Alexander is now a grape of the past but no other of our American varieties better deserves historical record. We have seen in the preceding chapters how important a part it had in the evolution of our native grapes, being one of the first wild grapes to be domesticated. The Alexander was a coarse grape with so much foxiness of flavor that it did not please the early growers, who had been accustomed to European sorts, as a table-grape, but it made a very good wine of the claret type and was grown for this purpose until displaced by the Catawba. It was wine made from this variety that Thomas Jefferson[157] pronounced "worthy of the best vineyards of France." The early writers differ so in their estimates of the good and bad qualities of this grape that it is hard to give its true characters at this late date. The early history of Alexander is really the history of two varieties: the Schuylkill Muscadel and the Clifton Constantia. The first of these varieties was, according to Bartram, found growing in the vicinity of Philadelphia on the hills bordering the Schuylkill River in the neighborhood of an old vineyard of European grapes. The finder, John Alexander, was gardener to Governor Penn of Pennsylvania, into whose garden he introduced it a few years before the American Revolution. It was later known as Tasker's grape from a Mr. Tasker of Maryland who cultivated it largely. The Clifton Constantia, according to Adlum, originated with William Clifton of Southwark, Philadelphia, who states that it was a chance seedling in his garden. Adlum says that the two varieties had been confused, that "they are much alike in the growth of the vine and the color of the grape but the Schuylkill has rather the largest berries and is sweeter, and generally has a small shoulder or branch with four or five grapes on it growing out from the top of the bunch." Prince also describes the varieties as separate, but he says "they are generally cultivated and considered as synonymous." Later writers consider the two grapes identical.