380 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



glabrous above, woolly below. Bunches very large, short, well filled 

 but rather loose ; berries very large, round, dark blue ; skin thick but 

 tender ; flesh firm, crisp, sweet and good ; quality not of the highest. 

 Season late and the fruits keep long. 



Hartford 



(Labrusca) 



The vine of Hartford may be well characterized by its good 

 qualities, but the fruit is best described by its faults, because 

 of which the variety is passing out of cultivation. The 

 plants are vigorous, prolific, healthy and the fruit is borne early 

 in the season. The canes are remarkable for their stoutness 

 and for the crooks at the joints. The bunches are not unat- 

 tractive, but the quality of the fruit is low, the flesh being 

 pulpy and the flavor insipid and foxy. The berries shell badly 

 on the vine and when packed for shipping, so that the fruit does 

 not ship, pack or keep well. The grapes color long before ripe, 

 and tlie flowers are only partly self-fertile, so that in seasons 

 when there is bad weather during blooming time the clusters 

 are loose and straggling. The original vine of Hartford was a 

 chance seedling in the garden of Paphro Steele, West Hartford, 

 Connecticut. It fruited first in 1849. 



Vine vigorous, very productive. Canes long, dark brown, covered 

 with pubescence ; nodes enlarged, flattened ; internodes short ; ten- 

 drils continuous, long, bifid. Leaves large, thick; upper surface dark 

 green, dull, rugose ; lower surface pale green, thinly pubescent ; lobes 

 variable; petiolar sinus deep, narrow; basal sinus usually lacking; 

 lateral sinus shallow, narrow; teeth shallow. Flowers partly self- 

 fertile, open in mid-season; stamens upright. 



Fruit early. Clusters medium in size, long, slender, tapering, ir- 

 regular, often with a long, large, single shoulder, loose; pedicel short 

 with a few small warts; brush greenish. Berries medium in size, 

 round-oval, black, covered with bloom, drop badly ; skin thick, tough, 

 adherent, contains much purplish-red pigment, astringent ; flesh given, 

 translucent, juicy, firm, stringy, foxy ; poor in quality. Seeds free, 

 one to four, broad, dark brown. 



