NOMENCLATURE OF GRAPES. 209 



OWENS' WHITE. 



For this variety I am indebted to William Owens, Esq. of 

 Virginia, who has favoured me with the following remarks in 

 regard to it : the berries are very large, weighing from one 

 hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty grains each. 

 It is a variety of the Fox, and possesses a pleasant degree of 

 the muskiness common to that class of grape. Mr. Owens 

 states, that he has discovered a number of interesting wild 

 varieties differing in size, flavour, and colour, some inclining 

 to green, others of a yellowish white, and one of a purple 

 colour which is of good flavour and of very unusual size, the 

 berries weighing from one hundred and fifty to one hundred 

 and sixty-five grains each. 



Another is an extremely rich black grape, flattened at the 

 ends, and about one inch through its longest diameter, the 

 skin thin, pulp a very deep rich purple, which upon the re- 

 moval of the skin displays the granulated sparkling appear- 

 ance that some water-melons exhibit when cut. Another is 

 a large red grape, skin very thin, and when separated from 

 the fruit, of a beautiful clear red, pulp solid, but sweet and 

 musky. Another called white, but with some berries approach- 

 ing a light amber, owing perhaps to greater maturity. Ano- 

 ther, which is a variety of the summer grape, has bunches large 

 and open, the berries of a small size, with a black polished 

 surface, they are of exquisite flavour, and accompanied with a 

 perfume that always reminds one of the pleasant odour exhaled 

 by the woods in the spring when the flowers are in bloom. Mr. 

 O. made in the summer of 1829, about nine hundred and fifty 

 gallons of wine from native grapes, and computes the number 

 of wild varieties of the fox-grape that he has discovered to 

 exceed twenty, and of the summer or fall grape to exceed thirty, 

 many of the latter differing very widely in flavour and com- 

 plexion, and those of a purple or black colour in some instances 

 covered with a blue mist or bloom, the largest measuring 

 about half an inch in diameter. He has also met with several 

 varieties of the winter or frost grape, and deems that some of 



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