Breeding for Special Character and Purpose 



While it appears that there is no direct road in breeding up to a special purpose ideal, yet 

 the only way to approach such ideal is to have it clearly in mind and continue from generation to 

 generation to select and pair varieties which embody the greatest number of the elements of the 

 ideal. 



All of many seedlings of Triumph (a white variety, a Concord x Muscat hybrid) , grown by the 

 writer, were white. Of a large number of pure seedlings of Elvira, a greenish- white variety, the 

 majority were white, some black and some amber or pale red. Elvira crossed by Triumph pro- 

 duced all white varieties, the Rommel being one of the lot. Pure Rommel seedlings were all white. 

 Rommel crossed with Brilliant produced all yellowish-white varieties, of which Wapanuka is one. 

 In this case the white blood is most potent as to color but the vines of this cross resemble Brilliant 

 more than Rommel, yet Rommel was the mother. The Gold Coin, a hybrid of Norton, black, 

 impregnated by Martha, a pure greenish-white seedling of Concord, has produced many pure seed- 

 lings for the writer, all yellowish-white. Concord is well known to occasionally produce white 

 varieties among its pure seedlings. Of Norton I have grown many pure seedlings, of which about 

 one-third were yellowish-white, none as good as the parent, and the others all black, a few equal, 

 and the Winona a little superior to the parent. Neither Concord nor Norton has ever produced 

 pure, red seedlings. The tendency to white or albino varieties in them when united, as in the 

 Gold Coin, completely dominates the color in all its pure seedlings, and these seedlings are all 

 much more feeble in growth than the black varieties, resulting from hybridizing Concord and 

 Norton. Many other examples following the same course can be produced, but these are con- 

 sidered sufficient illustration of the general law, that to produce white varieties surely, cross or 

 hybridize white varieties. To avoid or overcome the element of weak growth in white varieties, 

 only the most vigorous of this color should be used for parents. 



This consideration of producing white varieties has been specially amplified, because the 

 writer was once told by an eminent hybridizer of grapes that he thought that white grapes could 

 be produced as readily out of black varieties as out of white, and cited Empire State as an example, 

 said to be a hybrid of Hartford and Clinton, two black varieties. But the botanical characters 

 in Empire State do not show the least bit of Clinton, but plainly some light wooded Vinifera, 

 or Labrusca x Vinifera hybrid, proving clearly an error in the supposed parentage. 



In my work with red (see Lindley, Delaware and Delago families, in Chapter III.) and black 

 varieties (see America, Concord and other families of black grapes, Chapter III.) , there is abundant 

 proof that the same law holds good as with white varieties, that "like produces like," the commonly 

 accepted rule as to reproduction in nature, yet in this matter of white and red varieties occa- 

 sionally coming out of black varieties, as they surely do, from some occult cause not fully 

 understood, we must admit that the law is not absolute, but has occasional exceptions. 



It has likewise been found generally true, yet with occasional exceptions, that early ripening 

 parents produce early ripening progeny. Where there is much variation from this rule in 

 pure seedlings of a variety as in Concord, in which the majority are early or medium, as Moore 

 Early, Worden, etc., while rarely like Miner Victoria, some of its seedlings are very late; or as 

 in Jaeger No. 70, and America, a combination of Rupestris, a very early species, and Jaeger 

 No. 43, a very late variety of Lincecumii, a late species, the progeny ripen all along from early to 

 late. It would seem that such varieties, the progeny of which vary much in season and other 

 characteristics, contain different specific blood in their make-up. The latest introduced variety 

 produced by the writer is the Marguerite, a hybrid of a very late Post-Oak grape with Herbemont, 

 a very late variety; and a much later kind still is the Winterwine, a hybrid of V. Simpsoni with 

 Marguerite, both very late, Simpsoni being latest. Little or nothing could be gained by uniting 

 very early with very late kinds. 



Generally season of leafing, flowering and ripening belongs to species, as the Table of 

 Cultural Characters in Chapter II., p. 121, shows. 



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