216 AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE. 



before they are sent out to the public. If three 

 or four unprofessional men, living in different 

 sections, could, by common consent, be selected 

 for the purpose of testing seedlings and newly 

 introduced fruits, much disappointment and 

 expense would be saved to fruit growers gen 

 erally. It would perhaps be difficult to find 

 competent and disinterested men who could 

 give the necessary time to the task, or who 

 would be willing to undertake the labor ; yet 

 it would be a profound satisfaction to know 

 that the fruit we are planting is precisely what 

 it is represented to be. We shall probably, 

 however, have to go on for some time yet, and 

 take our chance. Some seedlings stand for 

 years so exposed as to leave no doubt of their 

 hardiness and period of ripening under similar 

 conditions elsewhere ; but others are so covered 

 and walled in as to prevent us from gaining any 

 real knowledge on these points till it has lost 

 most of its value to the public. If those who 

 raise seedling fruits could be protected in their 

 rights by law, as authors and inventors now 

 are, the way would be opened for fully testing 

 fruits, and the public spared the mortification 

 and loss not only of planting inferior fruits, but 

 old kinds under new names, and the production 



