Bertrand is a southern variety, almost without question an offspring of Herbemont, and so far as can be judged from the descriptions of others, we not having seen the fruit, not nearly equal to its parent. The variety is hardy only as far north as Maryland and even in that State must be planted in sheltered situations.
Judge J. B. Jones, Herndon, Burke County, Georgia, found Bertrand as an accidental seedling, which had germinated in the spring of 1878. Judge Jones gives the species as being Cordifolia but Berckmans says it looks like an Aestivalis; it is now generally classed in the Bourquiniana group. The following description of this variety is compiled from various sources:
Vine vigorous. Cluster above medium to rather large, usually conical, most often shouldered, moderately compact; peduncle long. Berries below medium in size, round, black with blue bloom; flesh melting, juicy, very high flavored. Skin thin, tough. Ripens late. Seeds few. Very productive in the South. Of value only for wine.
BLACK DEFIANCE.
(Labrusca, Vinifera.)
1. Mass. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1868:10. (No name given.) 2. Bush. Cat., 1883:75. 3. Okla. Sta. Bul., 14:6. 1895. 4. Husmann, 1895:31. 5. Mo. Sta. Bul., 46:37, 43, 76. 1899. 6. Ga. Sta. Bul., 53:41. 1901.
Underhill’s 8-8 Hybrid (2).
Black Defiance is one of Stephen Underhill’s Vinifera-Labrusca hybrids, at one time quite popular as a late table grape, but now superseded by thriftier varieties. It ripens too late to be of much value in New York. When phylloxera had driven French grape-growers to look to America for varieties of grapes, and before grafting on resistant stocks was practiced in that country, Black Defiance was looked upon with much favor in France where it succeeded very well. The fruit is distinguished by the size, lustrous blackness and handsome bloom of the berry. It is now rarely cultivated in New York having been replaced by varieties more certain to mature in this State.
Stephen Underhill of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, produced Black Defiance from seed of Concord fertilized by Black Prince. It first fruited in 1866. The variety was introduced without the originator’s consent.
Black Defiance is described as follows:[163]