142 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



March 



the wide-spread interest now manifested in rela- 

 tion to the cultivation of the grape. The time, 

 he said, was within the recollection of some pres- 

 ent, when the Catawba and the Isabella were first 

 brought into notice. Hundreds of cultivators 

 were now raising seedlings, and the day v/ould 

 soon come when our markets would vie with those 

 of Italy, Sicily, and other grape-growing coun- 

 tries, where this luscious fruit is not only a lux- 

 ury to the opulent, but the food of the humblest 

 peasant. Our native wines were attracting at- 

 tention in Europe, and at a late convention in 

 Belgium, our Catawba was pronounced superior 

 to the best varieties of Rhine wine. Our own 

 Concord grape, also, had attained great estimation 

 among wine-growers, as had been testified to by 

 Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati. We have been 

 compelled to give merely the substance of Col. 

 Wilder's remarks. 



Hon, B. V. French, made a few remarks in 

 favor of draining the soil for the production of 

 the finer fruits, as the higher the culture the more 

 perfect the produce. His subsequent remarks 

 were very practical, and of great value. 



Mr. Bull, of Concord, had spent much of his 

 time in cultivating the grape, and had not been 

 rewarded for his labor, because experience 

 taught him that our imported varieties were not 

 to be depended on, and suggested that our na- 

 tive varieties would have to be resorted to in 

 order to produce a grape suited to the circum- 

 stances of safe cultivation. The carrying out this 

 idea produced the Concord grape, and others from 

 it which he thought to be of greater value ; and a 

 continuation of the same process would result in 

 the obtaining of a great variety of grapes, each 

 suited to the soils and circumstances of the Com- 

 monwealth. As to the field culture of the grape, 

 if wine-making was all that was required, it was 

 ready for adoption ; but if it was desired that the 

 field grape should be a good table grape here, 

 experience and research, arid time, must bring it 

 forward. The combination of delicacy of aroma 

 and hardiness in the meantime was not to 

 be found in openly cultivated grapes, although 

 the day was close at hand when it would be so. 

 Speaking practically of the cultivation of the 

 grape, Mr. Bull commended the use of sulphur 

 as a preventive of mildew in the case of the im- 

 ported varieties, as the absence of it aggravated 

 the mildew ; but it was better to have a grape 

 that would not require such artificial cultivation 

 — that would be hardy under any common cir- 

 cumstances — such a grape as would not demand 

 unusual attention on the average of soils, one 

 that might be treated in the commonest manner. 

 The Concord grape had proved itself of this 

 kind, and Mr. Bull hoped that he might be in a 

 position to be the instrument of restoring to 



many places the healthy grape, in place of the 

 diseased one. Mr. B. was not in favor of pruning 

 close, but commended what is called the spur sys- 

 tem, and he found it the most profitable and its 

 results the most productive. Other practical re- 

 marks were made which were too elaborate for 

 our space. He wished that all grape growers 

 would commence to grow from seed, as by that 

 process they would best arrive at their main pur- 

 pose — improvement. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, made a few ob- 

 servations on the evil of opening apple trees too 

 much on the top by pruning, which he thought 

 was too much talked of and practiced to be prof- 

 itable or prudent. He objected to planting fruit 

 trees too far apart, and recommended 30 feet, as 

 that distance was more favorable to the protec- 

 tion of an orchard from heavy winds than any 

 other — always providing for a sufficient ventila- 

 tion. He disapproved of all croppings of orch- 

 ards ; but thought if it was decided on, the 

 squash was the best crop that could be adopted. 

 The best apple he knew was the Baldwin, for all 

 purposes — shipping included — and he suggested 

 a monument to be erected on the spot where the 

 first Baldwin tree grew in Wilmington. The spot 

 was well defined, and he hoped the suggestion 

 would be carried out, as nothing had proved 

 more profitable to Massachusetts than tlie Bald- 

 win apple. Mr. Sheldon stated that the original 

 tree had been destroyed by lightning. 



The Chairman confessed that he had been lax 

 in his duty as a member of a committee appoint- 

 ed to attend to the matter of this monument ; 

 but Mr. Sheldon excused the presiding officer, 

 on the ground that he had always over-worked 

 himself in the cause of agricultural and horticul- 

 tural progress. 



Messrs. Buckminster, Wetherell, Davis, 

 and Lake, of Topsfield, severally made some 

 valuable practical remarks. The latter gentle- 

 man went in for thorough draining as the prima- 

 ry condition of successful fruit-raising. He com- 

 mended the Seckel and Winter Nelis and Easter 

 Beurre as being among the best pears we could 

 grow, and gave his preference to the Rebecca 

 grape, the Delaware, Diana, Clinton and Con- 

 cord. 



The questions of hybridizing and pruning were 

 incidentally touched upon. With respect to the 

 former no rule of management was decided on as 

 the best, nor was the system apparently ap- 

 proved, as the fear seemed to exist that the im- 

 portation to a hardy rough grape of the qualities 

 of a finer one would give it also a proneness to 

 the diseases which infested our finer sorts. As 

 to pruning, the general idea was that beginning 

 in time, and using no implement more formida- 

 ble than the pocket-knife was the best mode of 



