SECRETARY'S REPORT. 107 



This was before the crop was harvested. Subsequently the 

 secretary of the society, J. B. Moore, visited the vineyard 

 of Mr. Hunt, and staking off a lot of vines which he considered 

 a fair average of the whole field, gathered and weighed the 

 crop, and in his report on grapes, published in the " Middlesex 

 Transactions " for 18G2, speaks as follows : — 



"The distance apart tliat the vines should be planted is a question to 

 be settled by more experience. Mr. Hunt plants, as you will see by his 

 statement, eight feet by seven, which gives fifty-six square feet to a vine, 

 or nearly seven hundred and seventy-eight vines to the acre. They are 

 as yet but small vines, trained to a stake, like a common bean pole, but 

 have already produced, on an average, fifteen and one-half pounds of 

 grapes to a vine the present season, with only ordinary cultivation, 

 being 12,059 pounds to the acre, which, at twelve and a half cents 

 per pound, which is no more than the average price for the last few 

 years, amounts to $1,507.37, and at ten cents per pound, a price for 

 which large quantities could be sold, would amount to $1,205.90. This 

 will well repay the grower." 



He adds : — 



" To those who intend to cultivate the grape as an article of profit, we 

 woulcTsay that we think it offers a more certain return in dollars and 

 cents than any other fruit. The statements we have made, in regard to 

 profits, are not fimcy estimates, but may be relied on." 



Your committee have endeavored to show in this report, 

 necessarily imperfect, for it would require a separate report on 

 each subject relating to grape culture to do it full justice, that 

 the cultivation of the grape in Massachusetts will probably be 

 attended with entire success. The enthusiasm which is now 

 apparent in the public mind, in regard to it, is one of the first 

 fruits of the success which has attended the efforts of the 

 pioneers in this pursuit ; a success which is both the reward of 

 their labors and a pledge of still further successes. 



To accomplish this final and assured success, that is to say, to 

 obtain grapes of the best quality both for the table and for wine, 

 grapes which we shall be able to grow without difficulty in all 

 parts of our good old Commonwealth, it is only necessary that 

 our horticulturists shall enter heartily upon the work of raising 

 new grapes suited to our climate. It will be a labor which will 



