The Grapes of the Southicest. 247 



extreme Southwest), as far as inforniatiou is settled, is practically confined to 

 certain types of grapes. 



-We have not been able to profit by the vast improvements of the North 

 and Northeast. Their varieties are of no general practical value to the ex- 

 treme Southwest. Their fruits, generally, are not worth planting in our cli- 

 mate, and their grapes are decided failures with us. We are sorry — but we 

 have to deal with facts. In Nortliern Texas, four hundred miles north of us, 

 the case seems to be difterent. There, both northern and southern jEstivalis 

 seem at home, and even Labrusm varieties are reported successful. I well 

 remember when we, too, tliought we were successful with the Catawba, 

 Diana and Concord. But after obtaining two or three crops our vines failed. 

 I remember when my Goethe, Agawam and Wilder were the admiration of 

 all who saw them; but six years after planting all were either dead or fruit- 

 less. We await with interest the final result in North Texas. But, judging 

 from their success with Northern varieties of peaches and other fruits which 

 are a failure in Southern Texas, we must concede to North Texas a larger 

 A-ariety in grape culture than we can claim in the more extreme Southwest. 



Some exi:)eriments in the mountains of Texas seem to prove the practica- 

 bility of profitably preserving some of the Vinifera varieties upon Rupestrsi 

 stocks. In the dry mountain air some of these varieties ripen well, and it is 

 hoped that wherever the Rupestris stocks will flourish, and the atmospheric 

 conditions favor the proper maturity of these varieties, that the Viniferas, so 

 valuable as raisin grapes, may yet furnish a valuable industry. But in the 

 lower portions of Texas these varieties rot during a majority of the seasons. 

 Below Matagorda Bay, on the sterile sands of the sea shore, these varieties 

 seem exempt from phylloxera, and much less liable to rot than away from the 

 immediate coast. 



With the exceptions which I have named, our profitable grapes must un- 

 doubtedly come from the Southern jEstivcdis species. The Cynthiana, Norton, 

 Neosho, and their type, although valuable in extreme North Texas, fail in 

 the South. On the other hand, the varieties of the Herbemont type are per- 

 fectly at home all over the State. They are our grapes of the present. In 

 this group I include the Herbemont and Lenoir, with their seedlings. They 

 are eminently the wine grapes of the extreme Southwest. The type repre- 

 sented by the Black July, Louisiana and Cunningham seem too far south at 

 Victoria ; yet only eigiity miles northward they are valuable, and as far 

 north as Hot Springs, Arkansas, I learn of their value and success. Thus we 

 •seem to have something like an indication of the northern and southern 

 boundaries, or the proper zone for this branch of the y/i's/imZ/.s- family, while 

 the southern limit of the Herbemont division seems to lie somewhere en- 

 tireh' below the State of Texas. 



While we are quite satisfied with the wine grapes of the Southwest, yet we 

 are not so concerning the supply of table and market grapes. They have 

 jiot the fleshy pulp so much ]n-ized for market jiurposes. 



There is a popular demand all over the Southwest for a white grape on 



