66 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



into New York by Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, of Brooklyn, 

 from whom it passed to William Robert Prince, and 

 for whom he named it the Isabella. This was the 

 third great American grape in point of historical im- 

 portance, and it is another offshoot of the southern 

 type of the wild fox -grape, Vitis Ldbrusca. "It is a 

 dark purple fruit, of a large size, oval form, and juicy, 

 and equals some of the secondary European grapes," 

 wrote Prince in 1830; "and for vigour of growth, and 

 an abundant yield, exceeds any other yet cultivated in 

 this country, and requires no protection during the 

 winter season." It was thought to be a hardier grape 

 than the Catawba, and to ripen earlier in the fall, and 

 for these reasons it obtained great favor in the north- 

 ernmost states, and occasional vines of it may still be 

 seen about old establishments. It should be said, 

 before leaving the Isabella, that fifty years ago its 

 American birth was strongly disputed, and the most 

 direct evidence was adduced to show that it is a Span- 

 ish grape. Bernard Laspeyre, a noted grape grower 

 near Wilmington, North Carolina, states that he dis- 

 covered the grape in the garden of another French- 

 man at Charleston, South Carolina, and that this man 

 had himself brought it from Spain. This history is 

 fully set forth in Spooner's "Cultivation of American 

 Grape Vines," in 1846, in the second volume of the 

 "Western Horticultural Review," 1852, and in other 

 early writings. While the records seem to be ex- 

 plicit, the botanical characters of the Isabella are so 

 clearly those of the native fox -grape that all writers 

 now agree that it is American, or at most only a 

 dilute hybrid with the European type. There must 

 have been some error in Laspeyre 's history; or it is 



