128 Ohio. 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



Othello. 



.a traveler, whose name was never obtained, carried 

 some cuttings of this grape to Cincinnati, where he 

 left them with a nurseryman (Mr. Longworth !) there, 

 packed in a cigar-box ; thus it came that they were de- 

 signated 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, car- 

 ried from that State without yet a name, took the name 

 -of Ohio with those thus obtaining it. Finally, as no 

 authoritative name appeared, each called it the Black 

 Spanish. Jacquez, Cigar-box, or Ohio, according to the 

 several temporary designations. 



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

 from Berckmans, in Georgia, as the Cigar-box. I af- 

 terwards heard of the Black Spanish as a wonderful 

 grape, and procured it from Gonzales, Texas, and sev- 

 eral other Texan sources. I soon found it identical 

 with the Cigar-box. I got afterwards information from 

 different sources that these four names represented the 

 same grape. I cannot now remember from whom I 

 got the history of the old Spaniard Jacquez and of the 

 various names having originated as I have stated ; but 

 I am altogether satisfied (from examining the matter 

 for several years) of the identity of Black Spanish, 

 Jacquez, Cigar-box, and Ohio. 



" If there is any valuable difference between the 

 Black Spanish and Lenoir, it is in favor of the latter." 



In August, 1882, however, Onderdonk wrote us that, 

 having obtained from Campbell a plant of the "Ohio" 

 or "Cigar-box," he can testify that his " OHIO" is dis- 

 tinct from the variety cultivated in Texas under the 

 names of Black Spanish, El Paso, Jacquez, &c. 



Oneida. Said to be ahybr. seedling of MEREIMACK 

 {Rogers' No. 19), raised by Thacker, of Oneida Co., N. 

 Y., who states that the vine bore its first fruit in the 

 fall of 1875, when four years old, and is a strong, healthy 

 grower, free from disease of any kind thus far ; wood 

 short-jointed, and ripens well; a good bearer; bunches 

 medium size, evenly shouldered, sufficiently compact ; 

 berries large, twice the size of Delaware, which it re- 

 sembles in color ; skin brittle, with a delicate bloom. 

 It ripens on the original vine gradually from the 10th 

 to the 25th September. Keeps well and does not drop 

 from the stem. A. M. Purdy, Palmyra, N. Y., who in- 

 troduces this new sort on subscription, to be delivered 

 in the spring of 1884, thinks that the Oneida will prove 

 the best and longest winter-keeping grape yet introduced. 



Onondaga. A seedling originated in Fayette- 

 ville, OnondagaCo., N. Y. ; a cross between the Diana 

 and the Delaware ; said to combine in some degree the 

 flavor of both, ripening at the same time as Delaware, 

 and to be a late keeper. Its appearance is certainly 

 very fine, resembling Diana. Should it prove as good 

 and healthy as its originator claims, it would indeed 

 be a valuable acquisition as a market grape. Not dis- 

 seminated. 



Oporto. (Rip.) Of the same character as Clinton ; 

 a true native with a foreign name. Bunches small, usu- 

 ally very imperfect ; berries small, black, harsh, and 

 very acid. Considered a very poor variety by Fuller. 

 "Of no value, a complete humbug." Husmann. 



Regarded as a valuable wine grape by Gov. R. W. 

 Furnas of Nebraska, who says (Report to Am. Pomol. 

 Society, 1871), " My vines (of Oporto) have never failed 



to give a fine crop ; last year I picked eleven hundred 

 good bunches from one vine five years old. It is an 

 exceedingly rampant grower, and, as a rule, the bunch 

 not compact, bearing the fruit on until after first frosts 

 in fall. I have found the Oporto to give a first-class 

 yield of very good wine greatly improved by age." 



The difference of opinion is attributable, no doubt, 

 to differences in soil,&c.; in a granitic, shistose (slaty) 

 soil the Oporto flourishes best, while in alluvial soil it 

 loses its foliage. In some parts of France it is used as 

 a Phylloxera-resisting grafting stock. 



Othello. (Arnold's Hybrid No. 1.) A cross 

 from Clinton, or what is called Clinton in Ca- 

 nada, fertilized hy the pollen of Black Ham- 

 burg. Described as follows : "Bunch&nd. berry 

 very large, much resembling the Black Ham- 

 burg in appearance. Black with a fine bloom. 

 Skin thin, the flesh very solid but not pulpy; 

 flavor pure and sprightly, but in the specimens 

 we have seen rather acid. Ripening with the 

 Delaware." 



The " Ampelographie Americaine," of which we 

 have just received the first number, describes the 

 OTHELLO as follows : (Translation,) 



Vine vigorous, of half-erect growth. Cane of medium 

 length, somewhat slender, round, shining, and but lit- 

 tle wrinkled ; of yellowish-brown color when the wood 

 is ripe, darker on the nodes and portions exposed to 

 the sun ; with elongated internodes, heavily striated ; 

 intermittent 2-forked tendrils. Buds covered with rus- 

 set hair, not numerous and falling early. In opening 

 the buds become whitish and show the flower-bunches 

 fringed by a fine wooly down with a carmine border 

 on the surrounding foliage, which opens and expands 

 rapidly ; these leaves are distinctly three-lobed, some- 

 times five-lobed, whitish on their lower face with iso- 

 lated rosy points on their outline, deeply dentate and 

 glandular. Foliage large when full grown, three-lobed 

 with a narrow bay at the leaf-stalk (sinus petiolaire), 

 the borders of the lobes overlapping; with two series 

 of very sharp teeth ; upper face dark green, lower face 

 of a whitish-green with a wooly down arranged in 

 small tufts on the lower veins. Leaf-stalk very short, 

 robust, and forming an obtuse angle with the plane of 

 its limb or cane. 



Then follows a description of the flowers or blossoms 

 in terms which we are scarcely able to translate ; then 

 qfthe bunch with its peduncles and pedicels; of the 

 berries, their size, shape, color, skin, pulp, juice, taste, 

 aroma, &c. , with a minuteness and exactness which 

 may interest the scientific specialist, but for which we 

 have not the space, nor, as practical grape-growers, 

 the time to study them. To us it would be more im- 

 portant to know the conditions of soil and climate 

 which the variety demands, whether it inclines to or 

 resists diseases, where and how it succeeds, &c. 



Our experience with it has not been as favor- 

 able as we expected. The vines proved good 

 growers, with beautiful, large, deeply-lobed 

 smooth foliage, but not very productive, and 

 what fruit it produced was often destroyed by 

 rot. Here the bunches by no means resemble 

 the Black Hamburg in appearance, nor are 



