North.

18. VITIS AESTIVALIS Michx.

I. (?) Marshall, 1785:16V V. vixifera america.va; American grape vine. 2. (?) Walter,
1788:242. v. Labrusca. 3. Michaux, 2:2.30. 1803. 4. Bartram, Dom. Enc., 5:289. 1804.
V. svLVESTRis; V. occident'Ms; Common Blue grape; Bunch grape. 5. Muhlenberg, 1813:27.
V. intermedia; V. aesiivalis; Summer grape. 6. Pursh, 1:160. 1814. V. vidpina; V. labrusca;
Summer grape. 7. Nuttall, 1:143. '8x8. 8. Elliott. 2:688. 1824. 9. Torrey, Fl. of N. &
M. Sta., 1826:121. 10. Rafinesque, 1830:9. V. bracteata; V. labrusca; V. aestivalis; Sour
grape. 11. Prince, 1830:199. V. intermedia; V. sylvestris; V. occidentalis ; Summer grape; Little
grape; Bunch grape; Blue grape. J2. Torrey, Fl. of .V. Y., 1:146. 1843. ^'- intermedia; Summer
grape. 13. Darlington, 1853 :5o. Little grape; Summer grape. 14. Le Conte, Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci.,
6:272. 1853. V. ara.veosus. 15. lb., 76., 6:271. 1853. V. bracteata: V. aestivalis; Duck-sho.
grape; Swamp grape. 16. Buckley, U . S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1861 :4Si, 482. Frost grape; Chicken grapet
17. Stayman. Gar. Mon., 11:37, 38, 40. 1869. Summer grape. 18. Grape Cult., 1:4, 7, 113. 1869.
19. Engelmann, Mo. Ent. Rpt.. 1872:61. Summer grape. 20. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11,
12, 14, 16. Summer grape. 21. Bush, lb., 1883:22. 22. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:134.
Summer grape. 23. lb.. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:97, 98. Summer grape. 24. Planchon,
De Candolle's Mon. Phan., 5:323, 334. 1887. Summer grape; Chicken grape; Little grape. 25.
Munson, Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890. 26. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:11. i8go. 27. lb.. Bush.
Cat., 1894:20, 22, 27, 28. Summer grape. 28. Bailey, Cray's Syn. Fl., 1:427. 1897. Summer
grape; Bunch grape; Pigeon grape; V. sylvestris; V. occidentalis; V. Americana; V. Nortoni; V.
labrusca, var. aestivalis; V. bracteata; V. arancosus. 29. Britton and Brown, 2:409. 1897. Sum-
mer grape; Small grape. 30. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:231, 234, 266. 1900. 31. Viala and
Ravaz, .4m. Vines, 1903:42, 59.

Vine very vigorous; shoots slightly pubescent or smooth -n-hen young; diaphragms
medium to rather thick; tendrils intermittent, usually bifid. Leaves with short, broad
stipules; leaf-blade medium to very large, rather thin when young but becoming rather
thick; petiolar sinus deep, usually narrow, frequently overlapping; margin rarely entire,
usually three- to five-lobed; teeth dentate, shallow, medium wide; upper surface rather
dark green; lower surface with more or less reddish or rusty pubescence which, in mature
leaves, usually shows in patches on the ribs and veins; petioles frequently pubescent.
Clusters medium to large, usually long, not much branched, with long peduncle. Berries
small to medium, with moderate amount of bloom, usually somewhat astringent. Seeds
two to three, of medium size to above, plump, usually smooth, not notched; chalaza
oval, distinct; raphe a distinct cord-like ridge. Leafing and ripening fruit late to very
late. (See Plate.)

Viiis aestivalis is variable, particularly in its leaf characters, such as
quantity of pubescence, size, shape and thickness of leaf. Those who are
most familiar with it are of the opinion that in a general way the leaves

SHOCT CF riTIS AESTIVALIS

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 139

increase in thickness southward and that the pubescence diminishes in
quantity and becomes stiffer on dry, poor soils.

Aestivahs was probably described by some of the botanists before
Michaux's day but, if so, none of the descriptions is sufficiently definite
and comprehensive to be recognized with certainty. Michaux was the
first to describe it under the name of Aestivalis. It seems to have been
generally known, as Bartram described it a short time later under the name
of Vitis sylvestris with Vitis occidentalis as a synonym. He says: " This
is the most common grape." Owing to the great variation in the different
forms of the species as it was then understood, many of the later botanists
gave descriptions of it which did not agree. This uncertainty and the
difficulty of giving a description which would fit all of the forms has been
relieved in a measure; first, by the new species which have been created,
such as Bicolor, Monticola and Cinerea, from what would have once
been regarded as Aestivalis; and second, by the description and gen-
eral acceptance of well-known varietal forms, such as Lincecumii and
Bourquiniana.

The division of the original species has also reduced the habitat
materially, confining it to the southeastern portion of the United States
from southern New York to Florida and westward to the Mississippi River.
Aestivalis grows in thickets and openings in the woods and shows no such
fondness for streams as Riparia or for thick timber as Labrusca, but is
generally confined to uplands. Under favorable circumstances the vines
grow to be very large.

Aestivalis is preeminently a wine grape. The fruit usually has a tart,
acrid taste, due to the presence of a high percentage of acid, but tliere is
also a large amount of sugar, the scale showing that juice from this species
has a much higher percentage of sugar than the sweeter tasting Labruscas.
The wine made from varieties of Aestivalis is very rich in coloring matter,
and is used by some European vintners to mix with the must of European
sorts in order to give the combined product a higher color. The berries
are destitute of pulp, have a comparatively thin, tough skin, and a peculiar
spicy flavor. The berries hang to the bunch after becoming ripe much
better than do those of Labrusca.

The species thrives in a lighter and shallower soil than Labrusca and

I40 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

appears to endure droutli better, although not equaUng in this respect
either Riparia or Rupestris. A southern or southeastern exposure gives
better results for Aestivalis or Aestivalis hybrid vines tlian a northern one.
The French growers report that Aestivalis is very liable to chlorosis on soils
which contain much lime. The leaves are never injured l)y the sun, and
they resist the attacks of insects, such as leaf-hoppers, better than any other
American species under ciiltivation. Aestivalis is rarel}- injured by rot
or mildew, according to American experience, but French growers speak
of its being susceptible to both.

The hard roots of Aestivalis enable it to resist phylloxera, and varieties
with any great amount of the blood of this species are seldom seriously
injured by this insect. An oljjection to Aestivalis, from a horticultural
standpoint, is that it does not root well from cuttings. Many authorities
speak of it as not rooting at all from cuttings, but this is an overstatement
of the facts, as many of the wild and cultivated varieties are occasionally
propagated in this manner, and some southern nurseries, located in par-
ticularly favorable situations, make a practice of propagating it by this
method. It is doubtful, however, if it could be successfully propagated
from cuttings in New York. Varieties of this species bear grafting well,
especiallv in the vineyard. Aestivalis blooms just after Labrusca. As
might be inferred from its habitat, most cultivated varieties of this species
require a longer season to mature their fruit than that of New York.
On this account it is j^irobable that Bicolor, once known as a northern form
of Aestivalis, is more promising horticulturally for the North than the
true Aestivalis of the Southeast.

VITIS AESTIVALIS LINCECUMII' Munson.

I. (?) Rafinesque, 1830:0. V. Multiloba; Dissected vine. 2. (?) Prince, 1830:18^. V.
DivERSiFOLiA. 3. U. S. Pal. Off. Rpt., 1847:19c;. Post oak grape. 4. Buckley, lb., 1861:485.
V. LiNSECOMii; Post-oak grape; Pine-wood grape. 5. lb., Proc. Phil. Acad. Xat. Sri., 1861:450.
V. LiNSEcoMii. 6. Engelmann, Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1874:74. 7. lb., Bush. Cat., 1883:16, 23. Post-

'This name has been spelled " Lincecumii " and " Linsecomii." Buckley tells us ( U. S. Pat. Off.
Rpt., 1861 :4S6) that this grape was named in honor of " Dr. Gideon Linsecom" of Long Point. Wash-
ington County, Texas. Engelmann changed the spelling to Lincecum without giving any reason for
the change. Munson states that a daughter of Dr. Lincecum says that her father always spelled his
name Lincecum. It is inconceivable that Buckley did not know how to spell his friend's name.
There is other corroborative evidence that Buckley was either a poor penman, or did not read proof.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 41

oak grape. 8. Munson, .4m. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:133. V. Lincecumii; Post-oak. 9. Planchon,
Dc CandoUc-s Mju. Phan. 5:323, 33S. 1887. V. Lincecumii; Post-oak grape; Vine Wood
grape; V. aestivalis, var. Lincecumii; V. incisijolia; V. multiloba? 10. Munson, U. S. V. A.
Pom. Bill, 3:12. iSyo. V. Lincecumii. 11. lb., Gar. and For., 3:474- 1890. V. Lincecumii.
12. lb.. Am. Card.. 12:585. 1S91. V. Lincecumii; Post-oak grape. 13. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt..
1893:1 1&. V. Lincecumii; Post Oak grape. 14. McCluer, III. Sta. Bill., 28:257. 1893. V. Lin-
cecumii; Postoak grape. 15. Munson, Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22, 27. fig. V. Lincecumii; Texas Post-
oak grape. 16. Husmann, 1895:110. \ . 'Li^ce.cvyin; Summer grape; Post Oak grape. 17. Mun-
son, /-JztraZ A', r., 56:010. 1897. V.hi^Q-ECV^wv. Post-oak grape. iS. Mo. Sta. Bid., 46:62. 1S99.
V. Lincecumii; Te.vas Post Oak grape. 19. Munson, Te.x. Sta. Bid., 56:218, 231, 234, 235, 240,
261, 264. 1900. fig. V. Lincecumii; Post-oak grape. 20. Bailey, Cyc. Am. Hort.. 4:10.^4- 1902.
V. diversifolia; Post-oak; Pine-wood; Turkey grape. 21. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Viw:s, 1903:42, 57.
V. Li.NCECUMn; Pest Oak.

Vine vigorous, sometimes climbing high upon trees, sometimes forming a bushy
clump from two to six feet high; canes cylindrical, much msty wool on shoots; tendrils
intermittent. Leaves very large, almost as wide as long; entire or three-, five-, or rarely
seven-Iobed; lobes frequently divided; sinuses, including petiolar sinus, deep; smooth
above, and with more or less rusty pubescence below. (The north-Texas, southwestern
Missouri and northern Arkansas form shows little or no pubescence but has fine prickly
spines at base of shoots and shows much blue bloom on shoots, canes and the under
side of the leaves.) Fruit small to large, usually larger than typical Aestivalis, usually
black with heavy bloom. Seeds larger than Aestivalis, pear-shaped; chalaza roundish.

Lincecumii seems to have been first described by Rafinesque, in 1830
under the name Vttis multiloba. His description fits fairly well, and as the
source from which the vines were secured is within the habitat of the
species, there appears but little doubt as to its correctness. In the same
year Prince gives a very brief description of a grape from Texas under the
name Vitis diversifolia which is probably this grape. The first description
of the variety (or species) in such detail that it could not be mistaken was
that of Btickley in 1861, as Vitis linsecomii.

It inhabits the eastern half of Texas, western Louisiana, Indian Terri-
tory, Arkansas and southern Missouri on high sandy land, frequently climb-
ing post-oak trees, hence the name, Post-oak grape, by which it is locally
known.

or both. In his Latin description of this species nearly every other word is misspelled, and the mis-
takes are those of a printer rather than of one whose Latin is weak, such as "totis" for "lobis," etc.
Munson says that on the different herbarium specimens of this species collected by Buckley, the
name is spelled both ways but he is not able to tell which are in Buckley's hand. As the original
error seems to be one by the printer or amanuensis it does not seem desirable to perpetuate it. We
have consequently adopted the spelling of Engelmann and Munson.

142 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Lincecumii has attracted considerable attention through the work of
H. Jaeger and T. V. Munson in domesticating it, both of whom considered it
one of the most, if not the most, promising form from which to secure
cultivated varieties for the Southwest. The qualities which recommended
it to them are; First, its vigor; second, its capacity to withstand rot and
mildew; third, its hardiness and capacity to endure hot and dry summers
without injury: and fourth, the large cluster and berry which were found
on certain of the wild vines. It requires a longer season to mature than
that of New York and is, consequenth', of but little interest to grape-
growers in this State. The fruit is characteristic because of its dense bloom,
firm, }-et tender texture and the peculiar so-called Post-oak flavor. The
cultivated varieties have given satisfaction in many sections of the central
western and southern states. Like Aestivalis, it is difficult to propagate
from cuttings.

The north-Texas glaucous form of this variety mentioned in the tech-
nical description above is the Vitis aestivalis glaiica of Bailey. This is the
type of Lincecumii that Munson has used in his breeding work.

VITIS AESTIVALIS BOURQUINIANA Bailey.'
I. Garber, Gar. Mon., 1:75. 1859. 2. Engelmann, Bitsh. Cat.. 1883:16. (VvRiETiEb op
SOUTHERN origin). 3- Bush. lb., 1883:23. Southern- Aestivalis. 4. An. Hort., 1889:101. V.
BouRQUiNA. 5. Munson, Gar. a»t/ For., 3:474, 475. iSgo. \ .'Bo\:KQ\j\^\.\ti a; Southern Aestivalis.
6. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bid., 3:12. 1890. V. Bourquiniana. 7. lb., Am. Card., 12:584. 1891.
V. Bourquiniana; Southern Aestivalis. 8. Popenoe and Mason, Kan. Sta. Bui., 44:117. 1893.
v. Bourquinia.va. 9. Munson, Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22, 27. V. Bourquiniana; Southern Aesti-

■ Liberty Hyde Bailey was bom in 1858 in South Haven, Michigan. He graduated from the
Michigan Agricultural College in 18S2 and then studied botany for two years with Asa Gray at Har-
vard University. He became professor of horticulture at his Alma Mater in 18S5 and resigned in
1888 to accept the Chair of Horticulture in Cornell University, a position which he filled until 1904
•when he became Director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station and Dean of
the New York State College of Agriculture. In 1907 he was given the degree of Doctor of Laws by
the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Bailey is known as a teacher and experimenter but is better
known for his horticultural and botanical writings. He has published many popular books on
agricultural subjects. The best known of these are: The Nursery Book; The Rule Book; Prin-
ciples of Vegetable Gardening; Garden Making; The Pruning Book; The Survival of the Unlike; The
Evolution of Our Xative Fruits. Besides these popular, or semi-popular works he has published two
cyclopedias: The Cyclopedia of American Horticulture ^nd. The Cyclopedia of American Agriculture.
Dr. Bailey's position in American horticultural Hterature is unique in that he represents the botani-
cal side of horticulture. He has written monographs on several of our cultivated fruits, notably
grapes and plums, both appearing in The Evolution of Our Xative Fruits.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

143

vah's. 10. Husmann, 1895:6, S. V. Bourquiniana. ii. JIunson, Tex. Farm and Ranch, Feb. 8,
1896:10. V. Bourquiniana; Son;/zrn! Aestivalis. 12. Bailey, Cray's Sjk. FL, 1:428. 1897. 13.
lb., Ev. Nat. Fr.. 1898:81, S3, 114. 14. Munson, Ant. Card., 20:688. 1899. V. Bourquiniana.
15. lb., Tex. Sta. Bid., 56:231, 240, 261. 1900. V. Bourquiniana; Southern Aestivalis. 16. Viala
and Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:178. V. Bourquiniana.

Bourquiniana greatly resembles Aestivalis and differs chiefly from tliis
species in having thinner leaves and in that the shoots and under side of
the leaves are only slightly reddish-brown in color and the pul^escence
usually disappears at maturity; this pubescence is mostly of an ashy or dun
color. The leaves on some of the vines are more deeply lobed than is at
all common in Aestivalis. The fruit is considerably larger than that of
Aestivalis, sweeter and more juicy.

The botanical variety, Bourquiniana, is known onlv in cultivation.
It is mentioned by Garber in 1S59 and by Engelmann in 1883. Speaking of
Aestivalis the latter says: "Unfortunately the typical forms cannot be
propagated by cuttings and there are a number of varieties which, originat-
ing from a southern home, are not quite hardy here but on the other hand
have the advantage of being readily propagated by slips in some favorable
localities. ^1= * * Unfortunately no wild plant from which these varieties
might have sprung is yet known but must be looked for in the mountains
and hills of the Carolinas and Georgia and only when found in a wild state
can we correctly judge of their botanical status."

The name Bourquiniana was given by Munson, who ranks the group
as a species. He includes therein many southern varieties the most
important of which are: Herbemont, Bertrand, Cunningham, and Lenoir,
these he groups in the Herbemont section; and Devereaux, Louisiana and
Warren, he puts in the Devereaux section. Munson has traced the history
of this interesting group and states that it was brought from southern France
to America over 150 years ago by the Bourquin family of Savannah, Georgia.
Many botanists have been of the opinion that Bourquiniana is a hybrid.
Engelmann says: " I will only state here that a slight suspicion exists of
their being hybrids between V. aestivalis and some form of via if era
though the seeds are entirely those of the former and also the resistance to
phylloxera." Millardet considers Bourquiniana to be a mixed hybrid of
Aestivalis, Cinerea and Vinifera. The hybrid supposition is certainly cor-
roborated to a degree at least by the characters being more or less inter-

144 ■''"'- <^I<APKS OF NEW YORK.

mediate between the parent species and also by the fact that np to date
no wild form of Bourquiniana has been found.

Munson's derivation of the origin has not been accepted by either
French or American i)otanists. In this connection Bailey says: " It is
unassuniablc that a native grape distrilnited tlirough the Mediterranean
region could liave escaped for centuries the critical search of European
botanists and the knowledge of hundreds of generations of vignerons to
be (Hscovcred at last trans])lanted in the new world." Bush says: "This
rciniiids us forcil)lv of tlie 'Pedro Xiincncs ' (called also White Green Ries-
ling), which was believed to have been brought to Spain from the banks
of the Moselle bv the man whose name it bears. Count Odart, a celebrated
ami)elograph, wittily said: ' If he (Ximenes) took any he took .\ll, for no
siicli vine grows now north of the Pyrenees.' Thus we also think: If Mr.
Hour(|uiu took anv of the al)ove grapes he took .\ll, for no Herhcinont or
Lenoir can now l)e found native in Europe."

The onlv northern variety of grape of any importance thcit is supposed
to have Bourquiniana blood is the Delaware,' and in this case only a
fraction of Bounjuiniana blood is presumably present.

Bourquiniana can be propagated from cuttings more easily than the
t\pic;d Aestivalis but not so readily as Labrusca, Riparia or Vinifera.
Man\- of the varieties of Bourquiniana show a marked susceptibility to
mildew and black-rot; in fact, tlie whole Herbemont group is much inferior in
this respect to the Norton group of Aestivalis. The roots are somewhat hard,
bratK-h rather freely and are quite resistant to phylloxera.

n). VITIS BICOLOR Le Contc.=

I. Lo Conte, Proc. Phil. AatJ. Xiit. Sci., 6:272. 1853. \'. arstivalis (Darlington). 2. lb..

('. .^". Pat. Off. Rpt; 1857:230. T:i.o-colorcd-k'aved t'inc. 3. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt.,

1887:51). v. Arokntifoi.i.\; Bltu- grape. 4. An. Hort.. 1889:101. 5. Munson, Gar. and For.,

3:.I74. iSoo. 6. Munson, U. S. D. .4. Pom. Btil., 3:12. iSijo. 7. lb., .\m. Card., 12:585. 1891.

'.■l(ir. Card.. 12:584. iSoi.

-Jolin Eaton Lo Conte was born near Shrewsbury, Xew Jersey, in 17S4 and died at Philadelphia
in iSoo. In 1817 he entered the anny as a topographical engineer, and in 1S31 was retired with the
grade of major. Le Conte early became interested in natural history and his military expeditions
gave him ample opportunity for studying the flora and fauna of eastern America. He published a
number of important botanical papers, one of which was TIu- Vines of North Anu-^rica published in
1S54-55. His contributions to the genus Vitis will be found under that head.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I45

Blue grape; Northern Summer grape. 8. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. Blue grape;
NortJiern aestivalis. 9. Bailey, Gray's Syn. Fl., 1:428. 1897. Blue grape; Morthern Summer grape.
10. Britton and Brown, 2:409. 1897. Blue grape; Winter grape; V. aestivalis, var. bicolor. 11.
Munson, Tex. Sta. Bui.. 56:2;,!, 234, 240, 266. 1900. Blue grape. 12. Viala and Ravaz, .4))!.
Vines, 1903:42, 59.

Vine vigorous, climbing; shoots cylindrical or slightly angled, with rather long
internodes, generally perfectly glabrous, usually showing much blue bloom, sometimes
spiny at base; diaphragms medium to thick; tendrils intermittent, long, usually bifid.
Leaves with short, broad stipules; leaf-blade medium to very large; roundish-cordate,
usually three-, sometimes on older growth shallowly five-lobed, rarely entire; petiolar
sinus variable in depth, usually rather narrow; margin irregularly dentate; teeth acumi-
nate; glabrous above, usually glabrous below and showing much blue bloom which
sometimes disappears late in the season; young leaves sometimes slightly pubescent;
petioles very long. Cluster of medium size, compact, usually simple; peduncle long.
Berries small to medium, black with much blue bloom, rather acid but pleasant tasting
when ripe. Seeds small, plump, broadly oval, very short beak; chalaza oval, raised,
distinct; raphe distinct, showing as a cord-like ridge.

Bicolor is readily distinguished from Aestivalis by the absence of the
reddish pubescence, and by the bloom on the under side of the leaves and
is distinguished from the glaucous form of Lincecumii by the smaller fruit
and seeds. The species blooms slightly later than Aestivalis and Lince-
cumii. It was named and described by Le Conte in 1853 and has been
generally recognized as a distinct species by later botanists.

The habitat of Bicolor is to the north of that of Aestivalis, occupying
the northeastern, whereas Aestivalis occupies the southeastern quarter of
the United States. Like Aestivalis it is not confined to streams and river-
banks but frequently grows on higher land also. It is found in north
Missouri, Illinois, southwestern Wisconsin, Indiana, southern Michigan,
Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, southwestern Ontario, New
Jersey' and Maryland, and is by some botanists reported as far south as
western North Carolina and west Tennessee.

The hortictilttiral characters of Bicolor are much the same as those
of Aestivalis. About the only points of difference are that it is much hardier
(some of the Wisconsin vines stand a temperature as low as 20 degrees
below zero) ; it is said to be slightly less resistant to mildew and more resist-
ant to phylloxera. Like Aestivalis, Bicolor does not thrive on limy soils
10

146 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

and it is difficult to propagate from cuttings. The horticultural possibilities
of Bicolor are probably much the same as those of Aestivalis, though many
believe it to be more promising for the North. It is as yet cultivated but
little. Its chief defect for domestication is the small size of the fruit.

20. VITIS CARIBi^A De Candolle.'

I. De Candolle, Prodr., 1:634. 1824 (cited by Watson). 2. Chapman, Fl. Sou. States, — lyi.
(cited by Wat.son). 3. Bucklev, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt.. 1861:483. 4. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:10,
12, 14, 15. 5. Munson, .\m. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:136. Caloosa. 6. (?) lb., Soc Prom. .4.i;. Set.
Rpt., 1887:59. Prof. Curtis' grape. 7. Planchon, De Candolle's Mon. Phan., 5:323, 330. 1887.
8. Munson, U. S. D. .4. Poi/t. Bui., 3:14. iSqo. g. lb., Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890. 10. lb.,
Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:110, ii. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:428. 1897. 12. Viala and Ravaz,
Am. Vines, 1903:42, 52.

Vine slender, climbing; shoots more or less woolly, or rarely nearly glabrous; dia-
phragms medium to thick; tendrils intermittent, rarely continuous, bifid or frequently
trifid. Leaves cordate, usually entire when mature, frequently acuminate pointed;
teeth shallow, wide, mucronate, slightly rugose above, thick whitish or rusty pubescence
below; stipules small. Clusters large, long, with long, slender peduncle. Berries small
to very small, purple or black with thin bloom, intensely acid until very ripe. Seeds
usually but one or two to the berry, small to very small (Engelmann states that the
Florida forms give larger seeds than those from the West Indies) , notched ; chalaza more or
less circular, depressed, usually distinct; rapheagrooveor slightly distinct. Very variable.

Cariba^a was first described by De Candolle and later by many other
botanists but the species is not yet well known owing to its habitat. Cari-
baga is an inhabitant of the West Indies, middle and southern Florida,
Louisiana, eastern Mexico, Yucatan, and various portions of tropical
America. It is said to grow largely on lowlands.

The species is of no practical interest as it does not thrive and soon
dies in temperate climates. Its horticultural characters are unknown.

' Augustin Pyramus De Candolle was born at Geneva, Switzerland, 1778, and died at Turin,
Italv, in 1S41. He came of an ancient French family which had been driven out of Provence in the
middle of the sixteenth century owing to their religion. He began his scientific studies at the College
of Geneva, but later removed to Paris where he attended courses of lectures on natural science under
the greatest scientists of that day. His best known works are: Historia plantarmn Succulentarum;
Synopsis plantartim in flora Gallica descriptarum; and Prodromus Systemaiis regni vegetabilis (1824-),
this last being only about two-thirds completed at the time of his death.

Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame De Candolle was bom in Paris, France, in 1806. Like his father,
whose life is sketched above, he became a noted botanist. His most important works have been
translated into English and are as follows: Geographical Botany, 1S55; Origin of Cultivated Plants,
1883; and the Memoirs of his father, 1862. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1S93.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 147

2 1. VITIS CANDICANS Engelm.

I. Engelmann, Gray's PL Lindh., 2:166. 1845. 2. U.S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1847:198. Mustang
GRAPE. 3. Engelmann, Gray's PI. Wright., 1:32. 1852. 4. Vanzandt, Gar. Man.. 1:166. 1859.
Mustang grape. 5. Affleck, Mag. Hort.. 26:98. i860. Mustang grape. 6. Buckley, U. S. Pat.
Off. Rpt., 1861:482. V. Mustangensis; Mustang grape. 7. Engelmann, .4 in. Nat., 2:^21. 1868.
Mustang grape. 8. Koch, HI. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1868:82. V. Mustangensis; Mustang grape. 9.
Engelmann, Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1874:76. V. Mustangensis; Mustang grape. 10. lb., Bush. Cat., 1883:
10, II, 12, 14, 15. V. Mustangensis; Mustang grape. 11. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1885:
137. V. Mustangensis. 12. Ih.. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:1)1, gS. Mustang grape. 13. Planchon,
De Candolle's Mon. Phan.. 1887:323, 326. V. Mustangensis; Mustang grape. 14. Munson, Soc.
Prom. Ag.Sci. Rpt., 1887:59. Mustang grape. 15. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui, 3:10. 1890. 16. lb..
Bush. ,Cat., 1894:20, 22, 25. Mustang grape. 17. lb.. Rural N. Y., 56:610. 1897. Mustang.
18. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:428. 1897. Mustang grape. 19. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bui.. 56:232, 234.
240, 267. 1900. Mustang graf>e. 20. Viala and Ravaz. Am. Vines. 1903:42, 54.

Vine very vigorous, climl)ing; shoots and petioles densely woolly, whitish or rusty;
diaphragm thick; tendrils intermittent (according to Munson, rarely four continuous).
Leaves with medium to large stipules; blade small to medium, broadly cordate to reni-
form ovate, frequently resembling those of a poplar, entire or in young shoots and on
young vines and sprouts usually deeply from three- to five-, or even seven-lobed; teeth
shallow, sinuate; petiolar sinus shallow, wide, sometimes lacking; dull, slightly rugose
above, dense whitish pubescence below. Clusters small. Berries medium to large,
black, purple, green, or even whitish, thin blue bloom or bloomless. Seeds usually
three or four, large, short, plump, blunt, notched; chalaza oval, depressed, indistinct;
raphe a broad groove.

Candicans was described and named b}' Engelmann in his accotmt of
certain plants sent from Texas by Lindheimer. In 1 86 1 it was described
by Buckley who seems to have been unaware of the species having been
previottsly named.

The habitat of this grape extends from southern Oklahoma, as a
northern limit, southwesterly into Mexico. The western boundary is the
Pecos River. It is found on dry, alkivial, sandy or limestone bottoms or
on limestone bluff lands and is said to l)e especially abundant along upland
ravines. Candicans grows well on limestone lands enduring as much as
60 per ct. of carbonate of lime in the soil. The species blooms shortly
before Labrusca and a week later than Riparia. It requires the long hot
summers of its native country and will stand extreme drouth but is not
hardy to cold, ten or fifteen degrees below zero killing the vine outright
unless protected; and a lesser degree of cold injuring it severely. The

148 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

berries, which are large for wild vines, have thin skins under which there is a
pigment which gives them, when first ripe, a fiery, pungent taste but which
partly disappears with maturity. The berries are very persistent, clinging
to the pedicel long after ripe. Candicans is difficult to propagate from
cuttings. Its roots resist phylloxera fairly well. It makes a good stock
for Vinifera vines in its native country but owing to the difficulty of propa-
gation is seldom used for that purpose. In the early days of Texas it was
much used for the making of wine but as it is deficient in sugar, and as the
must retains the acrid, pungent flavor, it does not seem to be well adapted
for this purpose. It is not regarded as having great promise for southern
horticulture and certainly has none for the North.

VITIS CANDICANS CORIACEA Bailey.

I. Shuttleworth Mss., Herb. Boiss. 2. Chapman, Fl. Son. States, — iji (cited by Watson,
Planchon and Bailey). V. caribea, var. coriacea. 3. Engelmann, B}tsli. Cat., 1883:15. V.
CANDICANS, Florida form. 4. Mun.son, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpl., 1885:136. V. Caribea; Caloosa.
5. Planchon, Dc Candollt's Mon. Phan., 5:323, 345. 1SS7. V. coriacea. 6. Munson, .Soc. Prom.
Ag. Set. Rpt., 1887 :5r). v. coriacea; Leather-Leaf grape. 7. lb., Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890.
V. coriacea. 8. lb., U. 5. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:10, 11. 1890. V. coriacea. 9. lb.. Am. Card.,
12:661. 1891. V. coriacea; Leather-leaf grape. 10. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:429. 1897. Leather-
leaf grape; Calloosa grape. 11. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:232, 240. 1900. V. coriacea; Leather-
Leaf grape. 12. Viala and Ravaz, .Am. Vines, 1903:42, 52. V. coriacea.

Coriacea is a Florida variety of Candicans, differing from the Texas
form in having a sliorter, somewhat smaller and comparatively thicker
seed; small stipules; quite variable leaves, intermediate in shape between
Labrusca and Candicans; and an absence of the fiery flavor. The blos-
soming period is two or three weeks later than the Texas form.

This form of Candicans was named and described by Shuttleworth in a
manuscript now in the Herbarium Boissier at Geneva, Switzerland. Botan-
ists seem divided as whether to regard it as a separate species or as a botanical
variety. Its habitat is central and southern Florida.

Coriacea is more tender than the regular forms of Vitis candicans
and this alone would make it worthless to the northern cultivator even
were it otherwise valuable.

22. VITIS SIMPSONI Munson.

I. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Set. Rpt., 1887:59. Simpson's grape. 2. lb.. Gar. and For., 3:474,
475. 1890. 3. lb., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bill., 3:12. 1890. 4. lb.. Am. Gard., 12:586, 661. 1891.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 149

5. lb., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. Pahnctto-lcavcd grape. 6. Bailey, Gray's Syn. Fl.,
1:429. iSgy. 7. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:2^2, 234, 240, 267. igoo. fig. Simpson's grape. 8.
Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vim-s. 1903:167.

Vine very vigorous, climbing; shoots cylindrical with much brownish pubescence;
diaphragms very thick; tendrils intermittent. Leaves with stipules short and broad;
leaf-blade rather thin, large, broadly cordate, usually considerably lobed; petiolar sinus
of medium width and depth ; margin coarsely toothed ; upper surface slightly rugose and
of a dark-green ; lower surface with rusty white pubescence sometimes becoming almost
a blue green ; the shape of leaf and amount of pubescence vary widely. Clusters large,
loose; peduncle long; pedicel thick. Berries small to medium, more tender in pulp
and less astringent than Vitis aestivalis, black with moderate amount of bloom. Leaf-
ing, blooming, and ripening fruit late.

Vitis sinipsoni was named and briefly described by Munson in 1887.
In 1 89 1 he stated that the species is a hybrid of Vitis coriacea (here con-
sidered a variety of Vitis candicans) crossed with Vitis cinerca. Bailey
states that it is probably a hybrid of Aestivalis crossed with Coriacea.
Some forms of Simpsoni are said to be very difficult to distinguish from
Vitis labriisca.

Simpsoni prefers warm, sandy soils and is found in central and southern
Florida. It roots from cuttings with great difficulty; it is tender and will
not withstand cold winters. While it is very resistant to phylloxera
and also to mildew and black-rot. its leaves are said to be much attacked
by leaf-rollers. The blossoming period is just after Aestivalis. The berries
are of good flavor and might be of some value for the country along the
Gulf Coast but it is of no valtte for the North.

23. VITIS LABRUSCA' Linn.=

I. Linnaeus, Sp. PL, 1:203. i75j- ^'- syh'cstris Virginiana; V. vinifcra sylvcstris americana.
2. Marshall, 1785:165. V. vulpina; Fox grape vine. 3. Walter, 1788:242. V. taurina.
4. Michaux, 2:230. 1S03. l'. taurina. 5. Bartram, Dom. Enc., 5:289. 1804. V. vulpina; Fox
grape. 6. Muhlenberg. 1813:27. Fox grape. 7. Pursh, 1:169. 1814. V. taurina. 8. Nuttall,
1:143. 1818. 9. Elliott, 2:689. 1824. V. taurina. 10. Torrey, Fl. of N. & M. Sta., 1826:120.

' The name Labrusca is an old one originally applied to a grape growing wild in Italy. Engel-
mann states that this grape is still known to the Italians by the name Brusca. It was probably
applied to the American species by Linnaeus under the mistaken supposition that our northern Fox
grape was the same as the wild Italian species.

"Carl von Linne, better known in the Latin form of Carolus Linnaeus, was born in 1707 at
Rashult in the province of Smaland, Sweden. His father, a minister, endeavored to educate his
son to follow the same profession. In this he failed, as Linnaeus from his earliest years took no

IJO THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

II. Rafinesque, 1830:10. V. latifolia; V. latirina; V. Labrusca; Fox grape. 12. lb., 1830:11.
V. luteola; Variable grape. 13. Prince, 1830:180. V. Labrusca, var. nigra; Black Fox;
Purple Fox; V. taurina; V. vtdpina. 14. lb., 1830:181. V. Labrusca, var. alba; White
Fox. 15. lb., 1830:182. V. Labrusca, var. rosea; Red Fox. 16. Torrey, Fl. of N. Y., 1:146.
1843. Fox grape. 17. Darlington, Fl. Cest., 1853:50. Fox grape of the Northern States, not of
Va. 18. Le Conte, Froc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci.. 1853:270. V. sylvestris; Fox grape; V. occidcntalis;
V . vulpina; V. latifolia; V. canina; V. luteola; V. rugosa; V . fcrruginea; V . labruscoides ; V. blanda;
V. prolifera; V. obovata. 19. lb., U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1857:228. Fox grape; V. sylvestris; V. occi-
dentalis; V. vulpina; V. latifolia; 1'. canina; V. luteola; V. rugosa; V. ferruginea; V. labruscoides;
V. prolifica; V. obovata. 20. Buckley, lb., 1861:481. Frost grape. Fox grape of the Northern
States. 21. Stayman, Gar. Mon., 11:37, 38. 39, 40. 1869. Northern Fox Grape. 22. Engelmann,
Mo. Fill. Rpt., 1872:61. Fox grape; Northern Fox grape. 23. lb.. Bush. Cat., 1883:9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 19. Fox grape; Northern Fox grape. 24. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:136. Fox
grape. 25. lb.. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt.. 1885:97, 98, loi. 26. Planchon, De Candollc's Mon. Phan.,
5:322, 324. 1887. Fox grape; Northern Fox grape; V. vinifera sylvestris americana; V. latifolia;
V. canina; V. luteola. 27. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:59. Fox grape. 28. Pearson,
Gar. and For.. 2:584. i88g. 29. Munson. U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 3:11. 1890. 30. lb., Gar. and
For., 3:474. 1S90. 31. Britton and Brown, 2:408. 1897. Northern Fox grape; Plum grape.

32. B.iiley, Gray's Syn. FL, 1:429. 1897. Fox grape; Skunk grape; V. vulpina; V. blandi.

33. Mun.son, Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:232, 240. 1899. Northern Fox grape. 34. Viala and Ravaz, Am.
Vines, 1903:42, 45.

Vine moderately vigorous, stocky, climbing; shoots cylindrical, densely pubescent;
diaphragms medium to rather thick; tendrils continuous, strong, bifid or trifid. Leaves
with long, cordate stipules, leaf-blade large, thick, broadly cordate or roundish; entire
to three-lobed, frequently notched; sinuses rounded; petiolar sinus variable in depth
and width, V-shaped ; margin with rather shallow, acute pointed, scalloped teeth ; upper
surface more or less rugose, dark green, on young leaves pubescent, becoming glabrous
when mature; lower surface covered with dense pubescence, more or less whitish on
young leaves, becoming rusty or dun-colored when mature. Clusters small to medium,
more or less compound, usually shouldered, compact; pedicels thick; peduncle short to
medium. Berries medium to large; skin thick, covered with considerable bloom, strong
musky or foxy aroma. Seeds two to four, large, distinctly notched, beak short; chalaza
oval in shape, indistinct, showing merely as a depression; raphe, a groove. (See Plate.)

V^itis labrusca, the northern Fox grape, is mentioned in many of the
early writings of this country, particularly in those describing New Eng-

interest in the classical studies then taught. His father was finally induced to educate young Lin-
naeus as a physician. Linnaeus was the greatest systematist in the history of botany. His general
system, though much modified, is still in use. Although he named many species of plants, it was
not as a traveler and explorer but as a recipient of the results of travels of others that the specimens
were secured from which the descriptions were made. Linnaeus died at Upsala, Sweden, in 177S.
His herbarium after his death was sold and finally became the property of the Linnaean Society of
London, where the specimens are frequently used by botanists from various parts of the world for
purposes of comparison.

SHOOT OF ITflS L.IBRUSCA

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 151

land. It was probably described by other botanists before Linnaeus but
if so their descriptions are so meager that it cannot be definitely recognized.
Linnaeus in 1753, under Viiis labntsca, says: "Leaves cordate, slightly
tri-lobed, dentate, downy below." Marshall in 1785 under the name
Vitis vtilpina, or Fox grape, says: " This in manner of growth hath much
the appearance of the other kinds. The leaves are generally larger, and
smooth, but whitish underneath. The fruit or grapes are about the size
of a common cherry and have a strong scent, a little approaching to that
of a Fox, whence the name of Fox-grape. There are also varieties of this,
some with whitish or reddish fruit which is generallv most esteemed, and
others with black, of which are our largest grapes." From the time of
Marshall on all of the botanists give more or less complete descriptions of
this species and except for the brief misunderstanding at first as to the
name, its identity has never been questioned. At one time it was supposed
to grow in the Mississippi Valley but Engelmann demonstrated that what
were taken for Labnisca vines in Missouri were in reality strongly pubes-
cent forms of Aestivalis.

Labrusca is indigenous to the eastern part of North America, including
the region between the Atlantic Ocean and the Alleghany Mountains. It
is sometimes found in the valleys and along the western slopes of the AUe-
ghanies. Many botanists say it is never found in the Mississippi Valley;
Munson reports specimens, however, from Indiana and Tennessee. In the
first-named area it ranges from Maine to Georgia. It has the most
restricted habitat of any American species of horticultural importance,
being much exceeded in extent of territory by Vitis rotundi folia, Viiis
aestivalis, and Vitis riparia.

Labrusca has furnished more cultivated varieties, either pure-breeds or
hybrids, than all other American species together. The reason for this
is partly, no doubt, due to the fact that it is native to the portion of the
United States first settled and is the most common grape in the region
where agriculture first advanced to the condition where fruits were desired.
This does not wholly account for its prominence, however, which must be
sought elsewhere. In its wild state Labrusca is probably the most
attractive to the eye of any of our American grapes on account of the size
of its fruit, and this undoubtedly turned the attention of those who were

152 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

early interested in the possibilities of American grape-growing to this
species rather than to any other.

The southern Labrusca is quite different from the northern form and
probably demands different conditions for its successful growth; in the
North at least two types of the species may be distinguished. Vines are
found in the woods of New England, which resemble Concord very
closely in both vine and fruit, excepting that the grapes are much smaller
in size and more seedy. There is also the large-fruited, foxy Labrusca,
usually with reddish berries, represented by such cultivated varieties as
Northern Muscadine, Dracut Aniber, Lutie and others. Labrusca is
peculiar amongst American grapes in showing black-, wliite- and red-
fruited forms of wild vines growing in the woods. Because of this varia-
bility it is impossible to give the exact climatic and soil conditions best
adapted to the species. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that the ideal
conditions for this or any other species are not widely different from those
prevailing where the species is indigenous. In the case of Labrusca this
means that it is best adapted to humid climates and that the temperature
desired varies according to whether the variety comes from the southern
or northern form of the species.

The root system of Labrusca does not penetrate the soil deeply,' but
it is said to succeed better in deep and clayey soils than Aestivalis." In
the Southern and Middle States it does better on eastern and northeastern
slopes. As would be suspected from its original marshy home, it endures
an excess of water in the soil, and on the other hand requires more water
for successful growing than Aestivalis or Riparia. In spite of its ability
to withstand clayey soils, it seems to prefer loose, warm, well-drained sandy
lands to all others. The French growers report that all varieties of this
species show a marked antipathy to a limestone soil, the vines soon becom-
ing affected with chlorosis when planted in soils of this nature. In cor-
roboration of this Stayman reports that it is not found growing native in
clayey, limestone soils. The Labruscas succeed very well in the North and
fairly well in the middle West, as far south as Arkansas, where they are
raised on account of their fruit qualities but here the vines are not nearly

'Husmann, 1895:189.
^Grapc Cult., 1:4. 1869.

SHOOT OF WYOMING

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 53

SO vigorous and healthy as are those of other species. In Alabama they
are reported to be generally unsatisfactory, and in Texas the vines are
short-lived, unhealthy, and generally unsatisfactory, particularly in the
dry regions. There are some exceptions to this, as, for instance, in the
Piedmont region of the Carolinas, where, owing to elevation or other
causes, the climate of a southern region is semi-northern in its character.

The fruit of Labrusca is large and usually handsomely colored. The skin
is thick, covering a layer of adhering flesh, which gives the impression of its
being thicker than it actually is ; it is variable in tenderness, sometimes tough,
but in many of our cultivated varieties it is so tender as to be a detriment
in that it is inclined to crack on the vines in case of rain at ripening time,
and the berries to crusli in transportation. The skin of this species usually
has a peculiar aroma, generally spoken of as foxy, and a slightly acid, astrin-
gent taste. Beneath the skin there is a layer of juic}' pulp, quite sweet and
never showing much acidity in ripe fruit. The center of the berry is occupied
by rather dense pulp, more or less stringy, with considerable acid close to
the seeds. Many people object to the foxy aroma of this species, but, never-
theless, the most popular American varieties are more or less foxy. Analyses
have shown that Labrusca fruit is generally characterized by a low percent-
age of sugar and acid, the very sweet tasting fox grapes not showing as
high a sugar content as some of the disagreeably tart Aestivalis and Riparia
sorts. This, in addition to the foxiness which furnishes an excess of aroma
in the wine, has prevented Labrusca varieties from becoming favorites with
the wine-makers. Must from these varieties is adapted only for the making
of dry wines, and when making wines of any other class it is neces-
sary to add sugar and water, the quantities being governed by the final
product desired.

In addition to the strong points already enumerated, it may be said
that Labrtisca submits well to vinevard culture, is fairly visiorous and gen-
erally quite productive. It grows readily from cuttings and in point of
hardiness is intermediate between Riparia, the hardiest of our American
species, and Aestivalis. The roots are soft and fleshy (for an American grape)
and in some localities cpite subject to attacks of phylloxera. None of
the varieties of Labrusca have ever been popular in France on this account.
In the wild vines the fruit is inclined to drop from the vine when ripe. This

154 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

defect is known as "shattering" or "shelling" among grape-growers and it

is a serious weakness in certain varieties of Labrusca. It is said to be

more sensitive in its wild state to mildew and rot than any other American

species' but the evidence on this point does not seem to be wholly conclusive.

In the South and in some parts of the middle West the leaves of all varieties

of Labrusca sunburn and shrivel in the latter part of the summer. The

vines do not endure drouth as well as Aestivalis or Riparia and not nearly so

well as Rupestris. Pearson- reports that the Labruscas can be sprayed with

copper sulphate mixtures with much less danger to the leaves than can

Aestivalis.

24. VITIS VINIFERA Linn.

I. Linnaeus, S/J. PL, 1:202. 1753. 2. Speedily, 1791:1. 3. Willdenow, S/'. PL, 1:1180. 1797.
4. Bartram, Doni. Enc, 5:289. 1S04. 5. Rafinesque. 1830:7. Wine Grape. 6. Darlington, FL
Ccst., 1853:40. Wine grape; Foreign grape. 7. Buckley, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1861:480. Euro-
pean grape. 8. Stayman, Gar. Mon.. 11:38. 1869. European grape. 9. Bush, Grape Cult., 1:140.
1869. European grape. 10. Engelmann, Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1874:74. 11. Moore, Mich. Pom. Soc.
Rpt., 1875:36. 12. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:11, 12, 13, 14, ig. 13. Munson, Am. Hort.
Soc. Rpt., 1885:137. 14. De Candolle, Or. Cult. PL, 1885:191. 15. Onderdonk, U. S. D. A.
Rpt., 1887:652. 16. Planchon, De Candolle's Mon. Phan., 5:324, 353. 1887. 17. Am. Pom. Soc.
Rpt., 1889:107, 109. 18. Husmann, 1895:29, 187. 19. Munson, Rural .V. Y., 56:610. 1897. 20.
lb., Te.x. Sta. Bid., 56:231, 233, 240. 1900. Asiatic Wine grape. 21. Bailey, Cyc. Am. Hort.,
4:1956. igo2. fig. of leaves. Wine grape; European grape. 22. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines,
1903:42, 115.

Quite variable in vigor, not so high cHmbing as most American species. Tendrils
intermittent. Leaves rounded-cordate, rather thin, rather smooth, and when young,
shining, frequently more or less deeply three-, five-, or even seven-lobed ; usually glab-
rous but in some varieties the leaves and young shoots are hairy and even downy when
young; lobes rounded or pointed; teeth variable; petiolar sinus deep, narrow, usually
overlapping. Fruit, of cultivated varieties at least, very variable in size and color.
Berries of cultivated varieties usually oval though many varieties are globular fruited.
Seeds variable in size and shape, usually notched at upper end and characterized always
by bottle-necked, elongated beak; a rather broad, usually rough, slightly distinct cha-
laza situated rather high up on the seed; raphe indistinct. Flowers soon after Labrusca.
The roots are large, soft and spongy. A very variable species.

Botanists have never agreed as to whether Vitis vinifera is a single
species or a coinbination of two or more species which has been cultivated
for so long that it is impossible to discover the original forms. The name,

U/. S. D. A. Rpt., 1862:1c
^Gar. and For., 2:584. 188

'if

J

SHOOT OF VITIS VINIFERA

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I55

Vitis vinifera, is usually credited to Linnaeus though it was used for this
grape before Linnaeus' time by Bauhin and possibly by others. The descrip-
tion of Linnaeus accompanying the name is very short, as follows: Leaves
sinuately lobed, glabrous. Many of the earlier botanists, Tournefort for
one, described numerous varieties as though they were species. As a natural
corollary of the uncertainty of the botanical status of Vitis vinifera the
original habitat of the species is not positively known. De CandoUe, as
noted in the first part of this work, considered the region about the Caspian
Sea as the probable habitat of the Old World grape. There is but little
doubt that the original home of Vitis vi)iijcra is some place in western Asia.
There is strong corroborative evidence of this in the fact that the climatic
conditions under which the species flourishes are such as are there found.

The first chapter in The Grapes of New York has been devoted to
this, the Old World grape, and for a discussion of the horticultural charac-
ters of the species and of the efforts to cultivate it in America, the reader is
referred to that chapter.

Neither American nor European writers agree as to the exact climate
desired by Vinifera for the reason, probabl}*, that all of the varieties in this
variable species do not desire the same conditions. There are certain phases
of climate, however, that are well agreed upon, as follows: The species
requires a warm, dry climate, and is more sensitive to change of temperature
than our American species. Stayman, who had had considerable experience
in raising Vinifera grapes in different places, says: Vinifera " will not
endure much rain or grow on wet land. It is only in a dry climate and on
high rolling situations that it will succeed, where there is not more than
31 inches of an annual rainfall and for the growing and maturing season
15 inches." So far as soil alone is concerned, the French growers tell us
that it can be grown successfully in a wide variety of soils, being much less
particular in this respect than our American species. They state that it will
withstand and grow successfully in soils so strongly impregnated with lime
that any of the American sorts would succumb to chlorosis.

There are certain characters connected with the fruit of this species
which are peculiar to it and are not found in any of our American sorts.
First, the skin, which is attached very closely to the flesh and which is
never astringent or acid, is of good flavor and can be eaten with the fruit.

156 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Second, the flesh is firm, yet tender, and uniform throughout, differing in
this respect from any of our American sorts, which frequently show a sweet,
watery and tender pulp close to the skin with a tough and more or less acid
core at the center. Third, the flavor is peculiarly sprightly, a quality known
as vinoiis, because it characterizes this species. It ma}' be said in this
connection, however, that many Americans, accustomed to American
grapes, prefer the flavor of our native sorts to the vinous flavor of the Old
World grape. Europeans invariably, and Americans who live in Vinifera
raising sections, usually, deem the Vinifera flavor greatly superior. Fourth,
a strong adherence of the berrv to the pedicel, the fruit never " shattering "
or " shelling " from the cluster.

Varieties of Vinifera have been selected for the making of wine through
so many centuries that this species has become the first and great wine-
making grape. Whatever the future ma}' hold in store for American grapes,
there is no question but that at present the Viniferas are far superior to
anv native Americans for wine-making purposes, both as to quality in
general and the nvimber of kinds of wine which can be made.

The weak points of Vinifera are: First, an inability to withstand the
cold of our winters. The different varieties of Vinifera undoubtedly
vary considerably as to the exact amount of cold they will stand without
injury. All of them tried at this Station freeze to the ground even in the
mildest winters. Second, foliage particularly susceptible to the attack of
mildew and fruit susceptible to the attack of black-rot. Third, they
generally require a ripening season much longer than our climate aftords.
Fourth, the roots are soft and spongy and very liable to the attack of phyl-
loxera, though they apparently penetrate more readily in dense clays and
hard dry soils than any of our American species.

In the various hvbrids that have been made between American and
Vinifera varieties it is usually found that the desirable qualities of
Vinifera are taken in about the same proportion as the undesirable ones.
The fruit is improved in the hybrid but the vine is weakened. Quality
is purchased at the expense of hardiness and disease-resisting power.
Vinifera may be grown very readily from cuttings. This is of little cul-
tural importance, however, as both in Europe and America varieties of the
species are usually grafted on phylloxera-resistant stock.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 57

CHAPTER V

THE LEADING VARIETIES OF AMERICAN GRAPES

ADIRONDAC.

(Labrusca, Vinifcra?)

I. Mag. Hnrt., 27:400. 1S61. 2. Horticulturist. 17:04, 132, 518. 1862. fig. 3. il/ag. Hort.,
28:447, S4°- 1S62. 4. .4;)i. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1862:160. 5. U. S. D. A. Rpt., 1863:127. 6. ^lag.
Hort., 30:25, 62, 140, 150, 208. 1864. 7. Mead, 1867:164. 8. Fuller, 1867:216. 9. Thomas, 1867:
300- 10. .4;;;. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1867:44. 11. Grape Cult., 1:113. i86g. 12. Gar. Moii., 16:249.
1874. 13. Biisli. Cat., 1883:67. 14. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1883:56. 15. Montreal Hort. Soc. Rpt.,
1885:82. 16. X. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 10:403. 1891.

Adirondac is an old variety now nearly or quite obsolete. It is
probably a seedling of Isabella which it greatly resembles in vine and
fruit characters. It is of the Labrusca type, belonging to the southern
group of this species, and like most of the southern Labruscas lacks in hardi-
ness and vigor though it surpasses its j^arent in the first quality. The vine
makes a slow, weak growth and is particularly susceptible to fungi. The
quality of the fruit is very good, juicy and vinous, with the slight foxy
flavor peculiar to Isabella. Its earliness, a week or ten da^•s earlier
than Concord, is one of its chief points of merit. The Adirondac did not
attain favor because of the many faults of the vine and in the time of its
cultivation was seldom found except in the vineyard of the amateur. The
claim is often made for this variety that it is nearer the Black Hamburg
in quality than any other American grape.

Adirondac was first exhibited by J. W. Bailey of Plattsburg, New
York, at the Montreal Horticultural Society Exhibition in Montreal in 1861.
The original vine was found in 1852 by J. G. Witherbee in his garden
a short distance from the shore of Lake Champlain in the town of Port
Henry, Essex County, New York. The variety was introduced by Bailey.
On account of its resemblance in vine to Isabella it is supposed bv many to
be a seedling of that variety. Adirondac was placed on the grape list of
the American Pomological Society in 1867 and was dropped from it in
1883.

Vine variable in vigor and productiveness, injured in severe winters, subject to
attacks of mildew in unfavorable seasons. Foliage dark green, thick. Flowers semi-

158 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

fertile, open in mid-season or earlier; stamens upright. Fruit variable in season of
ripening, usually in edible condition about ten days before Delaware, does not always
keep well. Clusters above medium to small, usually rather compact, seldom shouldered.
Berries not uniform in size averaging below Concord, roundish to slightly oval on account
of compactness of cluster, dark purplish-black, persistent. Skin intermediate in thick-
ness. Flesh unusually tender and melting, sweet, mild, good to very good but with an
after flavor which is not altogether agreeable. Seeds rather large, few in number. Must

82^-83°.

ADVANCE.

(Riparia, Labrusca, Vinifera.)

1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1872:94. 2. U. S. D. A. Rpt., i875:,386. 3. .V. /. Hort. Soc. Rpt.,
1881:11. 4. Bush. Cat.. 1883:67, 152. 5. Va. Sta. Bid., 30:108. 1S93.

Advance is an unimportant variety now to be found only in the vine-
yards of experimenters. At the time of its introduction (1872) it was of
much interest as a hybrid between Riparia, Labrusca and Vinifera, Clinton
being one parent and Duke of Magenta, a grape resembling Black Ham-
burg, the other. In quality of fruit it is an improvement over Clinton but
unfortunately, as with so many primary hybrids of our native species with
Vitis vinifera , the vine is tender and susceptible to fungi.

This variety was produced by J. H. Ricketts of Newburgh, New York,
and was first exhibited at the grape show in New York City in 1870.

Vine vigorous, productive, not ven,' hardy, subject to attacks of mildew. Canes
long, covered with considerable blue bloom. Leaves rather large, thin, dark green.
Fruit ripens in mid-season, appears to keep well. Clusters above medium size, usually
single-shouldered, the shoulder being connected to the cluster by a rather long stem,
medium in compactness and with many abortive fruits. Berries medium to large, oval,
dark purplish-black, covered with heaw blue bloom, persistent. Flesh somewhat ten-
der, flavor sweet and spicy with considerable resemblance to that of Clinton, quality
good.

AGAWAM.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Mag. Hort., 23:86. 1857. (Rogers' hybrids.) 2. lb., 27:104, 489, 533. 1861. 3. Horii-
culturist, 17:26, 510. 1862. fig. 4. U. S. D. A. Rpt., 1863:130, 549- fig- 5- Horticulturist. 20 -.S,!.
1865. 6. .1/ag. Hor/., 31:68, 106, 333. 1865. 7. Husmann. 1866:124. 8. Fuller, 1867:230. 9. .4m.
Pom. Soc. Cat., 1867:44. 10. Horticulturist, 24:126. 1869. 11. Grape Cult.. 1:43, i53' '^i, 262, 325.
1869. 12. Am. Jour. Hort., 5:263. 1869. fig. 13. Barry, 1872:421. 14. Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt.,
1875:387. /Jg. 15. Bh5/j. Ca/., 1883:69. /!g. 16. Gar. and For., 3:4go. 1890. 17. Can. Hort., 17 iigi.

^'■'"

AGAWAM

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 59

1894. col. pi. 18. N. Y. Sta. An. Rpt.. 15:433- 1896- IQ- Ib-< 17:526, 54S, 552, 553. 1898. 20.
W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1899:91. 21. il/o. Sta. Bui., 46:37, 43, 44, 46, 47, 55. 1899.

Randall (20).' Rogers' No. 15 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), Rogers' No. 15 (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15).

Agawam is the most largely grown of Rogers' hybrids both in the
United States and in New York, the qualities commending it being large
size of bunch and berry, rich, sweet, aromatic flavor, attractive appear-
ance, excellent keeping qualities, vigor of vine, and capacity for self-fertili-
zation. It has the distinction of being the only self -fertile varietv among
Rogers' named hybrids. For a grape having its proportion of European
parentage the vine is vigorous, hardy and productive, though not equal to
many pure-bred American sorts in these respects. In severe winters it is
precariously hardy in New York. Its chief defects in fruit are a somewhat
thick and tough skin, coarse solid texture of pulp, and, for the European
palate, its decidedly foxy flavor. The vine is susceptible to the mildews
and in many localities does not yield well. In some markets Agawam is
highly esteemed and in making certain wines it is much sought for in blend-
ing because of the flavor it imparts. Although it ripens soon after Concord
it can be kept much longer and really improves in flavor the first few weeks
after picking. It may be kept in good condition in common storage until
January. Not uncommonly it shrivels on the stem making a raisin. It
seems to prefer somewhat heavy soils, doing better on clay than on sand
or gravel. The Agawam is often sold in the markets as Salem which it
resembles and by which it is surpassed in quality.

For an account of the parentage and origin of Agawam see ' Rogers'
Hybrids " of which this is No. 15. It was first mentioned as a variety about
1 86 1. In 1869 Rogers gave the fruit the name Agawam from the Indian
name of a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts. It has l^ecome one
of the most, if not the most, popular of Rogers' hybrids and is in some sec-
tions raised to a considerable extent as a market sort. It is propagated and
sold to-day by practically all nurserymen. It was placed on the grape
list of the American Pomological Society fruit catalog in 1867 and is still
retained there.

Vine vigorous, usually hardy, medium to productive, subject to mildew. Canes
of average length, medium in number, rather thick, moderately dark brown; nodes

Numbers in parentheses designate authors or publications cited in the list of references.

l6o THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

enlarged, somewhat flattened; internodes short to medium; diaphragm nearly thick;
pith of average size; shoots tinged with green, glabrous; tendrils intermittent to con-
tinuous, bifid to trifid.

Leaf-buds open in mid-season, of average size, long, somewhat thick, conical to
nearly obtuse. Young leaves tinged with carmine on lower side and along margin of
upper side, prevailing color pale green. Leaves of average size, thick; upper surface
light green, dull, moderately smooth; lower surface pale green, slightly pubescent,
flocculent; leaf not lobed, terminus somewhat acute; petiolar sinus deep, narrow,
often overlapping; lateral sinus very shallow when present; teeth shallow, wide. Flow-
ers occasionally on plan of six, nearly self -fertile, open medium late; stamens upright.

Fruit ripens soon after Concord, keeps until mid-winter. Clusters variable averag-
ing medium to large, short, rather broad, tapering to somewhat cylindrical, sometimes
single-shouldered, somewhat loose; peduncle medium to short, nearly thick; pedicel
of average length, usually thick, covered with few warts, much enlarged at point of
attachment; brush very short, pale green. Berries nearly large, roundish to slightly
oval, dark and dull purplish-red somewhat resembling Catawba, covered with lilac
bloom, very persistent. Skin thick, tough, adheres slightly to the pulp, contains no
pigment, somewhat astringent. Flesh pale green, translucent, tough, slightly stringy,
rather solid, foxy, good in quality. Seeds somewhat adherent, two to five averaging
four, large, rather narrow, long, often with slightly enlarged neck, blunt, brownish;
raphe usually distinct, shows as a ridge in the bottom of a broad groove; chalaza rather
large, distinctly above center, not obscure.

ALEXANDER.

(Labrusca, Vinifera?)

1. Dom. Enc, 1804:291. 2. McMahon, 1806:235. 3. Johnson, 1806:164. 4. Adlum, 1823:139.
5. Ib^. 1823:140. 6. Dufour, 1826:5, 9. 24, 55, 116, 207, 247, 255. 7. Adlum, 1828:173. 8. lb.,
1828:174. 9. Prince, 1830:173, 216, 2ig. 10. lb., 1830:174. 11. lb., 1830:200. 12. Downing.
1845:253. 13. U. S. Pat. Of}. Rpt., 1847:462. 14. lb.. 1847:468. 15. lb.. 1856:434- 16. Bush.
Cat., 1883:68.

Ali-xancU-r's (7, 15). Alexandria (15). Black Grape (16). Buck Grape (11). Cape (6, 15).
Cape grape {12, i^, 16). Cape of Good Hope grape (g, 10). Clifton's Constantly (4. 8, 10). Clif-
ton's Constantia {12, ib). Columbian (,11). Cotistantia ((>, 16). Madeira of York, Pa. {12). Roth-
rock of Prince (16). Schuylkill Muscadel (5, 7, 13). Schuylkill Muscadel (9, 12, 14, 15, 16).
Schuylkill Muscadine (12). Spring Mill Constantia (g, 12, 16). Taskcr's grape (i, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12, 16).
Vevay (13, 15, 16). Winne (ii). Winne (12, 16). York Lisbon (16).

Alexander is now a grape of the past but no other of our American
varieties better deserves historical record. We have seen in the preceding
chapters how important a part it had in the evolution of our native grapes,
being one of the first wild grapes to be domesticated. The Alexander was

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. l6l

a coarse grape with so much foxiness of flavor that it did not please the
early growers, who had been accustomed to European sorts, as a table-
grape, but it made a very good wine of the claret type and was grown for
this purpose until displaced by the Catawba. It was wine made from this
variety that Thomas Jefferson' pronounced "worthy of the best vineyards
of France." The early writers differ so in their estimates of the good and
bad qualities of this grape that it is hard to give its true characters at this
late date.

The early history of Alexander is really the history of two varie-
ties: the Schuylkill Muscadel and the Clifton Constantia. The first of
these varieties was, according to Bartram, found growing in the vicinitv
of Philadelphia on the hills bordering the Schuylkill River in the neighbor-
hood of an old vineyard of European grapes. The finder, John Alexander,
was gardener to Governor Penn of Pennsylvania, into whose garden he
introduced it a few years before the American Revolution. It was later
known as Tasker's grape from a Mr. Tasker of Maryland who cultivated
it largely. The Clifton Constantia, according to Adlum, originated with
William Clifton of Southwark, Philadelphia, who states that it was a chance
seedling in his garden. Adlum says that the two varieties had been con-
fused, that " they are much alike in the growth of the vine and the color
of the grape but the Schuylkill has rather the largest berries and is sweeter,
and generally has a small shoulder or branch with four or five grapes on it
growing out from the top of the bunch." Prince also describes the varie-
ties as separate, but he says " they are generally cultivated and considered
as synonymous." Later writers consider the two grapes identical.

Peter Legaux, the promoter of a vineyard company at Spring Mill,
about fourteen miles from Philadelphia, secured some vines of the Clifton
Constantia from Clifton and later introduced it under the name of Cape
grape stating that he had secured it from the Cape of Good Hope. Whether
he did this purposely and with intent to defraud or whether he had acci-
dentally mixed the cuttings secured from Clifton with some of a large num-
ber of cuttings which had come from abroad will never be known. When

' Adlum, John. Cultivation of the Vine: 14Q. 1828.
II

l62 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

reproached for his deception he denied that this variety was a native and con-
tinued to assert that he had secured it from the Cape of Good Hope. In this
he was strongly supported by Dufour who says: " I will also try to save the
character of our Cape grapes from being merely wild grapes, because some
are now found in the woods." Legaux's advertisement of this variety had
the effect of making it known at least and it is the opinion of writers of that
day that many were induced to try this grape under the supposition tliat
it was from the Cape of Good Hope who would have scorned it had they
supposed it to be a native. It came to be considerably^ planted in all parts of
the United States; was early introduced into the West and preceded the
Catawba as the popular grape around Cincinnati. It was found worthless
in New England and New York, the season not being long enough to mature
the fruit. With tlie introduction and dissemination of Catawba it was
gradually dropped from cultivation, the Catawba being superior in quality,
more resistant to rot and mildew and slightly earlier. It is now unknown
and it is doubtful if there are any living vines in cultivation.

Alexander is generally considered a variety of Labrusca but there
is much evidence to show that it is a hybrid of Labrusca and Vinifera.
This was the opinion of some of the earlier writers but later it was dis-
credited. Bartram gives as one of the distinguishing characters of Vinifera
and American vines that the first show oval berries while the latter do
not, but he makes an exception of Alexander. Why this should be an
exception does not seem apparent unless it be credited to hybridity. Fur-
thermore, the season of Alexander, which is very late, would also indicate
foreign blood; a grape native of the vicinity of Philadelphia would sup-
posedly be able to ripen itself in that locality, a thing that the Alexander
seldom did perfectly, and it is spoken of in southern Indiana as being very
late. Its place of origin ("in the vicinity of an old vineyard of European
kinds ") would indicate that there was an opportunity for hybridization to
take place. The descriptions strongly suggest some of the coarser-textured
of Rogers' hybrids.

This solution, if it be accepted, would account for the difference of
opinion as to its origin. Bartram and Prince could see enough of the char-
acters of the native in a hybrid so that they could be deceived into claiming
it as a native, and Dufour on the other hand could see enough of the Vinifera

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 163

characters so that he felt there was no question as to its being of foreign
origin.

Downing gives what is probably the most complete description of this
variety we now have, although it was made from fruit raised some distance
farther north than where the variety matures properly. He says: " It
is quite sweet when ripe and makes a very fair wine but it is quite too pulpy
and coarse for table use. The bunches are more compact and the leaves
much more doicny than those of the Isabella. Bunches rather compact,
not shouldered. Berries of medium size, oval. Skin thick, quite black.
Flesh with a very firm pulp, but juicy, and quite sweet and musky, when
fully ripe, which is not till the last of October." Dufour speaks of the ber-
ries ripening unevenly, requiring the green ones to be picked out before

sending to the wine press.

ALEXANDER WINTER.

(Labrusca, Vinifera?)

I.N. Y. Sta. All. Rpt., 11:613. 1892. 2. /6., 14:275. 1895. 3. 76., 17:526, 548, 553. 1898.

Alexander Winter is chiefly valuable because of the length of time
it will keep. As its name implies it is a ivinter grape. The flavor is
most excellent and when well grown the appearance of bunch and grape
is attractive. Another desirable quality is that the average number of
seeds to the berry is small, being only two. The great defect of the variety
is that, even with cross-pollinization, perfect clusters do not form. There
are many green berries, and when ripe there are always some small seed-
less berries indicating imperfect fertilization. Vine and foliage indicate
Labrusca parentage but the fruit suggests an admixture of Vinifera.
Although rarely found in the gardens and vineyards of New York, Alex-
ander Winter is well worth a place in the garden of the amateur and of the
grape-breeder because of its excellent keeping qualities.

Alexander Winter was originated by S. R. Alexander, Bellefontaine,
Ohio, from a lot of mixed seed planted in 1884. It was received at this
Station in 1892. It seems not to have been tested elsewhere and is not
generally handled by nurserymen.

Vine vigorous, injured in severe winters, productive. Foliage irregularly roundish,
dark green. Flowers open in mid-season or earlier; stamens reflexed. It cannot be
relied upon to set perfect clusters when standing alone and even when growing in a

164 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

mixed vineyard fails to set fruit well. Fruit ripens about with Salem, keeps a long time
in edible condition. Clusters above medium to small, very heavily shouldered, loose,
contain many small seedless fruits. Berries variable in size, the fully developed fruits
averaging medium to large, roundish, dull, light and dark red, covered with thin lilac
bloom or at times with faint tinge of grayish-blue, persistent. Skin covered with scat-
tering dark-colored dots, rather thick but tender. Flesh tender, vinous, with indica-
tions of Vinifera parentage, sweetish to agreeably tart, flavor pleasing, good to very
good in quality. Seeds large, few in number; raphe sometimes shows as a raised cord.

(I) ALICE.

(Labrusca.)
I. Bush. Cat., 1894:84.

Alice is one of two New York seedlings of this name offered grape-
growers, neither of which is worth a permanent place in viticulture. This
grape is a white seedling of Martha, and much resembles that variety.
It was originated by J. A. Putnam, Fredonia, New York, who writes that
the vine was first fruited in 1890. On account of its close resemblance to
Martha it was generally considered unworthy of perpetuation and is now

practically obsolete.

(II) ALICE.

(Labrusca, Aestivalis?, Vinifera?)

I. Rural A'. V.. 46:,36. 1887. fig. 2. lb.. 47:161. 1888. 3. Amer. Card., 9:7. 1888. fig. 4.
N. Y. Sta. .4)1. Rpt.. 11:613. 1892. 5. Amer. Card., 16:423. 1S95. fig. 6. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt.,
1895:233. 7. iV. Y. Sta. All. Rpt., 14:275. 1895. 8. Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1896:134. fig. g.
Rural N. V.. 56:662, 679. 1897. 10. .V. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:526, 548, 553. 1898.

A brief record of the origin, history and gross characters of Alice is
herewith given. The grape is of little value in New York.

I'his variety was found growing near an old stone wall by Ward D.
Gunn of Clintondale, Ulster County, New York, and was transplanted into
his vineyard in the spring of 1884. It was intr-oduced by F. E. Young
of Rochester. This is a Labrusca, with a few characters that indicate
Aestivalis and Vinifera blood.

Vine vigorous to medium, hardy, produces fair crops. Leaves medium to large,
sometimes strongly rugose, with lower surface heavily pubescent. Flowers self-fertile
or nearl}- so, open in mid-season; stamens upright. Fruit ripens with Concord or
slightly earlier, the different clusters van-ing in season of ripening, ships well and keeps
in good condition far into the winter. Clusters intermediate in size, usually with a small

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 165

single shoulder, medium to compact. Berries above medium to small, roundish
although frequently strongly compressed on account of compactness of cluster, rather
dull, pale red, somewhat lighter than Catawba, covered with thin lilac bloom, persistent.
Skin very thick. Flesh tender, vinous, somewhat foxy, sweet at skin to agreeably
tart at center, good in quality, resembling Diana or Catawba. The seeds, which are
few in number, often show a rough granular, warty surface around the chalaza.

ALLEN'S HYBRID.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Mag. Hort., 20:474. 1854. 2. lb.. 21:182. 1S55. 3. Essex lusl. Proc. 1:195. 1856. 4.
Mag. Hort., 26:6(3. 1S60. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat-, 1862:90. 6. Strong, 1866:330. 7. Mead. 1867:
176, 187, 194. fig. 8. Ga. Sla. An. Rpt., 13:320. iqoo. 9. Ga. Sta. Bui.. 53=40. 1901.

A half century ago Allen's Hybrid was the vine of promise in America.
It was the first named hybrid between Vitis labrusca and Vitis vinifera
to be disseminated and as such awakened the slumbering hopes of the
horticulturists of a continent. American grape-growers had all but given
up the expectation of ever growing the European grape in the New World
when Allen announced this hybrid. Auspicious hope! Grape-growers
everywhere hybridized grapes and the growing of the vine received an
impetus surpassed only by that of the introduction of the Concord. Botan-
ists and horticulturists had doubted the possibility and the practicability
of crossing the Old World grape with the New World species, when this
variety removed the doubt and led them to hope that we were to have
varieties of grapes in America possessing many of the coveted characters
of the grapes of Europe.

After its introduction the variety was tested wherever grapes were:
grown in the United States and Canada, — -and for a generation. Its high
quality, entirely free from what was then considered objectionable foxi-
ness, handsome appearance, with some other qualities of its Vinifera par-
ent, at first indicated that it was a most valuable acquisition; but it soon
developed the tenderness of vine and susceptibility to fungi and insects
which have come to be the distinguishing marks of the primary hybrids
of native species and the European grape. Its cultivation has long since
ceased and it has now a place onh' in the history of American grape-growing.
It has been one of the parents of a number of other grapes, chief of which
is Lady Washington, produced from a cross between Allen's Hybrid and

l66 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Concord. The grape is lost to cultivation but the name should be per-
petuated as commemorating one of the great events in American
viticulture.

Allen's Hybrid was originated by John Fiske Allen of Salem, Massa-
chusetts. In the winter of 1843-44 he fertilized the blossoms of an Isabella
vine growing in a greenhouse with pollen from Chasselas de Fontainbleau.
Seeds were produced and planted the next year the vines of which began
to fruit in 1853 and 1854. One of these seedlings of greater merit than
the others was saved and named Allen's Hybrid; the others were destroyed.

" The vine is not hardy, and requires winter protection, but is vigorous and pro-
ductive, ripening quite early, and in sheltered situations is a desirable variety. Bunch
medium to large, shouldered, compact; berry medium to large, round, sometimes
depressed; skin thin, white, changing to pale yellow when fully ripe; flesh tender, juicy,
sweet, rich, with a delicate slightly vinous flavor, and one of the best in quality."'

AMBER QUEEN.

(Vinifera, Riparia, Labrusca.)

1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1870:33. 2. lb., 1873:101. 3. Bush. Cat., 1883:70. 4. .V. Y. Sta.
An. /?/'/., 8:342. i88q. 5. 76., 17:548, 552. iSgS. 6. .l/y. 5/a. Bii/., 46:42, 44, 46, 76. 1899. 7. Ca.
Sta. Bill.. 53:40. iqoi.

Amber Queen is interesting chieflv as having sprung from three
species, Vitis vinifera, Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia, and as showing
the characters of all in some degree. The fruit strongly indicates the
Vinifera parentage, the continuous tendrils Labrusca, and the vine, in
vigor of growth and several botanical characters, shows its descent from
Riparia. The variety has never been much grown, and when cultivated
could be best characterized by its faults — of not setting fruit well, suscep-
til)ilit}- to mildew and black-rot and of unproductiveness. It is, however,
reasonably successful in especially favorable localities.

The variety was first exhibited at a meeting of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society in 1870. It was originated by N. B. White, Norwood,
Massachusetts, from seed of Marion fertilized with Black Hamburg. Bush
questions this parentage owing to the fact that Amber Queen frequently
shows continuous tendrils. In the vineyard of this Station, however,

'Downing, 1872:119 app.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 167

Marion shows continuous as well as intermittent tendrils, indicating that
it would be quite possible for the Amber Queen to have inherited its aber-
rant tendrils from that source.

Vine a strong grower, usually hardy, produces light crops except in favored locations,
both leaves and fruit subject to attacks of fungal diseases. Leaves above medium size,
roundish, rather thick. Flowers sterile or nearly so, practically incapable of setting
fruit when self-fertilized, open about in mid-season and bloom a long time; stamens
refle.xed. Fruit variable in season of ripening, sometimes before, at other times after
Concord, usually requires more than one picking to secure the fruit at its best, does not
keep well as the berries soon wither. Clusters variable in size but not large, usually
loose and open but sometimes compact. Berries not uniform in size, roundish to oval,
dark red covered with more or less Hlac bloom, somewhat resembling Catawba in color,
not very firm as the berries soon shrivel, persistent. Flesh very juicy, soft and tender,
mildly sweet at skin to acid at center, good to very good in quality. Seeds variable in
size, frequently with enlarged neck; chalaza distinctly above center.

AMBROSIA.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)
I. N. Y. Sla. All. Rpi., loug^. 1891. 2. 76.. 11 :6i4. iSgi. 3. 76., 17:526, 545, 547, 553. 1898.

Ambrosia is a New York seedling which, though introduced nearly
twenty years ago, has not found favor with grape-growers. In quality,
while hardly worthy of its name, it ranks high and for this reason may be
worth a place in the vineyard of the amateur. On the Station grounds
it shells badly, differing in this respect from its supposed parent Sak:m.

The variety was originated by Alfred Rose of Penn Yan, New York,
from seed of Salem planted in 1884. It was received for testing by this
Station in 1888. There are no records of its having been tested elsewhere.

Vine vigorous, healthy, usually hardy, moderately productive. Leaves intermediate
in size ; lower surface heavily tinged with bronze. Flowers occasionally on plan of six,
fertile, open in mid-season or earlier; stamens upright. Fruit ripens about with Con-
cord or Delaware, appears to keep well. Clusters large to medium, broadly and irregu-
larly tapering, sometimes blunt at ends, usually not shouldered or shoulder when pres-
ent small and short, compact to medium. Berries large to above medium, slightly
oblate, attractive green changing to a yellow tinge, covered with a more or less gray
bloom, drop from clusters easily. Flesh rather transparent and tender, mild, sweetish
from skin to center, pleasant-flavored but somewhat variable in flavor and quality,

1 68 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

ranking from medium to very good. Seeds separate readily from the pulp, quite large;
raphe often shows as a partly submerged cord.

AMERICA.

(Lincecumii, Rupestris.)

I. TV. y. Sta. An. Rpt., 11:614. 1892. 2. .4)i. Hort.. 1892:176. 3. Husmann, 1895:116, 125.
4. A''. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 14:276. iSys. 5. lb., 17:526, 548. 553, 189S. 6. Tex. Sta. Bid., 48:1149,
1 152. 1898. fig. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1899:29. 8. Mo. Sta. Bui.. 46:43, 45, 46, 47. 1899. 9.
Ga. Sta. An. Rpt., 13:320. 1900. 10. Tex. Sta. Bid., 56:263, 274. 1900. /I'l;. 11. Rural \. Y.,
60:614. iQoi. 12. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1904:305.

America is illustrated and described in The Grapes of New York
chiefly because of its possible valtxe in breeding work. It may also be
worth growing in a limited wav in this State for wine-making as it is reputed
by all who have tried it to be one of the best native grapes for a dark red
wine and to make a verj- good port. The notable qualities of the variety
as it grows at Geneva are: Vigor of growth, health of foliage, persistence
of berries, liigh sugar content and the pectiliar flavor of the fruit, liked
by some and not by others. At least it can be said that the taste of America
is new to northern grape-growers; and, since it wholly lacks the foxy taste
and aroma of Labrusca, it offers possibilities for breeding varieties lacking
the distinguishing flavor of Concord and Niagara. This variety would
probably be somewhat objectionable in northern markets as a table fruit
because of the highly colored juice, which stains the hands and the lips.
The flavor is decidedly that of Vitis rupestris.

Its originator claims for America great resistance to heat and cold;
and our experience, though limited, confirms the claim. So, too, it is said
to be a suitable stock upon which to graft Vinifera varieties to resist phyl-
loxera, a matter concerning which our experience in this region offers
nothing, though the parentage strongly suggests such resistance to be
the case. The vigor of the vine and the kixuriance of the foliage, j^robably
still more marked farther south, cannot but make it an excellent sort for
arbors. But the fact must be emphasized that America is preeminently
of interest to the northern grape-grower because it gives him an opportunity
to make use in breeding work, of the qualities of Rupestris and Lincecumii,
southern species combined in this variety and thriving in the combination
in northern conditions.

AMERICA

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 169

The grape described here was originated by Munson from seed of Jaeger
No. 43 poUinated by a male Rupestris. It was received at this Station
in 1892 which was practically the date of its introduction. America has
been widely tested by experiment stations and the reports of its behavior
are generallv favorable.

Vine vigorous to very vigorous, usually hardy, produces heavy crops. Canes long,
numerous, of medium size, tlark reddish-brown, covered with heavy blue bloom; nodes
enlarged, strongly flattened; internodes of average length; diaphragm medium in
thickness; pith rather large; shoots glabrous, covered with blue bloom; tendrils inter-
mittent, long, bifid.

Leaf-buds open in mid-season, medium to small, of average length, rather thick,
conical to obtuse. Young leaves tinged on both sides, making the prevailing color
rose-carmine. Leaves healthy, inferior in size, rather thin; upper surface attractive
medium green, glossy, smooth; lower surface light green, hairy; veins indistinct; lobes
lacking or faintly showing, terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus moderately deep and
wide; teeth of average depth and width. Flowers sterile, usually on plan of six, open
late; stamens reflexed.

Fruit ripens with Concord or later, keeps well. Clusters nearly large, above medium
length, broad, tapering, somewhat cylindrical, irregular, usually single-shouldered,
averaging two or three bunches per shoot, usually compact; peduncle of medium length,
rather thick; pedicel short, slender, covered with few, small, inconspicuous warts; brush
short, thick, with reddish tinge. Berries medium to small, variable in size, roundish,
attractive black or purplish-black, glossy, covered with heavy blue bloom, persistent,
somewhat soft. Skin thin, very tender, adheres slightly to the pulp, contains an
unusually large amount of purplish-red pigment, slightly astringent. Flesh dull white
with faint reddish tinge, translucent, not very juicy, tender, not stringy, melting, spicy,
vinous, sweet, good in quality. Seeds separate easily, two to five, average four, above
medium size, long, of moderate width, pointed, yellowish-brown; raphe prominent, cord-
like; chalaza large, slightly above center, irregularly circular, distinct.

There is a second variety under the name America, as Ricketts years
ago introduced an America which has probably passed from cultivation.

AMETHYST.

(Labiiisca, Vinifera, Bourquiniana.)
I. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt.. 1903:82.

Amethyst is one of Munson's hybrids as yet unknown to the grape-
growers of New York. It is a most excellent table grape, coming after
the Delaware which it much resembles in hal:)it of growth and in fruit.

170 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

It is a Stronger grower than Delaware, has proved to be as hardy, is seem-
ingly not attacked readily bv black-rot, but like the Delaware is susceptible
to mildew. In qualit}' it ranks with Delago, Brilliant, Goethe, Lindley
and Delaware, all parents one or two generations removed. According to
Munson it makes a good white wine. It is at least an amateur's grape,
to be sought because of high ciuality. It was originated by T. V. Munson
of Denison, Texas, being first fruited in 1898. It is a cross of Delago and
Brilliant and was introduced in 1902.

Vine moderately vigorous, hardy, medium to productive, susceptible to attacks
of mildew. Canes intennediate in length, number and thickness, light and dark brown
deepening in color at the nodes. Leaves medium to nearly large, light green; lower
surface pale green, pubescent. Flowers nearly fertile to slightly sterile, open rather
late; stamens upright. Fruit ripens after Delaware, keeps well. Clusters medium
to large, intermediate in length and width, usually single-shouldered, compact. Berries
above medium to small, roundish to oval, strongly narrowing toward the pedicel on
account of compactness of cluster, rather attractiv-e dark red, covered with lilac bloom,
usually persistent. Skin thick, of average toughness. Flesh rather tough, solid, vinous,
sweetish at skin to agreeably tart at center somewhat resembling Brilliant, good to very
good in quality. Seeds intermediate in size and length, often with enlarged neck.

AMINIA.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Mag. Hort., 31:333. 1865. 2. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1865:40. 3. A^ Y. Agr. Soc. Rpt.,
1870:276. 4. Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1875:341. 5- Bush. Cat., 1883:70. 6. III. Sta. Bui.. 28:252.
1893. 7. N. Y. Sta. An. Rpt.. 17:526, 548, 553. 1898. 8. Mo. Sta. Bui, 46:42, 44, 46, 48, 54. 1899.
9. Ga. Sta. All. Rpt., 13:320. 1900.

Rogers' No. 39 (i, 2, 3, 4). Rogers' No. 39 (5).

Aminia is deserving the recognition of a color-plate and a full descrip-
tion in this work because in quality it is one of the best early grapes for
New York. Besides being early and of good quality it keeps well. It
ripens with or a little after Moore Early and Hartford, producing berries
of high quality and attractive appearance but the bunches are small, variable
in size, not well formed as a rule, and the berries ripen unevenly. The vine
is vigorous, not as hardy as might be wished for in New York, nor as
productive as a commercial variety must be, and shows the weaknesses
characteristic of all of Rogers' hybrids.

For an account of the origin of the Aminia see page 390 under " Rogers'

AMINIA

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 17I

Hybrids." In 1867 Bush secured vines of Rogers' No. jg from several
different sources. When these came into bearing he found he had three
different varieties. The original vine of Rogers' No. jg having been destroyed
it was impossible to determine which was the correct one. Bush selected
the best of these and to avoid further confusion, with the consent of Rogers,
named it Aminia. But in spite of Bush's care there are still at least two dif-
ferent varieties cultivated under this name. Although the Aminia is found
in many varietal vineyards, an examination of over fortv of the leading
grape nurserymen's catalogs shows onlv three who offer vines for sale.

Vine vigorous, not always hardy, lacking somewhat in productiveness. Canes
slightly rough, long, medium in number, thickish, dark brown to reddish tinge; nodes
enlarged, usually not flattened; internodes medium to long; diaphragm somewhat
thick; pith large; shoots pubescent; tendrils intermittent, long to medium, trifid to
bifid, persistent.

Leaf-buds open in mid-season, about medium in size and length, above average
thickness, prominent, obtuse to conical. Young leaves colored on both sides, prevailing
color rather bright carmine. Leaves large, of average thickness; upper surface medium
green, rather dull, nearly smooth; lower surface light green, slightly pubescent; veins
distinct; lobes usually three, terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus rather deep, narrow,
often closed and overlapping; basal sinus usually lacking; lateral sinus nearly shallow,
narrow; teeth somewhat shallow, inclined to wide. Flowers open in mid-season, sterile;
stamens reflexed.

Fruit ripens early, just after Hartford, keeps well. Clusters medium to small, of
average length, broad, irregular, somewhat conical, sometimes with a long shoulder,
rather loose; peduncle long, thick; pedicel longish, not slender, broad at point of attach-
ment, covered with few warts; brush short, thick, brownish-red. Berries range fr(.)m
large to small, decidedly variable, roundish, dull black, covered with blue bloom, per-
sistent, firm. Skin rather thick, somewhat tender, adheres considerably to the pulp,
contains a large amount of purplish-red pigment, slightly astringent. Flesh greenish,
translucent, moderately tender, rather solid and coarse, foxy, sweet at skin but some-
what acid at center; quality good. Seeds adherent, one to six, average three and four,
very large, long, fair width, sharply pointed, light brown with yellow tinge; raphe
obscure ; chalaza large, above center, irregularly circular to oval, distinct.

ANTOINETTE.

(Labrusca.)

I. N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt., i88i:io. 2. Rural N. Y., 48:801. 1889. /jg. 3. Bush. Cat., 1894:86.
4. N. v. Sta. An. Rpt., 15:294. 1896. 5. lb., 17:526, 545, 547, 553. 1898. 6. Kan. Sta. Bui.,
110:235. 1902.

1^2 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Antoinette is a white seedling of Concord which, on the Station grounds,
and in the State at large, has not shown sufficient merit to warrant its
recommendation. It is very similar to the several other white seedlings
of Concord, all of \\'hich have a decided varietal resemblance and which,
except in color of fruit, have the general characters of Concord.

T. B. Miner, of New Jersey, produced Antoinette from Concord seed
over thirty years ago.

Vine medium to vigorous, usually hardy, fairly productive. Canes medium to
short, usually roughened. Leaves of average size and thickness with lower surface
heavily pubescent. Flowers open in mid-season or earlier, fertile; stamens upright.
Fruit ripens with Concord or slightly earlier, keeps well. Clusters medium to small,
cylindrical to tapering, usually not shouldered, variable in compactness. Berries large
to below medium, roundish, dark dull green or whitish, often with a tinge of yellow,
covered with heavy gray bloom, inclined to drop from pedicel, not firm. Skin usually
covered with small scattering dark dots, thin, variable in toughness. Flesh rather
tough, sweetish next the skin, tart at center, slightly foxy, good to very good in quality.
Seeds separate from the pulp with difficulty, not numerous, rather large, dark brown.

AUGUST GIANT.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1872:95. 2. Bush. Cat.. 1883:72. 3. ///. Sta. Bui.. 28:252. iSq,^.
4. Col. Sta. Bui, 29:1s. 1S94. 5. Bush. Cat., 1894:86. 6. Del. Sta. An. Rpt., 7:134, 136. 1S95.

The originator of August Giant has managed to secure a l:iybrid of
Vitis labrusca and Viiis vinifera in which the fruit characters are decidedh'
those of the latter species. In appearance of berry and in taste, when
well grown, August Giant greatly resembles Black Hamburg. The vine is
unusually vigorous and, considering its parentage, is quite hardy. The
foliage is thick and luxuriant, though somewhat subject to mildew. The
vigor of vine, beauty of foliage, and the high quality of the fruit make the
varietv a desirable one for the amateur, especially where an ornamental
vine is wanted. The variety needs to be grown where the fruit can have
a long and favorable maturing season.

August Giant was originated by N. B. White of Norwood, Massa-
chusetts, in 1 86 1 from seed of an early, large-berried red grape of the
Labrusca type, pollinated by Black Hamburg.

AUGUST GIANT

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 173

Vine very vigorous, usually hardy, not a heavy bearer, somewhat subject to mildew.
Canes medium to long, numerous, thick, light to dark brown; nodes enlarged, slightly
flattened; internodes below average length; diaphragm rather thick; pith large to
medium; shoots slightly pubescent; tendrils continuous, medium to long, bifid to trifid.

Leaf-buds open in mid-season, of average size, short, rather thick, conical to obtuse.
Young leaves tinged with carmine on lower side extending beyond border of upper side.
Leaves medium to very large, thick; upper surface dark green, glossy, smooth, slightly
rugose on older leaves; lower surface pale green to indistinct bronze, pubescent; veins
rather indistinct; lobes usually three, terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus medium to
deep, narrow, frequently closed and overlapping; lateral sinus shallow to a mere notch;
teeth shallow, narrow. Flowers open in mid-season, sterile; stamens reflexed.

Fruit ripens about a week later than Moore Early, keeps well. Clusters of average
size or sometimes larger, medium to short, rather broad, irregularly tapering, not uni-
form, usually single-shouldered, loose to nearly compact; peduncle long to medium in
length, somewhat thick; pedicel longish, thick, wide at attachment to berry, covered
with numerous large warts; brush short, thick, greenish or with brown tinge. Berries
resemble Black Hamburg in general appearance but somewhat variable, averaging
large, oval to roundish, dark purplish-red or black, dull, covered with thick blue bloom,
hang well to pedicel, firm. Skin of average thickness, tough, adheres slightly to pulp,
contains a small amount of bright red pigment, strongly astringent. Flesh greenish,
translucent, somewhat tough, stringy, agreeably tart at skin but acid at center, good
in quality, resembling Black Hamburg. Seeds adherent, one to four, averaging three,
large, rather broad, long, plump, somewhat blunt, light brown; raphe usually obscure;
chalaza somewhat large, above center, irregularly circular, distinct.

AUTUCHON

(Riparia, Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Downing, 1869:530. 2. Grape Cult.. 1:325, 334. 368. 1S69. fig. 3. Horticulturist, 24:10
1869. 4. lb., 25:74. 1870. 5. Grape Cull., 2:265. 187°- 6. Barry, 1872:424. 7. Horticulturist,
27:14. 1872. 8. Montreal llort. Soe. Rpt., 1881:150. 9. Bush. Cat., 1883:71. fig. 10. Minu. Horl.
Soc. Rpt., 1884:240. II. Can. Cen. Exp. Farms Rpt., 1891:134. 12. Traitc gen. de vit.. 5:200. 1903.

Arnold's Xo. 5 (3). Arnold's No. 5 (i, 2. 4, 5. 6, 8, 9, 10, 12).

Autuchon was introduced about 1870 with great ^clat. It was
heralded as the "best white grape in America — a veritable treasure."
Later it was grown and somewhat widely tested in France. But in neither
country has it come up to expectations. In America it has proved to be
somewhat tender to cold, an tmreliable bearer and subject to rot and mildew.
In France it shows the same weaknesses and is not as resistant to phylloxera
as are other and better American sorts. The quality of Autuchon is excel-

174 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

lent, being that of its European parent with the agreeable sprighthness
of its American ancestor. According to the reports regarding it from
France it makes a "wine remarkably white, vinous and fresh, slightly
musky and agreeable, and of a beautiful yellow color."'

Autuchon was originated by Charles Arnold of Paris, Canada, from
seed planted in 1859. The parents are Clinton pollinated by Golden
Chasselas. It is not in the Station collection, and the following description
is taken from the Bushhcrg Catalogue.'

" Leaves dark green, very deep lobed and sharp pointed serratures; the unripe
wood is very dark purple, nearly black. Bunches very long, not heavily shouldered,
rather loose; berries medium size, round, white (green), with a moderately firm, but
readily melting flesh, and an agreeable sprightly flavor, resembling the White Chasselas.
Skin thin, without astringency. Ripens with the Delaware."

BACCHUS.

(Riparia, Labrusca.)

I. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1879 (cited by 2). 2. Gar. Mon., 22:176. 1S80. 3. Mass. Hort. Soc.
Kpl., 1880:238. 4. Bush. Cat., 1883:72. pf;. 5. .V. Y. Sta. An. Rpt.. 9:326. i8qo. 6. ///. Sta. But.,
28:252. 1893. 7. Tcv.n. Sta. Bui.. Vol. 9:167. 1896. 8. Rural .V, V.. 59:7. 1900.

Bacchus is a wine grape deemed worthy by its originator to bear the
name of the god of wine. It is an offspring of Clinton which it mucli
resembles in vine and leaf characters but surpasses in quality of fruit
and in productiveness. In New York Bacchus has very generally super-
seded Clinton though neither is extensively grown. It is vigorous,
l-iroductive, hardv, free from mildew and adapted to a variety of soils; it
re([uires a long season for full maturity and cannot therefore be well grown
in northern locations though the seasons in the grape regions of New York
are usually sufficiently long. The wine-makers of the State mention it
as one of the most desirable grapes for a dark red wine. While it is gen-
erally too tart for a dessert grape, yet if left on the vine until frost, as late
as it can hang, it becomes a good late table grape. Bacchus is one of the
best, if not the best, cultivated types of Riparia, or of the Clinton group
of Riparia. Its special points of merit from a broad standpoint are: Resist-

' Traite gen. de vit.. 5:201. 1903.
- Bush. Cat., 1883:71.

BACCHUS

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 75

ance to cold, resistance to phylloxera, value for wine-making, freedom from
fungi and insects, productiveness, ease of multiplication, and capacity to
bear grafts. For the above qualities it offers exceptional opportunities
to the plant-breeder. Its most prominent limitations are: Poor quality
for table use, inability to withstand dry soils or droughts and non-adapt-
ability to soils containing much lime.

There is no question about the origin of Bacchus. It is a seedling of
Clinton which, as mentioned above, it greatly resembles in every character.
The variety was originated by J. H. Ricketts of Newburgh, New York,
and was first exhibited by him before the American Pomological Society
in 1879. It is well known in eastern United States and, as in New York,
is highly thought of as a wine grape.

Vine very vigorous, hardy, healthy, productive. Canes average in length, numer-
ous, of medium size, rather light to dark brown with some bloom at nodes which are
somewhat enlarged and flattened ; intemodes intermediate in length ; diaphragm below
average thickness; pith large to medium; shoots nearly glabrous; tendrils continuous,
of mean length, bifid.

Leaf-buds open early, of average size, rather short, thick, obtuse to conical. Young
leaves faintly tinged with carmine on lower side only, prevailing color pale green with
faint carmine tinge. Leaves medium to small, thin; upper surface dark green, glossy,
smooth ; lower surface dull green, not pubescent ; veins indistinct ; lobes three in num-
ber, terminal lobe acuminate; petiolar sinus medium to shallow, narrow sometimes
nearly overlapping; basal sinus lacking; lateral sinus shallow, wide; teeth of average
depth and width. Flowers open early, sterile ; stamens upright.

Fruit ripens late and keeps well, hanging a long time on the vine. Clusters small
to medium, below average length, rather slender, uniform, cylindrical, often single-shoul-
dered, compact; peduncle almost short, intermediate in size; pedicel short to medium,
slender, covered with a few small warts; brush short, wine-colored. Berries variable
in size, below medium to small, roundish, black, glossy, covered with a moderate amount
of blue bloom, hang well to pedicels, firm. Skin thin, of average toughness, adheres
only slightly to the pulp, contains much wine-colored pigment, slightly astringent.
Flesh dark green, translucent, fine-grained, somewhat tough, vinous, sweet at skin to
tart near seeds, with slight Riparia spiciness, of medium quality, improving as the season
advances. Seeds cling to pulp, one to four, average two, often many abortive, above
medium size, rather short and wide, usually plump, sharply pointed, brownish ; raphe
obscure; chalaza above center, pear-shaped, distinct. Must registers 95°-! 10°.

176 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

BAILEY.

(Lincecumii. Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Rural iV. Y., 50:221, 222. 1S91. fig. 2. Bush. Cat.. 1894:159. 3. .V. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 14;
270. iSq;. 4. -V. Y.Sta. An. Rpt.. 17:526, 548, 553. 1898. 5. Tex. Sta. BuL. 48:1 j.ig, 1153. 1898.
fig. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat.. 1899:29. 7. Tex. Sta. Bui., 56:275. igoo. 8. Rural X. Y., 60:614.
1 90 1.

In the Bailey are combined characters of three species, Vinifera,
Labrusca and Lincecumii — characters attained in three widely separated
regions, Europe, Massachusetts, and Texas. Moreover the characters of
Vinifera and Labrusca have been transmitted to Bailey through Tri-
umph, in which variety they are as well combined as in any other hylirid
of the two species. The Lincecumii parent, Big Berry, is at the head of
Munson's " Big Berry Family " of hybrids: lirought in from the wild, it
is one of the best representatives of its species. Bailey, therefore, has
roval blood and if parentage counts in grapes, it should prove valuable.
Unfortunately New York, at least the Station vineyard, is a little too
far north for the fruit to mature well. In cold winters the vine is liable
to winter injur}-. In seasons when the grapes have matured the appear-
ance and quality of the fruit have been such as to recommend it. Its
vigor of vine and productiveness give it additional value, and if not to
be recommended for commercial plantings in this State, it can surely be
named as valuable for lireeding purposes. The name of tlie variety was
bestowed upon it bv its originator in honor of L. H. Bailey, known by all
grape-growers for his services to viticulture.

Bailey was originated by Munson from seeds of a wild Post-oak grape
called Big Berry, fertilized with pollen of Triumph. The seed was planted
in 1887 and the original vine came into fruiting in 1889-90. The variety
is now very generallv disseminated throughout the East, and the reports of
its behavior, in the North at least, generally accord with that from this
Station given above.

Vine vijjorous, injured in severe winters, produces good crops of fniit. Canes dark
reddish-brown, of good length, of medium size and number. Leaves average in size,
light green, dull to slightly glossy, with very distinct veins on lower surface which is cob-
webby. Flowers open late, fertile; upright stamens.

Fruit ripens unevenly almost as late as Catawba, keeps well. Clusters rather large and

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 177

long, not very broad, often blunt at ends, cylindrical to irregularly tapering, usuallj' not
shouldered but sometimes with a small, short shoulder, compact. Berries persistent,
medium to large, vary in shape from roundish to ovate on account of compactness of
clusters, change in color from purplish-black to black, covered with a heavy blue bloom.
Skin medium to thin, strongly astringent, tough, adheres somewhat to the pulp, con-
tains a large amount of purplish-red pigment. Flesh moderately juicy and tender,
coarse, vinous, good in quality, releases the seeds rather easily. Seeds numerous,
medium to above in size, moderately broad, above medium to medium length, blunt,
brownish; raphe buried in a shallow, narrow groove; chalaza large, above center, cir-
cular to oval, distinct.

BANNER.

(Labrusca, Vinifera, Bourquiniana?)
1. U. S. D. A. Yr. Bk.. 1906:361. col. pi.

Banner is one of the newer offerings for pomological honors. The
Station was not able to secure vines until 1906 and these have not j'et
fruited. So far as is known it is not grown elsewhere in the State. Since
the variety has been well spoken of by horticulturists who have seen it,
and since it has been deemed worthy a place among the promising new
fruits illustrated and described in the Year Book of the United States
Department of Agricultttre for 1906, the variety is discussed here. The
technical description of it is quoted from the above reference.

The variety was originated by Joseph Bachman of Altus, Arkansas,
from seed of Lindley pollinated by Delaware. The seed was planted in
1898. The originator states that he suspects a Stark-Star vine growing
alongside also furnished pollen as the Lindley blossoms were unprotected.

" Cluster large, broad conical, heavily shouldered, very compact; stem short;
berries globular, of medium size, adhering tenaciously to the small green peduncles;
skin moderately thick, and rather tough; amber red and glossy, but covered with a
profuse bloom; flesh translucent, juicy, and rather meaty; seeds few, very small, brown;
flavor refreshing subacid to sweet and aromatic; quality good to very good. Season
late August and early Seotember in Frankhn county, Arkansas, ten days or two weeks
later than Delaware."

BARRY.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

1. U. S. D. A. Rpt., 1864:136. 2. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpf., 1865:40. 3. Mag. Hort., 34:345- 1868.
4. Am. Jour. Hort.. 5:11. 1S69. fig. 5. Horticulturist, 24:126. i86g. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat.,
12

lyS THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

l86g:42. 7. Grape Cull., 1:182, 326. 1S69. 8. Bush. Cat., 1883:74. fig- 9- Midt. Bd. Agr. Rpt.,
24:133. 1885. 10. ///. Sta. Bid., 28:252. 1893. II. Rural X. Y., 52:671. 1893. 12. Tenn. Sta.
Bid. Vol. 9:191. 1896. 13. .V. v. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:526. 548, 549, 552, 553. 1898. 14. Tex. Sta.
Bh?., 48:1149, 1153. 1898. 15. A'. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 18:370, 395. 1899.
Rogers' No. 43 (i, 2, 3, 4). Rogers' No. 43 (5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12).

Barry, first known as Rogers' No. 4J, was dedicated in 1869, by
Rogers, to Patrick Barry, distinguished nurseryman, pomologist and
viticulturist. Happily the variety is such that it should long honor the
name it bears. The Barry is one of our best black grapes, resembling in
berry and somewhat in flavor and keeping quality its European parent,
Black Hamburg. The flavor is delicate and sweet, the flesh tender, with
thin skin and unobjectionable seeds. The appearance of berry and bunch
is attractive. The fruit keeps splendidly, and as this is written, on the
twenty-ninth of Feljruar}-, leap-year, there are before the writer bunches
of the Barry, kept in common storage without wrapping or other special
care, which are in perfect condition. The vine is vigorous, hardy, and
productive, but susceptible to mildew. The ripening season is usually
said to be that of the Concord but, while it may color with the Concord
it requires a longer time to ripen thoroughly and it is not at its best, or
even good, unless properly matured. For the table, for winter keeping,
and for an amateur grape in general the Barry may be highly recommended.

For an account of the origin of Barry see page 390 under " Rogers'
Hybrids." It is first mentioned separately from the rest of Rogers' hybrids
in 1864, though not named until 1869. Barry was placed on the list of the
American Pomological Society in 1869 where it is still retained. It is known
and grown in the garden throughout the grape regions of eastern America.

Vine vigorous, usually hardy, productive, somewhat susceptible to mildew. Canes
long to very long, numerous, usually thick, dark brown to slightly reddish-brown cov-
ered with a small amount of blue bloom; nodes not enlarged, very slightly flattened;
intemodes intermediate in length ; diaphragm of average thickness ; pith medium to
above in size; shoots nearly glabrous; tendrils intermittent, fair length, bitid to trifid.

Leaf-buds open early, of average size, short, of medium thickness, obtuse to conical.
Young leaves heavily tinged with carmine on lower surface, faintly tinged along margin
of upper surface, prevailing color bright carmine. Leaves large to medium, of average
thickness; upper surface light green, slightly glossy, nearly smooth; lower surface pale
green, somewhat pubescent; veins rather indistinct: lobes var}^ from none to three,
tenninus acute; petiolar sinus deep, narrow, sometimes closed and overlapping; basal

BARRY

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 79

sinus usually lacking; lateral sinus shallow and narrow; teeth shallow to medium, of
average width. Flowers open in mid-season, sterile; stamens reflexed. Fruit ripens
with Concord or later, keeps very late. Clusters variable in size, medium to short,
very broad, slightly tapering to nearly c^'lindrical, upper part of cluster often subdivides
into several parts making compound clusters, frequently double-shouldered, usually
compact; peduncle short, medium to rather stout; pedicel above average length, moder-
ately thick, covered witli few small warts, enlarged at point of attachment with fruit.
Berries large, oval tu spherical, dark purplish-black to black, glossy, covered with heavy
blue bloom, adhere well to pedicel. Skin rather thin, tough, adheres strongly to pulp,
contains but little pigment, not ver^^ astringent. Flesh pale green, translucent, tender
when ripened under favorable conditions, stringy, vinous, pleasant-flavored, sweet next
the skin, agreeably tart at center, above average quality. Seeds slightly adherent, one
to five, average three, nearly large to medium, usually long, of mean breadth, deeply
notched, rather blunt but often with slightly enlarged neck, brownish ; raphe usually
obscure, sometimes showing as a faint ridge in a broad groove; chalaza nearly small,
pear-shaped or circular, above center, distinct.

BEACON.

(Lincecumii, Labrusca.)

I. Ga. Sta. All. Rpt., 13:312, 321. i8go. 2. An. Hort., 1892:176. 3. Bush. Cat., 1894:159.
4. Husmann, 1895:126. 5. Rurai A', y., 55:592. 1896. 6. Tex. Sta. Bii;., 48:1 149, 1153. 1898. fig.
7. N. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:526, 548. 1898. 8. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat.. 1899:29. 9. Mo. Sta. Bid.,
46:48, 76. 1899. 10. Tex. Sta. Bill.. 56:275. 1900. fig. II. Ga. Sta. Bid.. 53:40, 51, 53. 1901. fig.

Big B Con (7).

Beacon is another of Munson's hybrids, a cross l:)etween Labrtisca
and Lincecumii. It was received at this Station in 1892 and has borne
fruit many times since so that there has been abimdant opportunity to see
grapes and vine. The variety is not especially well adapted to New York
as the fruit is dull in color, lacking in quality, and shells somewhat badly.
The vine is ver}' vigorous, bearing a handsome, compact mass of foliage
which retains its color and freshness throughout drouths and the heat of
summer. In New York it must compete with Concord in commercial
vineyards and since it does not equal that variety, taking its character
as a whole, it cannot be recommended as a market grape. Its qualitv
and appearance are such that it will never be largely grown b^' the amateur
in the North. The variet^', however, is of much interest and of possible
value to the grape-breeder.

Munson produced Beacon in 1887 from seed of Big Berry (a variet}- of

I So THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Lincecumii) pollinated by Concord, securing the first fruit in 1889. The
variety has been generally disseminated among grape specialists and
experiment stations and is now well known by grape-growers in general.

Vine a medium to very strong grower, not always hardy, productive. Canes short,
medium to rather slender, light brown. Leaves healthy, variable in size, rather thick,
incHned to dark green, sometimes rugose, with veins showing indistinctly through the
slight pubescence of the lower surface. Flowers open in mid-season, on plan of five or
six. nearly fertile.

Fruit ripens with Concord or later and keeps fairly well. Clusters are attractive
in general appearance, of good size, rather long, medium to slightly slender, cylindrical
to somewhat tapering, usually single-shouldered, compact to medium. Berries medium
but variable in size, roundish, purplish-black to black, dull in appearance, covered with
heavy blue bloom, inclined to shell in some localities, moderately firm. Skin medium
to thin, tough, adheres strongly to pulp, contains a large amount of purplish-red pigment,
astringent. Flesh moderately tender, slightly aromatic, spicy, vinous, mildly subacid
to agreeably tart, often with a noticeable Concord flavor, about as good as Concord in
quality. Seeds separate easily from the pulp, large to above medium, of average length,
broad, blunt to medium, slightly notched; raphe obscure; chalaza above center, irregu-
larly circular to slightly oval.

BEAUTY.
(Labrusca, Vinifera, Bourquiniana?)

1. Downing, 1881:165 app. 2. ///. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. i88i:i(>3. 3. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1883:43.
4. Kan. Stii. Bid.. 14:85. iSyo. 5. Bush. Cat.. 1894:89. 6. Te.t. Sla. Bid.. 48:1149, 1153. i8q8.

The grape which bears the name Beauty is an Aestivalis hybrid with
Labrusca, one of Jacob Rommel's seedlings. It had the honor, accord-
ing to the Bnshberg Catalogue,^ of receiving at the Exposition at Bor-
deaux, France, in 1880, the praise of having produced "the best American
white wine on exhibition." According to the above authority Rommel
stopped its propagation and dissemination because of its susceptibility to
fungi. The variety is now practically lost to cultivation and was never
largely grown in New York.

Beauty is a cross between Delaware and Maxatawney originated by
Jacob Rommel of Morrison, Missouri, over thirty years ago. Bush questions
the parentage as given by Rommel and thinks it more likely Catawba and
Maxatawney. Rommel's Beauty should not be confused with the Beauty

'Bush. Cat., 1894:80.

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. l8l

of Minnesota, a grape from the State for which it was named, which has
been discarded because of poor quality.

Vine fairly vigorous, usually healthy and hardy, produces medium to good crops.
Canes long to medium, numerous, dark reddish-brown often with a strong ashy-gray
tinge, surface covered with slight blue bloom. Leaves medium to rather large, dark
green; lower surface covered with considerable pubescence. Stamens upright. Fruit
ripens between Delaware and Catawba, keeps and sliips well. Clusters intermediate
in size, strongly tapering, often not shouldered, rather compact. Berries small to medium
roundish to slightly oval, dull dark red somewhat darker than Catawba, covered with a
large amount of dark lilac bloom, persistent, firm. Flesh tender, slightly foxy, sweet,
good to very good in quality. Chalaza very distinct.

BELL.

(Riparia, Labrusca, Bourquiniana, Vinifei-a.)

1. Rural N. Y.. 45:733. 1886. fig. 2. Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt.. i8q3:ii8. 3. III. Sta. Bid., 28:263.
1893. 4. Va. Sta. Bui., 30:106. 1893. 5. Ga. Sta. Bui., 28:290. 1895. 6. Tettn. .Sta. Bui., Vol.
9:168. 1896. 7. Kan. Sta. Bid., 73:181, 182. 1897. 8. Te.r. Sta. Bid.. 48:1149, 1153. 1898. 9.
Va. Sta. Bid., 94:142. 1898. 10. .4m. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1899:31. 11. Ga. Sta. But., 53:40, 52, 53.

1901.

Munson's No. 21 (i, 2, 4), Willie Bell (4, 9).

Bell is still another of Mimson's hybrids, its parents being Elvira
crossed with Delaware. Its characters are chiefly those of Elvira and
in particular it has the Elvira flavor, which is somewhat against it for a
table grape. As to its value for wine-making there are no records though
it may be assumed that it has the same value for this purpose as the Elvira,
which it so greatly resembles in flavor. From its behavior here, this Station
does not recommend Bell for New York.

Munson produced Bell in 1881 from seed of Elvira pollinated by
Delaware. After having tested it thoroughly the originator disseminated
it and continues to offer it in his catalog; proof of its value for some of the
grape regions.

Vine a strong grower, hardy, usually produces full crops although a shy bearer in
some localities. Leaves vigorous, healthy, medium to very large. Flowers open before
mid-season, nearly fertile; stamens upright. Fruit ripens in mid-season or later, keeps
well. Clusters intermediate in size and length, frequently shouldered, compact to
medium. Berries medium to small, roundish, dull green sometimes with yellow tinge,
covered with rather heavy gray bloom, persistent. Skin thin, very tender, adheres
considerably to the pulp. Flesh moderately juicy and tender, sweetish at skin to tart at
center, ranks about the same as Elvira in quality.

l82 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

BERCKMANS.

(Riparia. Labrusca, Bourquiniana.)

1. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1871:114. 2. lb., 1877:4,^. 3. Gar. Mon., 23:308. 1881. 4. Bush. Cat.,
1883:75. 5. Atn. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1889:24. 6. Ala. Sta. Bui, 10:8. 1890. 7. Ark. Sta. Bui, 39:27.
1896. 8. Rural N. Y., 56:823. 1897. 9. iV. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:526, 545, 547, 553. iSgS, 10.
Tex. Sta. Bid., 48:1149, 1153. 1898. ii. Mo. Sta. Bui., 46:37, 43, 44, 46, 48. 1899. 12. Kan. Sta.
Bui., 110:245. 1902.

Delawark and Clinton No. i (i).

In Berckmans, generally speaking, we have the fruit of Delaware on
the vine of Clinton. Berckmans was disseminated nearly forty years ago
and though the fruit is seemingly better adapted for the market than Dela-
ware, and the vine much more vigorous, as hardy and as productive as
its better known parent, yet the variety is seldom grown other than as an
amateur grape. The berrv and bunch resemble Delaware in shape; the
fruit is of the same color; l)unch and lierry are larger, but the vine is not
ciuite as prodvictive ; the flesh is firmer, making it a better shipper and it
keeps better; the cjuality is not so good, the flesh lacking tenderness, sweet-
ness and richness in comparison with Delaware. The vine of Berckmans is
much more vigorous and is less subject to mildew than that of Delaware,
but there are many reports that it suffers from leaf-hoppers and the rose
bug, insects which seem inordinately fond of its foliage. The vine char-
acters are not as good as those of Clinton. The variety seems illy adapted
to some soils and in particular does not color well if not suited in this
respect. In spite of its many good qualities, popular verdict has decreed
that Berckmans is but an amateur's grape. The name commemorates
the viticultural labors of P. J. Berckmans, a contemporary and friend of
Dr. A. P. W\'lie of Chester, South Carolina, who originated the variety and
christened it Berckmans.

Berckmans was produced by Dr. A. P. Wylie' of Chester, South Caro-

' Dr. A. P. Wylie was a southern hybridizer. His life was one of exceptionally varied
usefulness. Besides being a physician he worked with many different plants, producing new varie-
ties of cotton, peach, nectarine, magnolia and other species. His hybrids were produced chiefly
during the sixties and early seventies. His method of testing hybrid grapes was unique; as soon
as the fruit from the cross-fertilized blossoms ripened, the seeds were planted and the seedlings forced
the first winter in a hothouse. In the spring it was planted by the side of a mature vine outside
and the seedling grafted by inarching on the established vine. In this manner, his son writes us,

v«>

--:•'

BERCKMANS

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 83

lina, from Delaware seed fertilized by Clinton. The seed was planted in
1868 and the plant bore its first fruit in 1870, the variety being introduced
some years later.

Vine similar to Clinton in growth and foliage, vigorous to very vigorous, hardy, pro-
duces average to good crops. Canes long, numerous, rather slender, light to dark brown ;
nodes prominent, flattened; internodes short; diaphragm below medium thickness;
pith medium to above in size; shoots not pubescent; tendrils intermittent, long, bifid.

Leaf-buds intermediate in size, short, of average thickness, conical to nearly obtuse,
open very early. Young leaves decidedly pale green with faintest trace of carmine,
prevailing color green on both sides. Leaves medium to small, thin ; upper surface
light green, smooth; lower surface pale green, not pubescent; veins inconspicuous;
lobes vary from none to three terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus medium to shallow,
wide; basal sinus usually lacking; lateral sinus shallow; teeth intermediate in depth
and width. Flowers open rather early, fertile; stamens upright.

Fruit ripens with Delaware and keeps unusually well. Clusters attractive, much
like Delaware in shape and size but slightly longer and more often shouldered, compact
to medium, averaging slightly looser than either parent; peduncle rather short, slender;
pedicel longish, slender, covered with but few warts; brush short, light green. Berries
intermediate in size, slightly larger than Delaware, roundish to slightly oval, resemble
Delaware in color but somewhat darker when well ripened, covered with lilac bloom,
persistent, of average firmness. Skin thin, somewhat tough, slightly adhering to pulp,
contains no pigment, nearly astringent. Flesh pale yellowish-green, translucent, fine-
grained, tender, inclined to melting, vinous, sweet to agreeably tart, sprightly, very
good in quality. Seeds separate easily from the pulp, one to four, average three,
slightly below medium in size, rather broad and blunt, brownish; raphe obscure;
chalaza of average size, slightly above center, irregularly oval, distinct.

BERTRAND.

(Bourquiniana.)

I. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:17. 2. Rural N. Y., 45:653, 660. 1886. fig. 3. Gar. Man., 28:305.
1886. fig. 4. Bush. Cat.. 1894:90. fig. 5. Texas Farm and Ranch, Feb. 8, 1896:11. 6. Ala. Sta.
Bill., 110:78. 1900.

Blue Seedling (i, 3). Blue Seedling (4, 5).

he frequently secured fruit the second summer. In 1873 he suffered the irreparable misfortune
of losing his residence by fire. This destroyed all of his seeds and also his seedHngs, which were in
an adjacent hothouse. The number of Dr. WyUe's grape seedlings cannot be accurately told as
many of them were never disseminated. Of his better known sorts there are Berckmans, Dr. WyUe,
Mrs. McClure, and Peter WyHe, the best known of which is the first. Dr. Wylie was the first man
to hybridize the Vitis rotundifolia with other .species of grapes. Unfortunately these hybrids appear
to have been lost to cultivation. He died at his home in Chester, South Carolina, in 1877.

184 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

Bertrand is a southern variety, almost without question an offspring
of Herbemont, and so far as can be judged from the descriptions of others,
we not having seen the fruit, not nearly equal to its parent. The variety
is hardy only as far north as Marjdand and even in that State must be
planted in sheltered situations.

Judge J. B. Jones, Herndon, Burke County, Georgia, found Bertrand as
an accidental seedling, which had germinated in the spring of 1878. Judge
Jones gives the species as being Cordifolia but Berckmans says it looks
like an Aestivalis; it is now generally classed in the Bourquiniana group.
The following description of this variety is compiled from various sources:

Vine vigorous. Cluster above medium to rather large, usuall}- conical, most often
shouldered, moderately compact ; peduncle long. Berries below medium in size, round,
black with blue bloom; flesh melting, juicy, very high flavored. Skin thin, tough.
Ripens late. Seeds few. Very productive in the South. Of value only for wine.

BLACK DEFIANCE.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. i868:io. (No name given.) 2. Bush. Cat.. 1883:75. 3. Okla. Sta.
Bui, 14:6. :89s. 4. Husmann, 1895:31. 5. Mo. Sta. Bui. 46:37, 43. 7^- '899. 6. Ga. Sla. Bui,
53:41. 1901.

UnderhilVs 8-8 Hybrid (2).

Black Defiance is one of Stephen Underhill's Vinifera-Labrusca hybrids,
at one time quite popular as a late table grape, but now superseded by
thriftier varieties. It ripens too late to be of much value in New York.
When phylloxera had driven French grape-growers to look to America
for varieties of grapes, and before grafting on resistant stocks was practiced
in that country, Black Defiance was looked upon with much favor in France
where it succeeded very well. The fruit is distinguished by the size, lus-
trous blackness and handsome bloom of the berry. It is now rarely culti-
vated in New York having been replaced by varieties more certain to
mature in this State.

Stephen Underbill of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, produced Black
Defiance from seed of Concord fertilized by Black Prince. It first fruited
in 1866. The variety was introduced without the originator's consent.

Black Defiance is described as follows : '

' Tex. Sta. Bui, 48:1153- 1898.

k

BLACK EAGLE

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 185

" Growth medium, shoots smooth; leaves large, more or less three-lobed, with uneven
margin; bunches large, oblong with large base, frequently branched; berries black,
decidedly acid, pulp rather firm, ripe July 22nd; defoliated on October 6, 1896. Not
good for table use."

BLACK EAGLE.

(Labrusca, Vinifera.)

I. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1868:10. (Xo name given.) 2. Ohio Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1875-6:22.
3. lb., 1876-7:32. 4. Bush. Cat.. 1883:75. pg. 5. iV. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 12:618. 1893. 6. Tcnn.
Sta. Bui, Vol. 9:168. i8g6. 7. iV. Y. Sta. An. Rpt.. 17:527, 548, 553, 559. 1898. 8. Tc.x. Sta.
Bui., 48:1149, 1 153. 1898. 9. il/o. Sta. Bui., 46:37, 42, 44, 46, 48, 76. 1899. 10. N. Y. Sta. An.
Rpt., 18:370, 386, 396. 1899. II. Kan. Sta. Bui.. 110:240. 1902.

Underhill's 8-12 (4).

Black Eagle is a full brother of Black Defiance which it much resembles
but surpasses for New York because it is fully three weeks earlier in ripening.
On our grounds its season is about with Concord. The quality of Black
Eagle is of the best, but the vine lacks in vigor, hardiness and productive-
ness and the fruit is susceptible to black-rot. As the color-j)late shows,
bunch and berry are large and attractive; bunches weighing nearly two
pounds have been grown for exhibition purposes and probably there are few
if any showier hybrid grapes than this when at its best. The leaf is that
of Vitis vinifera, deeply lobed, of a beautiful green, and with firm texture,
making with thrifty vines one of the most attractive grape plants to be
found in our vineyards. The variety is self-sterile. Black Eagle has
wholly failed as a commercial variety and its several weaknesses will pre-
vent amateurs from growing it largel)', yet it is far too good a grape to give
up altogether and lovers of grapes should keep it in cultivation.

The variety originated with Stephen W. Underhill, Croton-on-Hudson,
New York, from seed of Concord pollinated by Black Prince. It first
fruited in 1866. The variety was sent out by Underhill for testing and
was introduced without the originator's consent.

Vine medium to vigorous, not always hardy, not productive. Canes rather rough,
medium to long, of average number, thick, approaching dark reddish-brown, covered
with slight blue bloom; nodes strongly enlarged, slightly flattened; internodes above
medium length ; diaphragm thick ; pith of average size ; shoots pubescent ; tendrils con-
tinuous, long, bifid to trifid.

Leaf-buds intermediate in size, short, rather thick, pointed to conical, open very
late. Young leaves tinged with carmine on the under surface and along margin of upper

1 86 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK.

surface making the prevailing color a light rose-carmine. Leaves of average size, medium
to thick; upper surface dark green, slightly glossy, smooth to rugose; lower surface pale
grayish-green, somewhat pubescent ; veins not distinct ; lobes five in number, tenninal
lobe acute; petiolar sinus deep to narrow, often closed and overlapping; basal sinus
verv wide and deep; lateral sinus wide at bottom narrowing towards top, deep; teeth
intermediate in depth and width. Flowers open in mid-season or later, fullv self-sterile;
stamens reflexed.

Fruit ripens in mid-season, keeps well if picked before overripe. Clusters of large
to average size, rather long, tapering, varying from single- to double-shouldered, loose
to compact; peduncle longish, rather thick; pedicel long to medium, somewhat slender,
covered with very few warts, enlarged at point of attachment to fruit; brush short, pale
green. Berries variable in size averaging large, slightly oval, black, glossy, covered with
a moderate amount of blue bloom, do not shatter, somewhat soft. Skin thin, rather
tender, adheres strongly to pulp, with slight amounl; of wine-colored pigment, not astrin-
gent. Flesh pale green, translucent, somewhat tender, vinous, not foxy, sweet at skin
to agreeably tart at center, quality good. Seeds separate easily, one to four, average
two or three, rather large and broad, nearly long.

BLACK HAMBURG.

(Vinifera.)

I. Speechly, 1791:11,170. 2. x^ondon Hort. Soc. Cat., 1830:75. 3. Hoare. 1840:142. 4. Mag.
llort., 9:245. 1843. 5. lb., 13:4,^- '■"^47- 6. -4;;i. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1852:54. (For culture under
glass.) 7. Horticulturist, 15:125. iSoo. 8. Mag. Hart., 26:110. i860. 9. Can. Hort., 11:59. 1888.

Admiral (4). Black Gibraltcr (4). Black Hamburgh (2). Black Portugal of some (4). Black
Teneriffe (4). Blue Trollinger (4). Bocksaugen (4). Bommerer (4). Brown Hamburgh (4).
Dutch Hamburgh (4). Fleish Traube (4). Frakenthalcr (4). Frankcndale (4). Frankcnthaler
gros noir (4). Gelbholzigcr Trollinger (4). Gibraltcr (4). Hampton Court Vine (4, 8). Hudler (4).
Languedoc (4). Lugiana nera (4'). Malvasier of some (4). Mohrendutte (4). Pale Wooded Trol-
linger (4). Purple Hambttrgh (4). Red Hamburgh (4, of some 2). Richmond Villa Hamburgh (8).
Salisbury Violet (4). Schtvarzeblauer Trollinger (4). Schwarzcr Gutedel of some (4). Schwarzwcl-
scher (4). Trailer (4). Trollinger (4). Valentines (4). Victoria (4). Warner's (2, 4). Warner's
Black Hamburgh (2). Warjter's Black Hamburgh (4). Warner's Hamburgh (8). Weisshohiger
Trollinger (4). Welscher (4).

Black Hamburg is a variety of Vitis vinifera, impossible to grow out
of doors in eastern America, but illustrated and described here because it
is one of the parents of many hybrids with American species and because
it represents, in fruit characters at least, about all that is desirable in a good
grape. Since it is a standard of excellence which American breeders of
table grapes liave long sought to attain, we may name its points of superi-
ority over the table grapes now grown in our vineyards. ist. Bunch and

BLACK HAMBURG (Reduced Size)

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 1 87

berry are large, well formed, and uniform. 2nd. The fruits have a higher
sugar and solid content than most American grapes and keep better, ship
better, make better wine and will make raisins. 3d. The flavor, to most
palates, is richer, more delicate, and lacks the acidity of some American
grapes and the foxiness of others. 4th. The pulp and skin of Black
Hamburg are more tender than the varieties of the species of this country
and the seeds are readily separated from the pulp. 5th. The berries do not
shell from the stem readily. 6th. The vines are more compact in habit,
make a shorter and stouter annual growth, and hence recjuire less pruning
and training. 7th. The fruit is borne in greater quantity, vine for vine
or acre for acre. Added to the above qualities which make it desirable as
a parent when crosses are made between the grapes of this country and
Viiis vinifcra, are comparative hardiness am_ong its kind, a short seasonal
cycle of vegetation giving early maturity to fruit, ability to stand more
hardships than most of its species, and especially abilitv to mature its
fruit with as small amount of solar heat as any of its species. Its weak-
nesses when planted out of doors in eastern America are those of its species,
which wholly prevent its successful cultivation in the