SECRETARY'S REPORT. 101 



Haviii<5 pursued it for nearly twenty years, and finding my first 

 opinions greatly modified in the course of that time, I may 

 perhaps save the beginner some time in his practice, which he 

 miglit otherwise lose for want of reliable data to commence 

 upon. 



" I was led to commence the raising of grapes from seed from 

 the impossibility of ripening any of the grapes then in the lists 

 of the nurserymen. Living in the Valley of the Concord, which 

 has a. season shortened at both ends by the early and late frosts 

 incident to such localities ; loving grapes more than any other 

 fruit, but unable to ripen them, I turned my attention to our 

 native stock, and procured from all quarters native vines which 

 had a local reputation for excellence, but found myself disap- 

 pointed in all of them. 



" Believing that a good grape could be obtained out of this 

 stock, and that if T attained success it would lead others to 

 follow the same course, so that in time Massachusetts could 

 have her own grapes, as she already had her Baldwins, her 

 Porters, her Hubbardston and other excellent seedling apples, 

 I set about the matter. I wanted a grape to begin with which 

 should be a vigorous grower, hardy, prolific, early, and with 

 these preliminaries, of as good quality as possible. I found 

 such a grape — a good eating grape for a native — and with this 

 1 began. In five or six years the seedlings bore fruit, — these 

 seeds were planted again, — and from these I obtained the 

 ' Concord,' and from the latter, in the third generation from 

 the beginning, I have got grapes of great variety, some of them 

 excellent, if I may trust my own judgment. The original wild 

 habit seems to be entirely broken up, and from the original 

 stock, black as night, I have obtained grapes white as the 

 Chasselas, delicate of texture, and of a most agreeable flavor. 



" I had hitherto planted these seeds promiscuously in beds of 

 rich soil, and when the seedlings bore fruit all their seeds were 

 planted. This was not the best way. I raised many hundred 

 more seedlings than I had need to, and should have succeeded 

 more rapidly in my purpose if I had planted only the seeds of 

 those grapes which showed the most marked change from the 

 original type. I thought I multiplied my chances of success by 

 putting into the ground the seeds of all the new vines. I had 

 not yet learned that nature makes constant efforts to return to 



