DISCUSSION OF PLANT INDUSTRIES 463 



kumquat, have peculiarly valuable shipping qualities, which 

 make it possible for these fruits to be shipped anywhere and 

 to be kept for very long periods. 



428. The grapes. The fruit of the grape is known to have 

 been used by the earliest civilized peoples. From the wild 

 grapes, which though sour are edible, more than a thousand 

 varieties have been developed. These differ in color, as white, 

 black, blue, or red ; and in texture, from the soft juicy grapes 

 from which wine is made, to the more solid ones which are 

 dried in making raisins. The leading grape-producing states 

 are New York, Ohio, Michigan, and California. 



Perhaps the best-known and the most widely distributed 

 kind of cultivated grape that is native to the United States is 

 the Concord grape, which was discovered by Ephraim Bull at 

 Concord, Massachusetts. Part of the original vine still grows 

 on the lawn of the old Ephraim Bull homestead. 



The European grapes, which form the basis of the very large 

 and important wine industries of France, were developed out 

 of a different stock from that of the American cultivated 

 grapes. Since the French grapes produced a quality of wine 

 that differed from that made from the grapes of the United 

 States, European grapes were brought to this country. Their 

 roots were soon attacked, and the plants well-nigh destroyed, 

 by a small parasitic insect known as phylloxera (Sect. 343). 

 It was found, however, that the roots of the American grapes 

 were able to withstand attacks from phylloxera and were not 

 seriously affected by it. It was also found that when Euro- 

 pean grapes were brought to this country and grafted upon 

 American stock, the quality of the European fruit might be 

 secured without the accompanying dangers from the insect. 

 But when grape growers transplanted American grapes into 

 Europe the phylloxera was also transferred, and soon the na- 

 tive grapes of Europe were attacked and serious damage was 

 done in the vineyards of France. In order to protect their 

 vineyards many French grape growers adopted the practice 

 of planting American plants and then grafting their own 



