372 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



with it and becomes, therefore, a mid-season and late grape. 

 The defects of the variety are susceptibility to mildew, self- 

 sterile flowers and difficulty in propagation. The latter char- 

 acter has greatly hindered its culture, as the vines can be se- 

 cured only at extra expense and nurserymen are loath to grow 

 the variety at all. Eumelan may be recommended to amateur 

 growers. It is a chance seedling which grew from seed, about 

 1847, in the yard of a Mr. Thome, Fishkill Landing, New York. 



Vine vigorous, hardy, productive. Canes numerous, covered with 

 bloom ; nodes enlarged ; internodes short ; tendrils intermittent, 

 long, trifid or bifid. Leaves large ; upper surface dark green, glossy, 

 smooth ; lower surface pale green, smooth ; lobes usually three with 

 terminal one acute ; petiolar sinus deep, variable in width ; basal 

 sinus usually lacking ; lateral sinus shallow, narrow ; teeth shallow. 

 Flowers self-sterile, open in mid-season ; stamens reflexed. 



Fruit early, keeps until late winter. Clusters long, slender, tapering, 

 often with a long, loose, single shoulder ; pedicel short, slender with 

 a few small warts ; brush short, stubby, pale green. Berries of medium 

 size, round, black, glossy with thin bloom, persistent, firm ; skin 

 tough, adherent with wine-colored pigment, astringent ; flesh dark 

 green, juicy, fine-grained, tender, stringy, spicy and aromatic, sweet; 

 good. Seeds adherent, one to four, large, wide, blunt, plump, brown. 



FAITH 



(Vulpina, Labrusca) 



Although spoken of as a desirable grape in some regions, Faith 

 is of little value in most localities. The fruit is unattractive in 

 appearance, and the quality is not high. If the variety has 

 any preeminently good character, it is productiveness. The 

 blossoms put forth so early that they often suffer from spring 

 frosts. Faith is of the same breeding as Etta and from the 

 same originator, Jacob Rommel, Morrison, Missouri, both 

 having come from seed of Elvira. 



Vine vigorous, hardy, healthy, productive. Canes long, numerous, 

 thick, cylindrical ; nodes prominent ; internodes long ; tendrils con- 

 tinuous, bifid. Leaves large, dark green ; upper surface dark green, 



