1086 
failure, the project was abandoned. Since 
then, many attempts have been made but 
they have not proved successful. There 
have been practically three hundred years 
of failure to grow European grapes along 
the Atlantic coast and it has always 
proven that unless the varieties are im- 
proved or become better adapted, they 
cannot be made profitable. 
The American Grape 
“The American grape is pre-eminently 
a North American plant. There are about 
fifty species of the genus Vitis, more than 
half of which are found on this conti- 
nent. But few other plants in America 
or in the world are adapted to such varied 
climate and soil conditions. In North 
America, wild grapes abound on the 
warm, dry soils of New Brunswick and 
New England, about the Great Lakes in 
Canada and the United States, and almost 
anywhere in the valleys and rich wood- 
lands of the Southern states. They thrive 
in the dry woods, sandy sea plains and 
reef keys of the Carolinas, Georgia and 
Florida, where the vines of the Scupper- 
nong often run more than a hundred feet 
over trees and shrubs, rioting in natural 
luxuriance. They flourish in the moun- 
tains and limestone hills of the Virginias, 
Tennessee and Kentucky. They are not 
so common in the West, yet they are 
found in almost all parts of the Missis- 
sippi valley, from the Great Lakes to the 
Gulf of Mexico. Even in the Rocky moun- 
tain and Pacific coast states, in semi-arid 
plains and mountains, grapes are found 
growing wild. It is certain that these 
wild grapes were not distributed over 
these regions by the hand of man. They 
have doubtless been growing in this re- 
gion from before the time of the migra- 
tion of the first savages. The agents for 
their distribution were birds, which car- 
ried the seeds; animals, lake and river 
currents. When the seeds were dropped, 
they entered the competitive struggle 
for existence with other plants, and suc- 
ceeded. But climate, soil and other con- 
ditions of environment tended to modify 
them. ‘The species found in the forests 
have tended to develop long, slender 
trunks and branches in their struggle to 
HNCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
obtain sunlight and air. On the dry 
sands, or among the rocks, they are short 
and stubby. Still another form rungs on 
the ground. One is almost evergreen, 
while nearly all others drop their leaves. 
Some are long-lived, growing and bearing 
fruit for nearly two centuries; while 
others are scarcely longer-lived than the 
ordinary shrub. Some have enormous 
stems a foot or more in diameter, others 
are Slender and graceful. Not less re. 
markable than the differences in struc- 
ture is the adaptability of the genus and 
some of the species to varied climatic 
conditions. Several of the wild grapes 
develop full size and display natural lux- 
uriance and fruit-bearing qualities only 
in the Middle states, but may be found 
on the dry, gravelly, wind-swept hills far 
to the north or in some hot and humid 
atmosphere of the South, as if to show 
indifference to wet or dry, heat or cold. 
“On the other hand there are many 
strong points of resemblance between the 
score or more of species. The organs and 
characters that do not bear the strain of 
changed environment nor suffer in the 
perpetual warfare with nature, are much 
the same in all the species of the Vitis. 
Thus, the structure of fruits, flowers and 
seeds is practically identical All have 
naked tipped tendrils; leaves and leaf 
buds are very similar, and various species 
usually hybridize freely. They are alike 
in the unlikeness of individual plants in 
any of the species; that is, all of the indi- 
viduals of the genus are most variable, 
and the seeds taken from the same vine 
may produce plants quite unlike one an- 
other and quite unlike the parent. These 
few facts regarding the evolution and dis- 
tribution of American grapes lead to 
two important conclusions: 
‘First, the species are so distributed 
throughout the United States, and indi- 
viduals of the species grow in such lux- 
uriance and abundance, as to suggest that 
we may be able to improve and domesti- 
cate some one or more of them for all 
the agricultural regions of the country. 
For it is proved that nearly all the wild 
grapes have agricultural possibilities; 
and experience with many plants teaches 
