GRAPES. 241 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



GRAPES. 



Many varieties of grapes have been tested, and tested 

 satisfactorily, in Florida, but foremost among them all 

 ranks the Bullace or Vitis vulpina family, native grapes of 

 Southern origin, which, owing to their late blooming and 

 late ripening, will not succeed north of the more southern 

 portions of Virginia. 



It is a curious fact that while the several members of 

 this family vary greatly in the quality of their fruit, even 

 in the wild state, this is the only difference that can be de- 

 tected in them : All the cultivated and all the wild varie- 

 ties are alike in leaf, bloom, and general habits, the only 

 perceptible difference, apart from the fruit, being that the 

 white sorts have pale green tendrils, and the purple kinds 

 purple tendrils. 



The whole habit and manner of growth of the Vitis vul- 

 pina family is so entirely unlike that of any other grape 

 in cultivation, that the rules generally applied to grape 

 culture are here at fault. 



Most grapes root with ease from cuttings, but the Bui- 

 lace varieties do not, their wood being so dense and com- 

 pact that it is almost impossible to get cuttings to strike ; 

 consequently the vines are propagated by layers, and where 

 a large number are desired, certain vines are set apart for 

 this purpose alone. These are kept cut back almost to the 

 stump, only short shoots, with four or five eyes or buds 

 are left ; this is done in the fall or in the spring. The 

 shoots, which are very numerous, are allowed to grow 

 until June, by which time they have attained a length of 

 five or six feet ; then the leaves are all stripped off from 



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