THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 259 



The variety was originated by T. V. Munson of Denison, Texas, from 

 seed of Elvira accidentally fertilized by pollen of Vitis candicans. It was 

 introduced by the originator in 1893, and was placed on the grape list in the 

 American Pomological Society fruit catalog in 1897, where it has since been 

 retained. It was dropped from the originator's catalog eight years ago. 



Vine \-igorous and hardy. Shoots and under side of leaves showing much white 

 cottony pubescence. Leaves large to medium, shallowly three-lobed. Flowers self- 

 fertile. Clusters small, rather open. Berries of medium size, round, dark purple, some- 

 what sweet to subacid with slight Candicans flavor. Seeds large. Season late. Not 

 a table grape. 



ELVIRA. 



(Riparia, Labrusca.) 



I. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1873:53. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 1875:40, 67. 3. Mass. Hori. Soc. 

 Rpt., 1880:237. 4- ^»'- Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1881:38. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat.. 1881:24. 6. III. Hort. 

 Soc. Rpt.. 1883:75. 7. Busk. Cat.. 1883:97. col. pi. and fig. 8. Husmann, 1895:83, 93, 175. 9. 

 -V. v. Sia. Alt. Rpt., 17:530, 548, 555, 559. 1898. 10. Tex. Sta. Bui.. 56:270. 1900. 11. Mo. Hort. 

 Soc. Rpt.. 1902:82. 12. Jb., 1906:65, 66, 67. 



Though it has never attained great popularity in New York or in the 

 North, Elvira, soon after its introduction in Missouri about thirty-five 

 years ago, was carried to the very pinnacle of popularity as a wine grape. 

 The qualities which commended it were its great productiveness, in which 

 character it is hardly surpassed in favorable locations by any other of our 

 native grapes; its earliness, ripening in the North with Concord; its exceed- 

 ingly good health, being almost free from cryptogamic diseases and having 

 almost no touch of black-rot in the average season even in the Southwest; 

 its great vigor as shown by a strong stocky growth and ample foliage; and, 

 lastly, almost perfect hardiness even as far north as Canada. Its good 

 qualities are offset by one or two defects which have caused it to lose in 

 popularity as time has gone by until now it is not as widely grown as some 

 of its seedlings. The most noticeable of its defects is its thin skin which 

 bursts easily, thus wholly debarring it from distant markets. Beside this, 

 its flavor and appearance, as it grows here, are not sufficiently good to make it 

 a table grape and it can be used only for wine for which purpose it is much 

 valued, though its habit of cracking in the bunch is sometimes much against 

 it as a wine grape. The wine made from Elvira is light, containing com- 

 paratively little alcohol, and by those wine-makers who do not dislike a 



