ESSEX SOCIETY. 77 



the committee consider the best variety in flavor, and the 

 jSnest native Essex county grape, they have as yet seen. Al- 

 though the best of the foxy flavored New England variety, it 

 has that peculiar unpleasant flavor, in some degree, in this 

 otherwise good grape. 



There is an impression in the minds of many cultivators, 

 that if we should transplant the native grapes into our gardens, 

 and manure the soil, cultivating in the best manner, they would 

 lose their foxy flavor and be meliorated in their character. 

 The experiment of Professor Gimbrede, of West Point Acad- 

 emy, would seem to set this matter at rest, and to show, that in 

 order to improve them, the seeds must be planted, and then 

 possibly a new variety may be produced of good quality. This 

 gentleman collected every known variety from the woods, ma- 

 nuring and pruning them with great care, in the hope of 

 changing and ameliorating their character. The experiment 

 was a failure ; although the fruit was greatly increased in size, 

 some berries being larger than the black Hamburg, yet the fla- 

 vor and rough state of the fruit remained the same. The 

 Isabella, which is the most generally cultivated grape for the 

 open air in this quarter, notwithstanding its lateness and diffi- 

 culty of ripening, and which matures finely in its native local- 

 ity, the Carolinas, we have had under cultivation for thirty 

 years, without perceiving the least change in its character, 

 and we cannot account for the remarks of Dr. Underbill, of 

 New York, who says that " it is every year becoming more 

 delicious, containing less pulp,^^ and that " when its character 

 shall be perfected hy cultivation, as it will be, there will be no 

 grape in Europe equal to it." If the Isabella is thus changing 

 its character in New York, is it not strange that no such change 

 has been observed here ? 



The generous premium [fifty dollars] offered by our society, 

 for a native grape which " shall ripen in our county, in the 

 open air and in common exposures, from six to eight weeks 

 earlier than the Isabella, and of as good quality,'''' having pro- 

 duced so good a beginning as we observed at the hall to day, 

 we trust that such a desideratum may yet be obtained. 



JOHN M. IVES, Chairman. 



