164 Norton. 



BUSH BERG CATALOGUE. 



Ohio. 



grape-growers as the most reliable and best 

 red limine graj)e of America. Except in size 

 of berry, it has also most qualities of a very 

 good table grape ; it is sweet and spicy, and 

 is unexcelled as a long keeper. 



The illustration of the Cynthiana, page 112, 

 equally serves as a good representation of 

 the Norton-grape. Man}' grape growers con- 

 sider both identical. 



The bunch of the Norton is long, compact, 

 and shouldered ; berry small, black, with 

 dark bluish-red juice, almost without pulp 

 when fully ripe ; sweet and brisk. Ripens 

 late, in October. Vine vigorous, healthy, 

 rarel}'' attacked by black rot and evidently 

 less subject to it than most other varieties, 

 hardy, and productive when well-estal)lished, 

 but very impatient of transplanting, and ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to propagate. Boots tough 

 and wiry. Liber thin and hard ; canes vigor- 

 ous, of medium thickness and good length. 

 Wood very hard, with a small i)ith and firm 

 outer bark. 



Whenever the season will admit of a thor- 

 ough and perfect ripening of its fruit, the 

 Norton will succeed here in almost any soil ; 

 but. when the wood and buds have not fully 

 ripened in the fall, tlie vine is liable to suffer 

 from severe cold during the succeeding win- 

 ter. In rich bottoms it comes early into 

 bearing and is enormously productive ; on 

 high hills with rather poor soil and southern 

 aspects it is tardy in coming into bearing, 

 but produces there the richest wine, of great 

 body and superior medical qualities.* It has 

 quite a peculiar coffeine flavor, which at first 

 seems unpleasant to many, but which, like 

 coffee, endears itself to our taste. Must 

 105^-110'. Mixed with the Moutefiore it 

 makes a more palatable wine, not as heavy 

 and astringent, for general consumption. 



From Norton's seed two ivltite grapes have 

 been raised almost simultaneously : one by old 

 Langendorfer, sen., at Hermann, Mo. ; the 

 other by J. Balsiger, of Highland, 111. They 

 viYQvery kite, ripening even later than Norton's, 

 and thus will not be adapted to locations 

 north of St. Louis. 



Norwood. (Labr.-Hybr.) Originated by X. \i. Wliitc, 

 of Norwood, Mass., from Labrusca crossed witli lUack 

 Hamburg; first exhibited In the fall of 18S0, before the 

 Mass. Horticul. Society, it received a first-class cer- 

 tificate of merit for some very fine bundles. It is said 

 to malce a larger cluster and larger lierry and to ripen a 

 little earlier tlian Concord; is not a strong grower, ma- 

 king but few imperfect l)unclies; in <iuality from good 

 to best; superior t!) the Concord; while at some expoi'i- 

 ment stations the Norwood proved very desiral)le pi'o- 

 ducing large double shouldered bunches and berries 

 resembling Lindley, bright amui:k in color, productive 

 and a good table and market grape. 



* It is the great remedy here for dysentery and dis- 

 eases of the bowels. 



Occidental. (Labr.-irijhr.) Produced by N. B. 

 White, of Norwood, Mass., from wild Labrusca 

 seed crossed with Bhick Hamburg. A very com- 

 pact cluster of a dark red grape, deserving ti> 

 be better known. 



Ohio. (^Est.) Syn., Cigar-box, Long- 

 worth's Ohio, (Black Spanish Alabama?) 

 is supposed to be identical with the "Jacques" 

 or '"Jack" introduced and cultivated near Nat- 

 chez, Mis-., by an old Spaniard of the name of 

 Jacques. It originated from a few cuttings left 

 in a cigar-box. bj' some unknown person, at the 

 residence of Longworth, of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

 This variety attracted a good deal of attention for 

 some time on account of its large, long bunches 

 (often ten to titeen inches long, rather loose, 

 tapering, shouldered), and its good qnalitj'^; Its 

 berries are small, round ; skin thin ; purple with a 

 blue bloom; flesh tender, melting, without pulp, 

 brisk and vinous. The wood is strong, long- 

 jointed, lighter red than that of the Norton, and 

 smooth, with peculiarly pointed buds. Leaves 

 large, tri-lobed. At flrst it was also a good bearer, 

 but soon mildew and rot affected it so badly that 

 it was of no use, even when grown on walls with 

 protection. Downing (" Fruit and Fruit-trees of 

 Am.") said, •• it is most likely a foreign sort, and, 

 except in a few locations, a sandy soil, and a mild 

 climate, it is not likely to succeed." Geo. W. 

 Campbell, whom we have to thank for valtiable 

 information on this and many other varieties, 

 says : "I always considered the Ohio or Cigar-box, 

 from its fruit, habit of growth and foliage, as of 

 the same family as Herbemont, Lenoir, Elsin- 

 burgh, and that class of small, black southern 

 grapes." Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo., wrote 

 us: "The Cigar-box, or Longworth's Ohio, I 

 had in the East for years, but never grew a perfect 

 bunch. It was not hardy in vine, and the fruit 

 both mildewed and rotted." 



When ripe it is an excellent grape. A few vines 

 sent years ago, under the names of '■'■Jacques or 

 Ohio,'"' to France, by P. J. Berckmans, of Georgia, 

 proved very fine and valuable, resisting Phyllox- 

 era, having remained healthy in the midst of vine- 

 yards destroyed by the root-louse. (See Lenoir.) 



In August, 1876, G. Onderdonk gave us the 

 subjoined information concerning the supposed 

 identity of the Black Spanish, Ohio and Jacques : 



" There lived at Natchez, in Mississippi, an old 

 Spaniard by the name of Jacquez. He originated 

 a grape to which he gave no name. Some persons 

 got hold of it and called it the Jacquez grape, 

 simply to designate it as old Jacquez's nameless 

 grape; others called it the Black Spanish grape, 

 as it came from the old Spaniard's garden. 

 Then a traveler, whose name was never obtained, 

 carried some cuttings of this grape to Cincinnati, 

 where he left them with a nurseryman (Mr. Long- 

 worth!) there, packed in a cigar-box; thus it 

 came that they were designated as the 'Cigar-box 

 grape,' not as a name, but to designate it till its 

 true name would be known. This nameless 

 variety circulated about Ohio, and, carried from 

 that State, took the name of Ohio with those thus 

 obtaining it. Finally, as no authoritative name 

 appeared, each called it the Black Spanish, 

 Jaccjuez, Cigar-box, or Ohio, according to the 

 several temporaiy designations.'' 



"I at flrst got it from a neighbor, who obtained 

 it from Berckmans, in Georgia, as the Cigar-box. 

 I afterwards lieard of the Black Spanish as a 

 wonderful grape, and procured it from Gonzales, 

 Texas, and several other Texan sources. I got 



