VARIETIES OF GRAPES 



I". P. HEDRICK 

 Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, X V. 



In their wild state, grapes are adapted to a great diversity of 

 soils and conditions; under cultivation, varieties are confined to 

 very 'restricted regions and even localities. Thus a grape will 

 often succeed on one shore of a lake or river and not on the other ; 

 on one slope of a hill and not 011 the other. It is difficult to point 

 out the determinants of grape adaptabilities; for the most part 

 they can be known only by trial, since neither conditions of soil, 

 of climate, nor lay of the land seem to determine with certainty 

 the adaptability of any variety to a given locality. .Many varie- 

 ties reach perfection in one region or locality but not in another, 

 although the conditions may seem to be very similar. Often 

 the influence of local environments is so great that a variety 

 grown in one locality may not be recognized as the same grape 

 when produced under other conditions. 



What has been said makes it plain that in a state as large as 

 New York, and in one with its varied soil and climate conditions, 

 a considerable number of grapes must be grown if house and 

 markets are to be supplied. The following sorts, discussed al- 

 phabetically, form the very briefest list of grapes for this state. 



BRIGHTOX 



Brighton ranks as one of the leading amateur grapes in New 

 York and is among the ten or twelve chief commercial sorts in 

 the state. Its good points are: high quality, handsome appear- 

 ance, certainty of ripening, being earlier than Concord, vigorous 

 growth, productiveness, adaptability to various soils, and ability 

 to withstand fungi. Brighton has two serious defects which keep 

 it from ranking high commercially : It deteriorates in quality 

 very quickly after maturing, and is self sterile to a marked de- 

 gree. To have it at its best the fruit should be thinned. After 

 Catawba and Delaware it is probably more extensively grown 



than is any other red grape. 



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