THE DOMESTICATION OF THE GRAPE 7 



War, when, according to William Bartram, the Quaker botanist, 

 it was found growing in the vicinity of Philadelphia, by John 

 Alexander, gardener to Governor Penn of Pennsylvania. 

 Curiously enough, it came into general cultivation through 

 the deception of a nurseryman. Peter Legaux, a French- 

 American grape-grower, in 1801 sold the Kentucky Vineyard 

 Society fifteen hundred grape cuttings which he said had been 

 taken from an European grape introduced from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, therefore called the "Cape" grape. Legaux's 

 grape turned out to be the Alexander. In the new home the 

 spurious Cape grew wonderfully well and as the knowledge of 

 its fruitfulness in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana spread, demand 

 for it increased, and with remarkable rapidity, considering 

 the time, it came into general cultivation in the parts of the 

 United States then settled. 



The Labrusca or fox-grapes. 



Of the several species of American grapes now under culti- 

 vation, the Labrusca, first represented by the Alexander, has 

 furnished more cultivated varieties than all the other American 

 species together, no less than five hundred of its varieties hav- 

 ing been grown in the vineyards of the country. There are 

 several reasons why it is the most generally cultivated species. 

 It is native to the parts of the United States in which agriculture 

 soonest advanced to a state where fruits were desired. In the 

 wild, the Labruscas are the most attractive, being largest and 

 handsomest in color ; among all grapes it alone shows black-, 

 white- and red-fruited forms on wild vines. There is a northern 

 and a southern form of the species, and its varieties are, there- 

 fore, widely adapted to climates and to soils. The flavor of 

 the fruits of this species, all things considered, is rather better 

 than that of any other of our wild grapes, though the skins 

 in most of its varieties have a peculiar aroma, somewhat pro- 

 nounced in the well-known Concord, Niagara and Worden, 



