Viniferct-Type Grapes for the East

Abstract

Since colonial times many attempts to grow V. vinifera east of the Mississippi have been made, only to end in failure for the reason that the species is ill adapted to our climate. Thriving where the winters are relatively moist and mild and the summers hot and dry, it does not tolerate severe cold, succumbs to damage by phylloxera, and is soon destroyed by disease in the high humidity of our summers. Not that the vinifera cannot be fruited in the east; it can, indeed, under optimum conditions; but the cost in effort is prohibitive except for the amateur and the breeder. Because this magnificient species could not be readily grown here, and because there were no true "table"- types among the native species, the grape was among the first of our fruits to receive the serious scientific attention of the eastern breeder.