374 THE FRUIT MANUAL. 



BLACK HAMBURGH (Garnston Black Hamburgh; Hampton 

 Court; Kneveit's Black Hamburgh ; Bed Hamburgh; Richmond Villa; 

 Warner s Ham burgh ; Muscatellier Xoir ; Blaucr Trollinger ; Fleisch- 

 trauben; Bocksaugen; Bihenroth ; Hammelshoden ; Hudler ; Straihu- 

 traube; Mohrentuttcn ; Bother Malthcscr ; Schicarzicahcher ; Pommcrer ; 

 Banwnerer ; Weissholziger ; Trollinger ; Blaucr Wingertshduser ; Welke 

 Burgundske ; Welko Modre; Aegyptisehe; Grosser Burgunder; Bock- 

 shod en ; Schlicge ; Huttlcr ; FrankenthaUr). Bunches, large, broadly 

 shouldered, conical, and well set. Berries, roundish oval. Skin, thin, 

 but membranous, deep blue-black, covered with blue bloom. Flesh, 

 rather firm, but tender, very juicy, rich, sugary, and highly flavoured. 



This highly popular grape succeeds under every form of vine culture. 

 It ripens against a wall, in favourable situations, in the open air ; it 

 succeeds well in a cool vinery ; and it is equally well adapted for 

 forcing. The vine is a free bearer ; and the fruit will hang, under 

 good management, until January and February. The leaves die yellow. 



The Frankenthal, or, as it is sometimes called, Victoria Hamburgh, is now very 

 frequently met with in gardens under the name of Black Hamburgh, from which 

 -it is distinguished by its much larger bunches, round hammered berries, which 

 2iave a thicker skin, and the more robust growth of the vine. 



I have been considerably puzzled by an examination of the distinguishing 

 <:haracteiistics of the two grapes called Black Hamburgh and Frankenthal. At 

 one time I have thought I detected distinctions which were at once well defined 

 :#nd fixed, and at another these seemed to disappear ; and the two were so similar 

 as to suggest a suspicion that they were identical ; and this has arisen with the 

 same vines after a succession of several years' fruiting. The Black Hamburgh, 

 and indeed all grapes, are very easily affected, both in form and flavour, by the 

 soil in which they are grown and the treatment to which they are subjected ; and I 

 think those slight distinctions which we often see are not permanent. I have 

 watched this subject with some care, and I have remarked that the same vine will 

 in one year produce berries which are perfectly round, and in another they will be 

 distinctly oval. This is also frequently observed in the White Muscat of Alexan- 

 dria. In one year the berries are roundish oval, and in another they are long oval, 

 and frequently with a contraction at the stalk end, giving it a pear shape. 



But 1 do not think the varieties of form in the Black Hamburgh are altogether 

 due to soil and cultivation. It is one of those fruits which, like the Peach Apricot 

 and Gieen Gage Plum, reproduce themselves occasionally from the seed with slight 

 variations, and some of the different forms may arise in that way. There is no 

 tiloubt that the Victoria Hamburgh, which has of late years been identified with 

 Frankenthal, is one of these, and a very superior one. 



The Black Hamburgh was imported from Hamburgh by John Warner, a 

 London merchant who lived at Kotherhithe, and cultivated a large garden, in 

 which was a vineyard, in the early part of last century. It is from this circum- 

 stance that it takes its name of Hamburgh and Warner's Hamburgh. A fanciful 

 story has been published about its having been brought direct from the Alhambra 

 in Spain, and that the name now adopted is a corruption of that. I doubt very 

 much if it is a Spanish grape. I am rather inclined to think that it has come 

 from the East, as I can trace it by its synonyms through Hungary and the whole 

 of Germany ; and my esteemed friend, the late Comte Odart, remarks that it is 

 met with from Strasbourg to Vienna and Pesth, and that it may be called the 

 national grape of the Germans, the Belgians, and the Dutch. He might have 

 included the English also. On looking at the synonyms one is struck with the 

 prevalence of German and Hungarian names over the very few of French, Spanish, 

 or Portuguese, and this tends to show that it is more known in the East than in 



