110 amehicah geape oHOwiira 



CHAPTER XXIIL 



VITICULTURE IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI. 



HERMANN JAEGER, NEOSHO, MO. 



When locating in Southwest Missouri, the first wild 

 grapes to attract my attention were those of the Lince- 

 cumii type of Vitis cestivalis, popularly known as 

 '^Summer" grapes here, and "Post Oak" grapes in 

 Texas. Many of these I selected and cultivated. Some 

 had produced heavy loads of fruit in their wild state, 

 blooming near staminate vines of their species, while 

 under cultivation they proved shy bearers. Others pro- 

 duced well in the vineyard, and of these I still cultivate 

 some, like Neosho, Racine, Nos. 32, 52, 13 and 43. 



Nos. 13 and 43 are as large as Ives and Concord re- 

 spectively, and while no better than these in quality, I 

 Talued them as extremely hardy and prolific late grapes, 

 remaining sound where the Concord crop was entirely 

 ruined by black rot. 



Vitis rupestris is another native of the Southwest 

 that attracted my attention, on account of the purity of 

 its grapes and their freedom from rot and mildew. 

 Some of these I sent to France to be tried as stocks 

 able to resist phylloxera. Their adaptation to the thin- 

 nest, dryest and stoniest soils ; their hardiness, superior 

 to all other vines, and their easy propagation, made them 

 very popular for grafting stocks. Even for the creation 

 of Franco- American hybrids our French co-laborers pre- 

 fer the rupestris to other native species, because it is 

 free from any of the peculiar American flavors so objec- 

 tionable to those who formed their taste on European 

 grapes. 



While searching for rupestris vines to export, I selected 

 some with large fruit to cultivate. Even these are only 



