RESISTANT VINES; THEIR SELECTION, ADAPTATION, ETC. 29 



St. Georges erige," etc. These are synonyms that are fully recognized 

 on the market, so that the same variety will always be obtained under 

 any of these names. The name of " Rupestris St. Georges " has been 

 chosen for many reasons, but chiefly in order to avoid confusion in the 

 future. 



As soon as the California vine-grower has been convinced that he must 

 use only selected varieties in the replanting of his vineyard, full descrip- 

 tions of the various varieties of the Vitis Rupestris will be given, so that 

 the refinements of the problem may be taken into consideration. 



As already said, it is thought that in the majority of California 

 soils the Rupestris will have to be relied on rather than the Riparia, 

 as is the case in Europe. Hence it has been given the first place 

 on the list, in the belief that the absence of summer rains, and the 

 abundance of light gravelly or sandy soils, will require in all but 

 exceptional cases, this hardy, vigorous grower. While it does not graft 

 quite so readily as the Riparia, and needs careful suckering for the first 

 few years, yet it will do so much better than the Riparia on similar dry 

 soils that there can be no question about the gain in quantity and 

 quality of crops. 



It must be remembered that the native habitat of the Vitis Rupestris 

 differs from that of the Vitis Riparia, in that, instead of seeking the 

 moist, shady banks of streams or the depths of forests, it is found in 

 the open, dry beds of ravines, plunging its hardy, deep roots into soils 

 that are but little better than gravel piles, without shelter of any kind. 

 In such soils the Vitis Riparia can scarcely exist, and if it does succeed 

 in struggling along, it is so feeble that diseases of any kind will kill it. 

 The native habitat of the Vitis Rupestris embraces soils that are far more 

 arid and poor than any of the vineyard land in California. While it 

 flourishes in most excessive heat that would be very harmful to other 

 species, it will stand excessive cold very well. This was proved in 

 France (near Lyons) in the exceptional winter of 1890-91. And though 

 it is said by many that the " experience of Frenchmen should be disre- 

 garded, because our conditions are different," it would seem common 

 sense that if a certain variety of vine will stand cold and be thick-wooded 

 when transplanted into France, there is no reason why it should not be 

 thick-wooded and stand the same amount of cold in California or any 

 other country into which it is carried. It has been proved beyond the 

 possibility of rational doubt that the Vitis Rupestris does equally well 

 in France as it does in its native habitat in the eastern part of the 

 United States, provided the soils are similar. There is no doubt, there- 

 fore, that if it is planted in similar soils in California, for it is not a 

 native of California, it will thrive equally well. It is certain that it 

 will not do as well as the Vitis Riparia when planted in compact clay or 

 adobe soils, and if the clay or adobe be in great excess, and especially 

 compact, even the Vitis Riparia will have to be substituted by the 

 hybrid Lenoir, or Solonis, or some other similar hybrid. 



The Vitis Rupestris, then, is a species that should be selected for 

 all soils that are gravelly, sandy, and dry. The most important item in 

 this list is the drought, for while the Vitis Riparia will do well in moist 

 soils of almost all kinds, it will not do well, if at all, in dry soils, in 

 which the Rupestris will thrive. On moist soils the Rupestris will 

 thrive, but other things being equal, the Riparia will do better on rich, 

 moist land, especially if there be much sand mixed with it. 



