WHAT IS A GEAPE? 245 



hips and haws and wayside berries, improved and 

 altered by ages of cultivation. 



The grape-vine, they say, comes to us originally 

 from the shores of the Caspian. Even in its native 

 condition it produces little sweetish acid grapes, hang- 

 ing in purple clusters among its green festoons. The 

 question is, then, of what use to the plant itself are 

 these juicy fruits ? For we now know that whatever 

 use man may make of this, that, or the other organ in 

 any particular plant or animal is, so to speak, an 

 accidental after-thought ; the organ always subserves 

 besides some useful purpose in the economy of the 

 plant or animal itself to which it belongs. Now, of 

 course, the main use of all fruits is to produce or con- 

 tain the seeds. They are merely seed-vessels, and, in 

 most cases, they are dry and brown when ripe, like 

 the pea-pod, the poppy-head, or the capsule of the 

 mignonette. The problem we have to answer in the 

 case of the grape is therefore this : Why should it be 

 pulpy and prettily coloured, while these other fruits 

 and, indeed, the vast majority of all fruits are mere 

 dry and unattractive organs ? 



The analogy of red and white and yellow flowers 

 affords us a good hint towards the solution of this 

 problem. We know that flowers have acquired their 

 bright hues, their honey, and their perfume, for the 

 sake of attracting the insects which fertilise them by 

 carrying pollen from head to head. Is there any way 

 in which fruits can similarly benefit by alluring the 

 eyes of any animal race? At first sight this would 



