CHAPTER VIII. 
THE GRAPE. 
DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE MOST VALUABLE VARIETIES OF GRAPES. 
I. NATIVE GRAPES. 
1. CATAWBA. Fig. 1. 
Color pale red, slightly tinged with purple, or brown ; bloom filmy and of 
a lilac tinge; nearly round. Flesh pulpy, juicy, sweet and slightly 
aromatic and musky. Ripens well in Albany, especially if only slightly 
sheltered. 
2. ISABELLA. 
Fruit dark purplish, or black, bluish black ; bloom blue and rather heavy ; oval or 
roundish oval, larger than the Catawba. Skin rather tender. Flesh sweet, juicy and 
slightly musky. Ripens farther north than the Catawba. 
The Catawba and Isabella are the most profitable grapes for culture in this latitude 
being sufficiently hardy to ripen perfectly ; and being also of excellent qualities, and not 
much subject to the blight or mildew. 
3. LENOIR. 
This variety bears large compact bunches, with berries smaller than the Catawba. Skin 
thin and colored with dark purple, and bloomed thinly. Sweet and excellent. The 
wood is long-jointed, bearing a three lobed leaf. 
4. OHIO. 
Fig. 2. 
The fruit of this grape grows in rather large but not compact 
bunches. This grape, so far as it has fallen under my observa¬ 
tion, is scarcely worth cultivating here. There is a wild one 
growing on the limestone hills about Schoharie, which closely 
resembles this grape ; better if anything. 
