352 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



surprises in store for lovers of grapes in the new varieties that may be 

 produced by hybridizing. 



Whatever method of improvement is followed very much depends 

 upon the immediate parentage. Some varieties, whether self-fertilized 

 or crossed, produce much higher averages of worthy offspring than 

 others. There is so much difference in varieties in this respect that to 

 discover parents so endowed is one of the first tasks of the grape-breeder. 

 Unfortunately, no way is known of discovering what the best progeni- 

 tors are except by records of performance. The reasons for this pre- 

 potency, seemingly well established in plants and animals alike, are not 

 well explained by present knowledge. Often varieties of high cultural 

 value are worthless in breeding because their characters seem not to be 

 transmitted to their progeny, and to the contrary a variety good for 

 but little in the vineyard may be most valuable from which to breed. 



What are the results of a century's work in domesticating the wild 

 grapes of America? 



There are approximately in eastern America at the present time 

 240,000 acres of grapes, the product of which is largely sold for dessert 

 purposes, but from it is manufactured yearly in the neighborhood of 

 10,000,000 gallons of wine, of which about 1,000,000 gallons are cham- 

 pagne. The making of grape juice, an industry possible only with 

 native grapes, has grown so rapidly that it is hard to estimate the out- 

 put, but certainly not less than 2,000,000 gallons were sold in the mar- 

 kets last year. It is doubtful if any other cultivated plants at any 

 time in the history of the world has attained such importance, in so 

 short a time from the wild state, as our native grapes. 



Fifteen hundred varieties from twelve of the native species of grapes 

 are now under cultivation. Almost every possible combination between 

 these species has been made; they have been so mixed and jostled that 

 species can no longer be recognized in the majority of varieties and the 

 future breeder must work with characters rather than species. The 

 methods of the past in domesticating the native grapes have been 

 wholly empirical and extremely wasteful. Many have been called, but 

 few chosen. But with the new knowledge of breeding and with the 

 experience of the past, domestication ought to proceed with greater 

 certainty. It is not too much to say that in this immense country, with 

 its great differences in environment, we shall, some time, everywhere be 

 growing grapes and of kinds so diverse that they will meet all of the 

 purposes to which grapes are now put and the increasing demands for 

 better fruits made by more critical consumers. 



