CHAPTER XIX. 



GRAPES. 



Many varieties of grapes have been tested, and tested satis- 

 factorily, in Florida, but foremost among them all ranks the 

 Bullace, or Vitis vulpina family, native grapes of Southern origin, 

 which, owing to their late blooming and late ripening, will not 

 succeed north of the more southern portions of Virginia. 



It is a curious fact that while the several members of this 

 family vary greatly in the quality of their fruit, even in the ^vild 

 state, this is the only difference that can be detected in them : 

 All the cultivated, and all the wild varieties, are alike in leaf, 

 bloom, and general habits, the only perceptible difference, apart 

 from the fruit, being that the white sorts have pale green ten- 

 drils, and the purple kinds, purple tendrils. 



The whole habit and manner of growth of the Vitis vulpina 

 family is so entirely unlike that of any other grape in cultiva- 

 tion, that the rules generally applied to grape culture are here at 

 fault. 



Most grapes root wdth ease from cuttings, but the Bullace 

 varieties do not, their w-ood being so dense and compact that 

 it is almost impossible to get cuttings to strike ; consequently, 

 the vines are propagated by layers, and where a large number 

 are desired, certain vines are set apart for this purpose alone. 

 These are kept cut back almost to the stump, only short shoots, 

 with four or five eyes on buds, are left. This is done in the fall ; 

 in the spring these shoots, which are very numerous, and allowed 

 to grow until June, by which time they wdll have attained a 

 length of five or six feet ; then the leaves are all stripped off 

 from the low^er part, and the shoots gathered up in bunches of 

 six or eight ; a hole is made near their junction with the stump ; 

 a handful or two of rich compost, or thoroughly rotten stable 

 manure incorporated in the soil to be filled in, then the vines are 

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