The Grapes of New York

Chapter Vi.--the Minor Varieties of American Grapes 433

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES WITH ABBREVIATIONS USED 531

INDEX 537

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

PORTRAIT OF EDWARD STANIFORD ROGERS Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

AGAWAM 158

AMERICA 168

AMINIA 170

AUGUST GIANT 172

BACCHUS 174

BARRY 178

BERCKMANS 182

BLACK EAGLE 184

BLACK HAMBURG (REDUCED SIZE) 186

BRIGHTON 192

BRILLIANT 194

CAMPBELL EARLY 196

CANADA 200

CARMAN 202

CATAWBA 204

CHAMPION 210

CLINTON 214

COLERAIN 218

CONCORD 220

COTTAGE 222

CREVELING 224

CROTON 226

CYNTHIANA 228

DELAWARE 232

DIAMOND 236

DIANA 238

DOWNING 242

DRACUT AMBER 244

DUTCHESS 246

EARLY OHIO 248

EARLY VICTOR 250

EATON 252

ECLIPSE 254

ELVIRA 260

EMPIRE STATE 262

EUMELAN 266

GOETHE 276

GOFF 278

GREIN GOLDEN 282

HARTFORD 284

HEADLIGHT 288

HERBERT 292

HERCULES 294

HIDALGO 296

HIGHLAND 298

HYBRID FRANC 300

IONA 302

IRONCLAD 306

ISABELLA 308

IVES 312

JAMES 314

JANESVILLE 316

JEFFERSON 318

JEWEL 320

KENSINGTON 322

LADY 324

LADY WASHINGTON 326

LINDLEY 330

LUCILE 332

LUTIE 334

MCPIKE 336

MANITO 338

MARION 340

MASSASOIT 342

MERRIMAC 346

MILLS 348

MISSOURI RIESLING 350

MONTEFIORE 352

MOORE EARLY 352

MOYER 354

MUSCAT HAMBURG (REDUCED SIZE) 356

NECTAR 358

NIAGARA 360

NOAH 362

NORTON 366

OTHELLO 374

POCKLINGTON 380

RED EAGLE 384

ROCHESTER 388

ROMMEL 392

RUPESTRIS DU LOT 114

SALEM 398

SENASQUA 402

TRIUMPH 412

ULSTER 414

VERGENNES 416

VITIS AESTIVALIS, shoot of 138

VITIS, CANES OF SPECIES OF 100

VITIS, FLOWERS OF 104

VITIS LABRUSCA, SHOOT OF 150

VITIS RIPARIA, Shoot of 118

VITIS ROTUNDIFOLIA, Shoot of 108

VITIS, SEEDS OF SPECIES OF 102

VITIS VINIFERA, SHOOT OF 154

WALTER 420

WILDER 424

WINCHELL 426

WOODRUFF 428

WORDEN 430

WYOMING 432

WYOMING, SHOOT OF 152

THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK

CHAPTER I. The Old World Grape

THE OLD WORLD GRAPE

A single species of the grape is cultivated in the Old World. This is Vitis vinifera, the grape of ancient and modern agriculture, the vine of the allegories of sacred record and of the myths, fables and poetry of the Old World countries. It is the vine which Adam and Eve cared for:--

"* * * they led the vine To wed his elm; * * *." Milton.

It is the vine which Noah planted after the deluge; the vine of Judah and Israel, and of the promised land. Dionysus of the Greeks, Bacchus of the Romans, found the grape and devoted his life to spreading it; for which he was raised to the rank of a deity--god of vines and vintages. The history of this grape is as old as that of mankind. It has followed civilized man from place to place throughout the world and is one of the chief cultivated plants of temperate climates. This fruit of sacred and profane literature has so impressed itself upon the human mind that when we think or speak of the grape, or vine, it is the Old World species, the vine of antiquity, that presents itself.

The history of the Old World grape goes back to prehistoric times. Seeds of the grape are found in the remains of the Swiss lake dwellings of the Bronze Period and entombed with the mummies of Egypt. Its printed history is as old as that of man and is interwritten with it. According to the botanists, the probable habitat of Vitis vinifera is the region about the Caspian Sea. From here it was carried eastward into Asia and westward into Europe and Africa. It is probable that the Phoenicians, the earliest navigators, tradesmen and colonizers on the Mediterranean, carried it to the countries bordering on this sea. Grape culture was developed in this region a thousand years before Christ, for Hesiod, who wrote at this time, gave directions for the care of the vine which need to be changed but little for present practice in Europe. Pliny, writing a thousand years after, quotes Hesiod as an authority on vine culture. Vergil and Pliny, during Christ's time, gave specific directions for the care of the vine. Vergil describes fifteen varieties while Pliny gives even fuller descriptions of ninety-one varieties and distinguishes fifty kinds of wine.

The authentic written history of the grape and of its culture really begins with Vergil. Many other writers, Greeks and Romans, had discussed the vine, but none so fully nor so well as Vergil in his Georgics, of which the parts having to do with the vine may still be read with profit by the grape-grower; as, for example, the following in which he tells how to cultivate and train:--

"Be mindful, when thou hast entomb'd the shoot, With store of earth around to feed the root; With iron teeth of rakes and prongs, to move The crusted earth, and loosen it above. Then exercise thy sturdy steers to plow Between thy vines, and teach the feeble row To mount on reeds, and wands, and, upward led, On ashen poles to raise their forky head, On these new crutches let them learn to walk, 'Till, swerving upwards with a stronger stalk, They brave the winds, and, clinging to their guide, On tops of elms at length triumphant ride."

His directions for pruning are equally fitting for present practice:--

"But in their tender nonage, while they spread Their springing leaves, and lift their infant head, And upward while they shoot in open air, Indulge their childhood, and the nurslings spare; Nor exercise thy rage on new-born life; But let thy hand supply the pruning knife, And crop luxuriant stragglers, nor be loth To strip the branches of their leafy growth. But when the rooted vines with steady hold Can clasp their elms, then, husbandman, be bold To lop the disobedient boughs, that strayed Beyond their ranks; let crooked steel invade The lawless troops, which discipline disclaim, And their surperfluous growth with rigor tame."

The history of the development of the vine from Vergil's time through the early centuries of the Christian Era and of the Middle Ages to our own day, is largely the history of agriculture in the southern European countries; for the vine during this period has been the chief cultivated plant of the Greek and Latin nations. This history should furnish most instructive lessons in grape-growing and in grape-breeding.

But interesting and profitable as a detailed account of the development of the Old World grape would be, the brief outline in the few preceding paragraphs must suffice for this work. The reader who desires further information may find it in the agricultural literature in many languages and dating back two thousand years.

What are the characters of the European grape and how does it differ from the native grapes of America? The Old World grape is grown for wine; the American grapes for the table. The differences in the fruit of the vines of the two continents are largely the differences necessary for the two distinct purposes for which they are grown. The varieties of Vitis vinifera have a higher sugar and solid content than do those of the American species. Because of this richness in sugar they not only make better wine but keep much longer and can be made into raisins. The American grapes do not keep well and do not make good raisins. Taken as a whole the European varieties are better flavored, possessing a more delicate and a richer vinous flavor, a more agreeable aroma, and they lack the acidity and somewhat obnoxious foxy odor and taste of many American varieties. It is true that there is a disagreeable astringency in some Vinifera grapes and that many varieties are without character of flavor, yet, all and all, the species produces by far the better flavored fruit. On the other hand, American table grapes are more refreshing; one does not tire of them so quickly as they do not cloy the appetite as do the richer grapes; and the unfermented juice makes a much more pleasant drink. The characteristic flavor and aroma of the varieties of Vitis labrusca, our most commonly cultivated native species, are often described by the terms "foxy" or "musky." If not too pronounced this foxiness is often very agreeable though, as with the flavor in many exotic fruits, the liking for it must often be acquired, and of course may never be acquired; yet the universal condemnation of this taste by the French and some other Europeans is sheer prejudice. The bunches and berries of the European grape are larger, more attractive in appearance, and are borne in greater quantity, vine for vine or acre for acre. The pulp and skin of the berries of Vitis vinifera are less objectionable than those of any native species and the pulp separates more easily from the seeds. The berries do not shell from the stem nearly so quickly, hence the bunches ship better.

In comparing the vines, those of the Old World grape are more compact in habit, make a shorter and stouter annual growth, therefore require less pruning and training. The roots are fleshier, and more fibrous. The species, taken as a whole, is adapted to far more kinds of soil, and to much greater differences in environment, and is more easily propagated from cuttings, than most of the species of American grapes. The cultivated forms of the wild vines of this country have few points of superiority over their relative from the eastern hemisphere, but these few are such as to make them now and probably ever the only grapes possible to cultivate in America in the commercial vineyards east of the Rocky Mountains. Indeed, but for the fortunate discovery that the vine of Vitis vinifera could be grown on the roots of any one of several species of the American grapes, the vineyards of the Old World grape would have been almost wholly destroyed within the last half century because of one of its weaknesses. This destructive agent is the phylloxera, a tiny plant louse working on the leaf and root of the grape, which in a few years wholly destroys the European vine but does comparatively little harm to most of the American vines. Three other pests are much more harmful in the Old World vineyards than to the vines of the New World; these are black-rot (Guignardia bidwellii (Ell.) V. & R.), downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola (B. & C.) Berl. & De Toni), and powdery mildew (Uncinula necator (Schw.) Burr.).

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