1868 . ] 
GOLDEN CHAMPION GRAPE-CRAT^GUS TANACETIFOLIA. 
217 
GOLDEN CHAMPION GRAPE. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
>UR figure of this new fruit—one of the grandest acquisitions of recent 
years—will he more eloquent in its praise than any words of ours. 
(Sfa) And yet in justice to the Grape and its raiser, we are bound to add 
< ?g^ that it is not only a decided novelty, hut a novelty of the very highest 
excellence. Free and robust in growth, hardy and prolific in liahit, 
magnificent both in berry and in cluster, and exquisite in flavour, what 
more can he desired ? In truth, its merits are of so high an order, that 
they leave little to he wished for. 
The hunch of the Golden Champion is moderately large, compactly- 
shouldered, and somewhat tapered, with a stout fleshy stalk. The berries are 
very large, with stout warted footstalks, some 2 inches long, and 3^- inches 
in circumference ; they are generally of an ovate shape, hut occasionally 
somewhat roundish, and they have a thin, pale yellowish green skin, which 
acquires a rich golden amber tinge with a slight bloom when they are fully 
ripe. The flesh is tolerably firm, hut tender, with few seeds, very rich and 
juicy, with a flavour which, though compared with that of the Black Ham¬ 
burgh, is, to our taste, much more saccharine and luscious than that variety, 
even when grown on the same stock. 
This new Grape supplies, so far as can at present he judged of it, a long- 
felt desideratum—namely, a high-class free-growing white Grape, of hardy 
constitution, suitable for general cultivation as a companion to that best of 
all Grapes for general purposes, the Black Hamburgh. It was raised by 
Mr. W. Thomson, of Dalkeith, some five years since, from a seed taken 
from a Grape that was itself a cross between the Champion Hamburgh 
and the Bo’wood Muscat, and has been freely exhibited during the present 
year, when, among other awards, it has received a first-class certificate 
from the Fruit Committee at South Kensington. The foliage is very 
slightly lohed, and deeply and sharply serrated. 
We are indebted to the Messrs. Osborn, of Fulham, by whom the Grape 
is being sent out, for the plate which accompanies these brief descriptive 
remarks. M. 
CRATAEGUS TANACETIFOLIA. 
MAGNIFICENT specimen of this truly useful and ornamental Thorn 
stands in the pleasure grounds here, and for a greater part of the 
year it is an object of considerable interest. In early summer its 
downy grey foliage contrasts well with that of a darker hue ; while 
about the'end of May or early in June its large white blossoms are 
borne in such profusion that it has often been compared to a “ mountain 
of snow.” The blooming period being later than in the majority of large- 
3rd Series.— i. l 
