20 



The Grape Ciilturist. 



THE CYNTHIANA GEAPE. 



{S!jn07ii/m . 



Eeceived by us in 1868, from Wni. 

 E. Prince, Flushing Long Island, N. 

 Y. Origin, Arkansas, where it was, 

 probably, found growing wild, It 

 is a true Aestivalis in all its habits, 

 and resembles Noi'tons Yirginia so 

 closely, that it is impossible to dis- 

 tinguish the wood or leaf, although 

 the bunch is generally somewhat 

 more shouldered, and the berry more 

 juicy and somewhat sweeter. 



Bunch of medium size, moderatel}" 

 compact, shouldered. Berr}^ below 

 medium^ round, black, with blue 

 bloom, sweet, spicy, moderately juic}'. 

 Juice very dark red, weighs very 

 heavy on the must scale, even higher 

 than Nortons Yirginia, and makes, 

 so far, our best red wine. It has as 

 much hody, or even more so, than 

 Nortons Yirginia, but is of exquisite 

 flavor, much more delicate than Nor- 

 tons, and can safely enter the lists 

 with the choicest Burgudy wines. 



Yine, vigorous and healthy, produc- 

 tive, as sure in its crops of well 

 ripened fruit here, as any variety we 

 know; but very difficult to propo- 

 gate. Since it bore its first crop in 

 1859, we have never seen a rotten 

 berry on it. The fruit ripens some 

 few days earlier than Nortons, and 

 about a week earlier than Catawba. 



Red River.) 



Specific gravity of must, from 98'' to 

 118", according to the season. 



While we can confidently' recom- 

 mend the time C^'nthiana as the best 

 grape for red wine which we have 

 tried, we must at the same time 

 caution the public against spurious 

 vines, which have been sent out un- 

 der that name. A variet}' resem- 

 bling the Clinton, but not as good as 

 ib, has been sent out under that 

 name, by unscrupulous parties from 

 Illinois, and another variety, closely 

 resembling it in wood and foliage, 

 from Hermann, b_y parties who. 

 honestly thought the}^ had the true 

 Cynthiana. This spurious variety 

 we have not yet been able to identify; 

 it makes a darker Avine than Nortous, 

 of a peculiar flavor, resembling 

 parched coffee, which may be useful 

 for medical purposes, but does not 

 resemble the exquisite Avine of the 

 t?-ue Cynthiana in the least. The 

 close resemblanse of the Cynthiana to 

 the Nortons, and also to this spurious 

 variety, Avill make it very easy for 

 unscrupulous parties to deceive their 

 customers; and as Ave introduced it 

 here, and look upon it, so fai*, as our 

 best and most reliable grape for red 

 Avine, Ave consider it our duty to 

 Avaru the public against these de- 

 ceptions. Ed. 



CALIFOENIA YINTAGE OF 1868. 



We extract from a Correspondence 

 of the Journal of Commerce the follow- 

 ing interesting details. 



The vintage of California this year 

 is unusually fine. The vine-clad hills 



never looked more luxuriant than noAv; 

 never Avas there a greater profusion of 

 luscious clusters at the fruitstands in 

 the city. Great Avhite grapes, much 

 like the Malaga, their skins distended 



