276 THE FBTJIT MANUAL. 



unequal in size. Skin, thin, blue-black, and covered with blue bloom. 

 Flesh, firm, red, and juicy, with a rich vinous and musky flavour. 



Eipens against a wall in favourable situations and in warm seasons, 

 but is generally grown in a vinery. 



BLACK HAMBUEGH (Oarnston Black Hamburgh; Hampton 

 Court ; Knevett's Black Hamburgh ; Bed Hamburgh ; Bichmond Villa ; 

 Warner's Hamburgh; Muscatellier Noir ; Blauer Trollinrier ; Fleisch- 

 trauben ; Bocksaugen ; Bilsmiroth ; Hammelshoden ; Hudler ; Straihu- 

 traube ; Mohrentutten ; Bother Maltheser ; Schwarzwdhcher ; Pommerer ; 

 Bammerer ; Weissholgiger ; Trollinger ; Blauer Wingertshduser ; Welke 

 Burgundske ; Welko modre ; Aegyptische ; Grosser Burgunder ; Bock- 

 shoden ; Schliege ; Huttler ; Frankenthaler). — Bunches, large, broadly 

 shouldered, conical, and well set. Berries, roundish- oval. Skin, thin, 

 but membranous, deep blue-black, covered with blue bloom. Flesh, 

 rather firm, but tender, very juicy, rich, sugary, and highly flavoured. 



This highly popular grape succeeds under every form of vine culture. 

 It ripens against a wall, in favourable situations, in the open air ; it 

 succeeds well in a cool vinery ; and it is equally well adapted for 

 forcing. The vine is a free bearer; and the fruit will hang, under 

 good management, until January and February. The leaves die yellow. 



The ITrankenthal, or, as it is sometimes called, Victoria Hamburgh, is now very 

 frequently met with in gardens under the name of Black Hamburgh, from which 

 it is distinguished by its much larger bunches, round hammered berries, which 

 have a thicker skin, and the more robust growth of the vine. 



I have been considerably puzzled by an examination of the distinguishing 

 characteristics of the two grapes called Black Hamburgh and Frankenthal, At 

 one time I have thought I detected distinctions which were at once well defined 

 and fixed, and at another these seemed to disappear ; and the two were so similar 

 as to suggest a suspicion that they were identical ; and this has arisen with the 

 same vines after a succession of years' fruiting. The Black Hamburgh, and indeed 

 all grapes, are very easily affected, both in form and flavour, by the soil in which 

 they are grown and the treatment to which they are subjected ; and I think those 

 slight distinctions which we often see are not permanent. 1 have watched this 

 subject with some care, and I have remarked the same vine will in one year 

 produce berries which are perfectly round, and in another they will be distinctly 

 oval. This is also frequently observed in the White Muscat of Alexandria. In 

 one year the berries are roundish oval, and in another they are long oval, and 

 frequently with a contraction at the stalk end, giving it a pear shape. 



But I do not think the varieties of form in the Black Hamburgh are altogether 

 due to soil and cultivation. It is one of those fruits which, like the Peach Apricot, 

 and Green Gage Plum, reproduce themselves occasionally from the seed with slight 

 variations, and some of the different forms may arise in this way. There is no 

 doubt that the Victoria Hamburgh, which has of late years been identified with 

 Frankenthal, is one of these, and a very superior one. 



The Black Hamburgh was imported from Hamburgh by John Warner, a 

 London merchant who lived at Eotherhithe, and cultivated a large garden, in 

 which was a vineyard, in the early part of last century. It is from this circum* 

 stance that it takes its name of Hamburgh and Warner's Hamburgh. A fanciful 

 story has been published about it having been brought direct from the Alhambra 

 in Spain, a.nd that the name now adopted is a corruption of that. I doubt very 

 much if it is a Spanish grape. I am rather inchned to think that it has come 

 from the East, as I can trace it by its synonyms through Hungary and the whole 

 of Germany ; and my esteemed friend, the late Comto Odiu-t, remarks that it is 



