400 THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 



Carolina; a river, a town, a lake, and a swamp all bear this appellation. 

 Calvin Jones, an agriculturist of note in North Carolina during the early 

 part of the last century, gives the following history of the name as applied 

 to the grape it now distinguishes:' "This grape & wine had the name 

 of Scuppernong given to them by Henderson & myself, in compliment 

 to James Blount of Scuppernong. who first diffused a general knowledge 

 of it in several well written communications in our paper — and it is culti- 

 vated with more success on that river than in any other part of the state, 

 perhaps, except the Island of Roanoke." 



Scuppernong is said to have been found on Roanoke Island at the 

 time of the landing of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony. There is a tradition 

 that an old vine now growing on this island is the original vine. At an early 

 day it was quite common to propagate Scuppernong bv seed, pulling out all 

 vines bearing black fruit as soon as the color of the fn.;it could be determined. 

 Because of this practice it is probable that there are many seminal varieties 

 under the general name Scuppernong. All that seems to be required for 

 a grape to pass under this name is that the vine should be a Rotundifolia 

 and the fruit white. 



In the horticultural accounts of the histor}- of Scuppernong it is com- 

 monly spoken of as having been found wild during the latter part of the 

 eighteenth century. Bvit Lawson, writing about 1700, in the account 

 quoted on page 37 of this work, describes with sufficient accuracy a white 

 Rotundifolia which could hardly be any other than the Scuppernong. It 

 is, thus, in a sense, a botanical as well as a horticultural variety. Its close 

 relationship to the black form of Rotundifolia is attested by the fact that 

 its seedlings are as often, probably more often, black than white. That 

 Scuppernong is more distinct than the other varieties of Rotundifolia is 

 indicated by the fact that of the ten cultivated varieties of Rotundifolia 

 now grown in the South, James, Thomas, Eden, Meisch, Flowers, Memory. 

 Seedlin, Tenderpulp, Jeter, and Scuppernong as given by Newman,^ all 

 are black but the last named. 



Scuppernong vines are to be found on arbors, in gardens, or half wild, 

 on trees and fences on nearly every farm in the South Atlantic States. As 



^ Aiiicr. Farmer, 3:332. 1822. 



- S. C. Sta. Bid., 132:17, 18. 1907. 



