Vine very vigorous, hardy, productive. Canes long, numerous, slender, ash-gray, reddish-brown at nodes with heavy bloom; nodes enlarged; internodes short; tendrils intermittent, short, trifid or bifid. Leaves thin; upper surface light green, smooth; lower surface pale green, hairy; terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus deep, narrow; basal sinus variable in depth and width; lateral sinus deep and narrow; teeth deep and wide. Flowers self-sterile, early; stamens upright.
Fruit mid-season, keeps well. Clusters long, slender, uniform, cylindrical, compact; pedicel long, slender, smooth; brush short, light brown. Berries small, round, purplish-black, glossy with heavy bloom, persistent, firm; skin thin, tough, adherent; flesh dark green, very juicy, fine-grained, tender, spicy, pleasant vinous flavor, agreeably tart; good. Seeds free, one to three, blunt, light brown.
Canandaigua
(Labrusca, Vinifera)
Canandaigua is worth attention because of the exceptionally good keeping qualities of the grapes. The flavor is very good at picking time but seems, if anything, to improve in storage. The vine characters are those of Labrusca-Vinifera hybrids, and in these the variety is the equal of the average cultivated hybrid of these two species. The characters of the fruit, also, show plainly an admixture of Vinifera and Labrusca so combined as to make the grapes very similar to the best of such hybrids. Canandaigua is a chance seedling found by E. L. Van Wormer, Canandaigua, New York, growing among wild grapes. It was distributed about 1897.
Vine vigorous, doubtfully hardy, productive. Canes long, few, reddish-brown, faint bloom; nodes enlarged, flattened; tendrils semi-continuous, bifid, dehisce early. Leaves large, thin; upper surface light green; lower surface gray-green. Flowers sterile or sometimes partly self-fertile, open in mid-season; stamens reflexed.
Fruit late mid-season, keeps unusually well. Clusters variable in size, usually heavily single-shouldered, loose to medium. Berries large, oval, black, covered with thick bloom, persistent; skin adherent, thin, tough; flesh firm, sweet and rich; good, improves as season advances. Seeds long with enlarged neck.
Carman
(Lincecumii, Vinifera, Labrusca)
Carman is a grape having the characters of three species and hence is of interest to grape improvers. It has not become popular with growers, chiefly because the grapes ripen very late and are not of high quality. The most valuable character of the variety is that of long keeping, whether hanging on the vine or after harvesting. T. V. Munson, Denison, Texas, raised Carman from seed of a wild post-oak grape taken from the woods, pollinated with mixed pollen of Triumph and Herbemont. It was introduced in 1892.