Few varieties of black grapes equal Highland in appearance and quality of fruit. When given good care under favorable conditions, the bunches are unusually large and handsome in appearance, sometimes attaining a weight of two pounds, and bear beautiful bluish-black berries with the fine flavor and tender texture of Jura Muscat, one of its parents. The flesh is solid, firm and the fruit keeps and ships well. The vine is vigorous, productive to a fault but is doubtfully hardy. Where the climate is temperate and the season long enough for the vine and fruit of Highland to develop, this is one of the choicest grapes for the amateur. The variety originated about the close of the Civil War with J. H. Ricketts, Newburgh, New York, from seed of Concord fertilized by Jura Muscat.
Vine variable in vigor, productive, healthy. Canes long, numerous, dark brown with thin bloom; nodes enlarged; internodes long; tendrils intermittent, bifid or trifid. Leaves large; upper surface dark green, dull, rugose; lower surface grayish-green, pubescent; lobes one to five, terminal one acute; petiolar sinus deep, variable in width; basal sinus shallow, narrow; lateral sinus a notch; teeth deep, wide. Flowers self-fertile, open in mid-season; stamens upright.
Fruit late, keeps well. Clusters large, long, broad, tapering, usually single-shouldered, usually two bunches per shoot; pedicel long, thick, smooth; brush green with yellow tinge. Berries large, round-oval, purplish-black, dull with heavy bloom, persistent, firm; skin tough, free; flesh green, translucent, juicy, tender, vinous; good. Seeds free, one to six, large, long, notched, brown.
Hopkins
(Rotundifolia)
Hopkins is named by grape-growers in the South Atlantic states as the best early Rotundifolia grape. Its season in North Carolina begins early in August, nearly a month before any other. It is, also, one of the best in quality and for quality and earliness should be in every home vineyard in the region in which it grows. Hopkins was found near Wilmington, North Carolina, about 1845, by John Hopkins.
Vine very vigorous, hardy, productive. Canes long, slender, upright. Leaves of medium size, variable, cordate, longer than broad, thick, leathery, smooth, dark green; margins sharply serrate. Flowers self-fertile.
Fruit very early. Clusters large, containing from four to ten berries. Berries large, dark purple or almost black, round-oblong, shelling badly; skin thick, tough, faintly marked with dots; pulp white, tender, juicy with a sweet, pleasant flavor; one of the best of the Rotundifolias in quality.