January 20. 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



65 



The Bertrand Grape 



The accompanying photograph is of a cluster of the 

 Bertrand grape that originated in middle Georgia 

 and is supposed to be a seedling of the Herbemont, a 

 grape that it very much resembles in quality and the 

 immensely-shouldered clusters. The history of the 

 Herbemont, though somewhat in doubt, is very inter- 

 esting. Prof. T. V. Munson classifies it as Vitis Bour- 

 quinina and says of it: "It was brought to Savannah, 

 Ga., (I am credibly informed) by a Huguenot family by 

 the name of Bourquin from Southern France over one 

 hundred and fifty years ago; the vines sent me by 

 Gougie Bourquin of Savannah are direct descendants 

 of the original vine in the Bourquin gardens and prove 

 beyond question in several years fruiting on my grounds 

 that they are identical with the Herbemont. On the 

 other hand the Bushberg Grape Manual says of it, 

 "Origin unknown; as early as 1798 it was propagated 

 from an old vine growing on the plantation of Judge 

 Herger, Columbia, S. C. Nicholas Herbemont, an en- 

 terprising and enthusiastic cultivator of the grape, 

 found it there and from its vigorous growth and perfect 

 acclimation, at first correctly supposed it to be a native. 

 He afterwards, in 1834, was told that it had been re- 

 ceived from France and believed this, but the same 

 grape was also found growing wild in Warren 

 County, Ga., and is there known as the Warren grape." 



The best authorities class it as a member of the 

 southern Aestivalis family, a native grape, truly called 

 by Downing "Bags of Vine," one of the very best and 

 most reliable grapes for both table and wine. Judging 

 from its many foreign characteristics, the numerous 

 branches of its clusters, small seeds, and vigorous 

 growth, I am inclined to side with Munson in regard to 

 its origin. It would seem to be very easy for it, by the 

 aid of birds, to become scattered and be found wild in 

 such a place as Georgia. The writer is especially 



interested in this grape, as a basis for experimental 

 work, and the cluster from which the photograph was 

 taken was thoroughly pollenated from a grape that pro- 

 duces clusters fifteen inches long. The original of 

 the photograph was 15 1-2 inches in circumference and 

 had 291 berries on it. Such a combination should, to 

 say the least, produce some magnificent clusters, and 

 ripen in New England. The combination is composed 

 of six different species, viz., Vitis Bourquinina, 

 Labrusca, vulpina, Lincicumii, rupestris, and vinifera — 

 five of our best native species and one foreign — just 

 foreign blood enough to give quality without injuring 

 the hardiness of the offspring. 



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Browallia speciosa major 



This is an exceedingly effective and cheerful winter- 

 flowering subject ; for that matter it is in flower all the 

 time, but its large violet-blue flowers are more conspic- 

 uous in the dull winter months, on account of the 

 dearth of rival subjects in that color at that period. 



The requirements of this plant are very simple and 

 any ordinary treatment will suffice to attain good 

 results. It succeeds best in a greenhouse temperature 

 ranging from 50 to 55 degrees. Best results are ob- 

 tained by growing it annually from seeds, sown some- 

 what early, — say in February. The same routine 

 business that ensures success in handling other similar 

 subjects applies to the one under notice; namely, timely 

 transplanting with the necessary timely repotting. 



It varies greatly from seed in habit of growth and 

 size and intensity of color in flower. It would be there- 

 fore labor well-spent on the part of those that 

 grow this lovely plant, to be on the qui vive for improve- 

 ments along the line, and whenever such are detected to 

 perseveringly and intelligently bend their efforts to 

 further improvements. This can only be accomplished 

 by following well recognized rules, one of these, if the 

 improvement is carried forward through the medium of 

 seed-selection, being that the plant or plants to bear 

 the same, must be isolated sufficiently early to preclude 

 the possible tampering of inferior varieties with the 

 better variety. This line of work must be scrupulously 

 followed for a number of years to arrive at a stage 

 where a likely reasonable measure of success is to award 

 the effort. 



I said that best results are to be obtained from plants 

 raised annually from seeds; that plants can be easily 

 raised from cuttings I am well aware, but I have found 

 the latter invariably to assume a more woody and wiry 

 nature, resulting in smaller and less brilliant flowers. 

 However, I have seen good returns from one-year-old 

 plants severely cut back and planted out in early sum- 

 mer, thereafter lifted in the usual way in the fall, big 

 plants being the reward of such treatment. 



I would add that to obtain shapely, bushy plants, 

 frequent pinchings of the young growths must be 

 attended to in their earlier stages. I would also con- 

 sider this subject to be essentially a day and home decor- 

 ative plant. Day — as its color does not shine out under 

 artificial light, appearing mauve or lilac; home — as it 

 does not take kindly to rough transportation handling. 



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