366 



TEE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[Decembee, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



GRAPES AT BOSTON. 



BY W. H. W. READING, MASS. 



The display of grapes at the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Exhibition in September last was 

 unusually fine. Some pronounced it the best 

 that had ever been made. The season was re- 

 markably favorable, on account of its exceptional 

 heat, to early and thorough ripening, and as a 

 consequence, almost every variety grown in 

 Eastern Massachusetts was shown in its perfec- 

 tion. 



Mr. Campbell's " Lady," of which we had such 

 complimentary reports, did not make her ap- 

 pearance. There were many inquiries for her, 

 and some had strong hopes of at least 8;etting a 

 glimpse of her face, if not of becoming person- 

 ally acquainted with her. But probably no vines 

 of this variety have yet fruited in our region, 

 and we shall have to wait another year at least. 

 My own plants have made a very feeble growth, 

 though carefully nursed, and I hear the same 

 complaint from one of my correspondents. But 

 it is just so with Croton, and yet after it becomes 

 well established it acquires all necessary vigor. 



The " Brighton " was visible only in a single 

 bunch. As this grew upon a young and feeble 

 plant, it was probably no fair representative of 

 the real size and character of the grape when 

 grown upon a vine that has attained age and 

 vigor. The bunch shown looked much like a 

 •mall Diana, being shorter than the average 

 Delaware, with the berries about the same size 

 as these when well grown. If I may judge from 

 a single grape, the quality is not by any means 

 equal to Delaware •r lona, though much supe- 

 rior to such varieties as Hartford or Concord. 

 But perhaps it is unfair to make any criticism 

 at all upon fruit taken from so young and feeble 

 a vine. My brief experience with the Brighton 

 leads me to think it a healthy and vigorous 

 grower, much more so at least than Lady, and I 

 look forward to its revelations, when firmly es- 

 tablished, with a good deal of hope that it will 

 prove very desirable. 



But the very cream of the display, (so far as 

 new varieties are concerned) was Mr. Ricketts' 

 exhibition of his new hybrids. He had a table en- 

 tirely to himself, and it was covered with more 

 than sixty varieties, which of course attracted a 

 great deal of attention, making, as it doubtless 



did, one of the very finest displays of out-door 

 grapes ever seen in New England. Some of the 

 clusters were magnificent, two bunches of Secre- 

 tary being each nearly twelve inches in length ; 

 and the quality of several of them was superb. 

 One small white one I thought had the most 

 exquisite flavor of any grape that ever passed 

 my lips. There were many and earnest inquir- 

 ies for the vines, and many disappointed coun- 

 tenances when the reply was given that no single 

 plants are for sale. 



If the vines from which such grapes as these 

 can be grown shall prove to be healthy and 

 hardy, so that they will give us a reliable crop,, 

 then it would seem as if we have already reached 

 the goal in out-door grape culture, beyond which 

 no reasonable man need wish to go. But these 

 splendid varieties have been tested only in Mr. 

 Ricketts' garden on the Hudson. He is afraid 

 to part with them for the purpose of having 

 them tested elsewhere, lest they should be dis- 

 honorably propagated, and so the ownership of 

 them be lost to him. It surely does seem as if 

 the government ought in some way to protect hi& 

 rights to these new and valuable fruits, which he 

 has originated with so much skill and care, as 

 thoroughly at least as it protects the rights of 

 the man who invents a new mouse-trap or man- 

 ufactures a new patent medicine. 



[It is dangerous to build much on weak vines. 

 The Lady grape is not generally a weak grower, 

 and the reference to the Brighton is so foreign to 

 ittf usual character as to excite a doubt as to wheth- 

 er W. H. W. has the real thing. In regard to Mr. 

 Ricketts' grapes, the great commercial difficulty 

 is that he has so many good ones. They com- 

 pete one with another, and then there are many 

 good kinds held by other parties — all are in 

 competition. For all this, we believe that any 

 one who has a good run of grape trade, would 

 do well to buy the whole stock of one of Mr. 

 Ricketts' good grapes and push it, even though 

 he had to pay several thousand dollars for the 

 right. 



Still, here is the point for W. H. W. and others 

 to consider : — Suppose the government were to 

 give Mr. Ricketts' a " patent " for one of his new 

 grapes, who would guarantee that another kind 

 just as good or better would not be out before 

 the owner of a " patent grape " could get his 

 stock well into market? We repeat what we 

 have said before, that there is not a nurseryman 

 in the country but would give just as much for 

 the whole stock of a good thing without a pat- 



