122 



AMERICAN GRAPES. 



Bland's Virginia grape is found too ten- 

 der and too late in its maturity for the cli- 

 mate of Albany. 



I am sorry to be obliged to add, that 

 judging from the experience of two winters, 

 the Ohio, or Cigar-Fox Grape, will also be 

 found too tender for us. It has been twice 

 killed to the ground in a garden in the sub- 

 urbs of this city. 



I have found that the hardiness and pro- 

 ductiveness of the native grapes in the 

 heavy clay soil of my garden, are greatly 

 augmented by digging trenches, like drains, 

 three or four feet broad, and three feet 

 deep, when making borders to plant the 

 grapes. These trenches should be filled 

 about a foot deep with small stones, and 

 then with a layer of bones upon the top, if 

 they can be had. ' Upon these fill up with 

 good rich soil. The drainage (the drains 

 should have a fall and outlet,) will keep the 

 roots dry, and the vines will stand the win- 

 ter's cold better, and ripen their fruits ear- 

 lier as my own experience has satisfied me. 



It appears to me that the improvement of 

 the northern species of grapes found in the 

 woods, would be well worthy the attention 

 of horticulturists. The common summer 

 and fox grapes, though they are so pulpy 

 and rough as to be unpalatable, may they 

 not be improved by taking them into the 

 garden ? We might then have perfectly 

 hardy grapes, even for the latitude of Que- 

 bec. Pray suggest this to your experiment- 

 ing readers, and believe me your friend. 



W. 



Albany, August, 1817. 



P. S. What is the character of Norton's 

 Seedlins ? 



Remauks. — Although Albany is scarcely 

 a degree and a half of latitude north of us, 

 we have found, as our correspondent states, 



that its climate is much more severe upon 

 plants than this part of the Hudson. 



The Isabella and Catawba are both per- 

 fectly hardy here, and the latter, in open 

 situations, never fails to ripen a fine crop. 

 The same remark applies to the Bland 

 grape, which, however, is one of the latest 

 varieties. The Ohio proves quite hardy 

 and productive here, and though the fruit is 

 small, the bunches are large, and the fla- 

 vor is agreeable. Norton's Seedling is har- 

 dy, and may be a good wine grape, but it 

 is harsh and unpalatable to the taste. 



The experiment of cultivating our nor- 

 thern wild fox grapes, with a view to im- 

 proving the quality of their fruit, has al- 

 ready been fully tried by the late Prof. 

 GiMBREDE of West Point. That gentleman, 

 full of zeal in vine culture, collected, fifteen 

 years ago, every known variety from our 

 woods, and cultivated them in his garden, 

 manuring, stimulating and pruning them 

 with great care, in the hope of changing 

 and ameliorating their character. The ex- 

 periment was, as might have been expected, 

 a failure, although the fruit was greatly in- 

 creased in size, some of the sorts of fox 

 grape being larger in the berry than the 

 largest Black Hamburghs, yet the flavor and 

 original rough taste of the species remain- 

 ed unchanged, and the fruit was, in fact, as 

 unpalatable as at first. 



To improve wild grapes of the woods, 

 the seeds must be planted ; and when the 

 seedlings come into bearing, by selecting 

 such as show a tendency to vary from the 

 wild state in leaf and fruit, and sow^ing their 

 seeds, it is probable that new and improved 

 varieties would soon be produced. This 

 result, however, would be much more cer- 

 tainly and speedily attained, if the wild 

 vine blossoms were crossed or hybridized 

 with some of the best foreign sorts. — Ed. 



