210 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



purposes. Those varieties which the experience of the past ten or twelve 

 years in particular, have shown to be especially suited to the conditions of 

 Western Oregon, as Concord, Worden, Moore (Moore's Early), Diamond 

 (Moore's Diamond), Niagara, and Isabella are all varieties developed from 

 Vitis labrusca;! while Deleware, which also does well in many localities, 

 is a variety of Vitis aestivalis.! Of the above varieties Isabella is the 

 one planted by the pioneers and first setlers. There is scarcely a locality 

 in which one can not find this variety growing, and among the "old 

 homes" it is safe to say that at least ninety per cent of them have, 

 among the plants in their fruit gardens, one or more vines of the Isabella; 

 and though it occasionally fails to yield a full crop, often bears imperfect 

 clusters, and is troubled with mildew, it is still highly prized by the fam- 

 ily, especially for the making of jelly. In general it has received no more 

 attention than the orchard trees and other fruit-bearing plants about 

 the home grounds. A tree, fence, barn or other outbuilding too often is 

 its support and on these it climbs and trails from year to year;|| in few 

 instances has it received the much needed annual cutting back, and in most 

 cases even the building of a trellis has not been sufficient to awaken the 

 owner to the importance of liberal pruning.** With the recent planting 

 of better varieties and the cultivation of small vineyards by men specially 

 interested in this fruit, a very noticeable change in the appearance of 

 the pioneer vines of Isabella has taken place. 



Noting the effect of liberal pruning, proper trellising and the thin- 

 ning out of surplus wood in the summer, many of the owners of old 

 vines, some of which are reputed to have borne hundreds of pounds of 

 fruit in favorable past years, and which formerly trailed unpruned over 

 old buildings, fences, and trees, have removed the surplus wood, placed 

 the vines upon suitable trellises, and are now giving them such treat- 

 ment as our best growers recommend, with results that are very gratify- 

 ing to themselves. Though the Isabella is no longer considered a desir- 

 able variety for table purposes by our specialists and the dealers, it is 

 still worthy of some attention by the rural home-builder. It is especially 

 hardy, quite vigorous and usually supplies, with a minimum amount of 

 care, a fairly good crop of palatable fruit, more of which should be eaten 

 by our people. It is an excellent variety for jelly-making, and grape 

 jelly rates very high in the estimation of the American housewife; it is 

 likewise one of the best varieties from which to make grape-must, i. e., 

 unfermented grape juice, for which there is a steadily growing demand 

 in one form or another.* 



t Vitis labrusca, L., is the common wild fox grape of the extreme eastern 

 United States. It is the parent of the best part of the American varieties and 

 is well known through its offspring, Concord, Worden, Diamond, Isabella, Moore, 

 Niagara and many others. 



§ Vitis aestivalis, Mich., is the Pigeon or Summer grape. Its home is the 

 southeastern part of the country and westward to ihe Mississippi and Missouri. 

 It is the parent of many of our American varieties as Eumelan, Delaware. 



II See "The oldest vine in Lane county." 



** See "The neglected home vine." 



* The reader interested in this product of the grape is referred to Bulletin 

 130, California. 



