14 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



and rice and potatoes were practically unknown among their cultivated 

 plants. 



It is no wonder that a country in which the natives have neglected 

 their indigenous fruits and grains, and in whose footsteps the early 

 white settlers followed, should prove a land poor in cultivated plants 

 that are worthy of introduction into the New World. 



A few things have, however, been called to the writer's attention 

 during a stay of some weeks in the country, and these have seemed 

 worthy of writing about for the information of American cultivators. 



SOME CAPE SEEDLING GRAPE VARIETIES. 



It were strange if in so old and isolated a vine region as South 

 Africa seedling varieties of the grape had not originated. 



Mr. Eustace Pillans, at present in charge of the Government Wine 

 Farm at Constantia, has called the writer's attention to three varieties 

 which are either known to be Cape seedlings or are of doubtful Cape 

 origin, and the department of agriculture of the colony has, with that 

 liberality which characterizes it, offered to send in July next a quantity 

 of cuttings of each to America. 



THE RED HANEPOOT GRAPE. 



The Red Hanepoot, which ranks as one of the best export table 

 grapes from South Africa, and which is called by the late Mr. De 

 Waal, vine expert of the Cape government, the Red Muscat of Alex- 

 andria, is described as a variety with large, loose bunches, a large oval 

 berry, which is dark red when ripe and has a sweet and musky flavor. 

 It requires a lime and clay subsoil, and its fruit ripens in the middle of 

 the grape season. 



The origin of the Red Hanepoot, I am told, is not known, but it is 

 believed to be a seedling of the White Muscat, called at the Cape 

 White Hanepoot, and Mr. Bioletti, wine expert at the Elsenburg 

 Agricultural School, who was formerly connected with the California 

 Experiment Station, assures me that it is probably of Cape origin, and 

 so far as he knows is not grown anywhere in California. Its good 

 shipping qualities and its excellence as a table grape will, Mr. Bioletti 

 thinks, give it a place beside the Flame Tokay, from which it differs 

 in its decided musky flavor. Its excellent eating qualities Mr. Lathrop 

 and the writer had an opportunity of testing, and there can be no 

 doubt, of its desirability for Californian vineyards. Like the other 

 Muscat varieties, it is difficult to graft successfully upon resistant 

 American stocks, and at the Cape it has succeeded best upon a seed- 

 ling variety of Vitfa rupestris called u Le Rowx" which is likewise of 

 South African origin. 



