374 Notes and Gleanings. 



Mr. Allen, and the rest of us, must be placed in the same category by the coun- 

 tenance of a great State society, who may publish his strictures without com- 

 ment. This gentleman, wlio so little appreciates the efforts of others, found his 

 own seedlings under Catawba and Isabella arbors, where they spring up spon- 

 taneously every spring ; or, at least, so he told me in the presence of two other 

 gentlemen who remember it distinctly : thus showing that varieties like the 

 Catawba and Isabella, which are accidental crosses, will continue to produce 

 their freaks, as the child sometimes resembles the grandparent more than the 

 parent. 



Much is sometimes claimed when the facts cannot be proved. There is not 

 a particle of Diana in the lona. Its Catawba character is apparent to all, and 

 ripening at the same time, excepting this season. The last two dry seasons in 

 tlie grape-regions have ripened the wood and roots prematurely, so that well- 

 ripened Isabellas, Catawbas, and lonas were picked in those sections before the 

 middle of September, which is unusual ; but another wet season will put it back 

 where it was found two and three years ago. It has never ripened excepting in 

 the grape-regions about the Lakes ; and I doubt if twenty-five vines of this variety 

 :an be found east of these sections that ever perfected tiieir fruit, unless near 

 )ther bodies of water or in protected localities. I saw lonas this fall, after 

 .he frost had appeared, \r\. New- York City, also in the Hon. M. P. Wilder's 

 grounds in Boston, as green as they were in July. My own have uniformly rotted 

 for the past three years. 



The only worth of the Israella is its earliness ; taking it for granted that city 

 people will eat any thing or buy any thing that apes the reality. 



I think we could adopt for the Eumelan the Irishman's prayer which he 

 offered for his corn : '* Give us this year great long ears as long as your ar'm, 

 and none of the little wee nubbins like ye gave us last year." We have been 

 offered a quantity of the buds this fall by the originator : v,-e refused, and bought 

 but few of them. The following I wish to put on record as my opinion of the 

 varieties the doctor names : — 



Isabella, a good table-grape when ripe, rarely exhibiting native impurity. Leaf 

 withstands mildew tolerably well. 



Catawba, slightly fo.^y ; but litde acridity of skin. Too hte. Should contain 

 mjre saccharine for a perfect wine ; but a good table-grape when perfected. 

 Moderately affected by mildew. 



Delaware, a dwarf; does not succeed excepting in garden-soils or the shale 

 sections of the Lakes ; good ; skin acid ; centre also, except when over-ripe ; foli- 

 age frequently entirely destroyed by mildew in August. Diana unreliable away 

 from grape-sections, but good and sweet to the centre where the vine succeeds ; 

 leaf hardy as Catawba. lona seldom succeeds except near bodies of water ; 

 leaves mildew badly ; fruit rots ; and always too late, excepting this year ; pulp 

 vanishing from the mouth instantly, leaving the most acrid and bitter skin of all 

 other varieties, which, if drawn with the tongue, destroys all the good effects of 

 its flesh ; and its acrid skin is discoverable in its wine. We particularly request 

 that the skin of this v iriety may be tested by all. Walter, a cross of Delaware 

 and Diana, partaking i lostly of the former ; a perfect table and wine grape. This 



