240 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 



SPECIES USED FOR STOCKS AND THEIR PREPARATION. 



Grape culture in the Golden State differs so essentially 

 from that in Missouri and the East, that practices fol- 

 lowed there are inadmissible here, or can only be applied 

 with essential modifications. The innumerable varieties 

 of Vitis vinifera, or Asiatic grape, form the leading class 

 of grapes here, and succeed admirably in the moderate 

 climate and dry summers of California. This makes an 

 addition to the classification of vines necessary, espe- 

 cially as other native species have become better known, 

 and promise to become important factors as stocks, in 

 their resistance to Phylloxera, to which all the varieties 

 of V. vinifera succumb. A portion of the native species 

 of the vine are described on page 12 and the following 

 pages ; what is given here is supplementary to that. 



VITIS YINIFERA, Linnaeus (Asiatic or European grape). 

 Leaves more or less lobed and serrated, smooth and 

 glossy on the upper side, generally more delicate in tex- 

 ture than the native American species; the wood more 

 stocky, and shorter-jointed. The fruit differs so much 

 in the varieties that it would be useless to attempt a de- 

 scription here. Its general characteristics are, however, 

 a thin skin, a greater abundance of juice, and in the 

 fleshy varieties a crackling texture of the flesh, without 

 the tough and slimy pulp of the Labrusca. 



VITIS RUPESTRIS, Scheele (Bush Grape). Vine with 

 very short joints and numerous branches, growing more 

 like a bush or shrub than a vine, with small, heart-shaped, 

 shining leaves, smooth on both sides. Berry small, mostly 

 black (although white varieties have been found), juicy, 

 without pulp; bunch small, seldom containing more than 

 a dozen berries. A native of Southern Missouri, Arkan- 



