40 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Although grape culture is still but a small item in the agri- 

 culture of Middlesex County, nevertheless, an auspicious begin- 

 ning at least has been made, as is evident from the fact that 

 one, now famous, variety of hardy grape, better suited than any 

 other to our northern and western climate, originated with a 

 Middlesex vine culturist. Hon. E. W. Bull, the gentleman who 

 originated the Concord grape, which has been awarded the 

 " Greeley prize," as being the best variety for general cultiva- 

 tion, estimates the number of acres devoted to grape culture in 

 this county to be more than fifty. When the profitable nature 

 of the grape crop is taken into consideration, and the fact that 

 the successful culture of the grape in the greater part of this 

 country is no longer a doubtful problem, we arc sure that 

 hundreds of acres of Middlesex soil, fit for nothing else, will ere 

 long be devoted to the growth of this delicious fruit. 



When an acre of ground is once set out with vines and has 

 become productive, it is easier to take care of than ground 

 planted with any other crop. Corn demands far more care and 

 a better soil, while the product of an acre planted with corn is 

 worth but a trifle, compared with a grape harvest from a much 

 less space. Cheap land, not worth more than twenty dollars an 

 acre, will answer every purpose of a vineyard. Redding, a great 

 authority on wines, says that good, rich soil, never produces 

 even tolerable wines. It will be seen from one of the Concord 

 statements, accompanying this report, that one-half acre of waste 

 pasture land, after being turned into a vineyard, was made to 

 yield, from 356 vines, 3,592 pounds of grapes, sufficient to bring 

 the sum of 81,243.20. The same ground planted with corn and 

 yielding at the rate of eighty bushel to the acre — which is a 

 very generous yield of corn — would produce a crop worth only 

 sixty dollars, even at the present high price of corn. Balance 

 in favor of grape culture, $1,183.20. Your Committee are 

 also happy to say that two thousand cuttings arc also raised on 

 the same land, which, at one year old, can readily be sold at 

 twelve cents apiece, making §240 additional. Total, 61,483.20, 

 from half an acre of land. 



To corroborate Mr. Hunt we have the statement of J. B. 

 Moore, Esq., to show what he did in 18G5, the year that was 

 not supposed to be a good grape season. He writes as follows : 

 " From the older vines I cut, weighed and sold, last year, from 



