GRAPES FOR THE MIDDLE WEST. 45 



dominant type of our native species, which with its offspring, pure and 

 crossed, furnishes a major per cent of the grapes grown in America. The 

 Concord is a most cosmopolitan grape, and, due to its peculiar character- 

 istic, it adapts itself to diverse conditions. It thrives well In variable 

 climates. Besides taking up its abode in so many different conditions, it 

 has a high degree of fruitfulness, as it gives large crops year in and year 

 out. 



This grape has a peculiar hardiness, an ability to cope with adverse 

 conditions, such as diseases and insects, a comparative earliness which 

 makes it a very superior grape. The bunches are of fair sizes and the 

 berries color up -well, with an abundance of bloom. 



This grape is not damaged by spring freezes as badly as other grapes, 

 for it leaves out and blossoms somewhat late in the spring. Although 

 the Concord is a most worthy grape, it also has its demerits. To many 

 the taste is foxy; then it lacks that richness, fineness of flavor, and aroma. 

 Unpleasant defects in this fruit are found in the large and abundant seeds 

 so difficult to separate from the flesh, and the tough and astringent skin. 

 Compared with the Vinifera grapes as a shipper, the Concord is poor. 

 Then it loses flavor after ripening. Besides the skin has an inclination 

 To crack and the berries to shatter from the stems after harvesting. The 

 Concord thrives best on a virgin soil, although it is quite cosmopolitan 

 and does well on a variety of soils. 



On the whole the Concord is a popular table grape and can be pro- 

 duced so cheaply that no grape can compete with it. Tt is a poor wine 

 grape, although it is used tn .some degree for making red wines and a 

 white wine as a base for champagne. The grape juice industry depends 

 almost entirely upon this variety, and during the past few years many 

 carloads of grapes have been used in the Chautauqua region in New York 

 for this purpose. 



According to Dr. Charles E. Bessey in his contribution "The Botany 

 of the Grape," the Concord has originated from the Northern Fox Grape 

 or Vitis labrusca L. 



A large number of varieties have come out of the Concord, both as 

 pure breeds and as cross-breeds. All of these seem to have inherited the 

 characteristics of the Concord to a high degree. According to Hedrick, 

 the seed of a wild grape was planted in the fall of 1843, by E. W. Bull of 

 ^Concord, Massachusetts, from which fruit was born in 1849. The wild 

 grape from which the seed came had been transplanted from beside a 

 field fence to the garden in which there was at least another grape, the 

 Catawba, and the wild vine was open to cross-pollination. One of these 

 seedlings was named Concord, and the variety was exhibited before the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society in the fall of 1852. The new grape 

 was introduced in the spring of 1854 by Hovey & Company of Boston. 

 This variety has grown into phenomenal popularity ever since its origin. 

 So popular became the variety that within a short period of a year its 

 propagation traveled half way across the continent. In 1865, the Amen- 



