New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1917-01-24
NEW NATIVE GRAPES

NEW NATIVE GRAPES
Read at the Meeting Of the South
Dakota Horticultural Society Held at
| WATERFOWL s. D., Jan. 1 1917. BY
VIM. Pfaender, ,Jr., Secretary Of the
Pioneer Nursery Co.,, New Ulm, MINI:
The native plants and vines Of the
Northwest are 50 well known, chat It It's is
not often anything really new, not
known to botanists, is found. The
title Of my paper suggests that you will be
told Of some entirely new native grapes.
AS the Grapes which / am about to
describe were new to several grape
specialists, it may be interesting to
some Of you to know about them.
The three different plants, bearing
white and red grapes, found BY the
writer near New Ulm, Mimi, are yasriie-
ties Of the s Wits Yulpina' Z group, known
as Forest Grape or Riverside Grape
These were However not, the first ones
found in the Minnesota valley. The
first ones known of these wild White
Grapes, OF which we have any record,
was discovered by a Mr.. Louis Suelter
OF Carver, in Carver Co., Minnesota,
about 1875, ..F3.4
This being a very sweet and early
maturing grape, it was used by Mr..
Suelter in making crosses with the Con-
cord, for the purpose Of producing a
grape that would ripen it's fruit earlier
than the Concord, and that would be
more hardy than the Concord. AS a
result Of these crosses Mr.. Suelter pro-
duced four hardy black grapes, known
as "Suelters Minnesota Hybrids' which,
he named Beta, Dakota, Suelter and
Monitor. A full description of these
grapes was published in Minneapolis
paper on Oct. IL, 1884.
In giving an account of these grapes,
Mr.. Suelter states that with these hardy
Hybrids, the grape belt of the United
States will have been extended several
hundred miles farther north.
The white native grape with which
these crosses were made is mentioned in
Foundation of American Grape Cul-
ture" by Prof. T. v. Munson on page
IS. The above named crosses are also
mentioned under these names on page
81 and page>217 of the same work.
The best and most promising Of these
native white grapes was found by the
writer near New Ulm, Mimi, some six
years ago. This being OF good quality
and larger in cluster and berry than the
others, was propagated in limited NUM-
bers, and is now growing on many
experiment stations and private grounds.
AS it was found on the property Of a
Mr.. Roberts, it was named Roberts
Wild White Grape. The other two
are OF no particular value, one being
OF greenish color when ripe, and the
other IS quite red, more so than the
| Delaware but is small grape and not "a
good bearer.
The value of this Roberts Wild W111hlt.e
Grape is mainly in the fact that it can
be sued as a foundation in experiments,
to develop new white or red varieties, by
, hybridizing with the white or red stan
dard varieties in order to produce more
hardy varieties in these colors, than
those we now have With these new
natives and others to follow we may
well look forward to great improvements
in the list of grapes.
The writer. has great confidence in the
future grape culture Of this Great North
west and cannot express his views any
better on this point, than by quoting
Prof. T. V. Munson, grape specialist,
when he says: There is all the great
Northwest region, consisting Of Iowa.
Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Nebraska. parts
OF Wyoming and Montana, that has
superior climate for extra early grapes
if they can be obtained hardy enough to
endure the winters. It is region Tree
from mildew and rot. With the right
varieties, there is nothing to prevent it
from becoming a great grape country,
for the material certainly exists, which
can be developed into very excellent.
varieties. All the streams Of that terri
tory have growing along their borders
abundance of Wits, Vulpina, some varie-
ties Of which are quite good Of them
selves, but need enlarging in berry and
cluster. an easy accomplishment in the
hands OF an expert hybridizer.