row. Flowers semi-fertile, mid-season; stamens
upright.

Fruit early, keeps well. Clusters large, long, usually with a
shoulder connected to the bunch by a long stem, compact; pedicel
short, slender, warty; brush short, green. Berries oval, black,
glossy, covered with thin bloom, persistent; skin thick, tough;
flesh very juicy, tender, vinous, spicy, agreeably sweet at the
skin, tart at the center; good. Seeds free, broad.

PERFECTION

(Labrusca, Bourquiniana, Vinifera)

Perfection is a seedling of Delaware, which it greatly resembles but
does not equal in fruit; its fruits being hardly as high in quality,
do not keep as well, shrivel more before ripening, and shell more
readily. In its vine characters, it is much more like a Labrusca than
Delaware, suggesting that it is a Delaware cross. In the Southwest,
Perfection is considered a valuable early red grape. J. Stayman,
Leavenworth, Kansas, grew Perfection from seed of Delaware; it was
sent out for testing about 1890.

Vine vigorous, healthy, injured in severe winters, productive.
Canes of medium length and number, slender; nodes enlarged,
flattened; internodes short; tendrils intermittent, trifid or
bifid. Leaves healthy, medium in size; upper surface light green;
lower surface grayish-white with a tinge of bronze, heavily
pubescent; lobes wanting or three to five; petiolar sinus shallow,
wide; serration shallow. Flowers self-fertile or nearly so, open
in mid-season; stamens upright.

Fruit early. Clusters usually single-shouldered, compact; pedicel
short, slender, smooth; brush short, yellow. Berries small, round,
red but less brilliant than Delaware with faint bloom, inclined to
drop from pedicel, soft; skin thin, free from astringency; flesh
medium in juiciness and tenderness, vinous, mild, sweet; good in
quality. Seeds adherent, numerous, small, often with an enlarged
neck.

PERKINS

(Labrusca, Vinifera)

At one time Perkins was grown largely as an early grape but has been
discarded very generally on account of the poor quality of the fruit.
The pulp of the grape is hard and the flavor is that of Wyoming and
Northern Muscadine, grapes characterized by disagreeable foxiness. As
with nearly all Labruscas, Perkins is a poor keeper. Notwithstanding
the faults of its fruit, the variety may have value in regions where
grape-growing is precarious; for in fruiting it is