1879 .] 
SELECT BLACK CEArES.—VINES AND VINE-CULTCEE ; CHAPTEE XVII. 
161 
SELECT BLACK GKAPES. 
[Plate 501.] 
« HE accompanying plate lias been prepared 
as an illustration of some of tlie most 
valuable of tlie Black Grapes now in 
cultivation. The varieties will be described in 
full in the admirable essay on Vines and Vine- 
culture, by Mr. Barron, Superintendent of tire 
Eoyal Horticultural Society’s Garden at Chis¬ 
wick, now being published from time to time 
in our 2 iages. They have been very faithfully 
represented by Mr. Fitch, by whom the original 
drawings were made, and have been carefully 
reproduced in chromo-lithography by Severeyns, 
of Brussels. The outline figure at the back 
represents in each case the general contour of 
the bunch, but on a reduced scale, while the 
coloured figure shows the natural size and 
appearance of the berries when well cultivated. 
It only remains in this place to add the 
names of the varieties figured, wdiich are as 
follows :— 
Fig. 1. Black IIambuegh, the universal 
favourite. 
Fig. 2. Geos Colman, sometimes called Gros 
Colmar., a grand late variety. 
Fig. o. Madeesfield Couet, an excellent sum¬ 
mer grape. 
Fig. 4. Lady Downe’s Seedling, one of the 
best late kinds.—T. Mooee. 
VINES AND VINE-CULTURE. 
CHAPTEll XVII. —The Vaeietibs of Grapes and their, Classification. 
HE varieties of Grapes are so numerous, 
and a large proportion of them nearly 
if not quite, unknown, and so unsuit¬ 
able for cultivation in this country—being 
mainly used for wine-making—that it is not 
desirable, even were it possible, to attempt in 
this place a complete enumeration of them. 
We shall rather confine ourselves to noticing 
such of the different varieties that are or have 
been grown in this country, as are distinct, or 
have some supposed merit attached to them. 
In a broad sense, the cultivated Grapes are 
divisible into two great families,— 
The Eueopean, including all the varieties of 
Grapes of the Old World. 
The Ameeican, including those belonging 
to America, or the New World. 
These two series of Grapes are very distinct, 
not only in constitution, but also in foliage 
and fruit; but as the American vines are not 
cultivated in this country for their fruit, if ive 
except the Strawberry Grape and an occasional 
plant of the Catawba or Isabella, it will be 
unnecessary to allude to them further. 
There has been no very definite classification 
of Grapes yet adopted, although the desirability 
of some simple and popular way of grouping 
the different varieties, whereby those who have 
only a limited knowledge may comprehend 
something of the nature or character of the 
variety named is self-evident, and the want of 
it has long been felt. Thus, for example, the 
No. 23. IJIPEEIAL SEEIES, 
terms Muscat and Sweetwater are pretty well 
understood, as conveying a knowledge of the 
flavour and general character of the respective 
varieties to which they are attached ; and it is 
by an elaboration of this idea that we propose 
to arrange them into three great classes or . 
sections— 
Firstly, by the flavour of the fruit— 
1. Sweetwater Grapes 
2. Muscat Grapes 
3. Vinous Grapes 
Secondly, by the colour of the fruit— 
A. Black or purple 
B. White green or yellow 
C. Bed or tawny 
Thirdly, by the shape of the fruit— 
Oval 
*'* Round 
making, in all, eighteen well-marked groups or 
subdivisions. In this way, one would be 
enabled to speak of the Chasselas Musquc, for 
example, as a round, white, Muscat Grape ; of 
the Black Hamburgh, as an oval, black, Sweet¬ 
water Grape; and of the Gros Colman, as a 
round, black, Vinous Grape, &c. 
EUROPEAN GRAPES. 
Class I. -SWEETWATEE GeAPES. 
Varieties with sweet, sugary, or saccharine 
flavour, the juice thin, luit pleasant, varying 
in sweetness ; skin generally thin and tender. 
They are mostly early varieties, and ripen 
freely. Those termed Muscadines are here in- 
M 
