76 FRUIT GARDEjN. 



the celebrated Arbois wine, which partakes slightly of 

 the Champagne character, would compete with our Ca- 

 tawba. 



" If we intend cultivating the grape for wine, we must 

 rely on our native grapes, and new varieties raised from 

 their seed. If I could get my lease of life renewed for 

 twenty or thirty years, I would devote my attention to the 

 subject, and I would cross our best native varieties with the 

 best table and wine grapes of Europe. We live in a great 

 age. Discoveries are daily made that confound us, and we 

 know not where we shall stop. We are told of experiments 

 in mesmerism, as wonderful as the grinding-over system 

 would be ; but I fear the discovery will not be brought to 

 perfection in time to answer my purpose, and I must leave 

 the subject with the young generation. 



" I have heretofore wanted faith in the doctrine of 

 French horticulturists, that to improve your stock of pears 

 you must not select the seed of the finest fruit, but of the 

 natural choke pear. I am half converted to their views. 

 The Catawba is clearly derived from the common Fox grape. 

 In raising from its seed, even white ones are produced, but 

 I have not seen one equal to the parent plant, and in all 

 the white down on the under side of the leaf, and the 

 hairs on the stalk, common to the wild Fox grape, are 

 abundant." 



The same gentleman, in pointing out the evils of follow- 

 ing practices in the United States which are highly advan- 

 tageous in other countries, observes : — 



" In some parts of Europe, where their summers are cool, 

 they find it necessary to shorten the leading branches in- 

 tended to produce the next year's crop, and thin out the 

 leaves, and head in the short branches, and fully expose the 

 fruit to the sun and air to insure its ripening. This method 



