100 Excelsior. 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



Flower of Missouri. 



early (even before the Hartford Prolific) and 

 evenly to the center. Flavor very pure and 

 refined, very sugary, rich and vinous, with a 

 large degree of that refreshing quality that be- 

 longs distinctively to the best foreign wine 

 grapes. Hoots abundant, thick, spreading, and 

 of medium toughness ; liber thick but firm. 



Vine a strong grower, producing remarkably 

 short-jointed wood, with numerous and strong 

 laterals ; buds large and prominent ; wood hard 

 with a small pith ; leaves large, thick, dark 

 colored, firm in texture (it strikingly resembles 

 Elsinburg), and, though subject to mildew in 

 unfavorable seasons, we can recommend it as 

 a very fine early grape. 



The American Horticultural Annual for 1869 

 says of the Eumelan : "This variety has been 

 tested in several localities. It has proved with 

 us, near New York, remarkably healthy in fo- 

 liage, and has taken several premiums as the 

 best black (/rape at several exhibitions. " Then 

 again reports came from many localities, that 

 it had failed to meet public expectations. In 

 our vineyards at Bushberg, it has proved, in 

 favorable seasons, all that was claimed for it, 

 being early, productive, and of very fine quality; 

 but, alas, unfavorable seasons came, and the 

 Eumelans suffered severely from mildew, and 

 since then they have not fully recuperated. 



Perhaps with no other variety is it so import- 

 ant to set out only good and strong plants in the 

 first place, as with this one ; and we think that 

 the great diversity of opinion now existing in 

 regard to this grape is partly due to the fact 

 that poor and feeble plants of this variety 

 have been sent out which never came to any 

 good thereafter, and never will do so. 



The Eumelan makes a superior red wine (ac- 

 cording to Mottier, North-East, Pa., must 93, 

 and at the test held at Hammondsport as high 

 as 104, with only 4 per mille acid). 



We give a figure of a bunch and leaf reduced 

 in size, and a single berry of full natural size. 



Excelsior. (Hybr.) A seedling of the lona fer- 

 tilized with pollen oi Vinifera, originated by Jas. H. 

 Ricketts; first offered in autumn of 1882. The vine is 

 moderately vigorous, short-jointed; leaves medium, 

 moderately thick, lobed, coarsely serrated ; bunch large 

 to very large, shouldered, often doubly shouldered, 

 moderately compact ; berry medium to large, round- 

 ish inclining to oval, skin pale red, sweet, slightly 

 vinous with a rich aromatic muscat flavor ; the berries 

 adhere well to the peduncle, and continue a long time 

 in use. Ripens a little before the Catawba. 



Ricketts says that this is the finest grape in his col- 

 lection ; that it withstood the winter of 1880-81 without 

 any protection, but gives better results if protected. It 

 is inclined to overbear, so much so, that every other eye 

 of the fruiting-cane should be rubbed out ; to produce 

 bunches of the highest quality and beauty, the fruit 

 should be thinned to one bunch to a shoot. 



Faith. (Rip. X ) One of Jacob Rommel's very 

 promising Taylor Seedlings. Vine a vigorous, 

 healthy grower, sufficiently productive of long- 

 shouldered medium size bunches ; berries small 

 to medium, white or pale amber colored ; juicy, 

 sweet, and purely flavored. Ripens very early, 

 with or before the Hartford. Regarded by Rom- 

 mel as one of his best varieties, and as not sub- 

 ject to mildew and rot. 



Far West. (JEst.) The Nestor of Western grape 

 culture, the late Frederick Muench (died in 1881), re- 

 ceived from time to time grafts for testing of Mr. 

 Herman Yaeger (Neosho, Mo.), who makes it his task 

 to explore the forests of south-west Missouri for 

 wild vines. Among these was a feeble graft which 

 fruited after several years, and astonished him by the 

 delicacy of the aroma of the wine made from same, so 

 much so that he considered it the most valuable acqui- 

 sition, one "likely to inaugurate a new era of viticul- 

 ture." He honored it by the name ' Far West," his 

 own literary name de plume. 



Muench described it as follows : "VINE of most vigor- 

 ous growth, with unusually large, healthy foliage, per- 

 fectly hardy, resisting (in my experimental vineyard) 

 all diseases in the most unfavorable seasons. Bunches 

 shouldered and of good size. Berries somewhat larger 

 than Norton's ; skin very tough, black with fine blue 

 bloom. The pulp, or rather the flesh of its berries is 

 soft, meaty, melting ; is of dark rich color, with few 

 seeds, very sweet and spicy ; making a wine so mild, 

 and yet at the same time fiery and aromatic, as to sur- 

 pass (to my taste) all other known wines. Requires a 

 long season, blooming and ripening its fruit very late, 

 contemporaneously with Norton's; wherever this 

 standard variety succeeds the Far West may be confi- 

 dently planted. Its propagation from cuttings seems 

 almost impossible, but should be done by layering ; 

 the layers, however, not to be separated from the 

 mother-vine until after the second summer." 



Flora. (Labr.) Origin Philadelphia, Pa. Bunch 

 small, compact ; berry small, roundish, oval, purplish- 

 red. Flesh somewhat pulpy, acid at centre, juicy, 

 vinous. Ripens about with Isabella. Vine hardy and 

 productive. Downing. 



Florence. (Labr.) Probably a cross between Un- 

 ion Village m. and Eumelan/., originated by Marine. 

 A very handsome showy grape, of good quality; bunch 

 large, with some of the Isabella character. Discarded. 



Flowers. Syn., BLACK MUSCADINE. (V. Rotund.) 

 A variety of the Scuppernong type. Berries large, 

 growing in clusters of 10 to 20; black, sweet. Ripens 

 very late ; hangs upon the vine until frost. Said to 

 make a rich, red, and delicious wine. Never fails to 

 produce a crop, and perfectly free from any kind of 

 disease. It is much esteemed (in Georgia, Alabama, 

 and South Carolina) on account of its lateness, as it 

 does not come in until the Scuppernong is gone. 



Berckmans, of Georgia, says it is not quite as good 

 as the Scuppernong and of about the same size. 



Flower oi Missouri. A Delaware seedling, 

 *rown by Wm. Poeschel, Hermann, Mo. Not dissem- 

 inated, and probably never will be. It possesses both 

 the excellence and the defects of " Walter." 



