136 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



iShurtleff's Seedlmg. — The description of this grape is in 

 the words of Dr. ShurtlefF, who furnished the account, at my 

 request, for this purpose. A gentleman who fruited this last 

 year, represented it as being very good. 



" It came up in my garden in Brookline, in 1837. The 

 plant was of a delicate and slow growth ; it fruited on the 

 fourth year, and, on the fifth, it bore about four quarts of 

 grapes of superior flavor ; and the berry was of a good size, 

 perfectly round, about the size of a Muscadine ; the bunches 

 of moderate bigness, and well set (unlike the zvildfox grape^ ; 

 the stem, pressed out like the Isabella ; the color black, with 

 a peculiar ray, like the spokes of a wheel, running from the 

 stem to the eye of a hghter shade, the whole grape covered 

 with a bloom ; it puts out two or three weeks later than the 

 Isabella, and ripens two or three weeks earlier. The vine is 

 a small grower, and lives with me without protection ; it is 

 situated on a southeast angle of my house. The third year 

 of bearing, it was, unfortunately, split near the ground, and 

 the prospect of a good crop blasted. I have several young 

 vines which will probably bear this year. The fruit is free 

 from any foxy taste or pulp. I think it far superior to any 

 native grape that I have seen. I do not know from what 

 seed it originated, whether from native or imported ; it ap- 

 pears to partake of the Sweetwater and Isabella in its rich 

 flavor. S. A. Shurtleff." 



The foliage of this grape would indicate that it originated 

 from an American variety. 



Dr. Shurtleff has another grape. It originated at Carver, 

 on a farm belonging to this gentleman (and which has always 

 been in the possession of his ancestors, since the settlement 

 of the country). It was found in the woods, far from any 

 other vine. The foliage indicates this to be a seedling from 

 an American variety. 



Naumkeag. — A seedling grape raised from the Isabella by 

 Mr. Bowker, of Salem, which fruited, the first time, this sea- 

 son, (1848,) appears to have good qualities. It bore a large 



