REPORTS. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GARDENS, 



For the Year 1857. 



BY E. S. BAND, JB., SECKETARY. 



On Tuesday, January 6th, the Committee visited the grapery of Mr. M. 

 H. Simpson, in Saxonville. The weather was clear and cold, the thermom- 

 eter standing at zero out of doors, and the change from the freezing atmos- 

 phere without to the genial warmth of the greenhouse could not fail to be 

 agreeable, while the beauty and novelty of seeing at such an inclement 

 season the clusters of ripe grapes hanging overhead, could scarcely fail to 

 produce the most pleasing impressions. 



The grapery of Mr. Simpson was built in 1848 ; the house is span-roofed, 

 66 feet in length, with a border inside and out ; it is divided by a glass 

 partition into two equal parts, each house containing twenty-two vines, thus 

 enabling Mr. Simpson to bring the vines into bearing at different seasons- 

 The vines grown were Syrian, Hamburghs, Muscats, Black Prince, Zin- 

 findal, Frontignans and Macready's Early, and in vigor and luxuriant 

 growth could not well be surpassed. The theory of Mr. Simpson is too 

 well known to need comment, and in the opinion of the Committee the ex- 

 periment he has so fully tried has been crowned with the most satisfactory 

 results and complete success. 



The time required to fully ripen grapes averages from four and a half to 

 five months ; and thus, leaving a month for the full ripening of the wood, a 

 crop might be matured once in every six months. Mr. Simpson's practice, 

 however, is to allow the vine to grow naturally without forcing every other 

 year, thus preventing any exhaustion which might ensue from continued 

 forcing. 



The vines now (Jan. 6th, 1857) bearing the ripe crop were startecLon the 

 fifteenth day of August, 1856 ; the berries began to color on the twenty- 

 fifth of November, and the first ripe fruit was cut on the third of December. 

 The whole product from twenty-two vines is about four hundred pounds ; 

 the grapes are well colored and of the highest flavor; the bunches large and 

 well grown, some clusters of the Syrian weighing over four pounds each. 

 The vines in the second house at the time of the Committee's visit were 

 just bursting into bloom, and gave every indication of health and vigor. 

 Heat was applied on the 15th day of November, 1856 ; the first bud broke 



