172 



The Grape Culturist. 



THE IVES GRAPE. 



Synonyms. — Ives' Seedling, Ives' Madeira, Kittredge. 



This is not a 7iew grape, but as its 

 merits and demerits have been so often 

 discussed lately, we think it may be 

 interesting to our readers to have a 

 summary of them, and also an illustra- 

 tion and description. An accidental 

 seedling of Henr}^ Ives, near Cincin- 

 nati, Ohio, ver}- likely from seed of 

 Hartford Prolific, which it ver}- closely 

 resembles in foliage and fruit. Bunch 

 full, medium, compact, not generally 

 shouldered ; berry medium, oval, black, 

 Bweet and pulpy ; only moderately 

 juicy ; somewhat i'oxj, but not as much 

 so as Hartford ; colors about as early 

 as Hartford, but adlieres firml}'- to the 

 stem. Vine — a rampant grower ; very 

 productive after the third year ; but 

 little subject to disease of any kind ; 

 one of our most healthy and robust 

 varieties, and propagates freely from 

 cuttings in open ground. 



As we have fruited the grape for 

 several years, and made wine from it, 

 anci as we still think that it has been 

 excessivel}' praised, although we have 

 a better opinion noio of its wine-making 

 qualities than we iiad after tasting onl}' 

 the samples made in Ohio, we will tr}' 

 to sum up its good qualities as well as 

 its faults impartially, and leave our 

 readers to judge which predominate. 



Its merits are : Easy propagation ; 

 adaptability to almost any soil ; robust 

 and healthy growth of fruit and foliage ; 

 productiveness after its third year ; 

 fair keeping qualities of the fruit, 

 which may also be used as an early 

 market grape, as it colors as early as 

 Hartford. We mav add to this, that 



it will, under proper treatment, make 

 a wine which, in color and body, holds 

 about the middle between Concord and 

 Norton, with a more agreeable bouquet 

 than either of these. 



Its faults are : Its too rampant 

 growth, which makes it difficult' to 

 manage in the vineyard ; its inferior 

 quality as a table grape, (much inferior 

 to the Concord, although it may keep 

 better) ; its early starting in spring, 

 which subjects it to late spring frosts, 

 and the tough thick pulp and skin of 

 the berry. It is by no means a reaued 

 grape, but one of the roughest and 

 wildest of all of our natives. How 

 Mr. Ives could ever suppose it to be a 

 seedling of an European grape, we are 

 unable to comprehend, as' it has 

 " Labrusca" written on every fibre and 

 particle of leaf, wood, and fruit. Its 

 must contains even less sugar than the 

 Concord, an:l the stories told by our 

 Cincinnati friends — that it would make 

 a ver}' heavy wine without addition of 

 sugar — cannot " go down " with any 

 one who has had ihe handling of its 

 must for several years. But, take it 

 all and all, we think its good qualities 

 predominate, and that it may safel}- be 

 recommended for general culture in the 

 West as a reliable grape, making, 

 under proper treatment, a red wine of 

 good quality, which can be produced 

 cheaply. But we warn our readers 

 that they cannot make a wliite wine of 

 it by an}' manipulation, a rather serious 

 drawback, when the demand for white 

 wines seem so much more active than 

 for red, and we do not think that it 



