BREEDING ROTUNDIFOLIA GRAPES 
By F. C. Reimer and L. R. Detjen. 
INTRODUCTION. 
This is a preliminary report on the grape breeding experiments that 
are being conducted by the North Carolina Experiment Station. Many 
of the hybrids that have been produced have not yet fruited, and it 
will be several years before the work as a whole is completed. But 
grape growers and nursery men throughout the South have become 
very much interested in these experiments since Bulletins 201 and 209 
of this Experiment Station were published; and they are anxiously 
awaiting the results of our investigations. It will also be seen from 
the discussion which follows that there is great need for extensive grape 
breeding in all sections of the South. It is thought best, therefore, 
not to delay any longer the publication of the results thus far obtained. 
While the work has not yet been completed, it should be said that 
some of the fundamental principles, pertaining to the breeding of this 
species, have been determined. The results which are discussed in this 
bulletin should enable breeders to proceed more intelligently in the 
future, and with some assurance of obtaining definite results. It is 
hoped that this publication will induce individuals in various sections 
of the South to take up that phase of the work which has as its special 
object the production of new and better varieties. 
The authors wish to express their appreciation to Professor J. P. 
Pillsbury for his many helpful suggestions. 
Also to J. W. Harden, J. T. Holloway, H. Mahler, A. G. Spingler, 
S. W. Brewer, J. R. Chamberlain, and Dr. D. H. Hill, for the generous 
use of their grape vines in connection with these breeding experiments. 
IMPORTANCE OF ROTUNDIFOLIA GRAPES IN THE 
SOUTH. 
Vitis rotundifolia, commonly called Muscadine, is the leading grape 
in the South. That it is admirably adapted to the climatic and soil 
conditions of this region is shown by the fact that it is more extensively 
grown here than all other grapes combined. The chief reason for this 
is that it is native to this section, growing wild in great abundance in 
the Coastal region from southern Delaware to central Florida, and 
westward to central Texas. 
That this grape is so well adapted to the poor sandy soils of the 
Coastal region, where comparatively few other fruits succeed is for¬ 
tunate from an economic point of view, for under these severe conditions 
it grows and bears well, and is especially long lived. 
It is remarkably resistant to fungous diseases, even in a section where 
such diseases are very prevalent, and where the leading varieties of the 
labrusca grapes are severely injured. It is true that Black Rot ( Guig - 
nardia bidwellii) sometimes severely attacks the blossoms and the 
leaves of the Scuppernong, but the injury done cannot be compared 
with that which this disease inflicts on such varieties as Concord, 
Niagara, and Delaware. 
