338 The Concord Grape. 



hastened humbly to disavow all responsibility for the decision, on the plea 

 that he was " one of six." 



Public attention thus awakened naturally inquires why it is (if this award 

 has not some weighty reasons to back it) that the opinion of six gentlemen 

 on a meagre exhibition of grapes should set the horticultural world into a 

 ferment. Nursery-men would very naturally eye with disfavor any thing 

 which would tend to make a twenty-five-cent grape-vine more popular than 

 one which brings a dollar ; but it is noticeable that this award has its 

 worst enemies among the devotees of the science, who aim to foster fruit- 

 culture among their countrymen as an ennobling pursuit, and who view 

 such questions disinterestedly. 



There is no class of amateurs to whom America is more indebted than 

 the amateur pomologists. To them we owe some of our choicest treasures, 

 both of cultural knowledge and of varieties of fruit. But we submit, 

 that, in such questions, the public occupies a different position from the 

 amateur. 



What is an amateur ? He is a man whose cultivated taste demands per- 

 fection, without regard to cost. He is an epicurean in science or art. 



What does the public demand in grape-culture ? It demands, as cardi- 

 nal points, certainty and cheapness of production. Quality, time of ripen- 

 ing, duration, are all secondar}^ It would actually prefer to raise with 

 certainty a bunch of Concords for a penny, than to risk a doubtful chance 

 ■of producing a bunch of Delawares or Rebeccas for a shilling. 



" What taste ! " cries an amateur. But can he or any one deny that 

 these are essentials, without which no grape ought to be confidently recom- 

 mended for general cultivation ? Can he deny that the Concord grape is 

 known to be hardy and prolific over as large a variety of soils and climates 

 as any grape of as good a quality ? 



The amateur may enjoy his Dyer and Early Joe apples, his delicious 

 Hooker strawberries, and his Dorchester blackberries ; he may rest under 

 the shade of his Delaware vine (if he can induce it to grow high enough), 

 and commiserate at his leisure a public whose embiyo tastes are satisfied 

 with the Baldwin apple, the Wilson strawbeny, or the Lawton blackbeny : 

 yet even he, scornful as he is, will not venture to gainsay the adaptability 

 of these to general cultivation. Why should he be so opposed to placing 



