THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 117 



The list above embraces a good number of the best varie- 

 ties ; there are several new kinds well spoken of, but which 

 have not been sufficiently tried, in this country, to prove their 

 qualities. The Chasselas Musque cracks very much, thus 

 far, and, if it should habitually do so, will not be worth culti- 

 vation. The Muscat Blanc Hatif (Early White Muscat,) is 

 particularly recommended abroad ; it is not unlikely that this 

 will prove to be the same as the Chasselas Musque. 



There are five or six more kinds which will be fully proved 

 in two or three years, but it is hardly probable there will be 

 any thing better produced, for cultivation under glass, than 

 the best of the old kinds named above. For large collections, 

 almost any number of kinds may be added. The Garden of 

 the Luxembourg, at Paris, numbers about five hundred vari- 

 eties, many of them worthless, and a great number only 

 differing very little in foliage, or in the time of ripening. 



Luxembourg Cf-ardens, Paris. — " Grape vines occupy a 

 prominent part in this horticultural school, the kinds being 

 very numerous, and the plants taking up a considerable pro- 

 portion of the ground. Here are now assembled all the 

 varieties of vine known to be cultivated in France, or, I may 

 say, in Europe. To the best of my recollection, nearly three 

 hundred varieties are named, and as many more without 

 names, which are regarded by M. Bosc as possessing charac- 

 ters sufficiently marked to entitle them to rank as distinct.* 

 In general, there is only one plant of each variety ; but the 

 Chasselas de Fontainebleau is an exception, there being a 

 long row of this on one side of the garden. It is the favor- 

 ite variety, and has been justly styled the ' raisin de table 

 par excellence,' of the French. At Fontainebleau, the vines 

 grow on a light sandy soil, and the grapes are sweeter than 

 those produced on a heavy soil. 



The varieties of table grapes are few in number, perhaps 

 scarcely exceeding twenty ; the great mass of kinds consist- 

 ing of sorts cultivated in the vignobles, in the various depart- 



* Under Napoleon, Chaptal collected in this garden fourteen hundred varieties. 



