VARIETIES OF GRAPES 365 



marked in Hartford and Champion. Were the season hnt a few 

 days earUer and l)uneh and l)eiTy a little hirger, Early Victor 

 would be the })est ^raj^e to start the gra])e season. The vines 

 are hard\', healthy, vigorous and produeti\-e, with growth and 

 foliage resembling Hartford, which is probably one of its 

 parents, Delaware being the other. The bunches are small, 

 compact, variable in shape and the berries are about the size 

 and shape of those of Delaw^are. Its season is that of ]\Ioore 

 Early or a little later, although, like many black grapes, the 

 fruit colors before it is ripe and is often picked too green. Un- 

 fortunately the fruit is susceptible to black-rot and shrivels 

 after ripening. John Burr, Leavenworth, Kansas, first grew 

 Early Victor about 1871. 



Vine vigorous, hardy, healthy, productive. Canes long, numerous, 

 slender, dark brown, surface pubescent ; nodes enlarged ; internodes 

 long ; tendrils continuous, bifid, sometimes trifid. Leaves thick ; 

 upper surface dark green, smooth ; lower surface white, heavily 

 pubescent ; lobes three to five, terminal one acute ; petiolar sinus 

 intermediate in depth and width ; basal sinus shallow and wide when 

 present ; lateral sinus narrow. Flowers semi-sterile, open in mid- 

 season ; stamens upright. 



Fruit very early, does not keep well. Clusters small, variable in 

 shape, cylindrical, frequently single-shouldered, compact ; pedicel 

 short, covered with numerous small warts ; brush wine-colored or 

 pinkish-red. Berries small, round, dark purplish-black, dull with 

 heavy bloom, persistent ; skin thin, tough, adlierent, contains much red 

 pigment, astringent ; flesh greenish-white, opaque, fine-grained, 

 aromatic, vinous ; good. Seeds adherent, one to four, broad, notched, 

 blunt, dark brown. 



Eaton 



(Labrusca) 



Eaton (Plate XIV) is a pure-bred seedling of Concord which it 

 surpasses in appearance but does not equal in quality of fruit. 

 The flesh is tough and stringy, and though sw^eet at the skin, is 

 acid at the seeds and has the same foxiness that characterizes 

 Concord, but with more juice and less richness, so that it is well 



