Brant and Canada are full brothers and so near alike that the two are often confounded with each other. Neither has ever become popular in North America because of their susceptibility to fungi. As Riparia and Vinifera hybrids, the best of Arnold’s seedlings from crosses of these two species, they are of interest and of possible value in grape-breeding. Since Brant and Canada are so nearly alike a discussion of one will suffice for both and this is reserved for Canada, the better known and more valuable of the two varieties.
Charles Arnold of Paris, Canada, produced this variety sometime in the sixties. It is a seedling of Clinton pollinated by Black St. Peters. The following description of it is taken from Downing’s Fruits and Fruit-Trees of America:[167]
“Vine strong, healthy grower. Foliage of a dark reddish green, deeply lobed. Smooth on both sides. Bunch and berry medium, black. Flesh free from pulp, very juicy, sweet, and, when perfectly ripe, rich and aromatic. Ripens early.”
BRIGHTON.
(Labrusca, Vinifera.)
1. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1872:548. 2. Gar. Mon., 16:344. 1874. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat., 1881:24. 4. Downing, 1881:165 app. 5. Bush. Cat., 1883:78. fig. 6. Rural N. Y., 45:622. 1886. 7. Ill. Sta. Bul., 28:258. 1893. 8. N. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:527, 540, 543, 545, 546, 548, 549, 552, 553, 559. 1898. 9. Ib., 18:367, 371, 386, 396. 1899. 10. Mo. Sta. Bul., 46:37, 42, 44, 45, 48, 54. 1899. 11. Mich. Sta. Bul., 169:164. 1899. 12. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1899:91. 13. Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1900:364. 14. Can. Hort., 27:345, 392. 1904.
Trask (12).
Brighton is one of the few Labrusca-Vinifera hybrids which have attained prominence in commercial vineyards. It has the distinction, too, of being one of the first, if not the first, secondary or attenuated hybrid of Labrusca with Vinifera, i. e., the offspring of a hybrid crossed with one of the original parents or with a variety of the same species. The parents of Brighton were Diana Hamburg, a hybrid of Vinifera crossed with Labrusca, and Concord, a pure-bred Labrusca. As we have seen, the first or primary hybrids of Vinifera with Labrusca have given grapes of high quality, but lacking in vigor, in resistance to fungi and phylloxera, and for most part infertile in bloom. The secondary hybrids have not shown the weaknesses of the primary hybrids in nearly so marked a degree but have given, in many instances, as in Brighton, Diamond and probably Delaware, varieties of nearly as high quality. It is now generally recognized by viticulturists that the secondary hybrids with Vinifera promise much more than do the primary ones and it is no mean distinction that Brighton has of being the first secondary hybrid brought about by the hand of man.
Brighton ranks as one of the leading amateur grapes in New York and is among the ten or twelve chief commercial sorts of the State. Its good points are: High quality, handsome appearance, certainty of ripening, being earlier than Concord, vigorous growth, productiveness, adaptability to various soils, and, for a hybrid, ability to withstand fungi. It is thus seen that the infusion of foreign blood has given the fruit of Brighton some of the excellencies of Vitis vinifera while the preponderance of Vitis labrusca blood has preserved the vigor and hardiness of the native species. Brighton has two serious defects which no doubt have kept it from taking higher rank as a commercial variety: It deteriorates in quality very quickly after maturity so that it cannot be kept for more than a few days at its best, hence cannot be well shipped to distant markets; and it is self-sterile to a more marked degree than any other of our commonly grown grapes. To have it at its best the fruit should be thinned.
This grape is a signal example of a variety resulting from careful and skilful work in grape-breeding. Its originator, Jacob Moore,[168] possessed of a high degree of intelligence and an unusually keen sense of the latent possibilities in plants, with unwearied perseverance spent years in the attempt to produce grapes combining the good characters of the Old and the New World grapes. As a result of his zeal and patience we have Brighton and Diamond, the most valuable grapes of their class. Jacob Moore’s demonstration of the value of the secondary hybrid, and these two grapes, must serve to commemorate a life spent in self denial, imposed poverty and comparative obscurity that horticulture might be enriched.
Brighton is a seedling of Diana Hamburg pollinated by Concord, raised by the late Jacob Moore at Brighton, New York. The original vine fruited for the first time in 1870 and fruit was first exhibited at the meeting of the New York Horticultural Society in 1872.