When introduced Diana promised to be the popular grape of the North and especially of New England. Its many good qualities warranted the high hopes of those who first grew it but time revealed so many defects that the variety never became widely distributed although few grapes surpass it, or even equal it, in high quality and handsome appearance when at its best. Diana is a seedling of Catawba and was hailed as superior to its parent in quality, appearance and earliness. It was the last named character that especially commended it to northern grape-growers. Catawba can be grown in New York only in the most favored locations and hardly at all in New England even in its southern parts. It fails in the North because the seasons are too short for the fruit to mature. Diana is about two weeks earlier than Catawba and it was therefore thought that the offspring, lacking the defect of the parent, would take the rank in the North that the older variety held in the South. Diana bears a strong resemblance to Catawba, differing chiefly in having a lighter color, a delicate pale red or rose, and in being less pulpy and more juicy. Usually the bunches, too, are more compact, those of Catawba as grown in the North being as a rule loose and sometimes straggling. The flavor resembles that of Catawba but when well grown and fully ripe it is more delicate and has less of the wild taste. The grapes keep exceptionally well. But its great point of superiority over Catawba is its earliness; it ripens from ten days to a fortnight earlier, making possible, as said above, its culture far to the north. The defects of Diana are as marked as its good qualities. It is precariously tender in cold winters and in regions where Concord goes without protection Diana must be favored. The grapes ripen unevenly, many being green when others are mature, and berries and foliage are both susceptible to fungi. Lastly it is in many localities a shy bearer and is almost always capricious. During the first few years in bearing, the fruit of Diana is very imperfect in flavor and deficient in size, true of many grapes but particularly so of this one. The best qualities of Diana are not brought out until the vines are seven or eight years of age.