The grapes of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

When introduced Diana promised to be the popular grape of the North and especially of New England. Its many good qualities warranted the high hopes of those who first grew it but time revealed so many defects that the variety never became widely distributed although few grapes surpass it, or even equal it, in high quality and handsome appearance when at its best. Diana is a seedling of Catawba and was hailed as superior to its parent in quality, appearance and earliness. It was the last named character that especially commended it to northern grape-growers. Catawba can be grown in New York only in the most favored locations and hardly at all in New England even in its southern parts. It fails in the North because the seasons are too short for the fruit to mature. Diana is about two weeks earlier than Catawba and it was therefore thought that the offspring, lacking the defect of the parent, would take the rank in the North that the older variety held in the South.

Diana bears a strong resemblance to Catawba, differing chiefly in having a lighter color, a delicate pale red or rose, and in being less pulpy and more juicy. Usually the bunches, too, are more compact, those of Catawba as grown in the North being as a rule loose and sometimes straggling. The flavor resembles that of Catawba but when well grown and fully ripe it is more delicate and has less of the wild taste. The grapes keep exceptionally well. But its great point of superiority over Catawba is its earliness; it ripens from ten days to a fortnight earlier, making possible, as said above, its culture far to the north. The defects of Diana are as marked as its good qualities. It is precariously tender in cold winters and in regions where Concord goes without protection Diana must be favored. The grapes ripen unevenly, many being green when others are mature, and berries and foliage are both susceptible to fungi. Lastly it is in many localities a shy bearer and is almost always capricious. During the first few years in bearing, the fruit of Diana is very imperfect in flavor and deficient in size, true of many grapes but particularly so of this one. The best qualities of Diana are not brought out until the vines are seven or eight years of age.

Perhaps no grape better illustrates the importance of local influences and of knowledge of the peculiarities of varieties than Diana. All grapes have their likes and dislikes but this one is capricious beyond most others. It wants, for instance, comparatively poor, dry, gravelly soil without any considerable amount of humus or nitrogen. On clays, loams, or rich soils, the vines make a rank growth and the fruits are few, late and of poor quality. So, too, it needs to be long pruned, and to have all surplus bunches removed leaving a comparatively small crop to mature, and these should hang until frost. To the fact that Diana is so easily influenced must be attributed the great diversity of opinion as to its worth, some holding it to be a most excellent variety while in a nearby vineyard it is considered worthless.

In favorable situations Diana may be expected to make a most satisfactory grape for the amateur and where it does especially well it will prove a profitable variety for the local market. Its splendid keeping qualities make it a very desirable grape for late winter. It is even better in this respect than Catawba, one of the best keepers. While the pulp of Diana has the meaty structure which adapts it for long keeping its pulpiness is not objectionable as in some grapes and its thick skin has a rich, spicy flavor. Wine made from Diana is said to be second to none from our native grapes, equalling or surpassing that made from Catawba.

To Mrs. Diana Crehore of Milton, Massachusetts, is due the honor of having originated Diana. The variety was produced from seed of the Catawba open to cross-pollination, planted about 1834. It was exhibited before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1843. The Pomological Congress at their second meeting in 1850 placed Diana on their list as a “new variety which promises well,” and in 1854 it was included in the American Pomological Society list of sorts recommended for general cultivation. The demand for this grape was so keen that in 1850 it was sold for $15 a vine.

The species of Diana is usually given as Labrusca but the Vinifera-like berries and the intermittent tendrils indicate Vinifera and the bloom on the shoots suggests a strain of either Bicolor or Aestivalis.

Vine vigorous, not always hardy, produces light to medium crops, somewhat susceptible to attacks of leaf-hoppers and fungi. Canes pubescent, long, of average number, thick to medium, light brown to reddish-brown, covered with thin blue bloom; nodes enlarged, slightly flattened; internodes medium to long; diaphragm thick; pith medium to large; shoots pubescent; tendrils intermittent, long, bifid.

Leaf-buds large, of average length, thickish, obtuse to conical, open in mid-season. Young leaves colored on lower side and along margin of upper side with faint carmine, the smaller leaves usually heavily coated with thick silvery down. Leaves medium to large, inclined to thick; upper surface variable in color ranging from light to dark green, usually rather dull, nearly smooth to slightly rugose; lower surface pale green, heavily pubescent; lobes vary from three to five, terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus moderately deep, wide to medium, often closed and overlapping; basal sinus shallow, not wide; lateral sinus not deep, medium to narrow; teeth shallow, intermediate in width. Flowers fertile, open in mid-season; stamens upright.

Fruit ripens earlier than Catawba, keeps unusually well. Clusters medium to large, intermediate in length, rather broad, tapering to slightly cylindrical, occasionally shouldered, the shoulder being attached to the cluster by a rather long stem, compact to medium; peduncle short to medium, slender; pedicel above average length, covered with small scattering warts; brush of fair length, rather slender, pale green. Berries somewhat irregular in size, above medium to small, roundish to slightly ovate in compact clusters, rather light red covered with thin lilac bloom, persistent, firm. Skin very thick, tough, adheres slightly to the pulp, contains no pigment, with but little astringency. Flesh pale green, translucent, juicy, tough, fine-grained, vinous, with a little foxiness, sweet at skin to agreeably tart at center, good in quality. Seeds do not separate readily from the pulp unless fruit is fully ripe, one to three, average two, intermediate in size, breadth and length, light brown; raphe buried in a rather wide, shallow groove; chalaza large, above center, circular, distinct. Must 88°-90°.