18 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



of his choice for five years, increasing it by cuttings, and each year 

 it was amply fulfilling his ideals in hardiness, season, and quality. 

 Although Mr. Bull was by no means satisfied he realized that this 

 seedling was the best grape that had then been found. He con- 

 tinued planting seed each year from his new vine so that he could 

 say, "I have grapes of great variety, some of them excellent, if I 

 may trust my own judgment. The original wild habit seems to 

 be entirely broken up and from the original stock, black as night, 

 I have obtained grapes white as the Chasselas, delicate of texture, 

 and of the most agreeable flavor." 



"The great want of the country in this latitude is a good table and 

 wine grape, which shall also be early, hardy, and prolific. The 

 Concord fulfils these conditions, and I feel a sincere pleasure in 

 offering it to my countrATiien." (Concord, Mass., January, 1854). 



During all these years Mr. Bull had kept up his business of gold 

 beating in a small shop near his cottage, but had devoted a larger 

 part of his time to the vines he loved so well. He had heretofore 

 found his trade more profitable than farming, but now that he had 

 produced what he firmly believed to be the best hardy grape for 

 New England, he set about developing it and getting it ready to 

 disseminate. While ]Mr. Bull may have had ambition for the 

 money that this grape might bring him, this was not the primary 

 object of his experiments. He, firmly believing in his discovery, 

 knew that it would be a great blessing to his countrymen and had 

 faith enough in them to believe that they would receive this result 

 of his care and patience gladly and appreciatively. 



Realizing that it would be necessary to bring his new seedling 

 before the public Mr. Bull exhibited it at the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, September 3, 1853. The fruit shown on this 

 occasion was, to use his own words — 



"From a vine that was neither pruned nor pinched, nor had 

 application of any of the horticultural arts, whereby precocity and 

 size are obtained; my object being to ascertain what would be the 

 constant habit of the vine. I suppose that its quality would be 

 much improved in a more favorable climate, and that its superiority 

 to Isabella would be as apparent under such circumstances as it is 

 here." 



Before this he had spoken to several members of the society 



