38 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP VITICULTURE 



Quality. 



The final verdict on the worth of a seedling depends largely upon its 

 quality, yet quality is made up of so many factors and its interpretation de- 

 pends so much upon the tastes of the observer that it is a very difficult 

 factor to study. 



When seedlings are grouped according to quality it is immediately seen 

 that even when parents of the highest quality are used, only a low percentage 

 of the progeny rank as high as good while few reach as high as very good 

 and none could be graded as best in quality. When we consider the ancestral 

 history of these seedlings the results are not discouraging. Our native 

 grapes now under cultivation are but one or two generations removed from 

 the wild and represent the very few possessing sufficient quality to stand out 

 from the many which have been rejected. The low quality of the seedlings is 

 probably due to the leveling influence of the large number of ancestors of 

 poor quality. The importance of breeding only from varieties of the highest 

 excellence is shown by the rapid decrease in the quality of the seedlings as 

 we use parents of poorer quality. 



Pure seedlings have proved uniformly poorer in quality than cross-bred 

 seedlings another reason for not attempting to grow improved grapes by 

 means of selfed seedlings. 



Size of Berry. 



A study of the seedlings at Geneva has failed to show any indication of 

 dominance of any one size. This probably means that size of berry is the 

 result of the interaction of several factors. There is, however, a steady 

 decrease in the seedlings as we use parents of smaller size, thus showing 

 that each variety has a tendency to produce seedlings approaching its own 

 size. 



Form of Berry. 



The greatest difficulty in studying this factor has been the inability to 

 find varieties which are pure for any particular form. It may be that the 

 extreme oval of certain pure Viniferas is a pure form but certainly the less 

 pronounced oval of Vinifera hybrids gives nearly as many round seedlings 

 as oval. When round varieties are selfed or crossed, seedlings of all shapes 

 are secured with, however, a very large predominance of the round form. 



The only indication of purity of form has been found in an oblate variety. 

 Few grapes possess this form, one of the most pronounced of these being 

 Goff, a seedling produced by this Station. Selfed seedlings of this variety 

 would seem to show it to be pure for oblateness. The oblate form is probably 

 recessive to round, in fact there is a very strong tendency for roundness to 

 predominate over both the other forms. 



Season of Ripening. 



The period of ripening of a variety depends so much upon the vigor of the 

 vine, the season, cultural methods and environmental conditions that it is 

 difficult to secure accurate data. When seedlings are grouped according to 

 season of ripening and then compared with the season of the parents no pure 

 varieties are found but it is seen that the season of the parents influences to 

 quite a marked extent the average season of the progeny though individual 

 seedlings may show wide variations. 



