THE DELAWARE QBAPE 71 



garden. What the} gain in quality they Eire apt t<» lose 

 in amenability to mildew and phylloxera, in lack of 

 robustness, or in infertility of the bloom. Th< 

 ondary <>r attenuated hybrids, however, — those born of 

 hybrids, or of a hybrid with some other variety, — give 

 more promise; and of these there are striking examples 

 in Jacob Moore's Brighton and Diamond, and in some 

 of Blunson's recenl productions. There is promise of 

 much advantage to be gained by tin' gradual admix- 

 ture of dilute blood nt' foreign grapes into our own 

 improved types, but the results are quite as likely to 

 come from accidental admixtures as from intending 

 ones, for most plant -breeders are looking for bold and 

 emphatic results. 



All this is well illustrated in the Delaware, which 

 enjoys the distinction of being the only one of the four 

 great American grapes which gives any very strong evi- 

 dence of foreign Mood. This has an obscure history, 

 and the parents, whatever thej may be, are so nicely 

 blended in it that they cannot be positively distinguished. 

 It was found in a New Jersey garden aboul 1850. The 

 owner of the garden, Paul II. Provost, had come from 

 Switzerland, and had brought grape-vines with him. 

 This nondescript vine was at first thoughl to be an 

 Italian grape, then it was thought to be the Red Traini- 

 ner of the <>M World. Some thoughl it a seedling from 

 one of the European varieties. But at thepresenl time, 

 most authorities consider it to be a hybrid, perhaps the 

 greater number of them thinking it across between some 

 ■tape ami the European vine, and others, like .Mum 

 son, regarding it as a combination of the fox-grape ami 

 the southern wine-grape. It i> one of those fortuitous 

 riddles which nature now and then produces, the genesis 



