396 



THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 



except in gardens. With the introduction of Concord and other early 

 varieties of higher quahty the cultivation of the Sage was dropped. It 

 is probably now obsolete. 



The best description we have of Sage is the following, copied from the 

 United States Department of Agriculture Report for 1864: 



" It is much like most of the wild Fox grapes of this vicinity, [Massachusetts] but 

 the berries are much larger, light chestnut or mahogany color, and they have a flattened 

 or compressed shape, instead of being round, frequently an inch in diameter. The 

 bunch is small with three to six berries in a round, ball-like cluster, with sometimes a 

 side stem with one berry at the end of it for a shoulder. The stem of the bunch is not 

 very long. The leaves usually are ' entire ' with a short pointed termination at the end 

 of the midrib, and two other points of the other divisions into which all American leaves 

 are divided, making always either plainly, or in the rudimental state, five lobes. Thus 

 the leaves are not much lobed, scarcely toothed, and have a rusty, woolly appearance. 

 The young wood, last season's growth, is hard and wiry and covered with bristles. The 

 grape itself is sweet, but has a hard pulp, that some compare to a piece of India-rubber 

 when eating it. It is early, and perfectly hardy, as much so as any wild grape in this 

 vicinity." 



ST. LOUIS. 

 (Labrusca.) 



I. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1899:54. 2. la. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1905:166. 3. Mich. Sta. Sp. Bui., 

 30:11. 1905. 



As St. Louis grows on the Station grounds it is so similar to Worden 

 and Concord that it would seem to be superfluous in the grape list of the 

 State. But the variety is so highly recommended in the West, especially 

 in the states from which the above references come, that it is possibly wotthy 

 of trial in tlie grape regions of New York as an early type of Concord. 



St. Louis was introduced by Henry Wallis of Wellston, Missouri. 

 about 1897. In 1900, he states that it is a seedling of Concord, was origi- 

 nated in St. Louis, and that it liad created a sensation for twenty years in 

 the St. Louis markets. Tlie general cliaracter of both fruit and vine cor- 

 roborates the Concord ])arentage though the frequently intermittent tendrils 

 indicate there is a strain of other than Labrusca blood present. 



Vine vigorous, hardy, medium to productive. Canes long to medium, intermediate 

 in number, often rather thick, medium brown to nearly dark reddish-brown deepening 

 in color at the nodes, covered with considerable pubescence ; tendrils continuous to inter- 

 mittent, bifid to trifid. Leaves very large to medium, variable in color, thick; lower 



