232 



THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 



warm soils but even on these it must receive good cultivation, close pruning, 

 and in some cases the fruit must be thinned. It is, too, a necessity, where 

 mildew is abundant, to spray with bordeaux mixture which keeps the 

 disease well in check. Birds are very fond of this variety and it sviffers in 

 particular from the depredations of robins. 



Delaware is the best American table grape and as such commands 

 a premium in all of the markets, selling oftentimes for double the price of 

 Concord. It is also much sought for by wine-makers both for Delaware 

 wine and for blending in making champagne or other wines of high quality. 

 It is grown North and South and westward to the Rocky Moiintains, and is 

 now proving especially profitable in many southern locations as an early 

 grape to ship to northern markets. The Delaware is an especially desirable 

 grape to cultivate in small gardens because of its delicious and handsome 

 fruit, its compact habit of growth, and when in health, its ample and lus- 

 trous green, delicately formed leaves which make it one of the most orna- 

 mental of the grapes.' 



Delaware is the parent of an interesting but not particularly valu- 

 able progeny; none of the pure-bred offspring nearly equal the parent 

 though many of them inherit its fine color and high quality. Among its 

 cross-bred offspring are some notable varieties, all of which are described 

 in their proper places in this work. An interesting fact regarding the pure- 

 bred progeny of Delaware is that, so far as we have records, it seems to 

 have given very few black grapes though there are often white or rose- 

 colored seedlings among them. Even in its cross-bred offspring, red, or 

 some tint of it greatly predominates, indicating power in the transmission 

 of color and suggesting the value of this variety in breeding red grapes. 



The Delaware grape was first brought to notice by Abram Thompson, 

 editor of the Delaware Gazette of Delaware, Ohio. In the summer of 1849 



' The grape vine in the vineyard is not ornamental, but only because its beauty is marred by 

 the formal shapes in which it must be trained to meet the purposes of the cultivator. But as a 

 festoon for an arbor, or for hiding a neglected building, for the porch of the farmhouse, or for any 

 place where a bold or picturesque effect is wanted, or for giving an expression of strength, no vine 

 surpasses some of the varieties of our native grapes. Properly planted they are not only beautiful 

 in themselves but attractive through their suggestiveness. To sit under one's own vine and fig tree 

 is the ancient idea of a life of peace, contentment and security; and this association with the patri- 

 archal use of the vine is one of the charms of the grape. 



