SECRETARY'S REPORT. 151 



and so difficult of access that the workmen have to be let down 

 with ropes to plant the vine and to harvest the crops, arc planted 

 with tliis choice gift of the Creator. 



That the cultivation of the grape is more profitable than the 

 usual husbandry of the farm, is seen in the fact, that even in 

 those countries where wine is cheapest and most abundant, it is 

 among their most valuable staples ; it goes to the head of all 

 their husbandry, and is the most profitable crop they can raise. 

 I hope to show you that in our good old State, whose only 

 staples have been said to be granite and ice, the cultivation of 

 the grape is more profitable than any other. 



But success in this new culture cannot be achieved without a 

 proper understanding of all the aspects of the case. Soil, climate 

 and exposition, as well as skilful and intelligent management, 

 enter into the problem, and I propose to show, out of an experi- 

 ence of twenty-five years, the conclusions I have arrived at in 

 this connection. • 



And first, let me say, that the grape is inflexible in its charac- 

 teristics, and refuses, more perhaps than any other fruit, to bend 

 to the arts of the horticulturist. Chaptal states this distinctly, 

 as well as the ancient writers on the grape. Some vines, say 

 they, cannot endure the fetvid rays of the Italian sun, while 

 others are naught without them. Some require space — climbing 

 to the tops of the highest trees — while others need close planting, 

 aivd can with difficulty be brought to the top of the espalier. 

 Some are " patient " of vicissitudes of weather ; others cannot 

 endure them. Some are hardy against frost, while others cannot 

 bear it. The famous Corinth grape, from which the " currants" 

 of commerce are made, will only grow in a few localities which 

 are specially adapted to it, tmd either refuses to grow at all, or 

 changes its character, when grown elsewhere. " It is," says 

 Denman, " extremely fastidious in its selection of the soil and 

 temperature suited to its growth, and its after development is 

 so slow, that for six years it bears no fruit at all, and does not 

 yield a full crop before the fifteenth season. It thrives best on 

 the southern shores of the gulfs of Corinth and Lepanto, and on 

 ancient Peloponnesus. The only other places where it will 

 grow, are three of the more fertile of the Ionian Isles, for they 

 resist every attempt at transplanting to other countries of similar 

 temperature or latitude. In Sicily and Malta, the cuttings 



