1084 
Characteristics of the 
European and American Grapes 
“The Old World grape is grown for 
wine; the American grape for the table 
The differences arise largely out of the 
purposes for which they are grown. The 
Vitis vintfera varieties have a higher 
sugar and solid content than do those of 
America. Because of this richness in 
sugar, they not only make better wine, 
but keep longer and can be manufactured 
into raisins. The American grapes are 
not good keepers, and do not make good 
raisins. Taken as a whole, the Huropean 
varieties are better flavored, have a more 
agreeable aroma, and lack the acidity and 
what some call the ‘foxy odor’ of the 
American grape. It is true that in some 
of the varieties there is a disagreeable 
astringency and that many are practi- 
cally without flavor; yet, all in all, that 
species produces by far the better flavored 
fruit. On the other hand, American table 
grapes are more refreshing, and the un- 
fermented juice makes a much more 
pleasant and refreshing drink. The 
bunches and berries of the European 
grape are larger, more attractive in ap- 
pearance, and are borne in greater quan- 
tity vine for vine and acre for acre than 
the American grape. The pulp and skin 
of the Vitis vinifera are less objection- 
able than those of the native species, and 
the pulp separates more easily from the 
seeds. The berries do not shell from 
the stem nearly so quickly, hence the 
bunches ship better. In comparing the 
vines, those of the Old World grapes are 
more compact in habit, make a shorter 
and stouter annual growth, therefore re- 
quire less pruning and training. The 
roots are fleshy and more fibrous. Taken 
as a whole, the species is adapted to more 
kinds of soil, and to greater differences 
in environment, also is more easily prop- 
agated from cuttings than the American 
grapes. The cultivated forms of the wild 
vines in this country have few points of 
superiority over their relatives from the 
Eastern hemisphere; but these few are 
such as to make them now and probably 
ever the only grapes to be cultivated in 
the commercial vineyards east of the 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
Rocky mountains. Indeed, had it not 
been for the discovery that the vine of 
the Vatis vinifera could be grown on the 
roots of any one of the several species of 
the American grapes, the vineyards of 
the Old World grape would have been 
almost wholly destroyed within the last 
half century because of one of its weak- 
nesses. This weakness is its non-resist- 
ance to the phylloxera, a tiny plant louse 
working on the leaf and root of the 
grape, which in a few years wholly de- 
stroys the European vine, but does com- 
paratively little harm to the American 
vine. Three other pests are much more 
harmful to the Huropean than to the 
American vines; these are black rot, 
downy mildew and powdery mildew. 
“The susceptibility of the European 
grape to these parasites debars it from 
cultivation in Eastern America so effec- 
tively that there is but little hope of any 
pure-bred variety ever being grown in 
that region. However, by combining 
the good qualities of the foreign grape 
with those of the American grape, 
and by careful selection and breeding, we 
may in time secure varieties in all re- 
spects equal or superior to those of the 
Old World. 
‘Doubtless the quality of resistance to 
various diseases which belongs to the 
American grape is due to natural selec- 
tion, resulting from the war which has 
been waged for ages between host and 
parasite, and the fact that they have 
been able to survive is a guarantee that 
they will perpetuate their powers of re- 
sistance. 
“In the western part of the American 
continent European grapes have suc- 
ceeded. At the old missions in New Mexi- 
co, Arizona and California, grapes of the 
European varieties were grown before 
settlements were made in the eastern 
parts of the United States. Great efforts 
were made by the Hastern colonists to 
grow Huropean grapes and manufacture 
wine as an article of commerce. Several 
of the legislatures gave subsidies to 
French and German experts to establish 
successful and profitable vineyards; but 
after more than one hundred years of 
