506 [THE VINE. 



VINES GROWN IN THE MALTESE ISLANDS. 



The cultivated varieties of the European vine are 

 very numerous, every country having a certain number 

 of local origin, and with very few exceptions the large 

 majority of these varieties are chance seedlings, only a 

 few having been obtained .as a direct result of the 

 gardener's art or through a process of artificial hybridiza- 

 tion 1 and selection Yet few fruit trees answer so kindly 

 to careful methods of hybridization and selection. Cer- 

 tain sorts, chiefly wirv- grapes, have been submitted to a 

 process of selection by continental growers, by selecting 

 cuttings only from plants which excel for high production 

 and for the quality of their fruit, and by continuing this 

 selection over a long period, strains have been obtained 

 which are remarkable fur their fertility and for the 

 quality of the fruit as compared with the original type. 



Unfortunately there is hardly another class of fruit 

 trees the nomenclature of which is so confused so that it 

 is often a hopeless task to try to extricate the sinonimy, 

 that is the names under which the same sort of European 

 vine is cultivated in various countries, or even in various 

 districts of the same country. A few sorts are known 

 everywhere by the same name or by mere linguistic or 

 dia'ectic variations, but the great majority have special 

 names for each region, and as the appearance or quality 

 of the fruit generally varies somewhat from place to 

 place, it is often difficult to ascertain whether it is the 

 same sort or a distinct variety. Again, many widely 

 different sorts are often known by the same name in 

 various countries or even in the same country or region, 

 and this is another serious obstacle to a correct determi- 

 nation. In the case of American or hybrid-American 

 vines, whether grown as grafting stock or as direct 

 producers, the difficulties above mentioned do not exist, 

 all sorts being correctly named everywhere, or at least 



