CHAPTER L 



BOTA1HCAL CHAKACTEEISTICS OP THB GRAPE. 



The opinions of botanists differ widely in regard to 

 the number of species of the grape indigenous to North 

 America, and this is not at all strange, with a plant so 

 disposed to run into varieties. In the earlier works of 

 the late Professor Asa Gray, and whose classification 

 was followed in the first edition of the Grape Culturist, 

 he recognized only four species as inhabiting this 

 country east of the Mississippi valley, and this limitation 

 prompted me to remark, at that time, "that there are 

 several native species which are found in certain sections 

 of the country which are very puzzling, and one is at a 

 loss as to which of the admitted species they should be 

 referred." These varieties (or species), though growing 

 indiscriminately with others, about which there is no 

 doubt, seem to preserve their identity, and it is very 

 difficult to decide whether to call them distinct species 

 or marked varieties of the species enumerated by Dr. 

 Gray. Practically it may be of little consequence what 

 view is taken of these unusual forms, for the vineyardist 

 is mainly interested in them as varieties, and it is of no 

 particular moment to him whether we have one hundred, 

 or only one native species, so long as there is a suffi- 

 cient number to suit all soils and climates. But later, 

 Dr. Gray and his eminent colleagues revised the list of 

 native species of the grape, admitting that there were 

 seven or eight indigenous species in the Eastern States, 

 and two or more in the Pacific coast regions, only four 

 of which, however, have given rise to valuable or prom- 



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