lona and Delaware. 339 



the Concord grape in the same category of unassailables ? Is the Concord 

 grape a whit more inferior as a grape than the Wilson is as a strawberry, 

 or than the Baldwin is as an apple ? 



We would ask whether there is a surer way of adding to the number of 

 intelligent grape-growers, and raising the general standard of taste, than by 

 introducing to public notice some grape, albeit not of first quality, which 

 will not disappoint either by mildew, lack of vigor, or paucity of fruit. 



Will not every one who plants a Concord vine, and gathers his rich reward, 

 be encouraged not only to plant more vines, but of choicer varieties ? 



Macedon, n.y. Pro Bono Publico. 



lONA AND DELAWARE. 



(Concluded.) 



The introduction of the Delaware gave us our first grape that could 

 compare favorably with the best kinds of Europe. It is a grape of the 

 highest excellence ; hardy and productive ; free from disease in almost all 

 locations. In the extreme hot summer of 1865, in my own vineyard, one 

 hundred Delaware vines loaded with fruit showed not a sign of disease ; 

 while on the Catawba vines, in rows eight feet from the Delaware on either 

 side, the fruit rotted badly. In other vineyards, the Delaware did equally as 

 well. I have yet to see the first sign of rot, or of mildew to any extent, on my 

 Delawares, of which I have over one thousand strong-bearing vines, and 

 planted, last spring, six thousand young plants, of which I did not lose one.* 



The introduction of the lona grape was another step in advance. On 

 sending it out, its originator (Dr. Grant) claimed for it many good quali- 

 ties ; so many, in fact, that it was at once marked as a humbug by some 

 of our oldest vine-growers. They could not believe that such a grape 

 had so soon been produced in America ; and it at once became a mark for 

 many pens (many honest ones, I have no doubt) to write at ; and this has 

 continued, to some extent, up to the present time. This was and is 

 most unjust; first, because the half had not nor ever has been said in re- 



* The writer's location is specially favored ; the great obstacles to the general cultivation of both the 

 lona and Delaware are the tendency to mildew, the weak nature of the vine, and the long season required 

 for the former variety. 



