210 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



which were ver^ good. He had also one black variety which 

 was veiy sweet, thin skinned and early, at least a fortnight 

 earlier than the Concord ; and a number of other black varieties 

 which were very fine, some of them earlier than the Concord ; 

 also a number of light colored varieties, of fine quality ; also 

 the two very fine flavored seedlings, exhibited at our exhibition 

 the last year ; the one resembling the White Nice in color, fully 

 sustains its reputation of last year, as being superior to any 

 hardy grape known to your committee, for the table, and also 

 earlier than the Concord. We were much gratified to find 

 these varieties still holding up to their last year's reputation 

 for carlincss, fine quality, size of bunch and of berry, and 

 hardiness, giving promise of something better for general cul- 

 tivation for the table than even the Concord, now so generally 

 accepted as the best hardy grape. 



AVild grapes are gathered and sold in large quantities in this 

 vicinity for the purpose of making wine, which is manufactured 

 from them by various parties for sale, all of which is of an 

 inferior quality, partly from the manner of making, but more 

 from the inferior quality and unfitness of the wild grape for 

 that purpose. The Concord makes an excellent wine — pro- 

 nounced by good judges superior to the best Catawba wines — 

 and the president of your society, at our request, has kindly 

 consented to write an article on wine making, which will be 

 published in our Transactions. 



We were much gratified to find so good a display of grapes 

 at our exhibition the present unfavorable season ; and although 

 it was not so good as last year, still it was better than we 

 expected to find. There were on exhibition quite a large 

 number of dishes of the Concord, also dishes of Isabella, 

 Catawba, Diana, Delaware, Dracut, Amber, Hartford Prolific, 

 Muscadine, various kinds of wild grapes, a few dishes of Black 

 Hamburg, and Chasselas grapes, making quite a pretty show. 

 For the purposes of general cultivation, your committee were 

 unanimously and decidedly of the opinion that the Concord 

 was by far the best grape shown. The Delaware, shown by 

 Messrs. Brackett & Wellington, was very small in bunch and 

 in berry — tbe berries and bunch not much larger than bunches 

 of large Gondowin currants ; the quality was good, but the 

 small size of the bunch and berry, if those exhibited were a 



