Dr. Engdmaun. 



GRAPE MANUAL. 



Clafi.sijicatioii. 'J 



omitted. The bark of the mature canes is 

 asby gray ( F. Cordij'oUa.V. Ci'iierea), to red 

 or brownish ( F. ^-EstivaJis); it peels off after 

 the first season in large flakes, or in narrow 

 strips or shreads ; only in the Muscadine 

 grape the dark gray bark does not peel off 

 at all, at least not for a number of years. 



Young seedlings of all the grape-vines are 

 glabrous or only very slightly hairy. The 

 cobwebby or cotton}- down, so characteristic 

 of some species, makes its appearance only 

 in the more advanced plants ; in some of their 

 varieties, and not rarely in the cultivated 

 ones, it is mainly observed in the young 

 growth of spring and is apt to disappear in 

 the mature leaf; but even then such leaves 

 are never shining as they are in the glabrous 

 species, but have a dull or unpolished, or 

 even wrinkled surface. 



The form of the leaves is extremely varia- 

 ble, and descriptions must necessarily remain 

 vague. They are usually cordate at base, 

 either with an acute and narrow sinus ( V. 

 Cordata, and mau}'^ other species), or with a 

 broad and wide one ( V. Eiparia and V. 

 Riij)estris). Leaves of seedling plants are all 

 entire, i. e, not lobed ; young shoots from 

 the base of old stems, as a rule, have deeply 

 and variously lobed leaves, even where the 

 mature plant shows no such disposition. 

 Some species ( F. Bqmria), or some forms of 

 other species (forms of F. Lahrnsra and F 

 ^Estivalis), have all the leaves more or less 

 lobed, while others exhibit, on the mature 

 plant, always entire, or, I should rather say, 

 not lohed leaves ; the leaves of F. Kujiestris 

 and F. Vulpina are never lobed. Only the 

 leaves of flower-bearing canes ought to be 

 considered as the normal ones. 



The surface of the leaves is glossy and 

 shining, and mostly bright green, or in R\i- 

 pestris pale green ; or it is dull above and 

 more or less glaucous below. The glossy 

 leaves are perfectly glabrous, or they often 

 bear, especially on the nerves of the lower 

 side, a pubescence of short hair. The dull 

 leaves are cottony or cobwebby, downy on 

 both or only on the under side, and this down 

 usually extends to the young branches and to 

 the peduncles, but, as has been stated above, 

 often disappears later in the season. 



On both sides of the insertion of the petiole 

 or leafstalk into the branchlet, we find on very 

 young, just developing shoots, small acces- 

 sor}^ organs, which soon disappear; they are 

 the stipules. In most species they are thin, 

 membranaceous, rounded, at the top some- 

 what ol)lique, smooth in some, downy or 

 wooll}' in other species. They are most con- 

 spicuous and elongated in T"/Y/.s Riparia, in 

 which 1 find them 2i-3 lines long ; in F. Ra- 



peatris they are U-2i lines in length ; in F. 

 Caiidicans and Californica scarcely shorter, in 

 F. Labrusca 1^-2 lines long; iuF. u.Estir(dis, 

 Cordifolia, and most others, they are only one 

 line long or less ; in very vigorous young 

 shoots they may sometimes be larger, just as 

 their leaves are also larger than the normal. 



Not much of a distinctive character can be 

 made out of the flowers. It is observed, 

 however, that in some forms the stamens are 

 not longer than the pistil, and \evy soon bend 

 under it, while in other forms the}' are much 

 longer than the pistil, and remain straight till 

 they fall off. It is possible that those with 

 short stamens are less fertile than the others.* 



The time of flowering is quite character- 

 istic of our native species, and it seems that 

 the cultivated varieties retain herein the qual- 

 ities of their native ancestors. The different 

 forms of Riparia flower first of all ; soon 

 afterwards comes Rtipestris, next Labru.sea 

 and its relatives, and later ^stivaJis comes 

 in bloom. One of the last flowering species 

 is CordifoJid, and still later, Cinerea. Vin- 

 ifera seems to flower soon after Zo/>n^sca, but 

 it is not cultivated here, nor is VvJpina {Ro- 

 tundifolia), which is probably the latest of all. 

 F. Candirans apparently blooms about the 

 same time that Labrusca does. 



Riparkt begins to open its flowers about 

 St. Louis three to five weeks earlier than the 

 first blossoms of ^stivah's are seen in the 

 same localit3^ In favorable situations and 

 in early seasons they make their appearance 

 in this vicinity as early as April 25th, at 

 other seasons sometimes as late as Ma}^ loth, 

 or even 20th, on the average about Ma}' 10th ,^ 

 and generally about the time when the Aca- 

 cias (Black Locusts) bloom, both filling the 

 atmos])here with the sweetest perfumes. Cor- 

 d {folia, and, after this, Cinerea. on the con- 

 trary, bloom from the last days in May to (in 

 late seasons) the middle of June, when that 

 weed among trees, the fetid Ailantus (mis- 

 named the tree of Heaven), exhales its nau- 

 seous odors and the beautiful Catalpa expands 

 its gorgeous bunches of flowers. F. Pahnata 

 (Vahl), of w'hich we do not yet know much, 

 seems to be the latest flowering Grape-vine 

 with us, flowering even after Cinerea. Thus 

 we are not likely to have an}^ Gra])e-vines 

 in flower here before April 25th or after June 

 20th. 



One of the botanical characters of the 

 Grape-vine is found in the needs. The 

 bunches may be larger or smaller, looser or 

 more compact, branched (shouldered) or 

 more simple, conditions which, to a great 

 extent, depend on variety, soil and exposure ; 



* Compare note on page 7 with illustration of flowers, 

 Fis. 38-40. 



