144 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



He said that the ideal bunch of grapes should not be too large; 

 it should weigh about three-quarters of a pound, at most. The 

 berries should not be too close, as in the Worden. He thought the 

 Concord made a better shaped bunch. 



Adin A. Hixon of Worcester, Secretary of the Worcester County 

 Horticultural Society, said that he came down to Boston last year 

 and talked before this Society on the possibilities of peach growing 

 in New England and the peach crop in the state the following 

 season was almost a complete failure. He had come to this con- 

 ference to recommend the growing of grapes but he hoped the 

 result would not be the same as the previous year. 



Mr. Hixon said he wanted to advise people who have gardens 

 and who want to grow something to grow grapes. The ravages 

 of the g^'psy and brown-tail moths had made it hard to grow pears 

 and peaches, and the San Jose scale had wiped out many of the 

 nice little gardens we used to have, but grape vines are more 

 easily cultivated. A bit of cheese cloth or netting will protect 

 them from the rose bug, or, for commercial growers, spraying for 

 this pest is beneficial. Grape vines can be bought very cheaply 

 and they grow and come into fruiting very quickly. He said for 

 an early grape the Concord is a little behind in ripening and it is 

 not quite heavy enough to make grape juice. The Hartford is 

 better and the flavor of the Diana appealed to him. 



Herbert A. Cook of Shrewsbury said that thirty years ago he 

 grew many grapes and had great success with them until a few 

 years ago when grape growing went under a cloud. The con- 

 sumption of them was greatly reduced on account of the wide- 

 spread notion that grape seeds caused appendicitis. A similar 

 opinion regarding the injurious results of tomato eating was at one 

 time prevalent. He had formerly six acres of grapes under culti- 

 vation but the returns became so small that he had pulled them 

 all up and discontinued the business. In recent years, however, 

 their cultivation is coming around again. The former prejudice 

 against them has been removed and there was a tendency towards 

 an increased consumption. 



Mr. Cook stated that the varieties of grapes had not changed 

 much; the Concord, ]Moore's Early, Worden, and Delaware were 

 all good. The Worden is a good grajie for private use but is not a 



