100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and again, vines " the delicate flavor of wliose wines is changed 

 with the country ;" vines also which " rejoice most in a fat and 

 oosy ground, because it is able to give fruitfulness to vines that 

 are naturally small and slender ;" and some which will not 

 endure a fat soil, but require a leaner ground ; grapes which 

 do best in cool climates, shrinking and perishing with great 

 heat, and grapes which are nothing without great heat ; vines — 

 Genevan — which bear frost ; vines which cast their fruit when 

 ripe, and vines which 'climb the tallest trees, while some will 

 scarcely reach the top of the espalier. 



This was in Italy, eighteen hundred years ago, and the author 

 considered the matter of so much importance that, after a full 

 review of the difficulties attending it, so that " many doubted 

 if they ought to have vineyards at all," he recommends the 

 raising of vines fj'om seed, enforcing his proposal by the state- 

 ment that the " income of vineyards is the most abundant of 

 any." 



The horticulturist who shall succeed in obtaining a new 

 grape of improved quality will not only receive a handsome 

 profit for himself, but confer a lasting benefit on his fellow- 

 citizens. This all good men desire, and this will be an addi- 

 tional inducement to such men to enter upon the raising of 

 new grapes from seed. To those who are inclined to engage in 

 this pursuit we offer the following suggestions. 



The chairman of your committee has been engaged in raising 

 new varieties of the grape from seed for more than twenty years. 

 He adopted tlie mode of breeding from our native stock for 

 reasons which will be obvious to those who read our remarks 

 on hybridizing. We believe his method to be the best, and 

 those who adopt it will have the satisfaction of knowing that 

 they will not be obliged — as he was — to " begin at the begin- 

 ning," but will have the advantage of starting from the new 

 stand-point, so that, by raising new varieties from the seeds of 

 those already obtained, they will have a reasonable assurance of 

 success within a short period compared to tiiat which he found 

 neccssai-y. From his" report to the Board of Agriculture, pub- 

 lished in the Seventh Annual Report of the Secretary, we quote: — 



" Perhaps I cannot do a better service in this connection 

 than to state my own experience in this branch of horticulture 



