THE DIANA GRAPE. 



229 



origin of tlie Diana. Twenty persons were in 

 attendance at the same time, and double that 

 number during the day. Each individual de- 

 cided the Diana as bearing no comparison with 

 the Catawba. Skin thicker, pulp harder, and 

 more acid, and more of the flavour and aroma 

 of the Fox. To give the horticulturists of 

 Boston, a chance of testing the question, I 

 yesterday sent by Express, a ripe bunch of our 

 Catawba, and one not fuU}^ ripe, with a few 

 other bunches of our native grapes. 



One of the persons present had formed so 

 favourable an opinion of the Diana grape, 

 from report, that he had offered $15 for a root. 

 I deem it important that the quality of any 

 new fruit, should be made known as speedily 

 as possible, to save to our fruit-growers time 

 and expense. I am clearly of opinion, that 

 none of our fine native grapes will succeed in 

 New England. I had two varieties of the 

 native grapes sent me from Connecticut — the 

 one, called the Olnistead ; it is one of the 

 commonest of the Fox family ; the other, the 

 Charter Oak, all Fox of monstrous pize, but 

 its only value would be for cannon balls, should 

 the South carry disunion so far as to lead to 

 bloodshed. I have a graft growing, and shall 

 plant some of the seed, expecting such an 

 event. I am desirous of seeing seedlings 

 raised from our best native grapes, that are 

 not derived from the Fox. I would particu- 

 larly recommend the Herbcmont for this 

 purpose. It is very hardy ; more vigorous in 

 its growth than any other vine. I shall, next 

 season, endeavor to grow a shoot 50 feet long. 

 The bunch is larger than Miller's Burgun- 

 dy — the grape larger, and much finer, as a 

 table grape. I deem the wine superior to the 

 Spanish Mansienella ; it has the same aroma 

 and flavor. Yours, with regard. 



N. Long WORTH. 



Remarks. — We beg to add to "all our 

 fruit-growers," who might think Mr. Long- 



worth's impressions regarding the Diana 

 grape a "settler," that there is one or two 

 important points to be taken into consideration. 

 In the first place we never tasted a ripe 

 Catawba or Isabella in New England. We do 

 not mean to say that in very favorable circum- 

 stances they may not ripen there, but that gen- 

 erally speaking they never attain there what 

 would be called maturity in the middle States. 

 In the next place it is well known that though 

 the Diana originated years ago near Boston, 

 it attracted no attention there until the variety 

 was planted and began to mature fruit on the 

 banks of the Hudson. Consequently to take 

 the fruit of either the Diana or the Catawba 

 from Boston, where the peach rarely ripens 

 well, to Cincinnati — a wine-making country, 

 with a month more summer — is like compar- 

 ing fruit when it begins to change color, with 

 the same sort when at its most perfect maturi- 

 ty. Specimens of the Diana from Boston were 

 tasted by us at the Congress of Fruit-growers 

 last autumn, in New- York, and fell as far short 

 of the flavor of those rjpcned on the Hudson, 

 as those sent to Cincinnati did below the flavor 

 of the Ohio Catawba, — because they Avanted 

 two weeks more sun to ripen them. When 

 the Diana ripens in Ohio, then, and then only, 

 will our friends at Cincinnati be able to judge 

 fairly of it. We have had the best possible 

 opportunity of judging of the comparative 

 merits of those two native grapes, in the gar- 

 den of our neighbor, Mr. Sargent, where 

 there are 6-year old vines (Catawba and Diana) 

 growing on a trellis, side by side. We there- 

 fore repeat, what we have before said, that the 

 Diana is a seedling of the Catawba, resembling 

 the Catawba in many respects — but earlier, 

 handsomer, and of superior quality for the ta- 

 ble. It is not a Black Hamburgh nor a Hose 

 Chasselas, and is not worth "$15 a root," but 

 it is an improvement on the Catawba, and, in 

 a grape climate like the middle States, a de- 

 cided acquisition. Ed. 



