144 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



It strikes us that an addition to the few already existing 

 varieties of real excellence, well suited to this climate, would 

 be desirable. When this small number is compared with those 

 of the pear and the apple, it certainly is a meagre show. Now 

 we see no reason why, with the same labor and pains that has 

 been bestowed on other fruits, for this purpose, an equal suc- 

 cess may not be attained, and we think that the results would 

 be more ^ speedily obtained, than in fruits of a slower growth 

 and bearing. 



The history of the development of the pear, reveals to us the 

 inexhaustible resources of nature, to evolve and multiply varie- 

 ties, and to increase their excellence. And we doubt not, that 

 these skilful and mysterious forces, in their latent and hidden 

 capacities, are richly laden with the germs of numberless 

 varieties of the grape, which for excellence and fitness for our 

 climate, may surpass any as yet known. 



"When we consider that the grape is indigenous to this 

 country, growing everywhere, on river-side, and on hillside, 

 climbing over and along old stone walls, and on high forest 

 trees, flourishing in exuberance without care and cultivation, 

 we cannot withstand the conviction that Providence designed 

 that the grape should become an article of agricultural pro- 

 duction. And we cannot but believe, that under the skilful, 

 developing hand of man, guided by a true knowledge of the 

 laws of grape culture, tliis fruit may, by the same ameliorating 

 process, follow the history of the pear, and from the wild state 

 of one or two kinds, expand into numberless varieties of superior 

 excellence, and suited to the necessities of our climate. 



In the matter of the care and management of the grape vine, 

 we have taken the liberty to cull the following few extracts 

 from a paper prepared by R. H. Phelps of Connecticut, 

 entitled, " Cultivation of Grapes in Ne'w England,", and pub- 

 lished in " Patent Office Report for 1858, Department of Agri- 

 culture." We deem them of far more worth than any ihing we 

 could offer from our own experience and observation. 



Soil and its Preparation. — " As a general rule, we prefer 

 a porous soil, moist in a degree, but not retentive of moisture 

 — a warm, friable loam, which can be readily pulverized, and is 

 not liable to become hard baked by the sun. A soil abounding 

 in disintegrated rocks, reddish gravel, or brown protoxide of iron, 



