jfNsn 
Yoii. XXXIX. No. 49 
Whole No. 1610. 
•i 
NEW YORK, DFC. 4, 1880. 
i Price Five Cents, 
) $2.00 Per Year, 
[Entered according to Act of OonErreBa. In the year 1880. by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Confess at Washington.] 
the field of research is one that is scarcely 
more than well entered, and it would be hard 
to exaggerate the interests which may be cen¬ 
tered in the future grape industry of this 
country. 
Vitis vinifbra, which has been exten¬ 
sively used as one of the parents of our 
new hybrid grapes, is the European species. 
From this it is supposed that the thousands of 
varieties of grapes cultivated in Europe have 
originated. Ent tbey are not hardy in this 
climate, and the object of crossing our native 
species with them is that we may combine in 
new seedlings the best characteristics of each, 
while still preserving the hardiness and vigor 
of our native kinds. There are many lesser 
marks which aid in determining this species, 
but the most prominent characteristic—though 
this cannot be accepted as an invariable guide 
is that the skin adheres to the pulp, while in 
our native species the pulp readily slips out of 
the skin when the latter is pressed. 
Vitis Labrusca.— This is our Northern Fox 
Grape, common in moist thickets. The berry, 
of a purple or amber color, with a tough 
musky pulp, is about three-quarters of an inch 
in diameter, ripening in late September. The 
earlier improvements of this are the 
Concord, Isabella and Catawba, while 
the Concord is one of the parents of 
most of the scores of new varieties 
which are now being introduced. 
The leaves are woolly beneath, and 
when lobed the sinuses are rounded 
and not angular. 
Vitis .estivalis.— 'This is our Sum¬ 
mer Grape, which is also common in 
thickets. The berries are scarcely 
one-third of an inch in diameter, 
black with a bloom, pleasant iu 
flavor, and ripe in October. Mr. Rick¬ 
etts has used this to some extent as a 
parent for several of his hybrids—we 
know not with what results. 
Vitis cordifolta. — This is our 
Frost or Winter Grape. The leaves 
are thinner than those of ihe others 
(never woolly), and coarsely-toothed, 
without conspicuous lobes. The ber- 
ries (a quarter of an inch broad) are a 
$ dark-blue or black with a bloom; 
sour, ripening after frost. The flow¬ 
ers are sweet-scented, and it is found 
in thickets or along river banks. 
Vitis vulpina Is Ihe Southern Fox 
or Muscadine Grape, and the original 
of the Scnppernong. The bark is net 
thrown off as in the others, in strips, 
but is close like that of a young 
pear tree. The leaves arc roundish- 
heart-shaped, shiny ou both sides, 
VICIA SATIVA-VETCH 
H. W. RAVENEL 
There are four indigenous species of vetch 
in this country east of the Mississippi, name¬ 
ly, Vicia Caroliniaua (Walt.), V. acut- 
ifolia (Fill.), V. micrantha (Nutt.), and 
V. Americana (Muhl.). The first three 
are mostly confined to the Southern 
States, the fourth is not fonnd south 
of Kentucky. 
The nati vu vetches, however, are all 
feeble in habit and growth, aud mostly 
confined to the borders of thickets and 
damp woods, rarely ever attempting to 
dispute possession of the richer open 
pastures with weeds and the stronger 
grasses. They have never attracted 
much attention as forage plants. 
It is a curious fact that not only have 
our foreign population become so read¬ 
ily naturalized and assimilated in this 
country, but a vast number of foreign 
plants have also found here a congenial 
home, and have outstripped the native 
species in hardihood aud vigor. The 
vetch is one of these. Vida sativa, the 
common vetch of Europe, is found ail 
over our country. 
Here in the Southern States it is spe¬ 
cially vigorous and widespread in ail 
directions. 1 have frequently had spec¬ 
imens sent to me for name from this 
and ad joiuingStatee,described us a most 
luxuriant and promising forage plant. 
It grows mostly in rich, dampish ^ 
grounds aud waste places, in the cor- ^ 
ners of cultivated fields, gardens, etc. / 
In good soil It attains a bight of two to 
three feet. The stems aie tender, soft >»Lr 
and succulent, and the whole plant is ( I X 
eaten with avidity by animals. This 
species is an annual. It flowers here i 
about May, The seeds ripen and fall 
in the course of the Summer, aud the ^ 
plant dies out. Towards Autumn the 
seeds germinate uud the young plants 
grow slowly all Winter, running up 
rapidly at the approach of Spring. 
This species may be readily distin¬ 
guished from the other introduced 
vetches—viz , V. cracca, hirsuta and 
tetrasperma—by having tho flowers in 
pairs, sessile in the axils of the leaves. 
The others bear their flowers on elon¬ 
gated peduncles. It could doubtless be 
cultivated in many parts of the South¬ 
ern country very profitably as an early 
green forage plant, and also be cured 
as hay for Winter use. 
Later in the season, and during the 
Summer months, the cow-pea is the 
general favorite, as giving the greatest 
yield, both for hay aDd for vegetable 
matter to enrich the soil. 
Aiken, 8. C. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL 
GROUNDS. 
