8 



BUSHBEEG CATALOGUE. 



grape culture, are taken from Dr. Engelmann's 

 publication (in C. V. Riley's Sixth Entomolog- 

 ical report), revised by himself for our Manual. 

 The ViticuJtural Remarks, with list of varie- 

 ties to each species, are derived from other 

 sources (principally from Wm. Saunders' U. S. 

 Agr. Report, 1869), and from our own observa- 

 tions. 



VITIS ^STIVALIS, Michaux. Climbing over 

 bushes and small trees by the aid of forked, 

 intermittent tendrils ; leaves large (4 5 or 6 

 inches wide), of firm texture, entire, or often 

 more or less deeply and obtusely 3 5 lobed, 

 with rounded sinus and with short and broad 

 teeth ; when young always very woolly or cot- 

 tony, mostly bright red or rusty; at last 

 smoothish but dull, and never shining like 

 Riparia; berries usually larger than in this 

 species, coated with a distinct bloom, and, when 

 well grown, in compact bunches; seeds usually 

 2 or 3, rounded on top, with a very prominent 

 raphe. (Fig. 1-3.) 



This is the well-known Summer Grape com- 

 mon throughout the Middle and Southern 

 States, usually found on uplands and in dry, 

 open woods or thickets, maturing its fruit in 

 September. It is the most variable of our grape- 

 vines, and hence has seduced superficial ob- 

 servers into the establishment of numerous 

 nominal species. A form with large leaves 

 which retain their rusty down at full maturity 

 has often been mistaken for Labrusca, which 

 does not grow in the Mississippi Valley. An- 

 other form, more bushy than climbing, with 

 deeply lobed rusty-downy leaves and sweet 

 fruit, is Vitis Lincecumii of the sandy soils of 

 Louisiana and Texas, often called Post Oak 

 Grape. Vitis Mbnticola, the Mountain Grape 

 of Texas, is a form with small entire leaves (the 

 down of which at last is gathered in little tufts) 

 and large acidulous berries. When this species 

 gets into shady woods it assumes a peculiar form, 

 approaching V. Cordifolia through its smaller 

 black berries, without bloom, with more acid 

 taste, and in larger bunches. Another form 

 with ashy-white, downy, scarcely lobed leaves, 

 and fruit like the last mentioned, which grows 

 in our bottoms, often climbing high trees, or 

 growing over bushes on the banks of lakes, I 

 have distinguished by the name of Cinerea. It 

 is not always easy to distinguish such forms 

 from the other species, and perhaps less so to 

 unite them under the single species, ^Estivalis, 



unless the essential characters above enumer- 

 ated be closely attended to, and the numberless 

 gradual transitions from one form to the other 

 be watched. 



VITICULTURAL REMARKS. 



VITIS -<ESTIVALIS. This species is pre-eminently 

 the WINE grape of the Atlantic States , and of the Lower 

 Mississippi Valley. Owing to the fact that none of the 

 varieties except the Elsinglurgh and Eumelan will ripen 

 north of the parallel of 40, unless it may be in some pe- 

 culiarly favored situation,* they have not been exten- 

 sively planted, and their superior qualities are but little 

 known. The* berries are destitute of pulp, and the 

 juice contains a larger percentage of sugar than any 

 other improved American species. The foliage is not 

 so liable to disease as that of the fox grape, and rot in 

 the berries is comparatively unknown. Some of the 

 best wines made in this country are produced from va- 

 rieties of this family, although the most promising kinds 

 have not been properly tested as to their wine-produc- 

 ing qualities. I am convinced that neither the wine- 

 producing capabilities of the country nor the highest 

 excellence of the product can be decided, until vine- 

 yards of these varieties are established in the best loca- 

 tions of favorable climates. Wm. Saunders. 



The most genial home of this species is the country 

 of the Ozark Hills, Missouri, S. Kansas, Arkansas and 

 Indian Territory; probably also south-west Illinois and 

 the mountain slopes in Virginia, North Carolina, and 

 Tennessee. And the^e must be looked upon as the 

 great producing regions of this continent, (east of the 

 Rocky mountains,) for a certain class of fine wines. In 

 Western Texas also, the varieties belonging to this class 

 seem to 'succeed better than any other class of grapes. ' 

 G-. Onderdonk, Victoria, Texas. Handbook of Fruits. 



The following varieties of this most valuable 'species 

 (omitting synonyms, untried new and discarded varie- 

 ties), are now cultivated. 



ALVEY. (Perhaps a cross with Vinifera; see page 35.) 

 CUNNINGHAM. LENOIR. 



CYNTHIANA, LOUISIANA. 



DEVEREUX. NORTON'S VIRGINIA. 



ELSINBURGH. NEOSHO. 



EUMELAN. OHIO (JACQUEZ). 



HERBEMONT. PAULINE . 



HERMANN. RULANDER. 



(Several new varieties of this species, some chance 

 seedling* selected in the forests of Arkansas, others 

 raised from seeds of cultivated varieties, are now on 

 trial; among the latter two seedlings of Norton's Vir- 

 ginia and one of 'Hermann bearing white fruit.) 



The quality of these varieties is so excellent, that even 

 the French taste seems quite satisfied. Only their size 

 is unsatisfactory. "Dans ce groupe se trouvent les 

 raisins dont le goiU se rapproche le plus des ndtres, et 



* Their proper climate is south of the isotherm of 70 

 Fahrenheit, for June, July, August and September; 

 they require a longer season to attain maturity. The 

 more tender varieties may be properly placed between 

 the isothermal lines of 70 and 75. [Isothermal lines de- 

 note localities of equal mean temperature, and have 

 been delineated upon maps Irom careful observation, 

 indicating the various belts of climate, the limits where 

 certain important plants thrive, by far more accurately 

 than by zones and geographical degrees, which have 

 long been in vogue, but which really have no place in 

 nature.] 



