This mammoth Concord, the Eaton, originated with Calvin Eaton of Concord, New Hampshire, about 1868 from seed of Concord. Mr. Eaton states that this was the best vine out of a lot of two thousand seedlings. The new variety was purchased by John B. Moore & Son of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1882, and was introduced by them in 1885. Owing to Mr. Moore’s death it soon passed into the hands of the T. S. Hubbard Company, of Fredonia, New York. It at once attracted much attention on account of its fine appearance and for a time was very popular, its popularity declining chiefly because of the poor quality of the fruit.
Vine vigorous, healthy, hardy, usually productive. Canes intermediate in length and number, thick to medium, light brown changing to darker brown at the nodes, covered with a small amount of blue bloom; nodes enlarged, slightly flattened; internodes short to medium; diaphragm of average thickness; pith large to medium; shoots pubescent; tendrils continuous, rather long, bifid to trifid.
Leaf-buds medium to below in size, short, of nearly mean thickness, conical to pointed, open in mid-season. Young leaves lightly tinged on under side and along margin of upper side with carmine. Leaves healthy, large, often roundish, thick; upper surface dark green, of average smoothness; lower surface tinged with bronze, heavily pubescent; veins distinct; lobes three when present, with terminal lobe acute; petiolar sinus medium to shallow, rather wide; basal sinus usually lacking; lateral sinus shallow, narrow, often notched; teeth shallow to medium, not very wide. Flowers partly fertile to somewhat sterile, open early; stamens upright.
Fruit ripens slightly before Concord, keeps and ships only fairly well. Clusters large to medium, short to above medium, often very broad, blunt, slightly tapering, usually single-shouldered but sometimes double-shouldered, compact to medium; peduncle short to medium, thick; pedicel medium to rather long, thick, nearly smooth, wide at point of attachment to berry; brush slender, pale green. Berries rather uniform in size, averaging large, roundish, black, not glossy, covered with heavy blue bloom, persistent, firm. Skin intermediate in thickness, rather tough, adheres considerably to the pulp, contains much purplish-red pigment, slightly astringent. Flesh greenish, translucent, juicy, rather tough, slightly stringy and foxy, nearly sweet at skin but quite acid at center, fair in quality, ranking below Concord. Seeds rather adherent, one to four in number, average two or three, above mean size, inclined to broad, notched, intermediate in length, plump, somewhat blunt, light brown; raphe buried in a rather wide, shallow groove; chalaza nearly large, slightly above center, irregularly circular to oval, obscure.
(I) ECLIPSE.
(Labrusca.)
1. Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1899:216. 2. Ib., 1904:228. 3. Rural N. Y., 65:852. 1906. 4. Ib., 66:24, 344, 412. 1907.
Riehl’s New Early Grape (3). Riehl’s No. 10 (1, 2). Riehl’s No. 10 (4).
There are two grapes bearing the name Eclipse, the origin and history of both of which are briefly set forth below. Of the two, Riehl’s Eclipse alone is deemed worthy of general discussion, the other, a green variety of this name, having passed out of cultivation if it were ever grown in New York.
