12 How TO MAKE GRAPE CULTURE PROFITABLE IN CALIFORNIA 



Lenoir is and can fill its place; still they may have great value for 

 soils which 'have been considered well suited for Riparia hereto- 

 fore. Most any vine, which thrives in clays, will do well also in 

 gravelly or sandy soils of rich or medium quality. 



V. Berlandieri. This species occurs along the top of lime- 

 stone ridges as well as on creek bottoms of western Texas anci ad- 

 joining territories, but it is also found on compact soils. As this 

 is in a very dry region, its scope of adaptation probably approaches 

 more extreme dry than moist conditions. It is probably more 

 dryness-enduring than any other species of Vitis. The Riparia-Ber- 

 landieris are recommended to us by French experimenters as pos- 

 sessing the very qualities which will prove so valuable in California. 

 The Vinifera- and Rupestris-Berlandieris will very likely also have 

 very great value, especially for coarse gravelly soils or dry clayey 

 ridges and slopes in mountains, which never hold a great excess of 

 moisture. The above named four species have a great affinity in 

 grafting to the Viniferas, which is very important. 



V. riparia. I am of the opinion that the roots of vines of this 

 species have a fairly good adaptability to moisture changes pro- 

 vided the soil does not become too dry, but on account of their 

 fineness, shallowness and lack of penetrating power, the Riparia 

 as grafting stock has, as a rule, not been a success on unirrigated 

 lands in California. Considering its value as a grafting stock in 

 other respects, Riparia hybrids therefore without the faults of the 

 pure varieties and all their good qualities should prove a success. 



V. rupestris. This species has little adaptability; the pure 

 varieties therefore have no value for California. Hybrids possess- 

 ing their adaptability to poor soils and their deep, downward roots, 

 but stronger and hardier, would have usefulness for poor gravelly 

 soils. Very much misleading is in French writings on viticultural 

 topics the expression "dry soils," by which generally coarse grav- 

 elly soils are meant. True, deep gravelly soils, which are the only 

 ones that have been found to be well adapted to Rupestris in 

 France, are not excessively wet during a rainy spell, but neither 

 are they as dry in their lower depths at the end of a drouth as the 

 richer close-textured soils. The Rupestris occurs wild in the grav- 

 elly and rocky beds of "dry" runs and creeks, which contain no 

 water visible after springtime, but in a good many cases this has 

 simply sunk out of sight. Moisture arising from such water, with 

 occasional rains produce ideal conditions for this species. 



V. californica. This, our own' native vine, whose great value 

 in this respect has been unwisely overlooked in late years. Its fault 

 of lack of proper resistance against Phylloxera and of sufficient 

 hardiness should be very small trouble to correct by proper hybrid- 

 ization with any of the four species ahead in this list. No vine of 

 purely American origin is superior to it in adaptation to our cli- 

 matic conditions and in easy rooting from cuttings. Riparias and 

 Rupestris, especially the latter, which is apt to give a treacherous 

 character even to a hybrid, could be dispensed with entirely, as the 

 Californica will do better than either of the two in most any soil, 

 poor or rich. 



