223 Miscellaneous. 



great abundance in the woods and copses of our southern Depart- 

 ments. At the first glance it is easy to see that the flowers of these 

 wild vines differ considerably from those of the cultivated vines. 

 Their stamina have the filaments longer and more slender; their 

 style, on the contrary, is much shorter, or might almost be said to 

 be wanting. They are, moreover, more odorous, the nectariferous 

 glands being proportionally more developed. The fruits are much 

 smaller, with the stones less numerous and larger in proportion than 

 in the ordinary cultivated varieties. 



Notwithstanding the hundreds of flowering bunches with which the 

 climbing stems of the " Lambrusques '* are covered, entire stocks re- 

 main absolutely infertile — that is to say, without fruit. Nevertheless 

 their flowers seem to be regularly constructed. The old individuals 

 are the only ones which bear fruit. Does the barrenness of the 

 young stocks arise from the too great luxuriance of the vegetative 

 organs in the period of their first vigour ? This would appear to be 

 proved by the fact that cultivated "Lambrusques" habitually 

 become infertile, and that pruning, which gives vigour to their 

 shoots, prevents their setting fruit. 



We postpone the closer examination of this question of the *' Lam- 

 brusques," both from a physiological point of view and as regards 

 the relations of this supposed wild type to the cultivated varieties 

 of the vine. 



Let us now study the mode of fecundation of the vine. It has 

 long been suspected that impregnation takes place beneath the hood 

 itself of the calyptriform corolla. Appearances indicated this, and 

 our observations have placed it beyond a doubt ; at least this is the 

 mode in which the phenomenon usually occurs. In the morning 

 especially, at the moment when the first rays of the sun of May or 

 June strike the buds which are ready to open, we see, in a few 

 seconds, the corollas, splitting in five lines from the bottom, detach 

 themselves from the calyx, rise under the pressure of the stamina 

 (the inflected filaments of which erect themselves rapidly), and lastly 

 fall in a single piece, exposing the stamina, which separate by diverg- 

 ing and curving backwards, whilst the pistil makes its appearance 

 with its stigma already powdered with pollen. Microscopical exami- 

 nation shows that this pollen acts very quickly upon the stigma of 

 its own flower, producing fecundating tubes in a few hours. Another 

 proof that fecundation takes place beneath the hood of the corolla is, 

 that, in certain stocks, on particular bunches the hood of the corolla, 

 instead of falling, remains hermetically applied to the summit of the 

 ovary, and even dries there, serving as a permanent cap to the 

 young grape when it is already set and growing. 



This direct fecundation of a pistil by the pollen of its own flower 

 is therefore habitual in the vine. It is not, however, the only possible 

 mode ; and the proof that there are others consists in the evident 

 existence of intercrossings between varieties of vines, and the results 

 which have been for a long time obtained from them. 



One of the most remarkable of these crossings, especially as 

 regards the effect produced, is certainly to be found in the hybrids 



