240 AMERICAN GEAPE CULTURE. 



of the grape are constitutionally incapable of 

 carrying the ripening process to maturity. 



From what has been said we may derive 

 the following brief rule for ripeness in the 

 grape : The berry is ripe when it is tender 

 and melting in all its parts, without loss of 

 its characteristic spirit and flavor. If the spirit 

 and flavor are gone, we may conclude that 

 the tenderness proceeds from incipient decay, 

 and not from natural maturity. The berry is 

 then in the condition of an overripe apple or 

 pear. Ripening does not destroy the goodness 

 of the fruit ; it only carries it forward to a per- 

 fect condition. And just here is presented the 

 line of demarkation between a good and a bad 

 grape. In the latter, the ripening process, 

 owing chiefly to constitutional causes, never 

 performs its office fully, and the berry fails to 

 mature; a portion of the flesh remains tough, 

 and the acids unchanged; the sugar in the 

 juice is imperfectly elaborated, and there is a 

 marked deficiency of spirit and flavor, or they 

 are so poorly developed as to be scarcely ap- 

 preciable. In the good grape, on the contrary, 

 ripening proceeds uninterruptedly to full ma- 

 turity, and reaches all parts of the berry in 

 consequence of the more delicate texture of 



