460 [ THE VINE. 



for their great vigour and productiveness. They have 

 deep green, obtusely three lobecl or five-lobed leaves, 

 with a thick covering of greyish white hairs on the under 

 surface, sometimes yellowish, as in the Concord grape ; 

 the canes arc comparatively slender, dark reddish or 

 chocolate coloured, the bunches are small but numerous, 

 often three or more on the same twig. The grape is 

 rather large, with a mucilaginous or glutinous greenish 

 pulp, with a sweet musky or foxy flavour. The rind is 

 thick and tough, highly coloured, and the seed is thick 

 and obtuse, deeply furrowed. The Isabella grape 

 agrees very well with our calcareous soils, rarely suffer- 

 ing from chlorosis except on moist soils, but it should be 

 stated that its resistance to the Phylloxera is the lowest 

 of all American vines, being given at only 2 - to - 2 - -,'and 

 the hybrids of the Labrusca vines with the European 

 vines niust have a still lower index of resistance. 



Vitis Berlandieri Planchon, is another American 

 vine introduced here in 1905. Jt is one of the most 

 resisting to Phylloxera, its index of resistance being put 

 at -|jj, and presents the great advantage that it thrives 

 well even in very calcareous soils and in hot climates 

 like ours. Unfortunately it cannot be propagated by 

 cuttings as easily as other species, but on the other hand 

 propagation by seed is most easy, the seeds always 

 germinating well^ and the seedlings reach grafting size 

 in a year or two. The bunches are very small, and the 

 grape is black, small and useless. This vine makes 

 a good stock for European vines and is therefore warmly 

 recommended as stock for calcareous soil and hot 

 climates. 



A third species which seems to be also recommend- 

 able as stock for hot and dry climates is Vilis 'J'^lpestris 

 ^^^^V.pupulifolia Lindheimer, the sand-grape of 

 Texas and other southern regions of the United States. 

 This vine has a bushy habit of growth, with roundish 



