104 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



1871 



Report or Conimlttoe on Grapes. 



Mk. President : Having been appointed one of 

 tlie committee on variety of grapes, we beg leave to 

 submit tlie following report. It is with some degree 

 of hesitation we introduce this subject, not from 

 any apparent want of matter, but from a difficulty 

 in being able to recommend any grape of good 

 quality worthy of general cultivation ; not because 

 we have no grape of good quality, but for the reason 

 that such have not generally proved successful. 

 That climate, soil, situation, training and cultivation 

 has much to do with the health of the vine we must 

 admit, but notwithstanding that, there are some 

 species which are healthy and do succeed under the 

 same conditions others become diseased and fail. 

 It therefore appears that health is not entirely due 

 to external conditions, but depends very much upon 

 a hardy constitution. Each species and variety has 

 its own specific climatic conditions to which it is 

 best adapted, beyond which it will not succeed. 

 This being the case, those varieties which fulfill our 

 climatic conditions and remain healthy, are only 

 worthy general cultivation. 



The questions then arise, what are our climatic 

 conditions, and what varieties are adapted to them ? 

 These are very important questions, and should be 

 carefully and candidly considered. 



First, what are our climatic conditions f They 

 are variable, extreme and sudden, the change of 

 temperature being from 50 to 60 degrees within 

 twenty-lour hours, and the range of temperature is 

 from 18 degrees below zero to 110 degrees above. 

 The average humidity of Kansas being 22.82 inches 

 of rain, and that of Missouri 23.77 inches, and the 

 maximum 37.38 inches ; but for the last five years at 

 this place it has averaged 28.45 inches, being 5.16 

 inches more than the average of both States. From 

 numerous observations made and facts collected, the 

 Catawba, Isabella and Delaware grapes and their 

 seedlings will not succeed under these extreme con- 

 ditions of temperature and moisture. Although our 

 climatic conditions are unfavorable to the cultiva- 

 , ion of many varieties, yot we find the wild grapes 

 growing in Kansas and in Missouri abundantly and 

 luxuriantly, hardy and healthy, bearing profusely 

 fruit of the very richest quality. We not only find 

 our indigenous grapes healthy and hardy, but every 

 American species described by Grey in his Botany, 

 except the Scuppernong grape ( Vitis mlpena), which 

 is a semi-tropical species adapted exclusively to the 

 South, and it is healthy here but will not endure the 

 cold of our winters without protection. Why should 

 they not succeed here when every species except the 

 Scuppernong is indigenous north of us, and are 

 healthy and hardy there under conditions of greater 

 humidity and temperature 1 We now ask why the 

 improved varieties do not generally succeed with us 

 when every species of the grape is adapted to our 



climate. The only reasonable reply that we can 

 give is, that our improved varieties are not pure 

 native seedlings, or they have degenerated in health 

 and hardiness from our native species. The evi- 

 dence we give in favor of our improved grapes 

 being mixed with the European grape ( Vitis vine- 

 ferin), is that they have the same peculiarity of 

 hybrids. For instance, Rogers has produced many 

 varieties by hybridizing the common Fox grape 

 ( Vitis hihresea) with the European grape. In these 

 hybrids we find every peculiarity belonging to our 

 improved varieties, as the Catawba, Isabella and 

 Delaware and their seedlings. The most of Rogers' 

 hybrids are good in quality, and some very good, 

 but none of them are entirely hardy and free from 

 disease, but are more or less subject to rot and mil- 

 dew. Others are very fickle and uncertain, some 

 are ovate in shape, the berries adhere to the stems 

 of all and do not drop their fruit when ripe, but 

 none will endure extremes of temperature and mois- 

 ture. Not any of these peculiarities belong to the 

 Fox grape, but they all belong to the European 

 grape. 



Now we ask, how has it come that in the first 

 generation of Rogers' hybrids they partakeof the 

 same peculiarities of the European grapes which 

 are the same as eur improved varieties, and not a 

 single Pox grape or any of its seelings in the first 

 generation has produced such an eflfect? The only 

 satisfactory reason that can be given is, that they 

 have inherited these peculiarities from the European 

 grape, as the Catawba, Isabella and Delaware and 

 their seedlings have inherited their defects and dis- 

 eased tendencies from the foreign grape. We are 

 aware that some writers say that the Fox grape is 

 subject to mildew and rot, but it would be more 

 satisfactory to give the facts, than make such asser- 

 tions. We have known this grape from childhood, 

 and have found it on low, moist, and very wet 

 ground ; have cultivated it for years and seen it cul- 

 tivated by others under all conditions of weather, 

 and yet we have never seen it mildew or rot 

 when others by its side did. So far as it has been 

 tried it has proved perfectly healthy and very hardy. 

 Gray says "it is common in moist thickets. Improv- 

 ed by cultivation it has given rise to the Isabella 

 grape," &c. With due respect to Professor Gray, 

 we do say that he or no other author has a right to 

 make a positive statement of the origin of any grape 

 unless he has authentic evidence of the fact. We 

 have seen no such evidence, and in the published 

 accounts, history, and origin of the Isabella grape 

 by our standard authors there are no such facts 

 given. It would be much more interesting, satisfac- 

 tory and important to give the facts and show when, 

 lime and by whom the Fox grape was "improved by 

 cultivation, and (by so doing) it has given rise to the 

 Isabella grape," &c., than to make such an assertion. 



