182 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



believed that Mr. S. is prosecuting his labors in this direction, 

 as is also Mr. Allen of Salem, Mr. Brackett of Winchester, 

 and other scientific and enthusiastic cultivators. Mr. Allen 

 has been engaged for many years in the cultivation of the 

 grape, of native as well as foreign origin, on a very extended 

 scale, and has originated many new varieties from seed, of 

 which mention has heretofore been made. During the past 

 year Mr. A. has fruited for the first time some new hybrid 

 varieties, one of which promises to be, if not superior to any 

 heretofore produced, certainly to take rank in the very first 

 class. As long ago as 1848 Mr. Allen announced that he 

 was engaged in attempts to raise seedling hybrid grapes ; and 

 then expressed an opinion that if these attempts were perse- 

 vered in, unques!:ionably varieties would be produced, that, 

 being hardy, would be free from the hard pulp and foxy 

 flavor which, in the opinion of most people, renders the 

 American inferior to the European varieties. In the prosecu- 

 tion of his experiments Mr. A. adopted the Isabella for the 

 female or producing vine, placed in a situation where it could 

 not be affected by bees, or other extraneous cause ; and fertil- 

 ized by the pollen of some of the foreign varieties ; a perfect 

 hybridization was the result, as clearly evidenced by the 

 foliage of the seedlings, an innnistakable indication. One or 

 two of these hybrid seedlings fruited in 1853, but retained 

 the foxy or Isabella flavor; and in 1854 three or four others: 

 two of which, one a white grape, that it is proposed to call 

 Allen's Hybrid, and the other a purple, both of great promise, 

 of which the following is a brief description. 



Alleii's Hybrid is a singularly fine white hybrid grape, in 

 quality equal to any Chasselas ; it is both hardy and early, 

 ripening probably in Massachusetts, in favorable situations, 

 and when properly treated, from 5th to 20th September; 

 resembling in form of bunch, berry, and color, the white Ris- 

 sling, so highly esteemed for cultivation on the banks of the 

 Rhine, the berries being somewhat larger. The vine has been 

 exposed through the winter of 1853, and is perfectly hardy; 

 the one that produced fruit, however, grew in a cold grape- 

 house : whether it is adapted to general cultivation, and can 



