The Black Sweetwater is a small roundish grape, grow ing close in the bunches ; the skin is thin, and the juice very sweet. It ripens early, and is calculated either for the vinery or the wall.
The Small Black Cluster resembles the Miller grape, but the leaves are not quite so hoary, and are rather smaller. The fruit is sweet, and of delicate taste. This is extremely common on walls of houses near London.
In the Large Black Cluster, the berries are oval, and grow close in the bunch, which, notwithstanding the name, is not large. The juice has a harsh taste, and makes the palate feel rough, as in tasting Port wine; Mr Speechly in deed considers it as the sort used in the manufacture of that celebrated wine.
In the Black Muscadine, the bunches and berries are smaller than in the white ; it is a very productive kind, and makes a fine appearance, the black berries having a bluish bloom. Fit for the vinery or the hot-house.
The bunches of the Black Frontignac are long, and the berries, which are round and of moderate size, are thinly or loosely hung on them. They are of good quality, the juice being vinous, and of exquisite flavour.
The Black Hamburgh is well known and generally liked. The berries are somewhat of an oval shape, the skin thick, and the pulp hard ; but it is a well flavoured fruit, and the tree bears plentifully. The bunches are large, and hand somely shouldered. It answers very well in the vinery ; but, in the open air, it comes to maturity only in very warm situations and in favourable seasons.
The Alicant, or Black Spanish grape, forms very long shouldered bunches, the berries being also large and of an oval shape ; at first they are red or flame-coloured ; but when ripe, they become of a dark brown or black colour ; the skin is thick, and the stones large ; the pulp soft and juicy, and of agreeable flavour. It is often called the Lom bardy grape, and sometimes the Rhenish. It is excellent for the hot-house or the vinery. In autumn the leaves are finely variegated with red, green, and yellow.
St Peter's grape has the berry large, roundish, black ; skin thin ; the bunches large, handsomely formed, and making a fine appearance at table ; the pulp delicate and juicy. The vine is a good heater, but the grapes are late of ripening. They are apt to crack in the forcing house, or in the vinery. In fine seasons, this kind ripens on a south wall.
The Claret is distinguished by its harsh sourish taste, and dark claret colour ; when the grapes arc per fectly ripened in a hot-house, however, the taste is pleasant. The berries are small, and grow close, on small bunches. The leaves are large, and acquire a russet red or claret colour ; on which account they have been recommended for making vine-leaf wine.
The Black Prince is an excellent grape, well deserving a place in the hot-house or the vinery, where it produces both large berries and large bunches. Even on the open wall, in the south of England, it succeeds in favourable seasons : Forsyth mentions, that in this way be has had bunches which weighed a pound and a half, and which ripened in October.
Besides the list already given, two or three others de serve notice.
The Verdclho, or Verdellio grape of Madeira, is the kind from which the celebrated Madeira wine is under stood to be principally made. The vine grows with great vigour in our grape houses, and is remarkably produc tive of fruit, frequently yielding three bunches on a shoot. Here, however, the bunches are but small ; the berries are also of diminutive size, of an oval shape, green colour, and with a thin skin. The fruit is very acid till it arrive at the last stage of maturity, when the berries become of a fine amber colour, and of a very rich sa‘icharine taste, with considerable flavour. Mr WilliamObf Pitmaston, near Worcester, has given an account of this variety in the 2d volume of the London Horticultural Transactions ; and he expresses his opinion, that in favourable situations in the south-west of England it would succeed on the open wall, especially where the soil is light, dry, and shallow, but that in a deep highly manured soil, it would run too much to wood and foliage. The leaf is dark green, and very thick ; and would resist the autumnal frosts, and pro tect the fruit till a late period in October. The verdclho is much cultivated in the province of Languedoc in France; it is described by Delaunay under the name of Verdal, and is highly esteemed at Paris, its berries being account ed the most sugary and delicate in flavour of all the des sert sorts. In France the bunches become tolerably large, and very beautiful ; and the berries also acquire consider able size.