PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 67 



others besides Mr. Rogers undertook the same line of work, and during 

 the next thirty years there appeared numerous hybrid grapes of 

 undoubted excellence, so far as the fruit was concerned. Many of them 

 were very attractive in appearance and of remarkably fine quality. A 

 few of these hybrids have proved valuable for commercial vineyards, 

 but it must be conceded that on the whole the results of the efforts to 

 improve American grapes by the production of hybrids with European 

 varieties have been disappointing. The purely native kinds, such as 

 Concord, Worden, Catawba, Moore's Early, and Pocklington, still form 

 the bulk of the commercial vineyards. Moreover, many of the most 

 successful vineyardists of the country declare that, for commercial vine- 

 yards, it is still best to plant only varieties of purely native origin. 

 Personally I do not favor quite so radical a view on this question as 

 that just stated. It must be admitted that there is good ground for 

 looking with suspicion on any new candidate for the commercial vine- 

 yard which shows traces of European parentage. But there are some 

 of these hybrids which are several generations removed from the Euro- 

 pean parent, which may properly be looked upon as high-grade natives. 

 These may show but slight traces of European parentage, and in them 

 we may find hardiness, vigor, and productiveness of vine combined with 

 attractive shape and color of the fruit cluster and good quality of fruit. 

 A good illustration of such a variety is found in the well known Niagara, 

 undoubtedly the most popular white variety for commercial vineyards 

 grown in the eastern United States. 



By raising seedlings from self-fertilized seed of Niagara, I have demon- 

 strated that this grape is not, as some have supposed, purely of the 

 Labrusca or Fox Grape species. It is certainly a hybrid, and evidently 

 it is partly of European origin. Delaware is another example of a 

 well-known commercial variety which is generally conceded to be partly 

 of European origin. Moreover, a very few of the newer grapes which 

 are known to be hybrids seem to possess the characteristics essential 

 to a successful variety for the commercial vineyard. So, while admitting 

 the general truth of the proposition that in the eastern United States the 

 successful commercial vineyards are composed chiefly of purely native 

 grapes, we nevertheless have reason to expect that new and superior 

 kinds may be developed by breeding what I have termed the "high-grade 

 natives." 



In this connection it is interesting to note the parentage of the vines 

 in the four classes above named, and observe the relation that exists 

 between hybridity and the ability of the variety to set fruit of itself. 

 It is found that more than four fifths of the fourth or self-sterile class 

 are hybrids, while less than one half of the self-fertile kinds included in 

 classes I and II are hybrids. So we see that the proportion of self-sterile 

 kinds is much greater among hybrids than among varieties which are 

 purely of one species. That is to say, hybridity among grapes appears to 

 favor self-sterility. 



The data collected in connection with these experiments also afford 

 materia] for a study of the correlation of the structure of the flowers and 

 the ability of the vine to fertilize its own blossoms. In the perfect blos- 

 som are found both male and female organs well developed, as for 

 example, in Concord. Niagara, Worden, and most other commercial 



