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The species from which the greatest number of well-known grapes is obtained is the Vitis labrusca, the common wild or fox grape, found growing in woods and thickets, usually where the ground is moist, from Canada to the Gulf. The dark purple berries, averaging about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, ripen in September, and they contain a tough, musky pulp.
Our northern fox-grape, Vitis Labrusca, is wholly confined to the Atlantic States, except that it reappears in Japan and that region.
The following description is from bunches sent me from Ohio last fall: Bunch medium, compact, shouldered; berry rather below medium, black, oblong, juicy, sweet and well flavored; ripens about the time of the Concord. Vine vigorous and healthy; said to propagate with the greatest ease; evidently belonging to the Labrusca species. We have a seedling here of the Norton's Virginia, raised by Mr.
Yet this "slip of wilderness" is the parent of the refined Catawba, the delicious Brighton, and the magnificent white grape Lady Washington indeed, of all the black, red, and white grapes with which most people are familiar. Our earliest grapes, which ripen in August, as well as some of the latest, like the Isabella, come from the labrusca species.
Ripens about same time as Catawba. Bunch large and loose, shouldered; berry medium, nearly round; white, without pulp, juicy and delicious; quality very good, but variable; sometimes best. Said to be a hybrid of Vitis Labrusca and a foreign grape, raised by J. F. ALLEN, Salem, Massachusetts, and is really a fine grape, although too tender and variable for extensive vineyard culture.
Whether these wild grapes are found in Newfoundland I know not. The species of vines which grow in North America, are named by Linnaeus, Vitis labrusca, vulpina, and arborea. Forst. The propriety of the names imposed by the Norwegians on their new discoveries is admirable.
Be this as it may however, it certainly bears no resemblance to the Logan, which is a true Fox, of the Labrusca family. Vine a strong, vigorous, short-jointed grower, with heart-shaped, light green, smooth leaves; very healthy, and more hardy than either the Herbemont or Cunningham.
I will now name a few varieties which have proved to be, or promise to be, the most thrifty and productive whereever grapes can be grown at all the labrusca class: Black Concord, Wilder, Worden, Amenia, Early Canada, Telegraph or Christine, Moore's Early. White Rebecca, Martha, Alien's Hybrid, Lady Pocklington, Prentiss, Lady Washington.
It is said that the labrusca class will not thrive in the extreme South; and with the exception of the high mountain slopes, this appears reasonable to the student of the vine. It is said that but few of this class will endure the long hot summers of France. But there are great differences among the varieties derived from this native species.
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