358 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



DELAWARE 



(Labrusca, Bourquiniana, Vinifera) 

 French Grape, Gray Delaware, Ladies 9 Choice, Powell, Ruff 



Delaware (Plate VII) is used wherever American grapes are 

 grown as the standard to gauge the quality of other grapes. 

 Added to high quality in fruit, the variety withstands climatic 

 conditions to which all but the most hardy varieties succumb, 

 is adapted to many soils and conditions, and bears under most 

 situations an abundant crop. These qualities make it, next to 

 Concord, the most popular grape for garden and vineyard now 

 grown in the United States. Besides the qualities named, the 

 grapes mature sufficiently early to make the crop certain, are 

 attractive in appearance, keep and ship well and are more im- 

 mune than other commercial varieties to black-rot. Faults of 

 the variety are : small vine, slow growth, susceptibility to mil- 

 dew, capriciousness in certain soils and small berries. The first 

 two faults make it necessary to plant the vines more closely 

 than those of other commercial varieties. Delaware succeeds 

 best in deep, rich, well-drained, warm soils, but even on these 

 it must have good cultivation, close pruning and the crop must 

 be thinned. 



Delaware is grown North and South, westward to the Rocky 

 Mountains. It is now proving profitable in many southern 

 locations as an early grape to ship to northern markets. It is 

 an especially desirable grape to cultivate in small garders 

 because of its delicious, handsome fruit, its compact habit of 

 growth and its ample and lustrous green, delicately formed 

 leaves which make it one of the most ornamental of the grapes. 

 Delaware can be traced to the garden of Paul H. Provost, 

 Frenchtown, New Jersey, where it was growing early in the 

 nineteenth century, and from whence it was taken to Delaware, 

 Ohio, in 1849 and from there distributed to fruit-growers. 



