78 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LI 



known and very excellent "improved" variety, the Con- 

 cord. Of this grape Hedrick says (p. 219) : 



The Concord is known by all. The most widely grown of the grapes 

 species and with its offspring, purebred and crossbred, furnishes seventy- 

 He speaks of "the preeminently meritorious character of 

 Concord which has enabled it to take first place in Amer- 

 ican viticulture." 



Now for the origin and history of this paragon. 



The seed of a wild grape was planted in the fall of 1843 by E. W. 

 Bull of Concord, Massachusetts, from which fruit was born in 1849. 

 The wild grape from which the seed came had been transplanted from 

 beside a field fence to the garden in which there was at least another 

 grape, the Catawba, and the wild vine was open to cross-pollination. 

 One of these seedlings was named Concord and the variety was exhibited 

 before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in the fall of 1852. The 

 new grape was introduced in the spring of 1854 by Hovey & Company, 

 of Boston. From the time of its introduction the growth of this 

 variety in popularity was phenomenal. In 1865 it was awarded a prize 

 by the American Institute ... as the best grape for cultivation. 



But where in the history of this "best" American grape 

 is the gradual accumulation of minute variations by selec- 

 tion? The story is of the same sort for all varieties of 

 grapes about whose origin anything is known ; either they 

 were chance seedlings, or Fj hybrids, or F2 segregates, 

 grown under good conditions. 



The same general situation obtains in regard to the 

 origin and improvement of other fruits besides the grape. 

 One need only mention various cases briefly to recall them 

 to mind. New and improved varieties of apples, plums, 

 cherries, strawberries, etc., have originated either as 

 chance seedlings, or as bud variations, or as hybrids. In 

 their production selection, in the sense of the accumula- 

 tion of minute favorable variations, has had no part. 



In the case of many fruits the mere fact of domestica- 

 tion accounts for all the improvement over the wild type. 

 A striking example of this is found in the case of the most 

 recently domesticated wild plant, the blueberry. Mr. F. 



