SECRErARY'S REPORT. 187 



it Otherwise would be, had not other more valuable varieties been 

 found to rival them in flavor, early ripening, and other valuable 



properties. 



In Bangor, Augusta, Saco and Portland, and their immediate 

 vicinities, success has attended the culture of the Diana^ Concord^ 

 Hartford Prolific and Norther ?i Muscadine, the last being a favorite 

 variety of the Shakers. All these are eclipsed in flavor by the 

 introduction of two new varieties, the Delaivare and the Rehicca. 

 These two already noted varieties give promise of carrying success 

 wherever they are introduced into our State. 



The Delaware is nearly or quite three weeks earlier in ripening 

 than the Isabella, and about five weeks earlier than the Catawba. 

 It is also very hardy, having stood unprotected when the cold was 

 twenty-seven degrees below zero, uninjured, and where the Isabella 

 and Catawba were killed to the ground, standing close to the Dela- 

 ware. Nearly the same good qaalities are also given to the Rebecca 

 as to the Delaware. Should the two last named varieties prove as 

 valuable in Maine as they give promise, they will be planted very 

 extensively through the States of New England, and doubtless 

 vineyards will be planted of them ; and it would not be surprising 

 if they become as popular in Maine as the Baldwin apple, and the 

 Bartlett pear are in Massachusetts and I*^ew York. If suitable 

 varieties be planted, it is probably a fact that no fruit is more reliable 

 for a good crop than the grape, when the vines are well fed, pruned, 

 and protected by a covering of boughs in the winter. In proof of 

 this, several vines in Bangor and vicinity, and probably in other 

 parts of Maine, annually pay, by actual sales of the fruit, from ten 

 to fifteen dollars each vine ; yet these vines were old varieties, the 

 fruit of which does not bring the highest price. The grape vine, 

 running on the building, the wall, fence or trellis, is highly orna- 

 mental, and the fruit desirable and the most wholesome in the 

 catalogue of fruits." 



Henry Little. 



Bangor, December, 1857. 



