218 NOMENCLATURE OP GRAPES. 



is another property of this grape which alone is sufficient to 

 prove it to be the Vit. vulpina, that is, the strong rancid smell 

 of its ripe fruit, very like the effluvia arising from the body of 

 the fox, which gave rise to the specific name of this vine, and 

 not, as many have imagined, from its being the favourite food 

 of the animal ; for the fox (at least the American species) sel- 

 dom eats grapes or other fruit if he can get animal food. 



The vines, though they make vig6rous and extensive shoots, 

 never mount high, but ramble over shrubs and low trees to a 

 great distance from the original root. This appears to be the 

 V. taurina of Walter, and the V. labrusca of Linnaeus. 



3d. Bull-grape, Vitis taurina of Bartram, Vit. vulpina 

 of Linnaeus and Walter. This excellent grape is called by 

 the inhabitants of Georgia, Carolina and Florida, Bull-grape.* 

 The preceding species is called fox-grape from Pennsylvania 

 to Florida. The bull-grape has a stiff, ligneous, smooth stem, 

 of a pale ash-colour, and mounts to a great height by climbing 

 up trees. The leaves are cordated and serrated, thin, and both 

 surfaces naked or smooth. The racemes or fruit bunches short, 

 containing fifteen or twenty grapes at a medium. The berries 

 or acini are large, near the size of a rifle-ball ; of a black colour 

 when ripe ; having a bluish nebula over them, which being 

 rubbed off, they appear of a deep blood-colour. In figure 

 they approach to an ellipsis or prolate spheroid : however, at 

 a little distance they appear black and round. This species 

 is deservedly esteemed the best native grape in America, and 

 would make a rich and delicious wine. The juice is sweet, 

 rich and lively, and there is but little of the tough jelly-like 

 substance enclosing the seed. The skin of the grape is rather 

 thick, yet there is a sweet melting pulp within, which mixes 

 with the saccharine juice when eaten. This undoubtedly is 

 the first American grape which merits attention and cultivation 

 for wine. It thrives in every soil and situation from the sea- 



* Mr. Bartram stated that the word bull was an abbreviation of bullet ; the 

 grapes being so called from their approaching nearly the size of a bullet. The 

 name, " taurina" is, therefore, not the most proper. 



