342 FRUIT-GROWING 



Woodruff 



One day a friend of mine who lives in Muncie, 

 Indiana, and who grows many fine grapes in 

 his back yard, walked into my office with some 

 choice bunches of fruit. One bunch of large 

 red grapes attracted my attention from the 

 first and when I tasted them I at once pro- 

 nounced them excellent. They reminded me 

 of the wild fox grapes of the woods, a variety 

 that I learned to enjoy when I was a small boy. 

 My friend laughed at me at the time because 

 I liked this particular grape, and he never 

 hesitates to criticize my taste in such matters, 

 for the variety was the Woodruff, a sort that 

 all authorities agree is one of the very poorest 

 kinds in cultivation. At that time I had not 

 learned that the real connoisseurs considered a 

 "wild" taste as being enough to condemn any 

 grape that grew. I am free to admit that I 

 like a touch of the wild flavor and I can still 

 eat a bunch of Woodruff grapes and enjoy 

 them. A wild or, as the grape experts call it, 

 "foxy" taste is supposed always to be fatal to 

 the success of any grape. I, however, thought 

 Woodruff was pretty foxy — using the term in 

 the slang sense. Aside from the unfavorable 

 reputation that the flavor of the fruit has, 

 (from others than myself), the Woodruff is a 

 good grape to grow as the vines are vigorous 



