316 ANNUAL REPORT 



introduced, or at least many new names come out yearly, but 

 the real improvement, so far as I can judge, has been much less 

 than in any of the other small fruits upon our list. I am now 

 testing some which may prove a success. 



GRAPES IN THE GARDEN. 



It is about fifty-five years since my father set the first grape- 

 vines in his garden. They were the Isabella, which was then 

 about the only variety grown in that section. The vines made 

 a fine growth, and regularly each spring and early summer 

 loaded themselves with fruit, and as I'egularly in autumn the fruit 

 rotted and fell from the vines. Rarely was a nice bunch of grapes 

 gathered from them during all the years they were cared for. 

 The introduction of the Concord among grapes marks very much 

 such an area in grape growing as the introduction ofj the Wilson 

 in strawberry growing. The increase in the consumption of 

 grapes has, as I believe, been greater than any other of the small 

 fruits, strawberries excepted. 



Last September I stood upon a hill a few miles outside the city 

 of Cleveland, Ohio, and looked over what seemed to me an 

 almost endless number of vines, most of which were loaded with 

 choice fruit. I asked a gentleman who owned one of the near 

 vineyards, how many acres of vines I could see from where I 

 then stood? After thinking a moment he said, not less than 

 2,000 acres. Fifty years ago there were not probably half that 

 number of grapevines cultivated in the entire United States. 

 New varieties have been and are continually being introduced 

 until their name is legion. 



Fifty years ago we had cherries in the greatest abundance. 

 The variety most common was a small black cherry, indifferent as 

 to quality, but the trees sometimes grew to an enormous size and 

 rarely failed to load themselves with fruit. In my native neigh- 

 borhood were two that were not less than five feet in diameter 

 at four feet from the ground, and I believe they sometimes bore 

 not less than one hundred bushels of cherries in a single year. 

 One of this variety still stands near my brother's home that is over 

 three feet in diameter. There were other varieties of both black 

 and red far superior to these in quality, in fact, it seems to me, 

 none of the varieties now grown are superior to some of those 

 grown on my father's farm fifty years ago. 



A few words in regard to the larger fruits. Plums, peaches, 

 apples and pears grew in the greatest abundance. I think the 



