In addition to the characters enumerated, it may be said that Labrusca submits well to vineyard culture, is fairly vigorous and generally quite productive. It grows readily from cuttings and in hardiness is intermediate between Vulpina, the hardiest of our American species, and Æstivalis. The roots are soft and fleshy (for an American grape) and in some localities subject to attacks of phylloxera. None of the varieties of Labrusca has ever been popular in France on this account. In the wild vines, the fruit is inclined to drop when ripe. This defect is known as "shattering" or "shelling" among grape-growers and is a serious weakness in some varieties. Labrusca is said to be more sensitive in its wild state to mildew and black-rot than any other American species, but the evidence on this point does not seem to be wholly conclusive. In the South, and in some parts of the Middle West, the leaves of all varieties of Labrusca sunburn and shrivel in the latter part of the summer. The vines do not endure drouth as well as Æstivalis or Vulpina and not nearly so well as Rupestris.
Vine variable in vigor, not so high climbing as most American species; tendrils intermittent. Leaves round-cordate, thin, smooth, and when young, shining, frequently more or less deeply three-, five-, or even seven-lobed; usually glabrous but in some varieties the leaves and young shoots are hairy and even downy when young; lobes rounded or pointed; teeth variable; petiolar sinus deep, narrow, usually overlapping. Berries very variable in size and color, usually oval though globular. Seeds variable in size and shape, usually notched at upper end and characterized always by a bottle-necked, elongated beak; chalaza broad, usually rough, distinct; raphe indistinct. Roots large, soft and spongy.
The original habitat of the species is not positively known. De Candolle, as noted in the first part of this work, considered the region about the Caspian Sea as the probable habitat of the Old World grape. There is but little doubt that the original home of V. vinifera is some place in western Asia.
Neither American nor European writers agree as to the climate desired by Vinifera, for the reason, probably that all of the varieties in this variable species do not require the same climatic conditions. There are certain phases of climate, however, that are well agreed on: the species requires a warm, dry climate and is more sensitive to change of temperature than American species. Varieties of this species can be grown successfully in a wide variety of soils, being much less particular as to soils than American sorts.
Certain characters of the fruit of this species are not found in any American forms: First, the skin, which is attached very closely to the flesh and which is never astringent or acid, can be eaten with the fruit; second, the flesh is firm, yet tender, and uniform throughout, differing in this respect from all American grapes which have a sweet, watery and tender pulp close to the skin with a tough and more or less acid core at the center; third, the flavor has a peculiarly sprightly quality known as vinous; fourth, the berry adheres firmly to the pedicel, the fruit seldom "shattering" or "shelling" from the cluster.
In the various hybrids that have been made between American and Vinifera varieties, it is usually found that the desirable qualities of Vinifera are inherited in about the same proportion as the undesirable ones. The fruit is improved in the hybrid but the vine is weakened; quality is usually purchased at the expense of hardiness and disease-resisting power. Vinifera may be grown very readily from cuttings.
| Plate XXIII.—Lutie (×1/2). | Pocklington (×1/2). |