368 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



Eldorado 



(Labrusca, Vinifera) 



The fruit of Eldorado is delicately flavored, with a distinct 

 aroma and taste and ripens about with that of ]\Ioore Early — 

 a time when there are few other good white grapes. The vines 

 inherit most of the good qualities of Concord, one of its parents, 

 excepting ability to set large crops. Even with cross-polli- 

 nation, Eldorado somet'mes fails to bear and is not worth grow- 

 ing unless planted in a mixed vineyard. The clusters are so 

 often small and straggling under the best conditions that the 

 variety cannot be recommended highly to the amateur ; yet 

 its delightful flavor and its earliness commend it. J. H. 

 Ricketts, Xewburgh, New York, grew Eldorado about 1870 

 from seed of Concord fertilized by Allen's Hybrid. 



Vine vigorous, hardy, an unoertain bearer. Canes long, few, thick, 

 flattened, bright reddish-brown; nodes enlarged, flattened; tendrils 

 intermittent, rarely continuous, bifid or tritid. Leaves large to 

 medium, irregularly round, dark green ; upper surface rugose on older 

 leaves ; lower surface tinged with brown, pubescent ; lobes wanting or 

 faintb^ three ; petiolar sinus deep ; teeth shallow. Flowers self- 

 sterile, open late ; stamens reflexed. 



Fruit early, keeps wt^ll. Clusters do not always set perfectly and 

 are variabh^ in size, frequently single-shouldered ; pedicel short, slender, 

 smooth; brush short, yellow. Berries large, round, yellowish-green 

 changing to golden yellow, covered with thin bloom ; flesh tender, foxy, 

 sweet, mild, high flavored; good to very good in quality. Seeds 

 intermediate in size and length, blunt, yellowish-brown. 



Elvira 



(Vulpina, Labrusca) 



Although it has never attained popularity in the North, 

 Elvira (Plate XVI), after its introduction into Missouri about 

 fc^rty years ago, reached the pinnacle of popidarity as a wine- 

 gra])c in the South. The ([ualities which commended it were: 



