EEPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FRUITS. 13 



September 11th, Delaware received the first prize, and Adirondac the 

 second, as early varieties. At the Annual Exhibition our tables were 

 completely full, and we doubt if a finer disjilay could be made in any 

 part of the country. The Delawares and Concords were particularly 

 fine, and also the exceptional Isabella, though it is not exceptional for 

 Mr. Wellington to produce this variety in unsurpassed excellence. lona 

 was not fully ripe. We regret to say that it does not appear to be as 

 early as Concord. Mr. Allen Putnam presented a Grape, called Nashua, 

 which appears to rank between the Hartford and Concord, sweeter than 

 either and does not droji. We regard it as promising. Several seed- 

 lings, by C. F. Gerry and James Comley, did not sufficiently indicate 

 their character or merit to require notice. The seedlings of S. W. 

 Underbill, which were described in oiir rej^ort last year, were again on 

 our tables at the Annual Exliibition. They continue to sustain their 

 character and we must regard them as the most promising varieties now 

 on trial. Mr. Underbill regards the Seuasqua, which he states to be a 

 cross between Concord and Black Prince, as the most valuable. It has 

 much of the character of Black Prince, is brisk, juicy, tender, with no 

 pulp, excellent in quality. It is said to be remarkably healthy and 

 vigorous in growth, and, if it shall so prove, we know of no drawback, 

 except its time of ripening, which may indeed be serious for this sec- 

 tion. It is said to be no earlier and probably is a little later than Con- 

 cord. Another black Grape of same parentage and similarly resembling 

 the Prince, though not quite equalling Seuasqua in quality, is thovight 

 to be two weeks earlier, and this point may determine its value with us. 

 These two were more fully described last season, as was also the white 

 Grape now named Croton. This last is of the Chasselas type, having 

 the foliage of one of its jDarents, the Delaware, though larger and thicker. 

 It is said to be very vigorous and healthy, and, if so, it must be valuable. 

 Possibly suthcient notice has not been taken of the Fedora of Mr. James 

 Cruickshank. For several years creditable specimens of the Chasselas 

 type have been upon our tables, your committee presuming that the 

 fruit was obtained in some favorable position in the neighboring city of 

 Chelsea. Mr. Merrick, of the committee, has visited the vines this sea- 

 son and states that he found vines in fruit on the first of October in 

 two difterent gardens. "In one, the vine was trained upon a high trellis 

 about four feet in front of a brick wall, with a southern exposure. The 

 clusters on this vine were large, fair and fully ripe, as were the Grapes 

 on a Kebecca and Delaware vine on the same trellis. The foliage, 

 which seemed here, perhaps, a little scanty, was perfectly healthy. Other 

 vines were found growing in a shady low spot of ground, where mildew 

 might be expected, but they were all healthy and vigorous. The fruit 

 is of a marked Chasselas type, and the vine is undoubtedly a seedling of 

 some Chasselas variety. Time and experiment alone can determine its 

 value for general cultivation." Mr. Dana's seedlings, the Dana and 



