Vine vigorous, not always hardy, averages with Concord in productiveness. Canes unusually long, above medium in number and thickness, surface slightly roughened; tendrils continuous, sometimes intermittent, bifid to trifid. Leaves large, green; lower surface grayish-green, pubescent. Fruit ripens about ten days before Concord, keeps well. Clusters intermediate in size and length, broad, vary from single-shouldered to double-shouldered, loose. Berries large to medium, oval to roundish, dull dark red, covered with lilac bloom, inclined to drop somewhat from pedicel, soft. Skin thick, tough, with but little astringency. Flesh somewhat tough, stringy, coarse, vinous, sweet from skin to center, good in quality. Seeds adherent to the pulp, often numerous, large, long, medium to broad, blunt; chalaza central to distinctly above center, frequently with shallow radiating furrows.
OTHELLO.
(Vinifera, Riparia, Labrusca.)
1. Gar. Mon., 9:22, 23. 1867. fig. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1867:173. 3. Downing, 1869:552. 4. Grape Cult., 2:24, 25. 1870. fig. 5. Bush. Cat., 1894:167. 6. Tenn. Sta. Bul., Vol. 9:185. 1896. 7. Tex. Sta. Bul., 48:1151, 1161. 1898. 8. Mo. Sta. Bul., 46:40, 43, 44, 45, 76. 1899. 9. Ga. Sta. Bul., 53:47. 1901. 10. Kan. Sta. Bul., 110:246. 1902. 11. Traité gen. de vit., 5:160. 1903.
Arnold’s Hybrid No. 1 (4). Arnold’s No. 1 (1). Arnold’s No. 1 (3, 5, 6, 11). Arnold’s Hybrid (2). Arnold’s Hybrid (11). Canadian Hamburg (3, 11). Canadian Hybrid (3, 11). Challenge? (11).
Othello is interesting as being so far the most valuable hybrid between Vinifera and Riparia, having attracted much attention in Europe as well as in America. The significance of the name is not apparent unless, because of its dark color, it was christened after Shakespeare’s dusky Moor. In France, Othello does remarkably well as a direct producer and is used somewhat for a resistant stock. While most of its characters are spoken of in the superlative by the French, in America it is not so highly thought of chiefly because of its susceptibility to fungi, though it shows other weaknesses which seem inherent to hybrids of Vinifera and native species when grown in this country. The fruit of Othello matures so late that it could never become a valuable variety for any considerable portion of New York. It is in no sense a table grape nor does it make, according to the French,[206] a high grade of wine, but rather a well-colored, pleasant, ordinary wine of considerable alcoholic strength.
Charles Arnold of Paris, Brant County, Ontario, produced Othello from seed of Clinton fertilized by Black Hamburg. The seed was planted in 1859 and the variety was sent out for testing about ten years later. There seems considerable doubt whether Arnold’s Clinton was the same as the variety known under that name in the United States, but if not, it was similar. Assuming that Arnold’s is the well known Clinton, Othello is descended from Labrusca, Riparia and Vinifera. The characters of the three species are shown in the variety. The foxy flavor, the tomentum of the leaf, the pulpy flesh, and the usually continuous tendrils are all from Labrusca. Riparia is revealed in the long, slender canes, the resistance to phylloxera and the shallow, spreading root system. There are but few of the characters of Black Hamburg, the Vinifera parent, to be found and yet the much lobed leaf, the cluster, the oval berry and the flavor indicate the Old World grape and make fairly certain the triple origin.