of Rural Art and Taste. 



49 



either by the agency of insects, or by pollen 

 floating in the air. Pollen, from whatever 

 variety it is desired to impregnate the pa- 

 rent grape, should then be carefully applied 

 to the prepared bunch, and the silken en- 

 velope retained until the growing berries 

 indicate that the process is complete. Seeds 

 saved from these grapes will produce plants, 

 some of which will resemble the foreign, and 

 some the native parent. Those only, whose 

 habit of growth and foliage resemble the na- 

 tive parent, should be saved — as my experi- 

 ence has shown that the more nearly these 

 seedlings follow the foreign kinds in foliage, 

 the more they are subject to mildew and 

 rot ; and are consequently of little value for 

 general use. Many of the hybrid seedlings 

 will be found with thick, strong foliage, in 

 texture and character like our natives, and 

 it is among these we must look for grapes of 

 the greatest value, hardy, healthy and bear- 

 ing fruit of improved quality. 



In this connection, I wish to make public 

 a discovery, which I believe to be entirely 

 new, and which I think will be of great 

 value to all experimenters in growing hybrid 

 and seedling grapes. It is a method by 

 which the future character of the fruit of a 

 grape-seedling can be determined in the first 

 year of its growth — years before it can be 

 brought into bearing. To illustrate this : 

 I had three vines selected from a lot of seed- 

 lings grown from Delaware, crossed with 

 Grizzly Frontignac. Three years before 

 they came into bearing, I announced that 

 No. 1 would bear a black grape, having the 

 Frontignac or Muscat flavor ; that No. 2 

 would bear a red or white grape without the 

 Muscat flavor ; and that No. 3 would also 

 bear a red, or white grape, with the Muscat 

 flavor. This pro^^nostication was the more 

 remarkable, because I had never, up to that 

 time, raised a grape seedling having this pe- 

 culiar flavor, found only among foreign va- 

 rieties and their hybrids. When these 

 grapes came into bearing, my predictions 

 were found entirely correct. Nos. 1 and 3 

 had the Muscat flavor ; No. 2 was flavored 

 like the Delaware, with no trace of the 

 4 



Muscat ; No. 1 was black ; Nos. 2 and 3 

 red. A year or two later, of seven seed- 

 lings from Concord, crossed with Chasselas 

 Musque, I selected two as promising to have 

 the Muscat flavor, and five without. Six of 

 the seven have now borne, and the two se- 

 lected have the flavor of the Muscat as dis- 

 tinctly as the Muscat Hamburgh and Chas- 

 selas Musque, which they severally resem- 

 ble, while the other four are as free from it 

 as Chasselas Fontainebleau. One more in- 

 cident will probably give as full an idea as 

 may be necessary of the extent and capa- 

 bilities of this discovery. A chance seed- 

 ling, selected by my gardener for its fine 

 habit of growth, handsome wood and healthy 

 foliage, had all the appearance, especially 

 in its prominent buds and elegantly lobed 

 leaves, of a most promising hybrid. The 

 wood, the form of the buds and foliage, very 

 strongly resemble the foreign varieties. The 

 application of my test, however, indicated 

 that the fruit would be of the character of 

 our wild forest grapes. I need hardly say 

 I waited its bearing with some anxiety — for 

 every appearance of the vine was adverse to 

 my prediction. But, as in every other case, 

 the correctness of my discovery was tri- 

 umphantly established. It bore a very 

 small, black grape, nearly all skins and 

 seeds, and of a sour and acrid character, 

 wholly uneatable. 



Repeated and unvarying tests of a simi- 

 lar character have so far convinced me of 

 its entire correctness, I do not hesitate to 

 announce that, in the taste, or flavor of 

 the green tendrils of the vine may be found 

 a true index of the character of its fruit. 

 xllthough this is something that cannot be 

 exactly defined, or accurately described, it 

 may be acquired by any one with a nice, 

 discriminating taste. Go into a green house 

 where foreign grapes are growing, and taste 

 the tendrils of the Muscat flavored varieties, 

 and of the Black Hamburgh and Chasselas, 

 and yoii will soon learn to distinguish the 

 diff"erence, which is as distinct as the flavor 

 of the grapes themselves. Again, taste and 

 compare the flavor of the tendrils of Concord 



