BREEDING SOUTHERN GRAPES 



Scuppernong and Other Rotundifolia Varieties Offer Promise of Large Returns to 

 the Breeder — Technique of Cross-Pollination — Characters 

 That Should Be Improved 



L. R. Detjen 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, West Raleigh, X. C. 



IN MANY of the South Atlantic 

 States, excellent grapes of the species 

 Vitis rotundifolia grow wild in pro- 

 fusion. They were brought under 

 cultivation as early as the first half 

 of the eighteenth century, when tradi- 

 tion says that a particularly good vine 

 found on the wooded bank of Albemarle 

 Sound was domesticated and given the 

 name of Scuppernong. This variety is 

 still the most important and most widely 

 disseminated, a fact which shows that 

 very little systematic improvement of 

 the species has been made, although one 

 variety or another is now to be found 

 in almost every garden along the coast 

 of the Carolinas. Within recent years 

 the great potential value of the rotundi- 

 folia grapes has been recognized and 

 their improvement attempted. 



Improvement of the grape may follow 

 along several distinct lines. As a wine 

 grape (for which the rotundifolia species 

 has been much used) one set of charac- 

 ters must be selected and intensified; 

 as a table grape other characters must 

 be accumulated and improved, or en- 

 tirely new ones introduced from another 

 species. Since the wine industry in this 

 country has been demoralized by the 

 prohibition movement, the greatest 

 opi)ortunity of improvement among ro- 

 tundifolia grapes today lies in the pro- 

 duction of a superior tabic grai)e. The 

 Scuppernong, as is well-known, to- 

 gether with its kindred varieties in the 

 red and in the black colors, although 

 possessing high qualities and flavors, is 

 decidedly deficient in such characters as 

 arc intimately associated with a dessert 

 grape. For example none of the varie- 

 ties of rotundifolia gra])cs can be called 

 a bunch grajje and none of the better 

 varieties even ])roduces berries that ad- 

 here to the stem. This means that 



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the skins at the point of contact are 

 usually broken, micro-organisms make 

 themselves at home in the exuding 

 juices, and the grapes soon begin to 

 sour. Even if the utmost precaution 

 is taken not to break the berry skins 

 the natural sprightly flavor in the fresh 

 fruit of most varieties disappears soon 

 after picking, leaving the fruit less 

 palatable. If we add to all of this the 

 extreme thickness of the berry skins, the 

 very large seeds, and a very high acid 

 content of the pulp we begin to realize 

 the need for improvement in this 

 group of grapes. 



Permanent improvement in this 

 species might be attained in two dis- 

 tinct ways: first, by inter-crossing desir- 

 able varieties within the species; second, 

 by the out-crossing of desirable varieties 

 with selected vines from without the 



species. 



GREAT V.\RIABILITY 



A survey of the material that has been 

 secured in the way of varieties and 

 seedlings indicates that it may not be 

 necessary to go outside of the species for 

 im])rovement, but that in due time the 

 l)atient and persistent plant breeder 

 will succeed in producing a grape worthy 

 of taking its place among the best 

 table varieties. 



Although the rotundifolia species with 

 its many undesirable qualities is con- 

 sidered by many jjcrsons as very stable, 

 this conception is altogether erroneous, 

 because the species has been found not 

 only to include almost all of the charac- 

 ters that can be desired, but to have 

 them in wide range, so that it will yield 

 great results in the skilled hands of the 

 plant l)reeder. For instance, the variety 

 Scuijpernong generally produces its 

 fruits in clusters of from two to six 



