igth January, A. D. 1893. 



ESSAY 



BY 



GP:0RGE B. ANDREWS, of Fitciiburg. 

 Theme: — Hardy Grapes. Their CuUioation and Variety. 



Mr. President : 



Twenty Years in My Own Vineyard. — Thk Grape. 



Will woman ever cease to slug its praises? Or man relax one parti- 

 cle in the interest tliat he has ever felt for this, the most productive, 

 and long lived, fruit-bearing vine. The fact alone that it is one of 

 the oldest fruits of which we have any record, would make its cultiva- 

 tion interesting ; add to this the grace and ease with which it adapts 

 itself to whatever position the viticulturist may see fit to place it. 

 It is not to be wondered at that it entwines itself around our hearts, 

 as in its wild state it does around the giant oak of the forest, climb- 

 ing to the topmost branches that it may bask in God's warm sunlight. 

 Truly you cannot expect much new of me to-day, on this subject. 

 The old saying is that there is nothing new under the sun, and the 

 very fact that this subject has been written upon ever since the deluge 

 would lead one to think that it might be well-nigh threadbare. 



But I have often found myself wondering what particular system 

 Noah adopted in his vineyard ; but it would at least be a little anti- 

 quated for us to follow. As the cry of discovery and immigration 

 has ever been westward, so has the cultivation of the vine pushed 

 itself ever west ; from Asia, where it grew in abundance, to Europe, 

 where in some sections of that country it has formed one of the chief 

 sources of wealth to the people, and the vineyards of France have 

 furnished material for many an artist's canvas. The first settlers in 

 this country found the woods abounding with wild grapes, proofs of 

 which are abundant, one instance in particular occurring in this State, 

 in the town of South Deerfield, called the Bloody Brook massacre, 



