DESCRIPTION OF VARIETIES. 213 



variety which happened to be placed under circumstances 

 very favorable to its growth and full development. I am 

 thus particular in mentioning these circumstances that the 

 reader may not be misled with high-sounding names or 

 recommendations that may be given to new varieties not 

 thoroughly tested. 



We shall have many new kinds offered every season a 

 few good ones, but more that are worthless ; and in most 

 cases we shall be obliged to buy both, that we may test 

 them and judge for ourselves. But it is not advisable to 

 buy largely of any until we have learned their value by 

 actual experiment, or from the personal experience of 

 others upon whose word and judgment we can implicitly 

 rely. In describing a variety of grape we use a number 

 of terms, some of which have a vague meaning to those 

 who do not know the source from which they were derived. 

 For instance, foxy, foxiness, foxy flavor, etc., are terms 

 that are applied to a peculiar flavor or smell which is 

 always found in the wild varieties of the Labrusca species, 

 and it remains to a greater or less degree in ah 1 its seed- 

 lings. This foxy flavor is, to some persons, not disagreea- 

 ble, even when it is very intense, as it is in some of the 

 wild varieties ; but to others it is extremely offensive. 

 Every country boy and girl in the Eastern States knows 

 what is meant by fox grapes, and they are not likely to 

 forget the peculiar flavor of that fruit when they become 

 older. I well remember when a boy, in Western New 

 York, of knowing where every frost grape vine was for 

 miles around ; but a/bic grape would have been a curiosity 

 to me, there being no such thing within the circle of my 

 explorations. 



The frost grape belongs to another species, and it has a 

 spicy flavor, but no trace of foxiness ; but the frost grape 

 of Western New York is not of the cordifolia species, 

 which is the frost grape of Eastern New York, New Jer- 

 sey, and New England States. The Clinton is a large rep- 



