308 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



miums, at future exhibitions. The specimens exhibited this 

 year reflected great credit on the patience, ingenuity and scien- 

 tific researcli of the contributors. 



We would, before closing, suggest to parents who cultivate 

 flowers for the silent, elevating influences which they exert on 

 the minds of their children, that we know of lione more desira- 

 ble for this effect than the early spring blooming ones, some of 

 which we have already named. They spring up from the just 

 opening earth so unexpectedly as often to take children by sur- 

 prise and fill their hearts with a joy never to be forgotten. 

 Crocuses, of which there are some half a dozen common kinds, 

 may be bought usually as low as six cents a dozen, and at auc- 

 tion much lower, and are hardy and multiply very fast ; snow- 

 drops, which are the earliest bloomers, cost a little more, and 

 increase like the crocus, as do also narcissi, jonquils, daffodils, 

 tulips, hyacinths and all the hardy bulbs of the kind, and will, 

 when once in the ground, remain with a little care, increasing 

 perpetually. 



Eastman Sanborn, Chairman, 



MIDDLESEX. 



Statement hij E. W. Bull. 



Grape Culture. — The grape has been cultivated from the 

 earliest ages, and wine was made from it in periods of remotest 

 history. The European grape was derived from the East. 

 Gradually spreading from Syria into Greece, and along the 

 coasts of the Mediterranean, it finally reached even England, 

 where at one time it was much cultivated. 



This family of grapes, however, is not hardy enough to endure 

 our severe climate, and it has been considered a capital error 

 on our part, to liave endeavored to acclimatize the foreign 

 grape instead of improving our native stock, which being indige- 

 nous, and perfectly at home in our variable climate, might be 

 expected to yield in time a grape of good quality and easy of 

 cultivation. 



The Jiative grape had indeed yielded several varieties of merit 

 many years since, prominent among which were the Isabella and 

 Catawba, excellent grapes, where the climate permitted them to 



