344 Production of Grapes. — Premium on Diseases of Cattle. Vol. IX. 



Prom Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture. 



Oil the Production of hardy Seedling 

 Grapes by hybridizing the Native with 

 the Foreign Grape. 



It is abundantly manifest that horticul- 

 ture is attracting just now a very large 

 share of public attention. Experimental at- 

 tempts have been at various times made, to 

 improve or modify the character or quality 

 of fruits and flowers; in some instances with 

 a full or limited measure of success, in others 

 with no good results whatever. It is highly 

 interesting, even though we fail, to endea- 

 vour to make good better, nor can there be 

 presented to the mind of an intelligent man, 

 a subject more worthy of a liberal portion of 

 his attention, than the probability of sue 

 ceeding by hybridization, in producing a 

 fruit superior to its parents, and at the same 

 time so changed in its character, as to be 

 hardy, where it has been previously known 

 only as partially so, or not at all. 



For how long a time has there been an 

 anxiety to possess a grape as vigorous as the 

 Isabella, of as free growth in the open air, 

 requiring as little care, — some think they 

 require very little — and as good a bearer, 

 with the additional quality of the fruit's 

 being as far superior to that variety as the 

 Black Hamburgh is acknowledged to be. 

 Frequently have we been told that the de- 

 sideratum has been obtained, and under a 

 host of names have these new sorts been 

 offered to us with not one quality to recom- 

 mend them but the change of appellation ; 

 it lias been "Napoleon," alias "Isabella," 

 and every thing else to no purpose, but that 

 of falling back " ab origine"' and taking a 

 fresh start. 



Where an attempt is made to produce a 

 vine of the kind so much wanted, and ripen- 

 ing a superior bunch of fruit, something more 

 must be done than merely changing names, 

 however high sounding these may bo. Our 

 operations must be conducted upon correct 

 principles, under favourable circumstances, 

 and with every possible care. We must 

 clearly understand what it is we ara aiming 

 at, and bring the matter to a reasonably sat- 

 isfactory conclusion, ere we may indulge the 

 hope of ultimate success, or lead others to 

 believe that we have accomplished any 

 thing more than those who have preceded 

 us. 



With every facility for bringing about a 

 most important result, we have succeeded 

 in fertilizing the Black Hamburgh with the 

 pollen of the Isabella, and so guarding our 

 operations from first to last, as to obviate 

 the possibility of any mistake. The bunch 

 of grapes ripened to perfection, were of great 



size, and most delicious flavour. From the 

 seed thus obtained, we have now about a 

 dozen plants in perfect health, and remark- 

 ably handsome looking. The leaves are 

 beautifully shaped, of a bright green, and 

 very deeply serrated. Many of our friends 

 have seen them, and by several they have 

 been immediately noticed as peculiar in 

 their appearance. To say at this stage of 

 our proceedings what may be the properties 

 of these vines as fruiting plants cannot be 

 deemed too much in advance of a fair calcu- 

 lation, based upon the known qualities of 

 their parents, the one for its hardiness and 

 strong growth, the other for its superb fruit. 

 They may, and in all probability will be, as 

 good as the Isabella for such qualities as are 

 in its favour, and bear fruit, though perhaps 

 not fully equal to the Hamburgh, yet as far 

 superior to the male parent, as that is to the 

 common Fox grape. Should this turn out 

 to be so — and we think it will — the point at 

 which we have been long aiming will have 

 been attained, and a vine possessing every 

 desirable quality put within the reach of all 

 for general cultivation. 



We shall take care to ascertain all par- 

 ticulars as soon as practicable, and make 

 them known when we are satisfied fully of 

 their perfect correctness; not speculating 

 carelessly with the credulity of our co-la- 

 bourers or the public, but giving them the 

 true result whatever that may be. 



W. W. V. 



Flushing, L. I., March 3rd, 1845. 



Premium on Diseases of Cattle. 



Read before the Farmers' Club May 6th, 

 and communicated to the Farmer and 

 Mechanic. 



Paris, February, 1S45. 



The Minister of Agriculture has placed 

 at the disposal of the Royal and Central 

 Society, the sum of 1500 francs, (S300,) as 

 a premium for the author of the best writ- 

 ten or printed memoir upon the typhus of 

 cattle and other domestic animals. The 

 Society, on the report of a special commit- 

 tee, has adopted the following programme: 



Art. 1. The memoir must contain the ex- 

 planation of the characteristic symptoms 

 wiiich at the beginning distinguish the ty- 

 phus from the other diseases of cattle, and 

 a description of the modifications which 

 those symptoms undergo in the three pe- 

 riods of the attack, the greatest extent and 

 the decline of the disease, and finally the 

 various modes of treatment for the disease, 

 and the results. 



Art. 2. And very particularly the lesions, 

 on opening the body, the alterations of the 



