CONDITIONS OP SUCCESS IN GRAPE CULTURE. BY PETER B. MEAD. 



21 



tng alTordid ^uperio^ opportunities to complete tlic test, the results are 

 lierc«-ith given. 



Fi^f stniuis the refreshing Delaware grape. It seems to be decided- 

 ly superior to all others in agreeable richness and flavor, melting pulp, 

 and acceptablene.ss for the table, or for wine. 



" Having called to my aid more than a score of ladies and gentlemen 

 of cultivated taste, their unbiased opinion, expressed in every case 

 during a period of three weeks, was, that the Delaware stands decided- 

 ly ahead of all others. Of many jpeoimens of the Delaware grown in 

 various localities, clearly the best and richest flavored ones came from 

 Dr. Grant's oldest vines at lona. 



" Second. Next we must place the new grape, * lona,' in so far as 

 one sea.son will permit us to do so. It is decidedly superior to the 

 Diana or Catawba grapes, in point of flavor or agreeableness. By 

 Bome it may be preferred to the Delaware, as it is more sprij^tly, al- 

 though our taste jjrefers the latter. It seems to combine more than the 

 good qualities of the Diana and the Catawba, but it does the more 

 nearly resemble the latter. 



" Third. The Diana comes next. It has been very superior this 

 year, and sustains its well-known reputation. 



" Fourth. I must place the new seedling ' Israella ' next in qualitj', 

 and superior in earliness. It is the best, the most sugary and tender- 

 fleshed black grape I have yet tasted. Ripening as it does, about three 

 weeks before the Isabella, and being so much superior in flavor to the 

 Hartford I'rolific, or even the Concord or Isabella, it must come into 

 universal demand, if it sustains in subsequent years the promise of 

 this. 



" Fifth. The Concord has done well this year. It does not over- 

 bear, and the quality of its fruit this year equaled its best promise of 

 former years. It is quite a favorite with many, although in point of 

 flavor it will not bear criticism. 



"The Rebecca, the Anna, and Allen's Hybrid have furnished some 

 most delicious white grapes, and well sustained their former reputa- 

 tion, and some other varieties I might name, worthy of attention, but 

 after particularizing the above, I am quite content to make ray list a 

 very short one. Methinks an abundance of those which I have enu- 

 ipcrated would soon lead us to regard most other kinds with indiCfer- 

 eiice. I am glad to observe that Dr. Grant is propagating Nos. 1, 2, 

 and 4 in liberal quantities, with improved culture and extraordinary 

 success. 



" [We are obliged to you for your notes on the ' Quality of Grapes. 

 Seeing grapes as you do, under a variety of circumstances, you should 

 ni.Tc frequently give the results to the public. We tliink j'ou have 

 given the true relative position to the lona and Delaware. Some, as 

 you say, will no doulit prefer the lona, as it is almost as good as the 

 Delaware, and its size will determine the preference with some. The 

 Delaware and lona are the most valuable grapes we have at present. — 

 Ed.]" 



Kxtracted from The HoRTlcuLTnmsT, by permission. 



Extract from a Letter from Mr. Charles M. Beach, 

 of Hartford, Connecticut. 



Circumstances now permit me to make a very favorable report of 

 the progress of the present and past seasons. 



I did not begin to prepare for my vineyard until after pretty tho- 

 rough investigation had convinced me that nothing better could be 

 done than to follow your directions in every particular. My ground 

 wore a very forbidding aspect to a beginner, being both very hard to 

 work ami in need of thorough drainage, but I am happy in being able 

 to Bay tiiat no failure or disappointment has occurred in any one point 

 except that the performance has uniformly surpassed my most san- 

 guine expectations as well as your promises. My only regret is, that 

 the work had not been commenced tvm years earlier and prosecuted 

 with greater vigor ; but the experience of the past two years was 

 needed to give me full assurance in regard to climate, and various 

 other matters pertaining to an undertaking of such magnitude and im- 

 portance ae planting a vineyard that is intended for long duration as 

 well as excellence of produce. 



I feel now that there is safe ground under my feet, and that the un- 

 dertaking may be prosecuted with any economical amount of energy 



that circumstances will permit. We are using our utmost diligence !n 

 getting another acre ready for fall planting, apd must claim the per 

 fo.imance of your promise to call and see that all is right before begin 

 ning to plant. The bushels of Delawares and Dianas with which the 

 vines are now loaded, when only on their second season, and the e.x- 

 cellence and beauty of the fruit, and the strengtii and ripeness of the 

 canes, have warmed me with an enthusiasm for the work that is not 

 unmingled with gratitude to you for the full and explicit directions 

 given in your Illustrated Catalogdk and Landmajiks, and also by 

 letter. 



Dated Ilart'ord, September 18th, 1863. 



Mr. Eeach received premiums for his grapes at different exhibitions, 

 in competition, as usual, with those from much older vines, from which 

 he has a right to draw further assurance of the correctness of his course 

 of proceeding. 



This letter is taken from among a great many of the same import, 

 because it very happily and fully illustrates the important circum- 

 stances of a very successful vineyard, of which it affords an unexcep- 

 tionable example. The exposure was favorable, being a southeasterly 

 declivity, but the other conditions were made so by the efforts of Mr. 

 Beach. 



Extract from a Lecture by Peter B. Mead. 

 Success in Grape Culture depends upon the proper selection of 



varieties, upon the qualitj/ of plants as affected hy propaga 



tion, and upion the treatment in garden and vineyard. 



In speaking of the cultivation of the vine, Mr. Mead remarks : I 

 have been a devotee of the vine for the past twenty years, and liave 

 studied it carefully during that period for the love of the subject and 

 the immense interest that attaches to it, and I may claim a degree of 

 accuracy and extent of practical knowledge in regard to it superior to 

 that of any person in the country, with one exception. I have lal)ored 

 zealously in the cause without any hope of reward except the con- 

 sciousness of the great good that must result from it. While the peo- 

 ple are rapidly learning the value of the grape in its excellent kinds 

 for plentiful use in the family, and cultivators have learned the profits 

 of well-managed vineyards, and are beginning to plant vines in great 

 numbers, very ma.ny will be disappointed in their expectations in con- 

 sequence of not fulfilling the conditions of success. The first and 

 greatest cause of failure is that of using too cheap and consequently 

 poor vines, which are expensive in comparison with the best even 

 in the outlay of money before tlie.y can be brought into profitable 

 productiveness, to say nothing of the extensive losses that will occur 

 by the death of the plants. Persons can not know until after years 

 of trial how important it is to the large measure of success which ren- 

 ders the cultivation of the vine so pleasant and profitable, to obtain 

 the right kind of plants to begin with. It lies at the foundation of 

 success, and with such vines as I now show you full success is more 

 easily attainable than in the cultivation of any other fruit, while with 

 very poor vines it is scarcely attainable at all. 



Here are seven grades of vines from single eyes, with very ne.arly 

 equal intervals of quality, as indicated by their roots and other marks 

 which are clearly apparent to the habituated eye. 



The highest are called "Best Selection," which means that they 

 are selected for remarkable value from the class called Extra, which 

 I now exhibit. The primary and secondary roots, covered with their 

 fibers and rootlets like a thick head of liair, seem to leave nothing to 

 be desired, but this one which I now hold up to you is still better aud 

 more mature in its development of the same characteristics tliat are 

 so satisfactory in the one last shown. This is called Best Selection. 

 These are both grown in large pots, to which they were introduced b.v 

 a long succession of changes, and they can be produced in no other 

 way. Observe the fiber and strength of action all at the center, 

 where it is needed to become effective, like the rays spreading in all 

 directions from the sun. These are most excellent, but necessarily 

 somewhat expensive, costing not less than one dollar in money each 

 to produce them, with the most skillful and unremitting attention 

 added. A calcul;ition based upon facts shows that by the worth of its 

 fruit over a good vine like the one marked No. 3, at three years old, the 

 one of Best Selection, at a cost of one dollar, is cheaper &y<wo<?oiiar« 

 than the one marked No. 3 at fifty cents ; and next season the advau- 



