IN AMPELOGRAPHY. 7 



Other inconveniences may be added to this difficulty. 

 Winter is not a season for. strolling amongst vines. It is 

 often necessary to examine wood that has been cut for 

 some time and stratified in sand, and therefore of modified 

 colour. The colour of ripened wood varies sensibly accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil the vine is grown in. The wood 

 of Biparia Grloire cultivated in fertile alluvial plains, where 

 the growth is very strong, has not the same colour as the 

 wood of the same Biparia cultivated in clay soils or on poor 

 and dry hills. 



To ascertain that the colour is variable is sufficient to be 

 on guard against the first impression, and necessitates atten- 

 tive regard to other more constant characters than colour, 

 before asserting that the wood under observation belongs to 

 a particular variety. 



Tendrils. The character drawn from the continuity or 

 discontinuity of the tendrils is of remarkable fixity. The 

 Vitis Labrusca is the only species with continuous tendrils. 

 However, the continuity is not absolute. It is rare, on the 

 contrary, not to find a few interruptions on each cane, 

 especially in proximity to the point of insertion, where the 

 tendrils are invariably absent. 



The disposition of the tendrils of Labrusca hybrids is 

 intermediate between those of Vitis Labrusca and those of 

 other Vitis. According to the degree of relationship the 

 interruptions are rare or frequent. For example, the Vialla 

 has tendrils almost as continuous as those of V. Labrusca. 



Buds at the First Start of Growth. The 



appearance of the budding of certain species is very dis- 

 tinctive, but differs only slightly between the varieties of a 

 given species. The evolution of the young buds is so rapid 

 that the modifications are produced at short intervals. The 

 distinctive characters at that period of growth are slight 

 and very variable. This difficulty lasts until the leaves have 

 attained their final dimensions. 



