It was observed that any considerable market demands, all the time, three colors of grapes 

 to satisfy all customers. These are, in the order of preference, or extent of demand: (1) bright, 

 lively red, such as Delaware, Flame Tokay, etc. ; (2) black, or dark purple, with clear complexion, 

 such as Black Hamburg, Black Prince, Violet Chasselas, etc. ; Concord is too dull, has too much 

 white, flour-like bloom; (3) translucent, yellowish varieties, such as Golden Chasselas, Calabrian, 

 etc. Niagara, when thoroughly ripe in sunny weather does pretty well. Varieties that are 

 green when fully ripe do not sell well. 



In the South, some varieties of grapes, such as Champion, begin ripening in June, and by 

 August 1st all the varieties commonly grown in the North are gone in the South, and yet at the 

 time when grapes are most relished, through August, September and October, only Herbemont, 

 LeNoir and the Muscadines, such as Scuppernong and Thomas, could be used to fill up the latter 

 part of the season, yet these pass away in August and early September, still leaving the best 

 half of the season unsupplied, except by importation. 



Even the North yet has very few varieties of good quality of commercial value and the South 

 can find room for many more. 



Ripe fruit cannot be profitably retained on the vines in the heat of summer, except in rare 

 cases, longer than about ten days after ripe enough to market. But when the cool nights of 

 September and October come, it can hang twenty to thirty days in good condition. This would 

 give three periods of ten days each for July and August; two periods of fifteen days each for 

 September and one period for October, making nine in all, each requiring three colors, thus 

 giving room for profitable growing no less than twenty-seven varieties, to cover the entire season, 

 in the South, with only one variety of each color at any one time, to say nothing of strictly wine 

 grapes; and to make apparent the needs, the following scheme was devised. 



Skeleton for Ideal Succession of Grapes for the South 



27 Varieties. 



Let any one try to fill this skeleton list with varieties generally cultivated and he will quickly 

 become aware of the inadequacy of existing varieties for the purpose. 



We make the attempt in the following, admitting a number of varieties not up to standard 

 of excellence desired, but the best of each season and color available among the commonly grown 

 kinds. In several of the seasons more than one variety of the same color are named, to give 

 greater variety in quality. This shows the 3rd and 4th periods well supplied for northern regions 

 which cannot extend beyond the 5th period, and few of these varieties are satisfactory in the 

 South. 



9 



