Berlandieri. 



GRAPE MANUAL. 



Rotundifolia. 29 



family. '•! am couvineed that neither the wine- 

 producing capabilities of tlie country nor the 

 highest excellence of tiie product can be decided 

 until vineyards of these varieties are established 

 in the best locations of favorable climates." — 



William Saunders . 



"The most genial home of this species is the 

 ■country of the Ozark hills, Missouri, S. Kansas, 

 Arkansas, Texas and Indian TeiTitory ; probably 

 also the mountain slopes in Virginia, North Caro- 

 lina and I'ennessee. And these must be looked 

 upon as the great producing regions of this con- 

 tinent, east of the Rocky Mountains, for a certain 

 class of fine vnnes. 



The varieties of this group generally prefer a 

 dr}', poor soil, intermingled with lime and de- 

 composed stones, with a southern and southeast- 

 ern exposure; they seem to endure the severest 

 drouths without flagging. Although we have 

 seen some of them, especially the Norton and 

 ■Cynthiana, bear immense crops on the deep, rich, 

 sandy loam of our river bottom, their fruit does 

 not reach the same perfection as on the hills. 

 The icood of the true ^-Estivalis is very solid, hard, 

 with small pith, and firm outer bark; so that it is 

 almost impossible to propagate this species from 

 cuttings. The bark on the one-year-old wood is 

 of a dark gray color, bluish around the eyes. The 

 roots are wiry and tough, with a smooth, hard 

 liber, penetrating deep into the ground, success- 

 fully defying the attacks of Phylloxera. Their 

 resistive power has been fully tested, and estab- 

 lished beyond a doubt. As a stock for grafting 

 they are far superior to Clinton — but we think 

 they are too good and valuable to serve merely as 

 3. grafting stock. 



V. Berlandieri ; (figured in a photo- 

 engraving, from nature, reduced ^). This 

 species, owing to its thriving in the dry, 

 limy and chalky soils, where most other 

 species fail, and being fully resistant to 

 Phylloxera, very strong and long lived — 

 makes the most successful graft-stock in such 

 soils, it has proven by actual test to resist 

 chlorosis (yellowing of foliage caused by ex- 

 cess of lime in soil) in the Department of the 

 Herault, France, where the soils are very dry 

 and chalky. The vine is closely allied to V. 

 Cinerea, but the leaves have a brighter green 

 and a shining surface, especially below, be- 

 tween the veins. The cluster is large to very 

 large, compact, having small berries of 

 sprightly, sweet, vinous quality, and may, 

 with judicious hybridization, produce valu- 

 able varieties for wine. 



V. Rotundifolia, V. Vulpiua, or Southern 

 Fox grape of Linnteus, the Muscadine grape 

 of the Southern States, represented in cultiva- 

 tion by the Scuppernong (^the only variety not 

 black in color, wiiich is of a dull greenish 

 amber) Flowers, James, J//s/i, Pee Dee. 

 Thomas, (see their description) ; it is a sure 

 bearer, provided male, or staminate vines 

 stand in the vicinity of the fertile vines. It 

 is leafing out and flowering late and. as far as 

 known, all fertile vines of the species have 

 practically pistilate flowers, the sameus l)eing 



so weak and reflexed that their pollen is im- 

 potent to fertilize the ovules, as is generall}- 

 the case in varieties of other species having 

 reflexed stamens. The vines of Rotundifolia 

 are uniformly very healthy, resistant to nearly 

 all fungus diseases and the roots to Phjdlox- 

 era. Those who are accustomed to eating 

 the fruit of this kind relish it. 



The idea occurred to the writer that if the 

 finer, large-bunched Herbemont could be 

 successfully hybridized with the best Musca- 

 dine-varieties, a combination might be secured 

 which would furnish a unique and desirable 

 family of gra])es for the south. Acting upon 

 this idea he is now raising several dozen hy- 

 brids of Snipper nong and Toma^ (f) with 

 Herbemont (m). 



(We confidently hope that friend Munson 

 will be successful, and wish that he may ob- 

 tain for it such price as his great fellow 

 hybridizer, Luther Burbank, gets for some of 

 his wonderful "new creations.") 



LOCATION. 



The onl}^ general rules we can give to guide 

 in the selection of a proper, desirable location 

 for vineyards, are: 



1. A good wine-growing region is one where 

 the season of growtli is of suflflcient length to 

 ripen to perfection our best wine grapes, ex- 

 empt from late spring frosts, heavy summer 

 dews, and early frosts in autumn. Do not at- 

 tempt, therefore, to cultivate the grape in 

 low, damp valleys, along creeks ; high table- 

 lands and hillsides, with their dry atmosphere 

 and cool breezes, are preferable to rich bot- 

 tom lands ; low situations, where water can 

 collect and stagnate about the roots, will not 

 answer ; wherever we find the ague an habit- 

 ual guest with the inhabitants, we need not 

 look for healthy grape-vines ; but on the hill- 

 sides, gentle slopes, along large rivers and 

 lakes, on the bluffs overhanging the banks of 

 our large streams, where the fogs arising 

 from the water give sufficient humidity to the 

 atmosphere, even in the hottest summer days, 

 to refresh the leaf during the night and morn- 

 ing hours, there is the location for the culture 

 of the grape. Shelter has also an important 

 bearing on the healthy growth of the vines ; 

 some well-located vineyards have not proven 

 lucrative for the want of proper shelter ; 

 where it is not afforded by woods growing 

 near by, it should be provided for by planting 

 trees; large trees, however, should not be 

 planted so near tlie vines as to interfere with 

 their roots. One of our vineyards has been 

 thus protected by an arbor vitie fence from 

 the north and west winds. This fence is now 

 30 years old, over 8 feet high, and is consid- 

 ered one of the finest ornaments to our 



