OUR LIST 
In wine-making, the main thing is the grape. If the grapes are 
right, good wine can be made. If the grapes are wrong, the wine 
will be unsatisfactory no matter what the soil and climate or how 
much care is put into making the wine. 
The classical European wine-grapes grow well in California, 
which explains why the California wines resemble the wines of 
Europe. The table grapes of California are also of the European 
type. 
Outside of California, it is not practical to grow these Euro- 
pean wine-grapes. Outside of California, the only practical 
vines, whether for wine or for eating, have been the native 
American kinds. 
Thanks to the French Hybrids, it is now possible to grow wine 
grapes and table grapes of the European type in those parts of 
the United States where, hitherto, only the native grapes could 
be grown successfully. These French Hybrids are a group of 
vines which were bred in France by crossing the classic European 
varieties with certain American species. The object of this breed- 
ing has been to obtain vines with fruit like the classic European 
sorts but with the hardiness and disease resistance of the Ameri- 
can vines. The result is a truly remarkable family of new grape 
vines capable of yielding good wine of the European type under 
American as well as French conditions and of providing a whole 
array of handsome and delicious fruit for our tables and for 
culinary use. 
The family of the French Hybrids is large and varied. There 
are late ripening sorts for long-season areas, early ones tor the 
more northerly regions, heavy producers for ordinary wine, less 
abundant producers of superior wine, vines for dry climates and 
others for humid climates, and striking table grapes ranging from 
extra-early to late and in color from the deepest blue to pale 
gold. From them it is possible already to choose with reasonable 
assurance for north, south, east or west. 
“ 
What are the French Hybrids? 
The Hybrids do not have names. They are identified by the name of 
the hybridizer and a number. Confusing as this may seem at first, 
the grower quickly finds that these numbers have a poetry all their 
own, and that there is a world of difference between, say, the Seyve- 
Villard 14287, with its rich Muscat aroma, the Seibel 9110 with its 
crisp and delicious flesh and delicately pointed oval berries, and the 
Setbel 10096, with its huge powder-blue showpiece bunches and its 
ruby-colored wine. 
We have many more varieties in our experimental collections than 
we offer for sale. Some of these have been well tried by us—and 
found wanting. Others show promise for the future, but we aren’t 
yet ready to recommend them. Descriptions of those listed in the 
following pages represent our best brief estimate of the value of 
each variety. But it must still be remembered that a given variety 
behaves differently under different conditions. 
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