The grapes of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

In the South Herbemont has the same relative rank among cultivated grapes that the Concord holds in the North. The variety is injured by cold below zero or thereabouts and cannot be grown north of the Ohio River and fails somewhat in Missouri and Arkansas because of its tenderness. It requires, too, a long season for perfect maturity. Herbemont is also fastidious as to soil and its cultivation is somewhat limited by this factor. It requires a well-drained warm soil and one which is abundantly supplied with humus; though the variety often thrives on the comparatively poor hill-land of the South. Despite these limitations, this variety is grown in an immense territory, extending from Virginia and Tennessee to the Gulf and westward through Texas. The synonyms given above are many of them allusions to the localities in which it has been grown, while most of the others pertain to its origin, but all show to some extent the wide dissemination of this grape and indicate in a measure its merit.

Herbemont is known and widely grown in Europe as well as in the southern United States. In southwestern France where the demands of the variety seem to be particularly well fulfilled, it is firmly established and is highly regarded as a direct producer. In northern and central France, however, the winters are too cold and the seasons too short for its profitable culture. Its use as a stock in France is limited for it has been found to be but medium in its resistance to phylloxera; does not grow well from cuttings and is therefore propagated with difficulty; the wood does not bear grafts well and is worked with difficulty in either field or bench grafting; and lastly the French find it very subject to chlorosis, especially in calcareous soils.

The vine is, according to all accounts, a remarkably vigorous, rapid and healthy grower, being hardly surpassed in these characters by any of our native grapes. The wood is strong, abundant and very hard, the latter a serious difficulty in grafting. The fruits are attractive because of the size of the bunch and the glossy black of the berries, which are small as compared with northern grapes. Fruit is borne abundantly and with certainty year in and year out in suitable localities. The flesh characters of the fruit are good for a small grape, neither flesh, skin nor seeds being especially objectionable in eating; the pulp is tender and juicy; rich, sweet and highly flavored, the combination of flesh and flavor characters giving a grape of high quality. Herbemont is greatly esteemed as a table grape and is said to make a very good light red wine. The ample, lustrous green foliage makes the variety one of the attractive ornamental plants of the South.

Herbemont has been much used in grape-breeding and to advantage, for probably no other species offers as many desirable characters for the South and Southwest as the one to which this variety belongs and best represents. There are now several pure-bred seedlings of Herbemont under cultivation and a greater number in which it is one of the parents. Of the former Black Herbemont and the Onderdonk are good representatives and Jaeger, Delicious, Muench, Vinita, Perry, Mrs. Munson and Neva Munson, all from Munson of Texas, are Herbemont cross-breeds.

The history of Herbemont, as it must be written from such information as can now be obtained, is scarcely more than a collection of mythical stories. The variety is known to have been in cultivation in Georgia before the Revolutionary War, when it was generally known under the name of Warrenton or Warren. In the early part of the last century it came to the hands of Nicholas Herbemont of Columbia, South Carolina, who gave it the name Madeira under a temporary supposition that it came from the island of that name. This name was generally changed to Herbemont’s Madeira. Herbemont made the variety known to the public, sending it to William R. Prince of Flushing, Long Island, and Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati, the two most prominent viticulturists of that time who, in turn, aided in its distribution.

There have been many contradictory accounts of the origin of the grape, crediting it to Georgia, the Carolinas, or Europe. None is supported by sufficient evidence to make it creditable and most of them arose at so late a date that it was impossible for the writers to know anything about the facts of the case except by hearsay evidence. The early idea of many that it is a Vinifera was soon dropped. Later this variety and others of its class were known as southern Aestivalis; however, it was admitted that they were unlike other southern Aestivalis. Munson gave these grapes the name Bourquiniana, a name that has been accepted as a convenient designation for the group by some who do not accept his account of its origin. The Herbemont and Lenoir are the two varieties commonly referred to as typical of this so-called species.

The history of the culture of Herbemont in the North has been the same everywhere. It was early introduced around Cincinnati, Ohio, and Hermann, Missouri, and for a time the growers had high hopes of its value. It winter-killed slightly but they overcame this by covering the vines; then the variety showed itself susceptible to rot and its culture was soon dropped. In 1867 the Herbemont was placed on the grape list of the American Pomological Society fruit catalog and it has never been removed.

We have no vines of Herbemont growing in the Station vineyard and the following description has been collected from a variety of sources.