CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 27 



other family, that it is sometimes difficult to determine to 

 which class they belong. The European class, Yitis vini- 

 fera, is but a single species, from which have sprung all 

 the different kinds which have been or now are cultivated 

 in Europe, probably exceeding two thousand varieties. 

 While these varieties have their own individual habits, 

 more or less distinct, yet they give good evidence of be- 

 longing to the one species vine/era. Which one of these 

 varieties was the parent of all the rest, it is now impossi- 

 ble to determine. Doubtless the number of varieties will 

 go on increasing, the number of seedlings which are likely 

 to be brought forward exceeding the number which will 

 be rejected and lost. 



Of American grapes, Professor Gray enumerates four 

 distinct species, as follows : 1. V. Labrusca ; 2. V. aesti- 

 valis ; 3. Y. cordifolia ; 4. Y. vulpina. 



1. " Leaves woolly beneath; when lobed, having obtuse 

 or rounded sinuses. 



" Vitis Labrusca, L. (Northern Fox Grape.) Branchlets 

 and young leaves very woolly; leaves continuing rusty 

 and woolly beneath ; fertile panicles compact ; berries 

 large (one-half to three-fourths inch in diameter) ; moist 

 thickets common ; June ; berries ripe in September, dark- 

 purple or amber-color, with a tough, musky pulp. Im- 



