Breeding Botundifolia Grapes 
7 
desirable varieties of this species. It is a character that practically 
precludes the shipping of the fruit to market. Any one who has at¬ 
tempted to ship rotundifolia grapes any distance to market, knows that 
they usually arrive in a very bad condition. Most of the berries have 
separated from the clusters, and the package presents a mixture of 
berries and bare stems, the appearance of which is not very tempting 
to the buyer. The whole matter becomes more complicated by the fre¬ 
quent breaking of the skin of the berry at the point of attachment when 
separating from the pedicel. The juice begins to ooze out at this point, 
fermentation sets in, and the fruit soon develops a disagreeably sour 
flavor. The Flowers and the Flowers Improved are better in this re¬ 
spect, but these two varieties at best, are inferior in quality. 
The marketing of these grapes is further complicated by the irregu¬ 
larity of ripening of the berries on the same cluster. Often some of 
the berries are ripe and ready to pick while the others are too green 
or immature to gather. If the berries are not picked when ripe they 
will either fall off or thev will shrivel on the cluster, which renders 
them unfit for the market. It can be readily understood that to place 
such fruit on the market is practically useless. 
As soon as this grape is picked from the vine, its quality begins to 
deteriorate. And this deterioration proceeds with such rapidity that 
grape connoisseurs make the statement that the fruit of the Scupper- 
nong is not as good five hours after it is picked from the vine as it is 
immediately after picking. 
This poor keeping quality, coupled with the frequent breaking of 
the skin at picking, which prepares the way for rapid fermentation, 
precludes the successful shipping of the grape to any great distance. 
It is sometimes stated that this poor keeping and shipping quality 
is not of great moment, since most of the fruit that now goes to market 
is used for wine making. This idea is certainly erroneous, for the best 
wine experts are agreed that the fruit of the Scuppernong grape that is 
to be used for wine making, for best results should be sound. Whenever 
the skin of the berry has been broken, and fermentation has been active, 
even for a day or two, the quality of the wine is much impaired. 
Another defect of this species is the very small and variable size of 
the fruit clusters. The number of berries of the cluster varies from 
one to about twenty-five. Only in very rare instances are there more 
than twenty, and most clusters have only from three to ten berries (See 
Figs. 1 and 2). 
Such small and variable clusters are objectionable from several stand¬ 
points. They are so small that they do not appeal to anyone who is 
accustomed to the large clusters of the European grapes, or such Ameri¬ 
can varieties as the Concord, rSTiagara, Ilerbemont, and others. They 
do not have a uniform appearance on the market; and it is well known 
that uniformity of product, especially as to size, is one of the cardinal 
principles in the marketing of fruit. 
All the cultivated varieties of this species are self sterile; that is, 
they are incapable of setting and developing fruit from their own pollen 
(See Fig. 3). Furthermore, the pollen of all of the present cultivated 
varieties is worthless, hence it is impossible for one variety to cross-fertil¬ 
ize another variety. The only way that normal fruit can develop on 
