of | THE AMUR WILD GRAPE 
é / ta “ by q 
tid ¥F. G. Whittick (deceased~aar) 
Manchuria is rich in berries of various kinds, but not in larger fruits. 
The wild grape, however, is found in many parts of the country end the 
Usmri Region, its limit being as far north as the Amur and Zei Rivers 
and south to the Liaotung Peninsula. 
A few particulars may be given as to the seeds, the leaves, and the grape 
itself. ‘The seed is of a reddish-brown color, oval to circular in 
shape and ending in a sharp point. There are usually two seeds in each 
grepe but there may be three or four. The leaf is trefoil, the part towards 
the tip being elongated, and the base heart-shaped with a deep cut up 
the middle. The shape and colour of the leaf vary greatly. The grapes 
are roundish, when unripe are green in color, and, on ripening, take on a 
blue-black hue. A sort of waxy bloom covers the grape when in a ripe 
condition. The skin is rather tough and resilient. A peculiarity of the 
Amur grape is that it is lacking in saccharine quality and is acidulous. 
Where the grape grows in dry places the fruit is sweeter than that growing 
in damp soil or in elevated mrts. 
The wild Amur grape has many varieties, differing mainly in the tendrils and 
in the distance between the shoots, in the shape and colour of the leaf, 
the flower clusters, the size of the grape, the shane and quality of the 
seed and the sweetness of the fruit. Where there are rich clusters of fruit 
the grape is sweetest. The climbing vines that grow in the forest regions ye 
have rich clusters measuring from six to eight centimetres in length, and <“*" ~ 
the fruit is round and sweet, its diameter varying from six to thirteen ye! 
millimetres. Smaller plants growing on stony hillsides are productive and 
bear small but compact clusters of fruit. 
The periods of development of the Amr grape are as follows: ‘The bud begins 
to burst from the fifth to the twenty-eight of May. Flowers appear from the 
third to the thirteenth of July. Ylowering ends from the fifteenth to the 
twenty-fifth of August. Ripening begins from the tenth of August to the 
twentieth of September. The leaf begins to fade from the second to the 
thirtieth of September or the first of October and it begins to fall from 
the tenth of September to the fifteenth of October. 
Whereas all Huropean or other grape vines perish from the frosts, THE AMUR 
rape stands the local severe climate most admtezably. It is left without 
any covering during the winter in local gardens. Theroots of the plants have 
never been known to perish from frost, and only during the most severe 
winter have the tops of the younger shoots been known to freeze. 



During the first two years after transplanting the vine grows very slowly, 
but the third year is marked by a rapid and luxufient growth. Trensplanting 
therefore retards growthe The plants must be carefully watered and the 
soil enriched during the first two years or the plants may die. In certain 
Harbin gardens, the fruit is so rich as not to be inferior in size to the 
variety of American grape known as "Isabella", 
