THE CONCORD GRAPE AND ITS ORIGINATOR. 23 



grape, upon the success which has resulted from his patience, 

 perseverance and skill, and they congratulate the horticulturists of 

 the country upon the addition of so fine a variety to our native 

 grapes." ' 



"Your committee have partaken of more than one bottle of 

 wine made from this grape, and they assure the members of the 

 club that they do not speak under the influence of wine, when 

 they say that they know of no other grape in this country so well 

 adapted to the production of wine as the Concord grape." 



Reports of the Fruit Committee of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society for 1855 said: "jNIr. Bull exliibited Concord at the 

 weekly show, and both bunches and berries were fully equal to last 

 year. It is not expected that Concord is come to the exclusion of 

 Diana, but it will be sought for as additional to those which can 

 for a certainty be grown and ripened sufficiently early to prove re- 

 munerative." 



"The Concord grape is gaining friends as fast as we supposed 

 it would until it had been cultivated longer," said the 1856 com- 

 mittee. "We have evidence from all quarters of its hardiness, 

 earhness, and excellence, ahhough the \-ines are yet akogether too 

 young to produce a good-sized bunch. The American Agricul- 

 turist thus speaks in regard to this much abused variety: 'The 

 Concord grape, which caused so much discussion at its introduc- 

 tion three years ago, is settling down to a place among standard 

 fruits in northern climates. No grape was ever introduced with a 

 louder flourish of trumpets, and few were ever assailed with severer 

 criticism.'" 



Hovey's Magazine for IMarch, 1857, referred to the Concord 

 grape in an editorial, comparing its earhness with Isabella. INIost 

 growers agreed that it was ten days earlier, but in jNIaine it proved 

 to be two weeks ahead. Isabella would not ripen at all in some 

 places where Concord was all right. 



The 1857 committee said: "The Concord is now widely dis- 

 seminated and some are strenuous in its favor. In the course of a 

 year or two it will have become so well tested as to earhness, etc., 

 that growers will be enabled to judge for themselves as to its merits, 

 and will probably decide in favor of its being a valuable variety." 



In 1858 the verdict was as follows: "The Concord, so often 



