GRAPES BEST ADAPTED FOR EARL\- AND LATE USE 



CHAPTER XI 



VARIETIES OF GRAPES BEST ADAPTED FOR EARLY AND 

 LATE USE 



Best Varieties for Pot Vines — Sweetwater Grapes — Vinous Group 



THERE is an abundance of varieties to select from, over one hundred 

 having been mentioned by different writers. I will here give merely 

 a selection of those which I have found to be the best and most reliable. 

 It is absolutely necessary to be familiar with the quality, productiveness, 

 finish, etc., of all the different varieties and to fully understand all their pecu- 

 liarities before full confidence can be placed in them. I have had more or less 

 personal experience with most of those that I shall recommend and any careful 

 grower can handle them successfully and determine for himself their good and 

 bad points. It is easy enough to set down a long list of fruit, but then the ques- 

 tion arises of discarding the inferior. 



It is impossible for anyone to attempt to grow at one time all the varieties 

 which I am about to describe. In a private establishment where Grapes are 

 grown only for the table, twelve to fourteen varieties, properly selected, are 

 ample for all purposes, from the early to the late. This, again, depends on the 

 taste of the owner or the market demand. Some families may want a large 

 variety, while others may be satisfied with one sort if it can be made to last 

 through the season, as, for instance, Muscat of Alexandria. But this noble 

 Grape is, unfortunately, not a good keeper for late use, and we, therefore, have 

 to resort to the thicker skinned kinds. But where Grapes are grown to any 

 extent, or where there are three compartments, one each for early, midseason 

 and late varieties, all of the midseason houses can well be devoted to Muscat 

 Grapes. Muscat of Alexandria seems to thrive best in a house by itself. Madres- 

 field Court Black Muscat will do splendidly in the early house, and also in the 

 late one, but it cannot lic depended upon to hang for any length of time after 

 it is ripe. 



It is when compiling a list of fruit for this work that we realize the wonder- 

 ful stability of some of the oldest varieties. While new introductions are sent 

 out from time to time, nothing has appeared to supersede the old standbys, 

 Black Hamburg and Muscat of Alexandria. They are as pre-eminent today as 

 they were in the years long gone by. However, there is a comparatively new 

 Grape which is making a bid for popularity, although I ha\'e not had any expe- 



