THE CAPE GBAFB 4'5 



when tin- imported varieties failed, the project was 

 apparently abandoned. 



This Cape grape appears to have been really an 

 offshool of the wild fox-grape, or Vitis Labrusca, 

 and it is, therefore, the forerunner of the varieties 

 which we now cultivate everywhere in our vineyards. 

 It was also known a> the Schuylkill Muscadel and 

 Clifton's Constantia. These names are kept distinct 

 by Adlnni. the earliest writer upon the native grape, 

 who declared that it was the Constantia which was 

 grown by Mr. Legaux, and which was "foisted mi the 

 public as the Cape of Good Hope grape." The Con- 

 stantia came ap in William Clifton's garden, in 1'hil- 

 adelphia, "by chance, * * * as it never was 

 planted or sown by him, or any of his family." The 

 Muscadel type "was found growing near Schuylkill 

 River, by a Mr. Alexander, the gardener to one of the 

 Mr. Penns, while Governor of Pennsylvania, before 

 the American Revolution." Johnson, in 1806, fol- 

 lowing the opinions of Legaux, speaks of the Con- 



Btantia as coming from the Cape of <i 1 Hope, 



.- 1 1 1 < 1 of the Alexander as a grape "found in many 

 parts of the middle Btates, and most probably in the 

 northern if not in the southern." Whether the 

 Alexander and Constantia were reallj identical, as 

 modern writers affirm, will probably never he known; 

 lint I strongly Buspect that they represent two natu- 

 ral but very similar varieties. The Cape grape is 

 now known in tin- books under the name of Alex- 

 ander. 



•It en lti iin> herbarinm of the Phil*, 



ibeled "Tra»ker'« "r- Mrxnnder gr*pe," and Mid to have 



■, but the l.'il.i-N must 1 1 : . • • 

 ! in llif pi ■ mi-. 



