22 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



VITICULTURAL OBSERVATIONS 



Upon the Xative Species of American 

 Grapes. 



BY T. V. MUNSON. 



After eliminating those species from which 

 no considerable practical benefit may be de- 

 rived in viticulture, however interesting they 

 are botanically, I will confine myself in these 

 "Observations" to those species which pos- 

 sess very valuable qualifications either for 

 graft stocks, resisting Phylloxera, or to grow 

 in very dry, lim}^ or chalky soils, such as are 

 found in cretaceous "black waxy" and 

 "white rock" soils of Texas and in the 

 Charente Inferieure of France, and may aid 

 the skillful vigneron in developing most valua- 

 ble varieties of grapes, as direct producers of 

 wine or for the table, for all our regions. 



The species mainly to be considered in this 

 connection, are : 



Series. 

 V. RuPESTRis, Sand grape or Rock 



grape I, 1. 



V. Vdlpina, generally known as 



V. Kiparia ' I, 2. 



V. SOLONis, Sand Beach or Bush grape, I, 3. 



V. DoANiANA, Dean's grape 1, 4. 



V. Champini, chalky, limestone hills, III, 8. 

 V. Candicans, black lands, Mustang 



grape Ill, 9. 



V. Labrusca IV, 11. 



V. BOURQUINIANA V, b. 



V. LisCECUMii, Post-oak grape V, 12. 



V. AESTIVALIS V, 14. 



V. Berlandieki, chalky, limestone 



hills VII, 20. 



V. ROTtJNDIFOLIA VIII, 24. 



From these species we will always secure 

 our grapes, either in pure or hybrid form, 

 and stocks on which to graft non-resistant 

 kinds, in regions where the Phylloxera devas- 

 tates the Vinifera varieties. Here it is proper 

 to remark that in nearly all regions of the 

 United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the Vinifera are of little value except in hy- 

 bridization with our native species above 

 mentioned ; of the other species some might 

 also be used to advantage, but they are eitlier 

 too difficult to grow from cuttings, too tender, 

 sensitive to cold, too small and inferior in 

 fruit, not quite resistant to Phjdloxera, and 

 some are very subject to fungus diseases. 



V. Rupestris, V. Vulpiud (or Rij>a rid), V. 

 SoJoiris, and T'. Doaniana (forming Series I), 

 are leafing out. fiowering and ripening very 

 early ; are very hard}'^, enduring severe cold, 

 and the cuttings root witii the greatest ease. 

 These species are easily recognized and dis- 

 tinguished from each other b3'^ botanical 

 characteristics (which most practical grape- 



growers are unwilling or unable to study, and 

 which the limited space of this manual would 

 scarcely permit). T^. R>ij)estris* has a greatly 

 branched shrublike vine, a very short leaf, 

 from base to point, with broad opening 

 (sinus) ; bears small clusters of small, verj' 

 tender-skinned berries, very juicy and ex- 

 cessive in dark violet coloring matter. The}' 

 have a fine vinous taste, with a slight poke- 

 berry flavor. As a direct producer it is too 

 light a cropper to be profitable, but in its hy- 

 brid combinations it has given some excellent 

 varieties for wine. Jaeger's No. 70 (now 

 named "Munson")and my seedlings of same 

 ("America" and "Early Wine") are ex- 

 amples of Rupestris hybridized with one of 

 the best of Lincecumii, found wild in South- 

 west Missouri. 



Numerous hybrids of this species have 

 been produced by J/r. Jaeger, of Neosho, 

 Mo., Prof. MiUardet, of France, and I am 

 now using them extensively as bases for fur- 

 ther improvement in varied hj^brid combina- 

 tions. The species has been extensively and 

 satisfactorilj' used in France, as a resistant 

 graft-stock for Vinifera varieties. In its 

 wild state V. Rupestris grows along the borders 

 and on the beds of gravel drift of small 

 streams, which cease to run most of the sum- 

 mer, but where permanent moisture is found 

 not far below. In upland sand}^ soils in 

 Northern Texas, where the long drouths dr}' 

 the land out deeply, vines of this species 

 soon die. Of hundreds of its vines planted b}' 

 me in such soils, every one died within six 

 3^ears, after having grown A^er}^ thriftily for 

 four years. Vines of this same kind, both 

 from Southwest Texas and Missouri, were 

 planted in different localities in such soil, 

 with the same result, while in same lands the 

 V. Lincecumii, native in such soils, are in 

 most vigorous health, now eight years old. 

 Hybrids of Rupestris and Lincecumii have 

 endured quite well, but during the severest 

 drouths show some weakening. It is remark- 

 able that no form of rot attacks the fruit of 

 Rupestris, and its hybrids have more resisting 

 power than the variety subject to rot with 

 which it may be hybridized. 



V. VuLPiNA, generall}' known asV. Riparia 

 (figure reduced one-fourth from nature), is a 

 much more rampant climber, with more pen- 

 dulous habit than Rupestris ; the foliage is of 

 a darker, clear, livelj' green ; leaves larger, 

 with much longer, sharper teeth, opening at 

 base much narrower ; berries are of about 

 same size, but bearing a dense white bloom 

 on surface when ripe, while Rupestris has 

 little or none. The fruit is generall}' in 



* Fig. 41 of V. Rupestris, from nature, after Munson's 

 collection, reduced. 



