POSSIBILITIES OF OUR NATIVE GRAPES. 



RECORDS OF PROGRESS AND INDICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE AN ATTRACTIVE FIELD. 



ERHAPS no fruit has yielded so 

 cjuickly to the attention of the 

 cultivator as our native fox grape 

 of the east. Within half a cen- 

 tury it has given us grapes of 

 sufficient merit to extend grape- 

 growing as a pleasant and profit- 

 able pursuit over almost every 

 portion of our great country. Yet there are other 

 species just as promising, and which are bound to 

 contribute largely to the horticulture of the near 

 future. Some of them have already come into 

 prominence as parents of good varieties, but even 

 these must be better known. In fact, the old fox 

 grape itself will no doubt yield before another 

 quarter century varieties more valuable than any 

 we now cultivate. The opportunity for profitable 

 and pleasant work which shall combine science and 

 practice is great in our native grapes, and the 

 material is everywhere at hand. It is strange that 

 so few seize the opportunity. 



It is largely through crossing that distinct advances 

 are to be made, for here we can blend the peculiarities 

 of two or more parents. Not all the results of crossing 

 are good, but there are enough prizes to encourage the 

 experimenter I shall attempt in this article to recount 

 some of the progress in the development of our native 

 grapes. I shall not attempt to make any exhaustive 

 account, but enough can be given within my limit to 

 suggest the most probable directions of success. Much 

 of the writing upon the improvement of native fruits is 

 general in its character, and sometimes fanciful ; and I 

 have therefore thought it best, even at the risk of being 

 tiresome, to present a somewhat statistical outline of 

 my subject. 



The Fox Grape [Fifis Labrusca) extends along the 

 sea-board as far west as the Alleghenies from New Eng- 

 land to Carolina. This was the first native grape of the 

 United States extensively planted in vineyard (at Vevay, 

 Indiana) after the extensive and universal failures with 

 vinifera vines in the Atlantic and Mississippi valley 

 regions. 



The Concord is the leading commercial representative 

 of this species, and yet its introduction dates only from 

 early in the fifties Worden and Moore's Early are two 

 of its well-known children. The following list of pure 

 Concord offspring shows what vitality inheres in this 

 variety ; 



Atavite Concord seedling, T. V. Munson, Tex. 



Black Hawk " S. Miller, Mo. 



Concord seedling, J. Balsiger, Mo. 



Kan. 



Balsiger's No. 2 . 



No. 32 . 

 John Burr .... 



Cottage E. W. Bull. 



Colerain D. Bunsly, Ohio. 



Cambridge " p. Houghton, Mass. 



I^enison Moore's Earlye sedling, T. V. Munson, Tex. 



Eaton Concord seedling, G. Eaton, Mass. 



S. Miller, Mo. 



Eva 



Esther Concord grand-child, E. W. Bui 



Golden Concord seedling, T. Valle, Mo. 



Gov. Ireland . . . Moore's Early seedling, T. V. Munson, Tex. 



Grayson " " " «' n 



Hayes, T. B Concord seedling J. B. Moore, Mass. 



T. B. Miner, N.J. 

 S. Imlay, Ohio. 

 A. J. Caywood. 

 J. B. Moore, Mass. 



A. McDonald, Mich. 

 S. Miller, Mo. 



B. Mason, 111. 

 J. Valle, Mo. 



F. F. Merceron, Pa. 

 J. Pocklington, N. Y. 

 f Ellwanger & Berry, 

 t N. Y. 



Linden 



Lady 



Modena . . . 

 Moore's Early 

 McDonald . . 

 Macedonia . . 

 Mason .... 

 New Haven . 

 Paxton .... 

 Pocklington . 

 Rochland . . . 

 Favorite . . . 



Rockwood Concord grand-child, E, W. Bull. 



Storm King Concord sport, E. P. Roe, N. Y. 



Victoria Concord seedling, T. B. Miner. 



Worden " s. 'Worden, N. Y. 



White Ann Arbor . ... " C. H. Woodruff, Mich., 



Young America " S. Miller, Mo. 



Numerous other seedlings of Concord have been pro- 

 duced, not named here, and it is remarkable that only 

 one of all these is anything like a fair competitor — the 

 ■Worden. But the obtaining of white grapes of finer 

 quality, and much earlier and later varieties, as pure 

 seedlings of Concord, shows its wonderful capacity for 

 variation. How much of this capacity comes from 

 reversion toward ancient ancestors, which entered the 

 composition of Concord blood before Mr. Bull sought it 

 out of wild nature, and how much comes from new cir- 

 cumstances of soil, climate, culture, etc., no one can 

 tell. It would seem, however, that the best material of 

 the Concord " lode " has been mined, and further pro- 

 duction of pure Concord seedlings is a waste of time. 



As a parent in hybrids, Concord also has played a 

 prominent part, as the following clearly shows : 



Adelaide .... Concord* • Muse. Hamburg, Ricketts. 

 Black Defiance . . . Concord ,- Bk. St. Peters, I'nderhill. 

 Black Eagle .... " .; Vinifera, " 



Brighton ■" >, D. Hamburg, J. Moore. 



Conqueror " X Riparia (?) A. Moore, N.J. 



Conelva " X Elvira, T. V. Munson. 



Campbell Seedling of Triumph, " 



Concord-Chasselas G. W. Campbell, O. 



" Muscat " " " 



Dip.mond Concord X lona, J. Moore. 



El Dorado Concord X Allen's Hybrid, Ricketts. 



* The pistillate or female parent is always mentioned first. 



