THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 239 



when at its best. Diana is a seedling of Catawba and was hailed as 

 superior to its parent in quality, appearance and earliness. It was the 

 last named character that especially commended it to northern grape- 

 growers. Catawba can be grown in New York only in the most favored 

 locations and hardly at all in New England even in its southern parts. 

 It fails in the North because the seasons are too short for the fruit to 

 mature. Diana is al^out two weeks earlier than Catawba and it was there- 

 fore thought that the offspring, lacking the defect of the parent, would 

 take the rank in the North that the older variety held in the South. 



Diana bears a strong resemblance to Catawba, differing chiefly in 

 having a lighter color, a delicate pale red or rose, and in being less pulpy 

 and more juicy. Usually the bunches, too, are more compact, those of 

 Catawba as grown in the North being as a rule loose and sometimes 

 straggling. The flavor resembles that of Catawba bttt when well grown 

 and fully ripe it is more delicate and has less of the wild taste. The grapes 

 keep exceptionally well. But its great point of superiority over Catawba 

 is its earliness; it ripens from ten days to a fortnight earlier, making pos- 

 sible, as said above, its culture far to the north. The defects of Diana are 

 as marked as its good qualities. It is precariously tender in cold winters 

 and in regions where Concord goes without protection Diana must be 

 favored. The grapes ripen unevenly, many being green when others 

 are mature, and berries and foliage are both susceptible to fungi. Lastly 

 it is in many localities a shy bearer and is almost always capricious. During 

 the first few years in bearing, the fruit of Diana is very imperfect in flavor 

 and deficient in size, true of many grapes but particularly so of this one. 

 The best qualities of Diana are not brought out until the vines are seven 

 or eight years of age. 



Perhaps no grape better illustrates the importance of local influences 

 and of knowledge of the peculiarities of varieties than Diana. All grapes 

 have their likes and dislikes but this one is capricious beyond most others. 

 It wants, for instance, comparatively poor, dry, gravelly soil without any 

 considerable amount of humus or nitrogen. On clays, loams, or rich soils, 

 the vines make a rank growth and the fruits are few, late and of poor qual- 

 ity. So, too, it needs to be long pruned, and to have all surplus bunches 

 removed leaving a comparatively small crop to mature, and these should 



