146 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



moderate expense for suitable manures, it will yield a large crop 

 of delicious and noble fruit. If, on account of distance from 

 market, or other reasons, it does not find a ready sale, it can be 

 made into wine, with but little more care than is required to 

 make good cider. In this State, there are thovisands of gravelly 

 hill-sides inclining to the south south-west and west, which are 

 now given up to shrubs and dwarf trees ; they might be 

 reclaimed and made to yield an income of from $300 to |1,200 

 per acre, every year. Good, ripe grapes can be sold in Boston, 

 in large quantities, at from eight to fifteen cents per pound. 



A cultivator of the vine, who has had large experience, told 

 me, that with land worth fifty dollars per acre, it cost him five 

 cents per pound (all expenses included) to raise Concord grapes. 

 This was in the vicinity of Lowell. In three years from the 

 time of planting, the vines commence to yi^ld ; if spur pruned, 

 at that age, they will average four or five pounds to the vine. 

 In the fourth year they will ripen ten or twelve pounds ; and 

 after that, with good treatment, from fifteen to twenty pounds 

 every year, for at least from thirty to fifty years. 



In Europe there are many vineyards that have been in culti- 

 vation for more than a century. The fruit of the vine is con- 

 sidered so healthy, that, in many parts of Europe, " grape 

 cures " are established, where the sick are treated with a regu- 

 lated diet, consisting, mainly of ripe and juicy grapes, and in 

 many cases we are told, with the best results. The man who 

 stands in a European vineyard looks upon the result of twenty 

 centuries of culture and improvement ; for the original stock of 

 the European wine grape (Vitis Vinifera) was a small, hard, 

 and sour grape, brought from Syria. 



In the botanical garden of the city of Dijon, in France, there 

 are six hundred varieties of grape-vine. It is unfortunate for 

 the present generation, that the highly improved and saccharine 

 grapes of Europe cannot be naturalized in this country and 

 grown in the open air. All experiments in this direction, have 

 failed, unless protection has been given either by means of glass 

 or high walls. The foliage is thin and tender, and cannot resist 

 the rapid and extreme changes of temperature incident to this 

 climate. The vine becomes sickly, and at once falls a prey to 

 mildew. We must follow the example of Europe, and grow our 

 own vines from strong and hardy stocks to be found in our 



