July 15, 191 5 Inheritance of Certain Characters of Grapes 



323 



Wheldale (8) has isolated two anthocyanins from species of Antirrhinum 

 which produce different shades of red and three flavones for ivory, 

 yellow, and white. Some work has already been done along this line 

 with the grape. Dezani (3) has found two chromogenic substances in 

 white grapes, and several have reported work on the coloring matter of 

 red grapes, but apparently the results are as yet too indefinite to be of 

 much value to the breeder. 



INHERITANCE OF QUALITY 



At first thought it would seem useless to attempt a study of such an 

 elusive and composite character as quality the interpretation of which 

 depends so much upon the tastes of the observers; yet in the final analy- 

 sis it is this character which very largely determines whether a seedling 

 is worth saving or must go to the brush pile, and any addition to our 

 knowledge of its inheritance is worth the effort. 



Table V shows the rating of the progeny of various parental combina- 

 tions which run the gamut of quality. Most noticeable is the very low 

 percentage of seedlings whose quality is good or above good even when 

 parents of the highest quality were used. When we consider the ancestral 

 history of these seedlings, these results are not surprising or discourag- 

 ing. Our American grapes, except for the V. vinifera hybrids, are but a 

 step removed from the wild, only a few possessing sufficient quality to 

 make them stand out from the many thousands too poor to be eaten with 

 relish. In breeding from these we are breeding from the topmost point 

 of the species and the effect of the several hundred poor kinds in the 

 immediate ancestry is to pull the seedlings down toward the "level of 

 mediocrity." 



Table V. — Inheritance of quality in grapes 



