666 



GRAPE 



GRAPE 



GRAPE. The Grape is probably the oldest of domes- 

 ticated fruits. It is probable that wine was made from 

 it before the species was brought into cultivation. It 

 seems to have been cultivated at the dawn of history. 

 Its product was certainly no rarity in Noah's time. 



949. The Labrusca or Fox-Grape type, a, Niagara; &, Brighto 



The Grape of history is the Old World Vitis vinifera, 

 the "wine-bearing Vitis." probably native to Asia. The 

 paramount use of the Grape always has been the pro- 

 duction of wine. A subsidiary value is the production 

 of raisins; and another is the production of fruit for 

 the dessert and for culinary uses. Great efforts were 

 made to introduce the cultivation of the European Grape 

 into the American colonies, but the efforts resulted 

 in failure. It was not until the latter part of the pres- 

 ent century that the chief causes of this failure be- 

 came known : the depredations of the phylloxera and 

 mildew, and even then the causes were discovered 

 largely because these enemies had made incursions into 

 the vineyards of Europe. In the meantime, one or two 

 of the native species of Vitis had been ameliorated, and 

 American viticulture had become established on a 

 unique and indigenous basis, and the fruits are grown 

 to eat rather than to drink. So fully did the early 

 American ventures follow European customs that the 

 Grapes were visu- 

 ally planted on 

 terraced si ope 8, as 

 they are on the 

 Rhine and about 

 the continental 

 lakes. Even to 

 this day the ter- 

 race ridges can 

 be traced in seme 

 of the slopes 

 about Cincini ati, 

 where Longwcrth 

 and others culti- 

 vated the Gi ape 

 fifty years and 

 more ago. Those 

 early experi- 



ments finally failed because of the incursions of the 

 black rot. 



Of all countries, North America is richest in species 

 of Vitis (see the article Vitis). These species range 

 from ocean to ocean and from the British possessions 

 to the tropics. The species which has been most 

 improved is Vitis Labrusca of the Atlantic slope, 

 although it seems to possess less native merit 

 than some of the southwestern species-types. Of 

 this species are the Concord and Catawba types 

 (Figs. 949-951). To some extent it has been' hy- 

 bridized with Vitis vinifera (as in Agawam, Lind- 

 ley, Barry, and others of E. S. Rogers' varieties), 

 and with native species. Already a number of 

 the popular varieties represent such wide depar- 

 tures that they cannot be referred positively to 

 any species. Of these, Delaware and Isabella 

 are examples. The second most important species, 

 in point of amelioration, is Vitis cestivalis, from 

 which several of the best wine Grapes have 

 sprung (Fig. 952). The Post-oak Grape ( \'itis 

 Linsecomi, or V. cestivalis, var. Linsecomi) of 

 the Southwest, is one of the most promising spe- 

 cies, and already has given excellent results in 

 hybridization. See Figs. 953, 954. V. rotundi- 

 folia of the South has given the Scuppernong 

 and a few less known forms. Beyond these spe- 

 cies, there are none which have given varieties 

 of great commercial importance, although consid- 

 erable has been done in improving them. Some 

 of the best of the wild species are practically 

 untouched ; there is only a comparatively small 

 area of our great country which has yet de- 

 veloped large interests in Grape-growing : the 

 Grape-types of a century hence, therefore, may 

 be expected to be very unlike the present day 

 varieties. For an extended sketch of American 

 Grape history, see "Evolution of Our Native 

 Fruits." The American Grape literature is volu- 

 minous. Fifty authors have written on the sub- 

 ject. Yet there is very little of this writing which 

 catches the actual spirit of American Grape- 

 growing ; this fact, together with the intrinsic 

 intricacy and diversity of the subject itself, 

 makes it seem wise to devote considerable space 

 to the Grape in this Cyclopedia. 



While the native Grape was being ameliorated in the 

 East, the Old World Vitis vinifera was becoming es- 

 tablished on the Pacific slope. In fact, Vitis vinifera 

 has there run wild. The phylloxera and mildew are not 

 native there, and the climate better suits the species. 

 The Pacific coast viticulture, therefore, is of the Old 

 World kind. Wine is the leading revenue of the Grape. 

 We now know that the phylloxera or root-louse can be 

 evaded when the vinifera Grape is grafted on native or 

 resistant stocks, and the mildew can be combated b; 

 fungicides. Of late years, therefore, new efforts have 

 been made to grow the wine Grape in the eastern states, 

 and in the southern latitudes some of these experiments 

 promised well for a time. However, so great attention is 

 required in order to produce a satisfactory product as t( 

 discourage the growing of vinifera varieties in the open 

 in the East. Vinifera types will always be special 

 Grapes in the East, adapted only to particular conditions, 

 for it is not to be expected that they can compete with 



950. The Labrusca type of Grape, comprising most of the common American varieties. 



