(Labrusca, Bourquiniana?)
Early Victor is highest in quality of early black grapes. It is especially pleasing to those who object to the foxiness so marked in Hartford and Champion. Were the season but a few days earlier and bunch and berry a little larger, Early Victor would be the best grape to start the grape season. The vines are hardy, healthy, vigorous and productive, with growth and foliage resembling Hartford, which is probably one of its parents, Delaware being the other. The bunches are small, compact, variable in shape and the berries are about the size and shape of those of Delaware. Its season is that of Moore Early or a little later, although, like many black grapes, the fruit colors before it is ripe and is often picked too green. Unfortunately the fruit is susceptible to black-rot and shrivels after ripening. John Burr, Leavenworth, Kansas, first grew Early Victor about 1871.
Vine vigorous, hardy, healthy, productive. Canes long, numerous, slender, dark brown, surface pubescent; nodes enlarged; internodes long; tendrils continuous, bifid, sometimes trifid. Leaves thick; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface white, heavily pubescent; lobes three to five, terminal one acute; petiolar sinus intermediate in depth and width; basal sinus shallow and wide when present; lateral sinus narrow. Flowers semi-sterile, open in mid-season; stamens upright.
Fruit very early, does not keep well. Clusters small, variable in shape, cylindrical, frequently single-shouldered, compact; pedicel short, covered with numerous small warts; brush wine-colored or pinkish-red. Berries small, round, dark purplish-black, dull with heavy bloom, persistent; skin thin, tough, adherent, contains much red pigment, astringent; flesh greenish-white, opaque, fine-grained, aromatic, vinous; good. Seeds adherent, one to four, broad, notched, blunt, dark brown.
Eaton
(Labrusca)
Eaton ([Plate XIV]) is a pure-bred seedling of Concord which it surpasses in appearance but does not equal in quality of fruit. The flesh is tough and stringy, and though sweet at the skin, is acid at the seeds and has the same foxiness that characterizes Concord, but with more juice and less richness, so that it is well described as a "diluted" Concord. The grape-skin is very similar to that of Concord, and the fruit packs, ships and keeps about the same, perhaps not quite as well because of the greater amount of juice. The season is a few days earlier than Concord. The vine is similar in all characters to that of its parent. The grapes ripen unevenly, the flowers are self-sterile, and in some locations the vine is a shy bearer. The variety has not found favor with either grower or consumer. Eaton originated with Calvin Eaton, Concord, New Hampshire, about 1868.
Vine vigorous, hardy, healthy, productive. Canes thick, light brown with blue bloom; nodes enlarged, flattened; internodes short; tendrils continuous, long, bifid or trifid. Leaves large, round, thick; upper surface dark green; lower surface tinged with bronze, heavily pubescent; lobes three, terminal one acute; petiolar sinus shallow, wide; basal sinus usually lacking; lateral sinus shallow, narrow, often notched; teeth shallow. Flowers semi-sterile, early; stamens upright.
Fruit mid-season. Clusters large, short, broad, blunt, sometimes double-shouldered, compact; pedicel long, thick, smooth; brush slender, pale green. Berries large, round, black with heavy bloom, persistent, firm; skin tough, adherent, purplish-red pigment, astringent; flesh green, translucent, juicy, tough, stringy, foxy; fair in quality. Seeds adherent, one to four, broad, notched, plump, blunt.