Of all the commercial grapes grown in New York Catawba is the best keeper, lasting until March or later. Because of its fine quality it often brings a higher price than other varieties and its reputation as a dessert grape would be still better were it not too often picked before fully ripe and therefore sour and unpalatable. The Catawba is the standard red grape in the markets, and other red varieties are often sold under its name. It makes a good light-colored wine, which as has been said, is largely used as a base for champagne. The vine is vigorous, hardy and productive but the foliage and fruit are susceptible to fungi and this constitutes the chief defect of the variety and accounts for the decline and the passing out of Catawba in many of the grape regions of the past in the United States and its unpopularity in some of the grape regions of the present. In its botanical characters, in its adaptation, and in its susceptibilities it suggests _Vitis vinifera_ crossed with _Vitis labrusca_, a possibility to be discussed in a later paragraph.
The characters of Catawba seem readily transmissible to its offspring and, beside having a number of pure-bred descendants which more or less resemble it, it is one of the parents of a still greater number of cross-breeds which, as a rule, inherit many of its characters. As with Catawba, most of its progeny show Vinifera characters; as intermittent tendrils, the Vinifera color of foliage, a vinous flavor wholly or nearly free from foxiness, and the susceptibilities of Labrusca-Vinifera hybrids to certain insects, fungi, and environmental conditions.
Catawba was introduced by John Adlum of the District of Columbia about 1823. Adlum secured cuttings of this variety from a Mrs. Scholl of Clarksburgh, Montgomery County, Maryland, in the spring of 1819. This vine had been planted by Mrs. Scholl's husband, who had since died. He had always called it Catawba, but the family did not know from what source it had been secured. Owing to the statement of a German priest that it was the same as the Tokay of Hungary, Mr. Adlum called it by that name. Some years later, when he found this to be a mistake, he changed the name back to Catawba. Adlum found the same variety on a trellis on land belonging to a Mr. J. Johnston, near Fredericktown, Maryland. He also found a similar variety on a farm of his in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, which he introduced under the name of Muncy. Later these two varieties were judged to be identical. Neither Adlum nor Prince was able to trace the origin of Catawba, though both were among the chief viticulturists of their day, were instrumental in distributing this variety, and had correspondents in all parts of the Union.