28 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 



be found on dry, gravelly, wind-swept hills far to the north or in some hot 

 and humid atmosphere of the South, as if to show indifference to wet or 

 dry, heat or cold. 



On the other hand there are many strong points of resemblance between 

 the score or more of species. The organs and characters that do not bear 

 the strain of changed environment, nor suffer in the perpetual warfare of 

 nature, are much the same in all of the species of Vitis. Thus the structure 

 of flowers, fruits and seeds is practically identical; all have naked-tipped 

 tendrils; leaves and leaf -buds are very similar; and the various species 

 usually hybridize freely. They are alike in the unlikeness of individual 

 plants in any of the species; that is, all of the individuals of the genus are 

 most variable and seeds taken from the same vine may produce plants 

 quite unlike one another and quite unlike the parent. 



These few facts regarding the evolution and distribution of American 

 grapes lead to two important conclusions: 



First, the species are so distributed throughout the United States, 

 and individuals of the species grow in such abundance and luxuriance, 

 as to suggest that we shall be able to improve and domesticate some one 

 or more of them for all of the agricultural regions of the country. For 

 it is proved that nearly all of the wild grapes have horticultural possibilities; 

 and experience with many plants teaches that the boundaries of areas 

 inhabited by the wild species of a given region coincide with those suited 

 to the production of the domesticated plant in that region. It is not possible 

 to tell where the grape-growing regions of the future are to be located; 

 for species and individuals of this fruit are so common that no one can 

 say where the grape is most at home in America. 



Second, grapes are so variable and plastic in nature that, were it not 

 known from experience, it could be assumed that they would yield readily 

 to improvement. Besides being variable they hybridize freely and thus 

 the plant-breeder can obtain desirable starting points. There are indica- 

 tions that some of the characters of grapes, at least, follow Mendel's Law, 

 and when once these have been determined, and the more important unit 

 characters segregated and defined, it ought to be possible to combine and 

 rearrange the characters of this fruit with some system and surely with 

 more certainty than in the past. 



