18 
H. C. Agricultural Experiment Station 
After all the seed was harvested, it was planted in small flower pots. 
These were plunged in the green-house, and watered from time to time 
as occasion required. At about the middle of March the seedlings be¬ 
gan to appear. These were left undisturbed, except for the forcing and 
weeding processes, until about the middle of July. As no more seeds 
seemed to germinate the plants were taken up and transplanted to the 
regular vine nursery. Here they grew rapidly and a careful study as 
to their behavior was begun. 
Results and Discussions. 
Sex of Hybrids. 
In discussing the subject of sex it must be borne in mind, that one of 
the parents in every cross was a male vine. All the female vines that 
were used in this work, behave in reality simply as pistillate plants, for 
the pollen produced by them is absolutely impotent. It is to be regret¬ 
ted that many of the vines have not yet bloomed, otherwise it would be 
possible to give the sex of a much larger number of hybrids. However, 
enough have bloomed to indicate with a fair degree of accuracy, the 
proportion of male and female plants. The table below gives our obser¬ 
vations on the distribution of sex in seedling Rotundifolia grape vines: 
TABLE NO. 1. 
Distribution of Sex in Rotundifolia Seedlings. 
Scuppernong X Light Male No. 1... 
11 Males 
8 females. 
307 females. 
494 females. 
64 females. 
33 females. 
Scuppernong X Dark Male No. 1_ 
329 males 
Scuppernong X Light Male No. 2_ ... 
507 males 
J ames X Light Male No. 2.. 
59 males 
Thomas X Light Male No. 2_ 
30 males 
Total number of all the seedling vines .. 
936 males 
906 females. 
It will be noted that slightly more than one-half of the seedling vines 
are males, and a little less than one-half are females. This corrobor¬ 
ates observations made on many wild vines where the sexes seem to be 
about equally divided. In some places among the wild vines one sex 
seems to predominate, while in other places another; but the totals are 
practically equal. This is a provision of Nature to supply a male for 
every female vine. 
Ho self-fertile seedlings so far have appeared among our hybrids. In 
1910 the writers found a wild rotundifolia vine (Bui. 209, H. C. Agr. 
Exp. Sta.. p. 18.) which bears fruit and also long, erect stamens, which 
produce good, potent pollen like that from the male vines. There is 
little doubt that self-fertile rotundifolia vines can be produced when 
the proper parents are used in breeding. It is very probable that 
some self-fertile vines exist among the millions of wild plants, and 
thorough search should be made for such vines. 
It is probable that originally the rotundifolia vines were self-fertile, 
but in the process of evolution this species has become practically 
dioecious. Very careful researches have suggested that this has hap¬ 
pened in Yitis labrusca. Nearly all of the wild vines of this species 
appear to be self-sterile, but a number of seedlings have been found 
and produced that are self-fertile, and these have become the leading 
cultivated varieties of this species. 
