294 AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE. 



lings from our cultivated varieties vary greatly 

 in their character. The great majority of them 

 will be inferior to the parent, showing a marked 

 tendency to go back to the woods ; some will 

 resemble the parent so closely as to be scarcely, 

 if at all, distinguishable from it, being, in fact, 

 simply reproductions ; and very rarely one may 

 be found superior to the parent. Seedlings 

 just like their parents are getting to be quite 

 common ; but we can not perceive any good 

 reason for multiplying kinds in this way. A 

 seedling ought not only to be better than its 

 parent, or than other kinds, but also have some 

 distinctive characteristic. Seedlings, again, will 

 often differ broadly from their parents in color. 

 Those from the Isabella, for example, are not 

 unfrequently green in color instead of purple. 

 It is characteristic of varieties to vary in this 

 way. 



