Secretary's Budget. 341 



the same time as the later kind. Almost any kind can thus be 

 made to bloom when wanted. To grow seedlings largely this way, 

 one must make all due preparations, and attend to the work with 

 business-like care ; good results may then be reasonably expected, 

 as in the case of any otlier crop intelligently produced. The super- 

 stitious idea, so common, that a chance seedling is more liable to 

 produce something desirable than one intelligently produced, is 

 akin to the notion that a lottery ticket is the best investment. Lot- 

 tery tickets and chance seedlings sometimes draw prizes, but seek- 

 ing these will never constitute a legitimate or laudable employment. 

 To make such long experiments as I describe, is almost a lifers 

 work, and the benefits are likely to fall upon future generations. 

 Few are prepared for them, or patient enough to consummate them. 

 Let those who are inclined to such work preserve the following- 

 table, and thus save long years of labor in securing the facts it 

 contains. The varieties are named in the order in which they 

 bloom, excepting some of my seedlings whose time has not yet been 

 observed. The date of blooming was taken when the kinds were 

 fairly started in blossom. The table will be valuable for any section, 

 as from it the order of leafing and ripening can also be obtained. 

 For the information of those unacquainted with the specific bo- 

 tanical names, let me state — the genus Vitis, (the Grape) has been 

 divided into species according to peculiar characteristics belonging 

 to every plant in each group or species, thus : 



