072 THE FRUIT MANUAL. 



Bar-sur-Aube. See Early Chasselas. 

 Bee d'Oiseau. See Cornichon Blanc. 



BICANE (Vicane). The bunches are medium sized, well set, and of 

 an ovate shape. The berries are large and roundish oval. Skin, white, 

 very thin and tender, so as to show the texture of the flesh through, 

 and covered with very thin white bloom. Flesh, tender, very juicy, 

 and melting, with a fine Black Hamburgh flavour. 



A very fine white grape of great merit, both for flavour and its 

 earliness. It ripens about the same time as the Sweetwater, and before 

 the Royal Muscadine. The Panse Jaune is frequently and erroneously 

 called Bicanc on the Continent. 



BIDWILL'S SEEDLING. Bunches, large, long, loose, and 

 shouldered. Berries, large and round. Skin, thin, quite black, and 

 covered with a thin blue bloom. Flesh, tender, melting, and juicy, 

 but with a most disagreeable earthy flavour, which seems peculiar to 

 it, as I have never met with this variety without it. 



It ripens very well against a wall, in the West of England, by the 

 end of October. The leaves die yellow. 



It was raised by Mr. J. C. Bidwill, of Exeter, and was first exhibited by 

 Messrs. James Veitch & Son, at a meeting of the British Pomological Society in 

 October, 1858. 



Bilsenroth. See Black Hamburgh. 



Black Alicante. See Alicante. 



Black Bordeaux. See Early Black Bordeaux. 



Black Burgundy. See Black Cluster. 



BLACK CHAMPION. Bunches, with short, thick stalks, not 

 shouldered, thickly set. Berries, large, roundish oval. Skin, thin, 

 black, or dark purple, covered with fine thin bloom. Flesh, tender, 

 but somewhat firm, very juicy, rich, and sweet ; having rarely any 

 seeds, or more than one. 



This is about a fortnight earlier than Black Hamburgh in the same 

 house, and always colours better and more freely than that variety ; 

 the berry is also more oval, and the wood shorter jointed. Pupens in 

 a cool vinery. 



In bis excellent monograph, Vines and Vine Culture, Mr. Barren has, no doubt, 

 inadvertently made Black Champion synonymous with Mill Hill Hamburgh. This 

 and Mill Hill Hamburgh are sometimes called Champion Hamburgh, and hence the 

 one is often mistaken for the other. They are, however, very distinct kinds, and can 

 easily be distinguished, for the berries of Black Champion are oval, while those 

 of Mill Hill Hamburgh are round and sometimes oblate. The foliage of the latter 

 is also paler, and appears flaccid when hanging on the vine. 



It was introduced about the year 1840 by Sir John Mordaunt, of Walton Hall, 

 near Stratford -on -A von, and was first propagated for sale by Mr. John Butcher, 

 of Stratford-on-Avon. I strongly suspect that this is identical with San Antonio, 

 a very fine grape. 



