THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. lOI 



the American species. While their aid in separating species was but slight, 

 owing to their distance from the field where the plants were growing, yet 

 the investigations of Planchon, Millardet, and others as to the comparative 

 value of various characters in separating species, were of great importance. 

 These investigations were utilized by Engelmann to a considerable extent. 

 Owing to its simplicity, and somewhat perhaps to the place of publication, 

 his work obtained favor among grape-growers to a greater extent than that 

 of any of his predecessors. In his earlier writings he gives six species but 

 in the last edition of the Biishberg Catalogue thirteen are enumerated. 



Shortly after and partly coincident with Engelmann, Munson, of Texas, 

 made valuable contributions to our knowledge of American grapes. Mun- 

 son is, what none of his predecessors had been, a cultivator of grapes and a 

 breeder of new varieties as well as a botanical student of the subject. The 

 region in which he lived was comparatively new to botanists, and it was 

 partly, perhaps, on this account that he raised the number of species from 

 the thirteen given by Engelmann to twenty-five. At the present time it 

 appears doubtful if all of these will ultimately be given specific rank. Many 

 of them undoubtedly will, and others of them will be recognized at least 

 as varieties. Munson is regarded to-day as the chief authority on grapes 

 of the semi-arid and mountainous districts of the West and is one of the 

 leading authorities on American viticulture. 



The last man who has paid special attention to the grapes of North 

 America is Bailey, of Cornell. In his latest classification he gives twenty- 

 three species of American grapes. Bailey is the only American botanist 

 of experience and recognized standing in general botany who has paid 

 special attention to the grape. His monograph of the genus Vitis which, 

 with some changes, has appeared successively in Grays Synoptical Flora, 

 The Evolution of Our Native Fruits, and the Cyclopedia of American Hor- 

 ticulture, is the most complete work we have on this subject. With his 

 permission we have followed his arrangement of species in The Grapes of 

 Neiv York. 



With this brief history of the formation of the genus Vitis as it now 

 stands we pass to a consideration of the botanical characters of Vitis. 



From the time when botanists first commenced to work on the grape 

 there has been a constant search for taxonomic characters for separating 



