70 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



been demonstrated that specially prepared sawdust from the 

 California Redwood makes an excellent substitute for cork-dust. 



No other plant yields such an abundant annual crop for as long 

 a series of years; neither is there a plant that can be successfully 

 grown under such a variety of conditions at as small expense as the 

 grape. 



Future Possibilities. 



If we will avoid errors and overcome obstacles met in the past by 

 application of information gained by experience and researches 

 since; if we study grape varieties, soils, climatic and other condi- 

 tions, and plant vines with specific purposes in view and train, 

 prune, trellis, fertilize, cultivate and otherwise care for our vines, 

 so as to bring about best fruiting results ; if instead of worrying the 

 industry by trying to legislate people to be good, we educate them 

 to appreciate the real merits and healthgiving and nutritive value 

 of the grape and its many products; that the juices fermented or 

 unfermented are natural beverages of intrinsic food value and 

 promoters of temperance and health when taken in reasonable 

 quantities; if instead of trying to produce quantity for a few of the 

 bulk markets, we also work for quality and distribute our products 

 more generally, so the consumer is not called upon to pay three or 

 four times as much as the producer gets for it and so instead of as a 

 luxury, they will be used as food and through this incidentally, but 

 very directly, offering inducement to viticultural pursuits; if all in- 

 terested in the industry will have more confidence and seek to help 

 each other and all do something to develop and increase the sale and 

 consumption of grapes and their product, remembering that there is 

 no other fruit so delicious that can be used for so many purposes and 

 that it always has and ever shall be considered the Creator's choicest 

 gift in plant life to man ; if we consider that all the cultivated foreign 

 varieties come from the Vinifera, a single species, which also thrive 

 in large areas of our domain; that we have more native species 

 within our confines than all the rest of the world combined and no 

 reason presents itself why varieties should not be cultivated wher- 

 ever native vines are found, and some of these are found in nearly all 

 parts of the country, it looks as though the viticultural possibilities 

 that lie in store for the United States are almost unlimited. 



