68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



being early. Its foliage mildews badly, and the vine needs to 

 be covered in winter. Only fit for amateur cultivators. 



"We have given a brief notice of a few of the more prominent 

 among the many sorts we have cultivated, with the feeling that 

 we have not yet seen just the grape we want for a New England 

 climate. It remains for some fortunate individual to give us a 

 variety that shall prove as hardy as the Concord, as good in 

 quality as the lona, large and handsome as a well-ripened Rogers 

 No. 4 ; that will resist mildew of foliage and rot of fruit, and 

 will ripen a w^eek or ten days earlier than the Hartford. Do we 

 expect too much ? We think not, in view of the progress that 

 has been made within the last twenty years. Though we have 

 given a somewhat discouraging view of grape-growing, still we 

 say to all who have a home, who own a rod or yard of ground, 

 to plant a grape-vine, and do the best he can with it, and he Avill 

 get good ripe grapes possibly three years out of five. With the 

 new varieties that we hear about, and that are being offered for 

 sale, it is possible that he may be able to do even better than 

 that. Plant only the best, then take the best care of them. We 

 feel certain that we have spoken on this subject many things that 

 some of our auditors will not fully indorse, but we have spoken 

 only that which we think we know. 



We must pass to the consideration of those fruits which, 

 though termed small, are yet of great importance to our com- 

 fort and happiness, ximong the most important of them is the 

 strawberry, which was scarcely known thirty-five years ago out- 

 side of a few gardens near the larger cities. The Old Wood and 

 Early Virginia were the only sorts we remember to have seen in 

 our boyhood, until our friend Ilovey startled us by the announce- 

 ment of his new seedling, afterwards called Hovey's Seedling. 

 At that time the demand for this fruit was very limited, and a 

 few hundred boxes would glut the market. Compare that time 

 with the present, when thousands of acres in our own State are 

 devoted to this crop, while carload after carload is purchased 

 of our neighbors in Virginia, New Jersey and New York. And 

 notwithstanding this immense inflowing, good strawberries, for 

 the last four or five years, have averaged over twenty cents a 

 quart, and, with some growers, nearly thirty. And is it any 

 wonder that there is such a demand ? For, what can be more 

 agreeable to the taste, in the warm days of June, than nice, 



