14 



THE GRAPE CULTUEIST. 



Fig. 3. 



surround it. If it should happen to be the former (pistil- 

 late), then the flowers may be fertilized from the perfect 

 flowers of another vine ; but should it prove to be one of 

 the latter, with staminate or male flowers, then it will pro- 

 duce no fruit. Although we speak of flowers being stam- 

 inate, yet we have never seen, nor have we good authority 

 for believing, that there are any varieties or species that 

 are entirely wanting in the rudiments of a pistil, though it 

 may be so deformed that its usefulness is destroyed. 



Again, there will occasionally appear seedlings 

 with both perfect and imperfect flowers on the 

 same vine and in the same cluster ; such vines 

 are called polygamous. These occur more fre- 

 quently than the dioecious; and if imperfect 

 flowers occur, then of course we have very 

 imperfect bunches of fruit, although this may not always 

 be owing to a deformed stigma, but to an insufficient sup- 

 ply of pollen, owing to deformed stamens. The Taylor 



grape (white) and Oporto 

 (black) are striking illus- 

 trations of perfect and im- 

 perfect flowers in the same 

 cluster. But the imperfec- 

 tions in the flowers of these 

 seem to be mostly in the 

 stamens, they being very 

 much deformed ; for when 

 the cap or petals drop off, 

 the stamens are bent down, 

 as seen, B, in Fig. 3 ; not 

 standing erect as shown in 

 Fig. 2. 



Fig. 4 represents a fair 

 sample of the bunches pro- 

 duced upon a vigorous six- 

 Fig 4i year-old vine of the Taylor. 



