104 on varieties, races, sub-species, aj<d species. 



Article 1, 

 Varieties of Vines rejivoduced from Seed. 



Although tliere are vines which can be reproduced from seed, 

 we shall give examples to show that there are others which 

 cannot. 



M. Sageret obtained from a seed of a Chasselas a plant which 

 at the end of seven years bore fruit exactly like that of its 

 parent. 



There is a vine considered by Linnaeus as a distinct species, 

 and named by him Vitis laciniosa ; but which, according to M. 

 Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, is nothing more than a simple variety 

 of Vitis vinifera. This vine, called Cioutat, Parsley-leaved, or 

 Austrian grape, is reproduced from seed ; for MM. Turpin and 

 Poiteau state, in their great treatise on fruit-trees, that seeds of 

 Cioutat sown in the Royal Garden at Versailles in 1807 gave 

 plan'ts which, at the end of four years, yielded fruit identical 

 with that of the parent plant. 



It is then clear that there are varieties of vines srifficiently 

 fixed to allow of propagation by seed, and to be considered as 

 well characterised varieties and even as races, at least in those 

 localities in which they may be thus constantly propagated. If 

 the existence of races which could be maintained wherever the 

 vine could live had been ascertained, they might be considered 

 as so many sub-species, taking for granted of course that they 

 were not hybrids or distinct species. 



To show that every variety is not constantly reproduced with- 

 out change in all circumstances and in all countries, we refer to 

 a variety of black Hungarian grape, which, sown at La Doree, 

 bore white fruit. M. Jacques too obtained white fruit from the 

 seeds of the Raisin noir de la Madeleine. 



Agreeing as we do with M. Odart, that the most economical, 

 quick, and sure method of establishing a vineyard is by cuttings 

 of the varieties most suited to the place, we would not on that 

 account discourage gardeners who sow vines ; but on the con- 

 trary, we recommend them so to do whenever it is possible. 

 This is the best way for a man who cannot travel about to 

 become acquainted with new and improved varieties, possessing 

 perhaps valuable qualities not to be found in the old ones ; and 

 besides in a scientific point of view this is the only means of 

 fixing our knowledge of the types of the varieties, races, and 

 sub-species of our cultivated vines. 



Count Odart acknowledges the use of seed {AmpelograpMe, 

 p. 149) when he attributes to this method of propagation the 

 origin of many varieties of the small Gamay which, he says, 



