342 The Walter Grape. 



L. aiirantiacum has also been divided into varieties which ought to be 

 suppressed, as to common eyes they are all alike ; and the most accom- 

 plished expert could not distinguish most of them without the tally. The 

 fact that one seedling variety blooms three days in advance of another is 

 no sufficient reason for calling it Lilhun aurantiaaim superbum prcBCOx, 

 and quadrupling its price. 



Again : we have L. chalcedoiiicnm and L. chalcedonicum elatum ; the supe- 

 rior height of the latter, indicated by its name, being not at all conspicu- 

 ous. There is also a L. candidum speciostim, which is, to all intent, the 

 same as the common L. candidum, or white garden-lily. 



Many of the so-called varieties of Z. landfoUum are indistinguishable. 

 Those called spcciosum and rubnan are absolutely the same ; and rosaim 

 differs from them only in a lighter shade of color, often imperceptible. 



These examples will perhaps suffice. We speak from unpleasant expe- 

 rience, as we once imported all the nominal varieties of lilies to be found 

 in European catalogues, then about a hundred and fifty in number, about 

 a third of which proved no varieties at all. May our readers profit by our 

 misfortune ! 



THE WALTER GRAPE. 



We are indebted for the specimen from which our illustration is made 

 to Messrs. Ferris & Caywood of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who, in a note ac- 

 companying it, say, " We send you an average cluster of the Walter by 

 express. It will not do the Walter justice, as we had got all our best clus- 

 ters off the vine. We could have sent longer clusters ; but they were not 

 shouldered, our shouldered ones having been used up. We had one clus- 

 ter at Philadelphia which measured five inches long." 



The cut is an exact representation of the specimen sent. Our description 

 is as follows : Bunch medium size, shouldered, ver}' compact ; berries not 

 uniform in size, crowded, resembling the Diana very much in this respect ; 

 average size of berry about medium, like Diana ; form of berries round or 

 slightly oval ; color that of a ripe Delaware, with a purplish bloom ; berries 

 sufficiently transparent to show the seeds when held up to the light ; pulp 



