INTRODUCTORY. 11 



done. Foreign varieties have leaves -ranging through all 

 the gradations of color known as green so have ours ; 

 some approach the red so do ours ; many have a very 

 shining surface, and others are downy or woolly so are 

 ours. The leaf of the European grape also presents every 

 conceivable shape, preserving, however, characteristics 

 enough to be recognizable as belonging to the grape 

 genus. And we have one species, the Labrusca, the varie- 

 ties of which will match any of them in shape. The young 

 wood of many of the foreign varieties is covered with a 

 grayish-blue bloom, said by chemists to be wax : this is 

 sometimes considered a distinctive mark of the foreign 

 varieties, but our cordifolia is abundantly furnished with 

 it. We could multiply these parallel characters indefi- 

 nitely, but enough has been said to show how difficult it is 

 to designate the species to which a particular variety be- 

 longs, especially if we have words only for our guidance. 

 There are, however, certain characteristics so prominent 

 that they may serve as a partial guide until some freak of 

 nature admonishes us to lay them aside. 1st. The skin of 

 our native grape slips from the pulp, while that of the for- 

 eign varieties adheres to it like the skin of the apple, and 

 those which have a flashy pulp allow the seeds to drop 

 from it when it is broken. The seeds of our native grapes 

 are enveloped and held together by the pulp, more or 

 less persistent in different varieties; but to observe this 

 the fruit of some of the newer ones must be examined 

 before they are fully ripe, for at that time the pulp has be- 

 come so tender that it is scarcely more than a liquid. The 

 tough pulp is a prominent characteristic of the Vitis 

 Labrusca and its varieties. 2d. The bark of the native 

 grapes, particularly on the one-year-old canes, parts very 

 readily from the wood; it is also quite tough, and in 

 some instances it may be divided into small threads re- 

 sembling hemp, while the bark on the young wood of the 

 foreign vine usually adheres more firmly, and is also quite 



