FRUIT committee's REPORT. 71 



Of the Union Village, I have heretofore spoken. It continues to main- 

 tain its good character. I am pleased to find that Dr. Grant, who fruited 

 this vine about the same time as myself, coincides with me in my opinion 

 of it. It is at least a week earlier than the Isabella. 



The Rebecca has not proved so hardy as I had hoped. It has winter- 

 killed badly the past two years. I am informed that the original vine has 

 always been covered during the winter. Those who have this variety will 

 do well to lay them down, as the delicious character of the fruit will well 

 pay for any such extra attention. 



Some excitement has been created, this season, by the exhibition of fruit 

 grown upon girdled vines. The practice is not new ; writers as far back 

 as Pliny speak of it as common among the vine dressers of those times. It 

 has been in use in France since 1790, the object being to prevent blight. 

 The operation is performed on the old wood from six to eight days before 

 blossoming. Girdling vines, when the fruit is about the size of a small pea, 

 will cause the berries to swell a third larger than they otherwise would 

 have done, but does not cause them to ripen any earlier. 



The culture of the vine is daily claiming more and more attention, and it 

 is to be hoped that we shall have no more such worthless humbugs as Char- 

 ter Oak, Globe Seedling, Mammoth Seedling, Northern Muscadine Cana- 

 dian Chief, Massachusetts White, and, I had almost said, Hartford Prolific ; 

 but I am reminded that the Pomological Society have placed it on the list 

 among the " promising," and that too in such company as the Delaware, 

 Union Village and Rebecca. Promising for what? certainly not as a table 

 grape! Downing describes it — Flesh sweet, moderately juicy, with con- 

 siderable toughness and acidity in its pulp, and with a good deal of native 

 perfume, ripening ten days before t^e Isabella. He might have added, that 

 the berries drop from the stem, when ripe, with the most careful handling; 

 while the quality of the fruit is greatly inferior to the Concord. Its only 

 merit is its earliness, and in this the Delaware is several days ahead of it. 



After several years' experience with all the varieties worth growing, I 

 can with the greatest confidence recommend the Diana and the Delaware 

 for general cultivation ; and that for special or garden culture, the Union 

 Village will be found very desirable. Yours truly, 



Winchester, Mass., JVov. 13, 1858. E. A. Brackett. 



GOOSEBERRIES. 



Gooseberries have been exhibited in the usual quantity, of good quality, 

 and in more than the usual variety the past season. A new seedling, from 

 Houghton's seedling, was exhibited by Mr. Benj. C. Mattingly ; it was a 

 rather small yellow berry, but sweet, pleasant- flavored and good. The 

 gooseberry is not held in very high estimation in this country, and the cli- 

 mate does not seem well adapted to it. 



APPLE. 



To the Northern States there is no fruit crop so important as that of the 

 apple. Coextensive in its duration, by some of its varieties, with that of 



