15 



for any length of time without producing any unpleasantness. I think that is a point 

 that ought to be considered in grape culture. The lona will not ripen with us in London. 

 Mr. Gott is very favourably situated, close to the lake shore, and can of course ripen 

 varieties that we cannot succeed in at all. Of Rogers' varieties, I think Nos. 4-, 44 and 

 9 are the three varieties that I should prefer for table use. 



Mr. Gott. — There is another very nice variety that coraes under this head, and that 

 is the Walter. It possesses very good qualities as a grape for amateur culture. We 

 have not fruited the Brighton yet, but the vines are growing and doing well. 



Mr. Switzer. — I am an amateur. In some sandy locations many grapes are apt to 

 mildew, and although they will be good bearers they will have to be thrown out. My 

 garden is clay, and I have no mildew in it. Raspberries will not wildew there. Noth- 

 ing that I have mildews. I have tried many varieties of grapes, some have been thrown 

 out. I have the Diana, and I have hardly been able to keep it within bounds. The 

 stalks will grow almost any length, but there will be very few grapes on them. The few 

 I have had were good. However, I have tried to cultivate it and give it such protection 

 as I could, but it has been impossible to prevent it growing to wood. I like the Dela- 

 ware very much. It crops every year. It is not so large as some of the other vines, 

 but I like it for its sweetness and beauty. Rogers' Nos'. 5 ai;d 15 have been growing with 

 me for some years, and they are very beautiful for the table — very beautiful to eat. I have 

 grown the Sweetwater and the Golden Chasselas also. They are very fine grapes too — 

 very nice for desert. I have the Concord and the Isabella also. I am glad to hear a 

 good word spoken for the old Isabella. I think it is the best cropper I ever had in my 

 garden, and I think it would be well if people would cultivate it. I grow a little for 

 market, though I am mainly an amateur. Whatever is left from what my family eat we 

 make into wine. The Clinton is the mainstay of the wine. We make about twenty 

 gallons a year of it. We do not tap it until it is three years old, and then it is too good 

 to sell any of it. I sometimes think that it is like the wine that Abraham and Lot 

 drank, that makes the heart of man glad. I put nothing in the juice but the sugar, and 

 there is not a headache in a quart of it. I have come in tired and taken a- tumbler of it ; 

 and I think if there was more of that wine made it would do more good than all the tem- 

 perance talk wo hear. I will never drink any more wine in hotels. I used to, and once 

 I sold it in my stores ; but I do not drink any more in hotels, because it is not my wine, 

 and it does not agree with me. Drinking my own wine makes me temperate. 



Col. McGill. — This part of the subject interests me a little, the growth of grapes 

 for amateur purposes. 1 have on my grounds some 22 or 23 varieties of grapes. I have 

 17 or 18 that are in bearing and have been for a good many years. They call me the 

 king of the grape department in my country. The variety that I find most profitable is 

 the red variety. I can sell my Salem and Rogers' 15 at from 15 to 20 cents a pound by 

 the basket, while those that consume them can come up to Toronto and buy them at 6 

 and 7 cents a pound. I have an Isabella, and she is an enormous bearer, but she is a 

 little too late. It is only occasionally that we can get her to ripen so that she is fit to use 

 at all. I have Rogers' Nos. 3, 4 and 9. The 9 is a very fine grape on my grounds. I 

 have no mildew whatever, and never have had any signs of mildew on any of Rogers' 

 hybrids on my grounds. My soil is sandy loam. It is not nnderdrained, but there i.^ no 

 surface water. The exposure is rather northerly — northwest — one of the very worst ex- 

 posures. No. 15 is not as prolific a bearer as I would like to have it. My Salems do 

 well. I have good bunches on every vine ; especially my prize bunches, which are some- 

 times a pound and sometimes over a pound. I never had any mildew on them but once, 

 that was three years ago, a few spots that affected the fruit more than it did the foliage. 

 The No. 44 I think very much of. It is a very prolific bearer with me. The Hartford 

 Prolific is another prolific bearer with me. She is hardly second class, and I never can 

 ripen her on* my grounds before I ripen the Concords. The most of the grapes are on 

 the ground when I come to gather them. I have been woefully disappointed in the Bur- 

 net, and that is the general experience of most cultivators of the Burnet in our part of 

 the country. In some parts of the country it mildews dreadfully. In my garden (three 

 years ago) there was a little mildew, and I removed it. It has borne for three years. 

 The berries are very small, but they ripen and are very good. It stands just between 



