8. Harris (Old House Grape). — This grape came originally to this place from 

 Iverson L. Harris, Esq., of Milledgeville, whose father, eating the fruit from a 

 vine upon a tree near a deserted house, procured cuttings the next winter, and 

 brought it into cultivation ; hence it is sometimes called the Old House Grape. 

 Vine, quite vigorous. Leaves, large, sublobatelj angled, or snh-t/tree-Iohed near 

 the apex, which makes it quite distinct ; more distinctly cut than the preceding, 

 being sometimes three-lobed ; the leaf has a yellowish shade, moderately downy — 

 less so than Long's, and down less cobwebby. Old leaves, rather smooth. Bunches, 

 medium, shouldered, compact; a little larger than Lenoir. Berries, round, three- 

 eighths to one-half inch in diameter, averaging nearly as large as Long's and 

 Warren. Skin, rather thick for the species, black, covered with a blue bloom. 

 Flesh, little polpy, sweet, juicy, and agreeable. Quality, " very good." A valu- 

 able variety, not subject to rot. Middle of August. Fruit, from Dr. Camak. 



9. Nortoii's Virginia. — Leaf, sublobately angled, sublobed, and sometimes (but 

 not generally, like Warren, &c.) fully three or five-lobed ; green of the young 

 leaves has a yellowish shade. Young shoots and terminal leaf above, and younger 

 leaves beneath, with a fuscous (changing to hoary), cobwebby tomentum. Nerves, 

 strongly marked, reddish beneath. Older leaves, nearly free from down. Bunches, 

 long, occasionally shouldered ; somewhat compact. Berries, pretty uniform in 

 size, about four or five-tenths of an inch in diameter. Skin, thin, nearly black, 

 with a blue bloom. Flesh, quite pulpy, vinous and harsh — not even " good ;" 

 not worth cultivating. Said to be a hybrid between Bland and Miller's Burgundy, 

 but is totally unlike either. As Le Conte observes:* "Although, among some 

 families of plants, hybrids occur naturally, or may be formed artificially, yet it is 

 difficult to understand how this ever can be the case in the genus Vitis. In form- 

 ing a hybrid, it is necessary to emasculate the flower we wish to produce fruit, 

 and to impregnate its pistil with the pollen of some other species; this is impos- 

 sible in the present instance, on account of the minuteness of the flower, and the 

 parts of fructification." Nor is this all. He might have added another difficulty. 

 The petals are caducous, and cohere at their tips, forming a little cap, which, in 

 the act of falling off whole, draws over from one side or the other, almost inva- 

 riably, the pollen from its own stamens upon the pistil. The chances then are, 

 that an operator on so minute a flower, in the act of removing this cap, and then 

 the stamens, would have already fertilized the pistil before applying the pollen of 

 the species or variety selected. We would not, however, assert that hybridization, 

 naturally or artificially, is absolutely impossible, but nearly so ; and such being 

 the fact, in general, Norton's Virginia gives us little evidence of being a special 

 exception as any vai'iety we know, being totally unlike its reputed parents, and 

 agreeing sufficiently well in character with the species aestivalis. 



Doubtless, the Delaware as well as other varieties not yet known to the Com- 

 mittee, pertain to Vitis aestivalis ; but the foregoing are all that have yet come 

 under our observation. 



Hon. Mark A. Cooper, President. — Dear Sir : The Committee ad interim of 

 the Pomological Society of Georgia, beg leave to submit the foregoing report upon 

 the grape. They hope, by a farther report upon the varieties of Vitis labrusca, 

 the coming month, to close up the subject for this season. 



Wm. N. White, Chairman. 

 Athens, Sept., 1857. 



* See Proceedings Acad. Nat. Sciences, Philadelpliia, February, 1853. 



