b AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



folia, Vulpina or Southern Fox. The accompanying 

 illustration of the seeds on the preceding page will show 

 on what peculiarities he based his distinctions, and as 

 he was one of the keenest observers of nature, as well as 

 a most prominent botanist, his opinions are of great 

 weight. This is the old classification. Mr. T. V. Man- 

 son of Denison, Texas, has made an entirely new one. 

 To complete this, he has spent much time in studying 

 the various species in their native wilds. He has, in 

 addition to this work, produced an extremely valuable 

 collection of seedlings by skillful crossing and hybridizing. 



THE MUNSON CLASSIFICATION. 



It will be seen that in Series 5 he classes the Vitis 

 vinifera or European grape in the ^Estivalis series, and 

 also the Herbemont, Lenoir and Rulander, which have 

 been previously classed as natives or Southern ^Estivalis, 

 as South European or Vitis Bourquiniana. The latter 

 classification cannot be accepted as final for several rea- 

 sons. First, the structure of the roots is entirely differ- 

 ent, being very soft and subject to the attacks of the 

 phylloxera in the Vinifera, while in Bourquiniana; as he 

 classes them, the roots are very hard and resistant, and 

 have the peculiarity of only one or two starting from the 

 base of the cuttings, branching out into smaller rootlets, 

 and striking downwards like a bird's claw ; while in the 

 Vinifera the roots start all around the buds the whole 

 length of the cuttings, and generally do not branch 

 much. Second, the texture of the wood is also entirely 

 different, as all the Vinifera grow easily from cuttings, 

 while the Bourquiniana root with difficulty. Third, the 

 leaves are also different in structure and ability to resist 

 fungous diseases, being thick and leathery, while the 

 fruit is but little (if any) subject to mildew and rot ; on 

 the other hand, the Vinifera succumbs first of all, so 

 much so that their culture in the open air has had to be 



