120 



Tlie Qrape CuUurtst. 



This is somewhat of a crititjue, I 

 know ; but the kindly feeling existing 

 between us will assure you that it is 

 given in the true spirit. 



Yours truly, S. Miller. 



Bluffton', Mo., March VI, 1870. 



P. S. My former ill success in late 

 grafting I now attribute to keeping the 

 grafts in too dormant a condition. 



S. M. 



[We like to be criticised, as we wish 

 to learn while we teach ; therefore 

 friend Miller need not fear that he will 

 " hurt our feelings." But, while graft- 

 ing is a great help to test new varieties, 

 and for experimenting, we think he 

 will acknowledge that success is not 

 always certain, and that grafting an 



acre or two is rather a serious under- 

 taking for any one who is not familiar 

 with all the niceties of the operation. 

 We believe that nine-tenths of those 

 who have unsatisfactor}^ Catawba vine- 

 yards would do better to dig them up 

 than to graft them, not because gi'aft- 

 ing is not practicable, but because they 

 will not get the grafts to grow, or care- 

 less hands will disturb and ruin them 

 when they are growing. Thus it is 

 with scions on which the buds have 

 started already. We all know that the 

 bud is extremely brittle and tender 

 then, and that the slightest touch will 

 break it. Therefore we advise early 

 grafting whea root and scion are yet 

 dormant and can be handled with im- 

 punity. — Ed.] 



THE EUMELAN. 



This variety was found as a chance 

 seedling at Fishl<ill, N, Y., where it has 

 been in cultivation in the garden of 

 Messrs. Thorne for man}- years, jdelding 

 abundant crops of grapes, remarkable 

 both for goodness and earliness. The 

 original vines were purchased by Dr. C. 

 W. Grant, and are now in the possession 

 of his successors, Messrs. Hasbrook & 

 Bushnell, lona Island, from whom we 

 obtained it. As we can not speak of 

 it from our own experience, we give the 

 description of its progagator, Dr. Grant, 

 leaving out all excessive praise, which, 

 in our opinion, has damaged his success 

 more than all his opponents : 



" Bunches of large size, elegant form, 

 and proper degree of compactness ; ber- 

 ries large black, with fine bloom, ad- 

 hering firmly to the bunch long after 



ripening ; flesh tender, melting, all go- 

 ing to wine-like juice under slight pres- 

 sure of the tongue ; ripening very early 

 (even before the Hartford) and evenly 

 to the centre ; flavor pure and refined, 

 very sugary, rich and vinous, with a 

 large degree of that refreshing quality 

 that belongs distinctively to the best 

 black foreign wine grapes. Vine a strong 

 grower, producing remarkably short- 

 jointed wood ; leaves large, thick, dark- 

 colored, firm in texture (it strikingly 

 resembles Elsinburg), and gives promise 

 of being a very hard}-, early, healthy 

 grape. The American Horticultural 

 Annual of 1869, says of the Eumelan : 

 • This variety has been tested in several 

 localities. It has proved with us, near 

 New York, remarkably healthy in foli" 

 age. Tiie ICumelan makes a superior 



