VARIETIES OF GRAPES 445 



WiNCHELL 



(Labrusca, Vinifera, iEstivalis) 



Green Mountain 



The vines of Winchell (Plate XXX) are vigorous, hardy, 

 healthy, productive, and the fruit is early, of high quality and 

 ships well — altogether a most admirable early grape. There 

 are some minor faults which become drawbacks in the culture of 

 Winchell. The berries, and under some conditions the bunches, 

 are small and the bunch is loose with a large shoulder. Some- 

 times this looseness becomes so pronounced as to give a strag- 

 gling, poorly-formed cluster ; and the shoulder, when as large as 

 the cluster itself, which often happens, makes the cluster un- 

 sightly. The grapes shell when fully ripe, a serious fault. 

 Again, while the crop usually ripens evenly, there are seasons 

 when two pickings are needed because of the unevenness in 

 ripening. Lastly, the skin is thin and there is danger in un- 

 favorable seasons of the berries cracking, although this is seldom 

 a serious fault. These defects do not offset the several good 

 characters of Winchell which make it the standard early 

 green grape, deserving to rank with the best early grapes of 

 any color. The original vine was raised by James Milton 

 Clough, Stamford, Vermont, about 1850 from seed of an un- 

 known purple grape. 



Vine vigorous, hardy, healthy, very productive. Canes long, nu- 

 merous, slender, dark brown with thin bloom ; nodes enlarged, flat- 

 tened ; tendrils continuous, sometimes intermittent, bifid. Leaves 

 large; upper surface light green, glossy, smooth; lower surface dull 

 green, tinged with bronze, faintly pubescent ; lobes three to five with 

 terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus deep; basal sinus shallow; teeth 

 shallow, wide. Flowers fertile, mid-season ; stamens upright. 



Fruit early, keeps and ships well. Clusters long, slender, cylindri- 

 cal, often with a long shouhler, compact ; pedicel short, slender with 

 few inconspicuous warts; brush greenish-white. Berries small, 

 round, light green, persistent, soft; skin nuirkcd witli small, reddish- 



