REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMITTEE ON FRUITS, 



FOR THE YEAR 1874, 

 By HERVEY DAVIS, Chairman. 



The season of 1873-4 has been somewhat remafkable in several 

 respects. November and the first part of December, 1873, were 

 the coldest known for many years ; the balance of the winter was 

 very mild, the thermometer falling but little if any below zero ; 

 and this was followed by a very cold and backward spring and 

 generally cold summer, particularly August, which was remark- 

 able for its cold, damp nights, during several of which in succes- 

 sion, the thermometer fell as low as 52° to 48°. This very cold 

 weather with the very heavy dews, caused the grape vines to mil- 

 dew, and consequently the failure, to a great extent, of the grape 

 crop of Massachusetts and other New England States. Even the 

 Concord, which has always been considered the most hardy of all 

 grapes, was in some cases nearly ruined, and in all places very 

 much affected by the cold and damp of July and August. Septem- 

 ber was also colder than usual, but during October and the first 

 half of November, the weather was remarkably pleasant, causing 

 many kinds of grapes to mature and ripen which otherwise would 

 have been entirely worthless. The weekly exhibitions were most 

 of them affected more or less by the lateness of the season, as our 

 schedule of prizes was made out to correspond with that of former 

 seasons, and was not suited to the present, most of the fruits 

 being from ten to fifteen days later than usual ; but our exhibi- 

 tions as a whole during the year have been up to, if not beyond, 

 the average of the past ten years. 



