CHAPTER LIII. 
GRAPE-VINES. 
The American Wild Vine.—Attention Paid to its Classification.—Dis- 
tinctive Characteristics of Species—Delicacy of their Habit.—Traits 
of Good Quality of the Grape-vine.—- Where Indigenous. —Its 
General Bearing.—The Celebrated Varieties of North America.— 
Their Favored Qualities.—Collective Sketches of the Qualities and 
Properties of the most Hardy Varieties. —Manncr of Planting the 
Grape-vine, and After-Management. 
THE AMERICAN WILD VINE. 
Tue classifying of the many species of the grape-vine 
has, of late years, been given much attention, and the 
distinctive characteristics of each studied and published 
for public reading, so as to induce an interest for their 
more general culture. In most varieties the form and 
color of the leaf, the shape, color, and quality of the 
fruit, and the manner of inducing a successful thrift in 
the vinery have been the subjects of investigation and 
inquiry. 
The production of the grape-vine for ornament, its 
after-culture, and the necessary care required to perfect 
its appearance are the principal points of acquirement ; 
but when planted with the object of producing fruit the 
necessity of understanding the many peculiarities of the 
different varieties becomes a most prominent feature in 
the study. The grape being a fruit most subject to epi- 
curian criticism, and the many varieties being produced 
with more or less success as the reward of patient exer- 
tion, it needs the utmost familiarity of the grower with 
the many delicacies of its habit in progressive growth 
to meet the many comments which may be brought to 
