THE SAGE GRAPE. 



THE SAGE GRAPE— AGAIN. 



BY J. FISK ALLEN, SALEM, MASS. 



Mr. Editoh — The insinuation of your correspondent, Mr. Shelden, "one of the most 

 experienced amateurs on the Hudson," that the Sage Grape was imposed upon the public 

 by me, is false. I stated in the Culture of the Grape, upon what authority it was brought 

 to notice; under these circumstances, if he chose to expend his two dollars, and was not 

 satisfied with his bargain, it was his own affair. 



The Horticulturist has, or should have, for its aim, the benefit of the public, not solely 

 that of the " experienced cultivator of the Hudson." 



Mr. Sage unquestionably considers this grape very good, and he has support in this 

 opinion from others. You think " that no man who has ever tasted a grape that is a 

 grape, would cultivate a vine of this sort, after tasting the fruit." AVe differ in opinion. 

 The Sage Grape is unquestionably a native fox variety, but there are many people who 

 prefer these to the foreign kinds. The Muscats, in all their varieties, which you and the 

 majority of people prefer to all others, are very offensive to the minority. Are. they ham- 

 bugs ? Many experienced persons, not only in this, but in European and vine districts, 

 could not be induced to swallow one. In Paris, the Chasselas de Fontainbleau is preferred 

 to all others. In Boston, this autumn, they were almost unsaleable at any price. Black 

 Hamburghs and Isabellas being preferred. Are, therefore, all the varieties of Chasselas 

 humbugs? 



That any one accustomed to foreign varieties of green-house grapes, should prefer the 

 Isabella, or any other of our native kinds, is singular and unaccountable to me, with my 

 tastes, but it is a fact notwithstanding. I grow one Isabella vine under glass, for my fami- 

 ly use, some members preferring them, and who do not make use of even Black Ham- 

 burghs. Many prefer the more spirited, or sour kinds, as St. Peters, Zinfandel, &c. 



Supposing a reader of your Magazine living north of the state of Connecticut, wishes to 

 cultivate the Sage Grape for his own use, or for sale, profit being his object. He buys a 

 vine for fifty cents or one dollar, (and that is enough for him to pay for one;) plants it 

 near a tree, or on the south side of a building; lets it grow three shoots, one to make his 

 vine; the other two may be layered in July into boxes, to be planted out in the spring if 

 wanted; if not, disposed of to his neighbors. The leading shoot may be bent down into 

 a box the succeeding spring, to make another layer vine, or it can be cut back to three or 

 four eyes. The second summer, if the soil is good, the vine will make one shoot strong 

 enough to fruit the third year, and in four or five years the vine will be capable of bearing 

 bushels of fruit, and this fruit will find purchasers — people who like the peculiar fox flavor. 

 A farmer who attends our market, sold ninety dollars worth of native fox grapes this last 

 autumn; the vines were old, and had run up large trees — all the cost to him of this fruit, 

 was the labor of gathering. 



Now, Mr. Editor, if our native grapes will yield this profit to the farmer, notwithstand- 

 ing you or I may not desire them — they are not humbugs. 



That they meet with a ready sale in our market, and at a price of from four to ten cts. 

 per pound, is a fixed fact — and at a time, too, when Isabella Grapes were abundant; also 

 pears, peaches, &c., and of green-house grapes a surfeit, selling at twenty to forty cents a 

 pound, as to quality. 



I have had the Sage Grape sent me the past season, and have given them to many indi 



