GRAPE MANUAL. 



qui donnent des vins colores, corses, a bouquet souvont 

 delicat, et en tout cas non-foxo." J. E. Planchon, Les 

 Vignes americaines . 



Mr, Herman Jaeger, of Neosho, south-west Missouri, 

 writes us: "In southwest Missouri, southern Illinois, 

 Arkansas, western Texas, (also in Tennessee and Ala- 

 bama,) the Labrusca, or Fox grapes, bring two healthy 

 crops of fine grapes, and of the most vigorous varieties, 

 with proper culture and favorable seasons, a few more, 

 then they rot to such an extent, that they are entirely 

 worthless. The ^Estivalis never rots and is the only truly 

 reliable grape for these States. It was believed that no 

 large summer grapes were existing but this is a mis- 

 take; summer grapes (.<Estivalis) , nearly of the size of 

 Concord are found growing wild in Arkansas, and I am 

 confident that superior table grapes will be obtained 

 from their seed. The wild large yEstivalis are not as 

 juicy nor as aromatic as the small; but by crossing the 

 one with the other, we may obtain large grapes for the 

 south-west as juicy as Herbemont, and as healthy vig- 

 orous and productive as Norton's Va., as free from rot 

 and mildew as no Labrusca ever will be with us." 



The varieties of this group generally prefer a dry, 

 poor soil, intermingled with lime and decomposed 

 stones, with a southern and south-eastern exposure, 

 they seem to endure the severest drouths without flag- 

 ging. Although we have seen some of them, especially 

 the Norton and CyntMana, bear immense crops on the 

 deep, rich, sandy loam of our river bottom, their fruit 

 does not reach the same perfection as on the hills. The 

 wood of the true ^Estivalis is very solid, hard, with 

 small pith, and firm outer bark: so that it is almost im- 

 possible to propagate this species from cuttings. The 

 bark on the one year old wood is of a dark gray color, 

 bluish around the eyes. The roots are wiry and tough 

 with a smooth, hard liber, penetrating deep into the 

 ground, perfectly defying the- attacks of Phylloxera. 

 Their resistive power has been fully tested, and estab- 

 lished beyond a doubt in several vineyards of the Her- 

 ault, surrounded by infested, dying French vines. As 

 a stock for grafting they are in every respect superior 

 to Clinton but we think they are too good and valua- 

 ble to serve merely as a grafting stock. 



VITIS LABRUSCA, Linnaeus. Plant usu- 

 ally not large, stems with loose, shreddy bark, 

 climbing over bushes or small trees, though oc- 

 casionally reaching the tops of the highest trees. 

 Tendrils continuous, branched. Leaves (4 6 

 inches wide,) large and thick, entire, or some- 

 times deeply lobed, very slightly dentate, coated 

 when young with a thick, rusty or sometimes 

 whitish wool or down, which in the wild plants 

 remains on the lower side, but almost disappears 

 in the mature leaf of some cultivated varieties; 

 berries large, in middle-sized, or, in some culti- 

 vated varieties, rather large bunches, bearing 

 two or three or sometimes four seed^s. (Figs. 11 

 and 12.) 



This plant, usually known as the Fox grape, 

 or Northern Fox grape, is a native of the east- 



ern slope of the continent from New England 

 to South Carolina , where it prefers wet thickets; 

 it extends into the Alleghany mountains, and 

 here and there even down their western decliv- 

 ity, but is a stranger to the Mississippi Valley. 

 By far the largest number of varieties of grape- 

 vines now cultivated in our country, are the off- 

 spring of this species ; a few produced by nur- 

 serymen, but most of them picked up in the 

 woods; they are easily recognized by the char- 

 acters above given, and most readily by the pe- 

 culiar arrangements of the tendrils as above de- 

 scribed. Large and downy-leaved varieties of 

 V. ^Estivalis are, in the West and South-west, 

 not rarely mistaken for Labrusca, but the two 

 may always be distinguished by the characters 

 indicated. 



VITICULTURAL REMARKS. 



"For table use, this species, in its improved varieties, 

 will probably always occupy a prominent position in a 

 large portion of the Eastern and Northern States as wel 1 

 as in the Northern sections of the Western States; and 

 in those regions where the climate will not favor the 

 maturity of the best varieties of this class, the inferior 

 kinds will occupy their place. 



As a wine grape the V. Labrusca, has been over-esti- 

 mated; the tough, musky pulp of even the best varie- 

 ties requires a long and favorable season of growth to 

 reduce the acid center so as to produce a proper ratio of 

 the ingredients necessary for a passable quality of wine." 



Fully endorsing the above quoted views of William 

 Saunders, Superintendent of the Experimental Gardens 

 at Washington, we do not wish to be understood as ad- 

 vocating the discontinuance of planting and using La- 

 brusca grapes for wine-making; we are well aware that 

 the Catawba and, Concord furnish the bulk of our most 

 popular wines. But for wines of finest quality we re- 

 commend the ^Estivalis, where its varieties succeed, as 

 far superior to the Labrusca. Moreover, we recognize 

 in this species a Northern and a Southern form (same 

 as in the Kiparia and JEstivalis), with distinct charac- 

 teristics. 



The Northern Labrusca a plant of great vigor, hardi- 

 ness and productiveness; abundant, heavy, branching 

 and fibrous roots, thick pith and firm liber; with a 

 fruit of superior size, but also of a disagreeable rough- 

 ness and foxiness in taste or flavor. The Southern La- 

 brusca a far more tender plant, very sensitive to casu- 

 alties from unfavorable atmospheric changes of climate, 

 with few and feeble roots, of only moderately firm tex? 

 ture; but also with a much more delicate fruit of an 

 agreeable musky flavor. The first will not do well at 

 the South, the second will be found subject to fungoid 

 and other diseases, and will not well ripen at the North. 

 Both are subject to rot, and. do not continue to succeed 

 well in the South-west, where both types of the Labr. 

 seem not to feel at home.* 



*G. Onderdonk writes us: "After all, our grapes in 

 Texas must come from the ^stivalis family. No La- 

 brusca has given us good, permanent satisfaction here." 



This same view is obtaining ground in Arkansas and 

 south-west Missouri, after full trial and dearly bought 

 experience. 



