170 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



grounds with care, and decided that they were not 

 identical ; and so stated in an article published in 

 the " Oskaloosa Eerahl." 



From all these circumstances, together with the 

 suggestions of Mr. Hussman, and the fact that some 

 others of these hybrids are very similar, I thought 

 the probabilities were in favor of this one being a 

 seedling which had not been fruited. I knew there 

 had been a l)lunder, and supposed it more likely 

 that from his multitude of seedlings in various 

 stages of growth, and which had not fruited, he 

 sent one in mistake, than that he should have for- 

 warded a wrong one from a smaller number of a 

 known and tried variety. 



These were my reasonings. They may have been 

 right, or they may have been wrong. I feel no in- 

 terest in this matter only that the vexed question 

 shall be correctly decided. Whatever it may be, it 

 is in my judgment one of the best grapes I have 

 ever seen, all things considered. Whoever has got- 

 ten a vine of it has obtained a prize, whether it be 

 No. 1, "No. 13," or no number. If it is No. 1, I have 

 Mr. Hussman's authority for saying that it is of the 

 highest quality. In his book on " Grapes & Wine " 

 pages 107 and 108, he says : 



" This variety which is also too late in ripening for 

 the East to be much esteemed there, fruited with me last 

 season, and more than fulfilled all the expectations Iliad 

 of it. It is t/te best of Mr. Rogers' Uybrids which I have 

 yet taMed ; and its productiveness, healthy habit, large 

 berry, and good quality makes it one of tlie most desira- 

 ble of all tlie grapes we raise /lere, for the table and 

 market." 



I will say that "No. 13" as I have it, ripens 

 about with Concord, varying in diflerent seasons 

 from the 10th to the 20th of September. The very 

 wet season of year before last, about the 2uth of 

 September. To aid in coming to a very satisfactory 

 conclusion, I will try and send Mr. Hussman and 

 others specimens of the fruit next September. If 

 I cannot be at home then, I will get some one to 

 attend to it. 



Xbe Texas Post Oak Grape— Vitls liinsecniuil. 



Br S. B. Buckley, Austin, Texas. 



Ed. Pomologist : This grape is very common 

 in the open post oak woods of eastern Texas, ex- 

 tending westwardly sometimes to the central 

 portions of the State. Eastwardly I have seen it 

 on hills near the Red River, at Alexandria, in Lou- 

 isiana. It is of low habit, generally only from three 

 to four feet high. In but two instances was it from 

 six to eight feet in height, in thousands of speci- 

 mens which I have seen in every variety of soil. 

 Its greatest height does not probably exceed ten 

 feet. It trails over bushes, or grows without sup- 

 port in tufts, bearing its fruit on stalks near the 

 ground in racemes four to six inches in length, with 



two shoulders. The fruit ripens about the first of 

 July; skin black or purplish-black, thin; berry 

 about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, of a 

 pleasant acid, yet sometimes the outer pulp is a Cj 

 little acrid ; outer pulp purple or reddish-purple ; ■ 

 inner pulp yellowish-white ; outer pulp about one 

 line thick, slightly acrid ; inner pulp acid, and rel- 

 ishe d by some. The whole is excellent for pies, 

 sauce, and preserves. When chinned, the outer 

 pulp coloring the whole, deep red ; seeds 3 by 4, 

 ovate, smooth, sub-flattened, and sub-emarginate at 

 the blunt apex. 



Leaves very large, reniform cordate, entire or 

 tive-lobed, lobes obtuse, crenatedentate, teeth sub 

 macronate, smooth above, beneath densely cobweb- 

 by, tomentose ; as are also the petioles and younger 

 branches. Its leaves are larger than any other 

 American species, being from six to ten inches in 

 width and of nearly the same length. 



This grape was first described by me in the pro- 

 ceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia, in 1861. It has been referred by Dr. 

 Gray to Vitis labrusca, but no one who has observed 

 both of these grapes in their native lixMtats would 

 thus refer it. It dilfers from V. labrusca in its low 

 habit, its larger reniform leaves, which are smooth 

 above, while those of labrusca are often tomative 

 above. Its racemes are more than twice the length 

 of those of labrusca ; its berries are adherent to their 

 stem, those oi labi-usca often fall from a slight jar of 

 the tree supporting the vine. The racemes of 

 labrusca are very short, and usually of only one 

 short branch. The labrusca is a rampant grower, 

 climbing the tallest trees. Surely if our post oak 

 grape were the labrusca, it would not be thus 

 dwarfed on the rich lands of Texas. I have not 

 seen the labrusca in Texas, but have carefully ob- 

 served it in its Northern localities, and know it to 

 be very dift'erent from our post oak grape. 



Sammer Pruning the Grape. 



It is a rather tiresome job to travel over the same 

 ground so often ; to repeat the same idea, the same 

 practices over and over again ; yet in a journal like 

 yours, which acquires many new readers all the 

 time, many of whom may be totally unacquainted 

 with these ideas, it may sometimes be necessary to 

 do so. The above subject was recalled to my mind 

 by the essay of Dr. Warder in your issue of May 

 9th. 



It is well known that the practice of the very 

 early and very short summer pruning or "stopping" 

 of the fruit bearing branches originated with Mr. 

 Wm. Poeschel, of this place, and was first made 

 public by me. At that time, or soon after, I had to 

 fight strongly for this idea with our Ohio friends, in 

 the columns of the " Cincinnatus," then published 

 in Cincinnati. I am glad to see that it has since 



