Fig. 5. A shoot of Vitis vulpina.
The French found that a number of the Vulpina (Riparia) grapes introduced for their roots were valuable as direct producers for wines. The fruits of this species are too small and too sour for dessert, but they are free from the disagreeable tastes and aromas of some of our native grapes and, therefore, make very good wines. The best known of the varieties of this species is the Clinton, which is generally thought to have originated in the yard of Dr. Noyes, of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, about 1820. It is, however, probably the Worthington, of which the origin is unknown, renamed. There are possibly a hundred or more grapes now under cultivation wholly or in part from Vulpina, most of them hybrids with the American Labrusca and the European Vinifera, with both of which it hybridizes freely.
Domesticated species of minor importance.
In the preceding paragraphs we have seen that four species of grapes constitute the foundation of American viticulture. Nine other species furnish pure-bred varieties and many hybrids with the four chief species or among themselves. These are V. rupestris, V. Longii, V. Champinii, V. Munsoniana, V. cordifolia, V. candicans, V. bicolor, V. monticola and V. Berlandieri. Several of these nine species are of value in the vineyard or for stocks upon which to graft other grapes. The domestication of all of these is just begun, and each year sees them more and more in use in the vineyards of the country.
Plate I.—Two views of vineyards in California. Top, a vineyard in the orchard region of central California; bottom, a vineyard in southern California.