THE GRAPE 351 



hensive story of the growth and development and 

 world conquest of this extraordinary fruit. Nor 

 would it comport with the present purpose to do 

 so. The main facts as to grape culture are mat- 

 ter of common knowledge. Our concern must be 

 with such features of habit, and constitution, and 

 adaptability of the grape as particularly concern 

 the plant developer, and have to do with the pos- 

 sibilities of improvement. 



In particular, of course, here as elsewhere, we 

 shall be concerned with a presentation of the 

 work done at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol in con- 

 nection with the development of this plant. 



This, as will appear presently, has looked 

 chiefly to the improvement of the grape as a 

 table fruit. I have not been concerned with vari- 

 eties of the grape that are utilized by the maker 

 of wine. These have been specialized to the point 

 of approximate perfection in the wine-growing 

 districts, and it would be useless to experiment 

 with them in any region except the one in which 

 they are to be cultivated, because it is well known 

 that the grape takes directly from the particular 

 soil in which it grows something of the unique 

 qualities of flavor that determine the rank of any 

 grape in the estimate of the connoisseur. 



But the case of the grape considered as a table 

 fruit is obviously different. Even though this 



