Variation and Division 



The tendency in nature of the progeny of any individual to vary and diverge wider and 

 wider from the original parent form with each generation, as influenced by surrounding con- 

 ditions, is the subtle agency seized by the originator to produce at will whatever product he 

 designs in harmony with the character of the original individual, or individuals, and conditions 

 under which he operates. Even the blind law of "the survival of the fittest," as stated by Herbert 

 Spencer, or of the "unlike," as Professor L. H. Bailey puts it, fills the world with infinite, yet 

 related forms. All forms inherit their chief characteristics from prior forms, and receive modifi- 

 cations from environments that are more or less inherited in the progeny. This is the universal 

 law of inheritance, that the breeder must observe, in order to succeed. The process of individual, 

 varietal, specific and generic variation, is well typified in every tree, by its body, forks, large 

 branches, secondary branches, sprays and buds. 



The known grape genus would be represented by a forked tree, having one division much 

 larger than the other. The larger division would represent the true grapes (Euvitis), the smaller 

 the warty- wood section (Lenticellosis) . The body below the fork would represent the primordial 

 form, — once a species itself, but different from any living species, as proven in fossil forms, — 

 from which living species have sprung. The larger fork, or division, branched much more numer- 

 ously than the smaller. Its great branches represent the series Precoces, Occidentales, CoriacecB, 

 Labrusc(E, jEstivales, Cordifolia, and Cinerascentes , as shown in the classification of American 

 species in Chapter I., and two or three Asiatic series. The secondary branches represent the 

 species in the series; the sprays represent the sub-species and botanical varieties, and the buds 

 represent the individual vines, which, when we cultivate, we call varieties. They' are multiplied 

 not by seeds, but by cuttings, layers, grafts. Seeds produce other distinct individuals, or 

 vineyard varieties. 



The smaller division of the tree, representing the warty wood grapes (Lenticellosis), would 

 have only two secondary branches, the whole division, constituting the section Lenticellosis, 

 and also the Series Chiri-Simpleses (simple- tendril species) , generally designated by botanists as 

 Muscadinia. In this section, there are but one series and two species known. Botanical varieties 

 are few, although individual vines are very numerous. 



The comparatively little variation in this section and its uniform, stubborn resistance to 

 change by hybridizing, indicates that its individuals have been confined to very similar, or almost 

 identical, conditions of climate and soil for a great length of time and have not intermingled to 

 any appreciable degree by natural hybridization with other species, as have the species of true 

 grapes (Euvitis). 



Study of Specific and Varietal Characteristics Necessary 



Order of Succession of Periods of Seed Germination of the Different Species of Grapes: 



15. V. rotundifolia. 



16. V. lahrusca. 



17. V. Simpsoni. 



18. V. cinerea. 



19. V. Berlandieri. 



20. V. coriacea. 



21. V. monticola. 



22. V. Bourquiniana. 



23. V. candicans . 



24. V. cestivalis. 



25. V. Lincecumii. 



26. V. bicolor. 



27. V. rubra. 



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