THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 229 



As the history given below shows, the variety is an old one but it, with 

 Norton, was condemned by the early vineyardists because it could be prop- 

 agated from cuttings only with the greatest difficulty. Like most of its 

 species, Cynthiana is somewhat particular as to soil and location, preferring 

 sandy or gravelly loams and not thriving on clays or limestones. While 

 very resistant to phylloxera, it is not now much vised as a resistant stock 

 because of the superiority of varieties of Rupestris and because it is not 

 easily propagated. It is very resistant to cryptogamic diseases, mildew, 

 black-rot and anthracnose, and is a strong, vigorous grower. Its cycle of 

 vegetation is long, the buds bursting forth early and the fruit maturing very 

 late. It has no value as a table grape but according to the Bushberg Cata- 

 logue^ it is the best American grape for red wine. So, too, according to 

 Viala,* the wine from Cynthiana is the best of all the red wines produced 

 from American vines. It is said by French wine-makers^ to contain "an 

 excess of all the elements which constitute the best ordinary wines, color, 

 tannin, acidity, and bouquet," and therefore to make a splendid base for 

 blending with wine from varieties lacking in the above elements. 



Cynthiana was received, some time in the fifties by Prince of Flushing, 

 Long Island, from Arkansas where it is said to have been found growing in 

 the woods. It was sent by Prince to Husmann at Hermann, Missouri, 

 where it did so well and was so highly spoken of by Husmann and his neigh- 

 bors that it soon became known to grape-growers. It was placed upon the 

 grape list of the American Pomological Society fruit catalog in 1881, where 

 it still remains. Like Norton, Cynthiana is often considered pure Aesti- 

 valis, although a strain of some other blood, probably Labrusca, is appar- 

 ent. Because of the similarity of this variety and Norton the one is often 

 grown as the other. 



Vine vigorous, healthy, hardy, usually a good yielder. Canes medium to nearly 

 long, numerous, of average size, dark brown to reddish-brown, sometimes with faint 

 ash-gray tinge, surface covered with thick blue bloom; nodes enlarged, flattened; inter- 

 nodes short to medium; diaphragm rather thin; pith of medium size; shoots slightly 

 glabrous ; tendrils intermittent to continuous, above medium in length, bifid. 



' Bush. Cat., 1883:89. 



- Traite gen. de vii., 6:278. 1903. 



^ lb., p. 279. 



