64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



generation from the original Vitis Labrusca of New England, 

 the most hardy stock in the country, and adapted to all the 

 vicissitudes of our climate. Seedlings from the Concord showed 

 still further improvement, both in texture and flavor, and it was 

 not too much to expect that we shall yet have grapes quite as 

 good as the best foreign grapes, which shall also be perfectly hardy 

 and adapted to vineyard culture. The grape for this country 

 must be as purely American as are our politics and our people. He 

 hoped others would take up this really national work, that our 

 final success might be more rapidly achieved, for the seeds of the 

 same grape would show greater variation from the original type 

 when grown in various soils and aspects, than upon that soil 

 where it originated, where all the conditions of soil, culture, and 

 aspect were the same always. He would be glad to furnish 

 seeds to those cultivators who would be willing to grow them; 

 and he was satisfied that no more useful and profitable occupa- 

 tion could be adopted than the raising of various seedlings 

 suited to various localities. The vine is much modified by the 

 soil, climate, and aspect in which it grows. He would not 

 recommend beginning with the native grape in every locality, 

 but the selection of a good, hardy, cultivated variety. He offered 

 to furnish seeds of the Concord, for the purpose of giving a 

 starting point, far in advance of the Vitis Labrusca. 



The discussion in the afternoon was upon farm crops. It 

 was opened by E. W. Stebbins, of Deerfield, who gave his views 

 upon the kind of hay best adapted to feeding cattle. He had 

 satisfied himself that fine hay, such as redtop, rowen, &c., is 

 preferable to the coarser varieties for feeding cattle. Timothy 

 and clover he did not consider profitable food for fattening 

 purposes. He recommended tobacco, wheat, and grass as the 

 best crops for the farmers in the Connecticut Valley. Sixteen 

 hundred pounds of tobacco, thirty bushels of wheat, and two 

 and a half tons of hay are the average crops of this section. 

 Moses Stebbins, of South Deerfield, advocated high cultivation 

 of the soil as the best mode of profitable farming. He spoke 

 earnestly against careless and negligent husbandry, and gave 

 many facts drawn from his own experience and observation to 

 sustain his position. C. 0. Perkins, of Becket, described with 

 great minuteness the crops of Berkshire. His account of the 



