Washington
The good qualities of Eumelan are: vines above the average in vigor, hardiness and productiveness; clusters and berries well formed, of good size and handsome color; flesh tender, dissolving into wine-like juice under slight pressure; and pure flavor, rich, sweet, vinous. The season is early, yet the fruit keeps much better than that of most other grapes maturing with it and becomes, therefore, a mid-season and late grape. The defects of the variety are susceptibility to mildew, self-sterile flowers and difficulty in propagation. The latter character has greatly hindered its culture, as the vines can be secured only at extra expense and nurserymen are loath to grow the variety at all. Eumelan may be recommended to amateur growers. It is a chance seedling which grew from seed, about 1847, in the yard of a Mr. Thorne, Fishkill Landing, New York.
Vine vigorous, hardy, productive. Canes numerous, covered with bloom; nodes enlarged; internodes short; tendrils intermittent, long, trifid or bifid. Leaves large; upper surface dark green, glossy, smooth; lower surface pale green, smooth; lobes usually three with terminal one acute; petiolar sinus deep, variable in width; basal sinus usually lacking; lateral sinus shallow, narrow; teeth shallow. Flowers self-sterile, open in mid-season; stamens reflexed.
Fruit early, keeps until late winter. Clusters long, slender, tapering, often with a long, loose, single shoulder; pedicel short, slender with a few small warts; brush short, stubby, pale green. Berries of medium size, round, black, glossy with thin bloom, persistent, firm; skin tough, adherent with wine-colored pigment, astringent; flesh dark green, juicy, fine-grained, tender, stringy, spicy and aromatic, sweet; good. Seeds adherent, one to four, large, wide, blunt, plump, brown.
Faith
(Vulpina, Labrusca)
Although spoken of as a desirable grape in some regions, Faith is of little value in most localities. The fruit is unattractive in appearance, and the quality is not high. If the variety has any preëminently good character, it is productiveness. The blossoms put forth so early that they often suffer from spring frosts. Faith is of the same breeding as Etta and from the same originator, Jacob Rommel, Morrison, Missouri, both having come from seed of Elvira.
Vine vigorous, hardy, healthy, productive. Canes long, numerous, thick, cylindrical; nodes prominent; internodes long; tendrils continuous, bifid. Leaves large, dark green; upper surface dark green, dull; lower surface grayish-green, thinly pubescent; lobes wanting or faint; teeth shallow, wide. Flowers self-sterile to partly self-fertile, open early; stamens upright.
Fruit early, does not keep well. Clusters medium in size, variable in length, usually slender, often heavily single-shouldered, loose; pedicel short, slender, warty; brush pale green, slender. Berries small, round, dull green, frequently with a yellow tinge changing to pale amber, with abundant bloom, persistent, soft; skin thin, adherent, astringent; flesh juicy, tender, agreeably flavored; fair to good in quality. Seeds numerous, broad, dark brown.