162 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEK. 



April 



THE CONCORD GRAPE. 



Long ago impressed witJi the opinion that our 

 native grape was capable of being greatly ameli- 

 orated and improved, through the seeds, Mr. 

 E. W. Bull turned his attention to their production, 

 and now has growing more than 2000 seedling 

 plants, from some of which he hopes even to beat 

 himself. It will take a long time to prove them 

 all, but tlie result cannot be otherwise than im- 

 portant ; for the natural habit of the vine once 

 changed or broken, variation takes place in such a 

 manner that no opinion can be formed of the 

 product. His success in raising the Concord 

 Grape is the best proof of this. 



Mr. Bull has given a brief history of this new 

 variety, and it will be noticed that he calls it a 

 seedling from our native grape of the second 

 generation. It is this ; some years ago he found a 

 chance seedling growing upon his grounds near 

 a wall ; as there are no wild grapes in the near 

 vicinity of his place, lie removed it to his garden, 

 where he watched it with some care, and gave 

 it good cultivation. In a year or two it produced 

 a few bunches of fruit, ripening as early as the 

 last part of August, and remarkably sweet and 

 free from the foxy flavor of the wild type. The 

 idea at once occurred to him that another gener- 

 ation would be a still greater improvement, and a 

 parcel of seeds was saved for planting. His an- 

 ticipations have been fully realized ; the Concord 

 Grape was the produce of these seeds. We annex 

 Mr. Bull's account of the origin of his vine. 



Concord, Mass., January, 1854. 



"I send you the history of the Concord Grape, 

 •M^ich you desired for your excellent Magazine. 

 I have by no means said all that can be said for it, 

 my desire being to have it come fully up to the 

 expectations of those who may cultivate it, which 

 I have no doubt it will. 



" I believe I have before stated to you that my 

 vine is growing on a poor sandy loam, overlaying 

 gravel, which has not been trenched and but slight- 

 ly manured ; add to this, the late spring and 

 early autumn frosts, which we are liable to in 

 this deep valley of Concord, and the summer 

 droughts, which are very severe with me, and I 

 think you will conclude with me that it will be 

 likely to keep up to its character under almost 

 any circumstances. 



"And here let me say that T have cultivated the 

 Isabella, and many other kinds of grape, for fif- 

 teen years, without being able to ripen them in 

 open culture, and it was this constant failure which 

 led me, ten years since, to raise seedlings from 

 our native grapes, in the hope that I should obtain 

 a hardy grape that would give me a sure supply 

 for my tal)les. In this I have succeeded beyond 

 my expectations. 



"The Concord Grape is a seedling, in the second 

 generation,of our native grape, and fruited for 

 the first time four years since, l)eing at that time 

 the only seedling I had raised which showed a de- 

 cided improvement on the wild type. 



"Notwithstanding its unfavorable position, it 

 has proved a groat grower and bearer, and very 

 consant to its quality and season. Tlie seedlin'j- 

 from which the Concord was raisod grow near to 

 a Catawba, and, it is quite possible, was imprc"-- 

 nat(;d by it, it having the flavor of that variety. 

 Tiie parent vine was a good and sweet grape, 

 large, black, and ripe the 20th of August. ' 



"Tlie Concord grape, as I said before, is a strong 

 grower; the wood strong, the foliage large, thick, 

 strongly ncn'ed, with a woolly under-surface, and 

 has never mildewed nor rusted under any vicissi 

 tudes of weather. 



"The grape is large, fi-cquentiy an inch in diam- 

 eter, and the bunches handsome, shouldered, and 

 sometimes weigh a pound. In color it is a ruddy 

 black, covered with a dense blue Isloom, the skin 

 very thin, the juice abundant, with a sweet aro- 

 matic flavor, and it has very little pulp. 



"It ripens the 10th of September. The first 

 ripe bunch of the season was exhibited at the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society's Room, on the 

 3d of September, 1853. The vine was neither 

 pruned nor pinched, nor had application of any of 

 the horticultural arts, whereby precocity and size 

 are attained, my object being to ascertain what 

 would be the constant habit of the vine I suppose 

 that its quality would be much improved in a more 

 favorable climate, and that its superiority to the 

 Isabella would be as apparent under such circum- 

 stances as it is here. 



"The great want of the country in this latitude 

 is a good table and wine grape, which shall also 

 be early, hardy, and prolific. The Concord Grape 

 fulfils these conditions, and I feel a sincei'e plea- 

 sure in offering it to my countrymen." 



E. W. Bull." 



We close our account of the Concord Grape 

 with a more full description. 



Bunch, large, long, neither comparct nor loose, 

 handsomely shouldered ; Berries, roundish, large,, 

 three-quarters of an inch in diameter, sometimes 

 measuring an inch ; Shin, thin, very dark, covered 

 with a thick blue bloom ; Flesh, very juicy, nearly 

 or quite free from pulp; Flavor, rich saccharine, 

 and sprightly, with much of the delicious aroma 

 of the Catawba; ViJie, very vigorous, making strong 

 wood; Leaves, very large, thick, strongly nerved, 

 not much lobed, and woollj' beneath. — Hovey^s 

 Magazine. 



For the Nov Ensr/and Farmer. 



ERROR IN JUDGMENT. 



Mr. Editor : — It was recently urged, by an em- 

 inent gentleman. President or Vice President of 

 one of our County Agricultural Societies I believe, 

 that deep plowing and thorotigh pulverization was 

 all that was necessary to be done, to prepare land 

 for a crop ; — and that no benefit whatever accrued 

 from the application of manures. In proof of 

 this, he said he had grown four acres of corn the 

 last season , that yielded forty-four bushels to the 

 acre, (fair measure,) by this manner of cultivation. 

 I fully credit his statement. Now, sir, suppose 

 four cords of manure had been applied to the acre, 

 would he not probably have had Jifly per cent. 

 more corn ; and would not his land have been in a 

 much better condition for the production of grass, 

 for lialf a dozen years to come? The putting for- 

 ward such statements, by men of high standing 

 in the community, does much harm. Under very 

 peculiar circumstances, perhaps, a fair crop can be 

 grown without manure ; but such crops will not 

 Iiogin to justify the omission of its application. 

 And whoever concludes that it will, errs in jtidg- 

 mcnt. * 



Feb. 22, 1854. 



