16 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



tinue its devastation in the vineyards 

 of the Old "World, our country may 

 become the most favored vineland of 

 the world. 



In the whole circle of our pomologi- 

 cal progress there is no fruit which ex- 

 cites so much enterprise and interest, 

 whose culture is being so rapidly ex- 

 tended, or which gives so great promise 

 of success as that of the Grape ; and 

 should this same enterprise continue 

 for fifty years to come, we can hardly 

 estimate its value as a revenue in our 

 country. All localities are not equally 

 suited to its growth, but where our 

 wild species are fouild, other new and 

 improved sorts, produced by hybridiz- 

 ation, will be found equally well adapt- 

 ed. With every succeeding year new 

 and valuable varieties are coming to 

 notice, either adapted to special loca- 

 tions or purposes, or for general culti- 

 vation. Nor is it too much to hope 

 that ere the close of this century, with 

 our present zeal and skill, we shall 

 produce varieties that will rival the 

 choicest kinds of the most favored 

 climes. Even now we have those which 

 compare favorably with our foreign va- 

 rieties, and we believe the time is not 

 distant when the aroma of our native 

 sorts, now so much despised by some, 

 will become, when chastened down as 

 as it has been in the Brighton, Duchess, 

 Rochester, and Monroe, one of the ex- 

 cellent characteristics of our American 

 grapes. 



How potent the influences of this 

 art ! Little did Mr. Bull think what 

 a blessing he was conferring on the 

 world when he sowed the seed which 

 produced the Concord grape, the mother 

 of so many improved varieties. See 

 the number of white varieties (not to 

 speak of others) which have been pro- 

 duced mostly from this : the Martha, 

 Lady, Pocklington, Lady Washington, 

 Hayes, Ann Arbor, Prentiss, Duchess, 

 and still another soon to be within our 



reach, which is heralded like Niagara 

 herself as one of the wonders of the 

 world. 



The illustrations of this improvement 

 are manifested in the numerous seed- 

 lings obtained by crosses on the Con- 

 cord, some of which are of a very re- 

 markable character, possessing great 

 size and beauty, and whose vigor and 

 productiveness are declared to be even 

 greater than that of their mother. We 

 see this improvement also in the crosses 

 of a wild Grape with the foreign species 

 by Rogers, as shown by the ameliora- 

 tion of the native aroma in the Barry, 

 Wilder, and Lindley, the last named, 

 like the Jefferson of Ricketts, possess- 

 ing a peculiar rich flavor, which might, 

 with propriety, be denomirated, and 

 may yet be distinguished as the Muscat 

 of America. Nor do I doubt that we 

 shall in time produce varieties which 

 will compare favorably with, and per- 

 haps be equal in size, beauty, and ex- 

 cellence, to the Cannon Hall, or other 

 Muscat, now so highly praised for their 

 peculiar aroma. The Pocklington, in 

 size and beauty, is an approach to this. 

 Nor is it unreasonable to suppose but 

 we may have a Grape, if we have it 

 not now in the Duchess, that is as well 

 adapted to exportation as the White 

 Malaga, and of much better quality. 

 What has been done can be done again. 

 Nature has in her laboratory infinite 

 stores of the same elements which have 

 produced our finest fruits, and we have 

 only to knock at her portals and pro- 

 nounce the SESAME, when she will open 

 to us the secrets of her wonder-working 

 power. These predictions may be con- 

 sidered as the fantasies or vagaries of 

 imagination' or as indications of a too 

 ardent desire for progress. No, no, 

 neither are they the results of chance. 

 They are founded on those immutable 

 laws which govern all sciences, in the 

 control of mind over matter, and the 

 power of man to assist nature in her 



