FflUIT CULTURE. 133 



FRUITS. 



ESSEX. 



Essay upon Open Air Grape Culture. — By John 31. lues. 



From the exhibitions of hardy grapes this year, we begin to 

 have hopes that at no distant period the culture of this fruit 

 will be an important branch of industry ; but a few years since 

 the Isabella was the only out-door grape, though only in the 

 most favorable places could it be depended upon to ripen its 

 fruit ; but we now have varieties so much earlier, that this is 

 being fast superseded by sorts not only sure of ripening in this 

 latitude, but of superior size and quality, approaching the foreign 

 kinds in delicacy and richness of flavor. Within a few years, 

 we have had the Delaware, Concord, Hartford Prolific, Rebecca, 

 Creveling, and other valuable kinds, all of which possess some 

 qualities to recommend them as superior to the Isabella ; the 

 Rebecca, Delaware and Creveling, as being earlier, and of good 

 quality, although a little tender and subject to mildew somewhat 

 in foliage, while the Concord, and Hartford Prolific, are among 

 the hardiest in this respect, yet the fruit is not quite equal to 

 some, and has more of the harsh flavor, denominated " foxy," 

 of the wild species. The Adirondac, Wilmington White and 

 Cuyahoga, are new varieties which we have not as yet obtained. 



The Allen Hybrid, raised by J. F. Allen, of Salem, we have 

 never grown, and cannot speak with certainty as to its value as 

 a hardy grape. We have seen specimens of the fruit, of fine 

 quality resembling, to our taste, the White Sweetwater. Some 

 of the cultivators around Boston think well of this variety ; it 

 is certainly a fine-flavored white grape. The Hartford Prolific, 

 although valuable as one of the earliest, and about equal in 

 quality to the Concord, has the fault of dropping its fruit, and 

 the Concord which ripens two or three weeks later, fails to 

 mature its crop in unfavorable seasons. 



Of all the kinds that have come under our notice for the past 

 four years, we have seen none to equal, taking into consideration 

 all desirable qualities, the grapes known as Rogers' Hybrids, 

 raised by E. S. Rogers, of Salem, Mass. His experiment in 

 hybridizing has proved and set at rest a subject which has been 



