ESSEX SOCIETY. 79 



same time say to all, who possess any love of fruit, or who have 

 families that like it, take any method that pleases them, or 

 which their friends, with or without experience, or books writ- 

 ten expressly on the subject, are pleased to recommend, for in 

 either way, in a very few j^ears, even should the method pursued 

 not be the most successful, it will result in a generous supply 

 of fruit, and of a quality sufficiently excellent to afford great 

 satisfaction in the use. If there be a tree that can be spared, 

 set a vine beside it, and let it spread itself out upon its branches. 

 If there be a wall or fence it will well answer the place of a 

 costly trellis. If there be a rock upon which, to take an illus- 

 tration from the Scripture, no one ploughs, let a vine cover it, 

 and let no one neglect to cultivate, altogether, because he has 

 not time or means to do it, in the most scientific and expensive 

 manner. The example set by Daniel Rogers, in Newbury, is 

 good. Some years since he set a vine, taken from the wood- 

 land, beside a large rock near his house. This vine soon spread 

 out and covered the rock, and has produced bountifully. Two 

 years since, when visited by the chairman c^ the committee, it 

 was judged to have at least seven bushels of very good grapes 

 upon its branches, and should it continue to increase as it has 

 done for years past, there is no reason to doubt but double this 

 quantity may often be gathered from it. 



A little fruit is better than none, and that which the many 

 may call indifferent, possesses excellences enough to justify the 

 cultivation of it where better cannot be obtained. One fact is 

 certain, that there are no grapes growing in our wild lands 

 but are anxiously sought and eaten with avidity, nor any 

 that are cultivated but will be thankfully received by all, if pre- 

 sented to them; none but will be purchased if exposed in the 

 market, and we may add, none but what will be stolen if op- 

 portunities are discovered. From all which circumstances, the 

 committee feel justified in saying, that, in the unprejudiced es- 

 timation of the community, the grapes of our own county are 

 well worth cultivation, and that a much greater supply of them 

 is required to satisfy the general demand. 



GARDNER B. PERRY, Chairnian. 



