434 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [XXVII. 



rado, Highland, Jefferson and Lady Washington have 

 Concord blood, and the last is interesting because 

 one of its parents is the old Allen's Hybrid ; but 

 even these have place with amateurs, not with mar- 

 ket growers. 



It is not improbable that there may exist among 

 our multitude of hybrids some prizes which have 

 been overlooked, for many of them have not been 

 named or introduced, and some of the named varieties 

 have not been thoroughly tested. But it is certainly 

 true that, as a whole, the introduction of the vinifera 

 blood through artificial hybridizations has not been a 

 success. This, after all, is not strange. It is the 

 rule in the vegetable kingdom that violent hybridiza- 

 tions give unsatisfactory results, and any hybridization 

 between the eastern American species and Vitis vin- 

 ifera must be regarded as violent. In fact, primary 

 hybridations between native species have rarely given 

 profitable results. This is well illustrated in Jacob 

 Rommel's seedlings of Labrusca and the common 

 wild Vitis riparia, or river -bank grape. His varieties 

 are characterized by great vigor, productiveness and 

 hardiness, but they lack flavor and size of berry. His 

 named sorts are Amber Beauty, Black Delaware, 

 Elvira, Etta, Faith, Montefiore, Pearl, Transparent, 

 and Wilding. If the violence of the cross is responsi- 

 ble for some of the weaknesses in all these hybrids, 

 it would seem to follow that secondary hybridizations 

 would give better results. And in this direction — 

 crossing the best pure native sorts with hybrids of 

 various degrees of attenuation — I look for ultimate 

 success in fusing vinifera characteristics into Ameri- 

 can grapes. Ricketts' failure in this direction was 



