THE GRAPE 357 



By planting seeds of an early grape, a great 

 proportion of early grapes would be expected, 

 and vice versa, but in almost every case both 

 early and late, large and small, black and white, 

 sweet and sour, strong-growing and weak-grow- 

 ing grapes will be produced among a lot of 

 grape seedlings from any variety which has been 

 long cultivated and is the result of hybridization. 



In a wild species, the variation would be 

 mostly in the size of the plants and very little 

 in any other respect. 



The first crop of fruit on the young vine is 

 not a very accurate test of its future fruiting 

 capacity. Almost without exception the fruit 

 improves each season for several years both in 

 the size of the bunches and in quality of the fruit. 



GRAPES FROM MANY LANDS 



With the grape as with other plants I have 

 sought material for development in far places; 

 but have also utilized the native species. A brief 

 notice of the different species that have contrib- 

 uted to the experiments will suggest the scope of 

 the work. 



An interesting local species is Vitis calif ornica. 

 This is an extremely strong vine, climbing a tree 

 to a height of seventy-five or one hundred feet. 

 It is often found along the banks of creeks and 



