1893.] TRANSACTIONS. 9 



to indorse a new frnit, upon the solicitation of the oily tongue 

 enlisted in its behalf. I know not how many of you concur in 

 my individual appreciation of what are familiarly known as the 

 Rogers Numbers. Clierishing a strong partiality for them, and 

 therefore having devoted some time and care to their culture, it 

 was a pleasure to avail myself of the courtesy of Mr. Draper, 

 whereby I was enabled to test, at leisure, a baker's dozen of those 

 superior hybrids. One or two, Goethe notably, were scarcely 

 ripe enough for a decided opinion. The size of the berries was 

 noteworthy; especially so in the cases of Herbert, ?i.x\(\. Massasoit. 

 The black approved themselves ripest ; altliough it seemed as if a 

 somewhat longer exposure to an autumnal sun would have mel- 

 lowed the pulp in almost every case, perhaps eliminating a slight 

 foxiness traceable to the inferior parent. There are many, like 

 your Secretary, who rather prefer a grape that requires some 

 chewing. For that the Rogers Nos. can be depended upon. 

 Yet, when thoroughly mature, they will linger upon the tongue 

 only long enough for safe exclusion of the seeds. And it would 

 be hard to recall a season in which there has not been complete 

 maturity of Lhidley, Massasoit, Merrimac, and also in the per- 

 sonal experience of the writer, — Barry. It should be noted in 

 line with the argument of your Secretary, that a majority of the 

 clusters bore manifest traces of an application of the Bordeaux 

 mixture ; showing that science and practice accord, with happy 

 agreement, in the only County of Massachusetts that boasts, 

 thanks to the Federal Government ! and not to any concern of 

 the Commonwealth, an Experiment Station instinct with pro- 

 gressive, vital utility. When sound judgment has resumed its 

 sway throughout the State, so that vast sums will be no longer 

 wasted in a futile struggle against insect fecundity, in regions 

 that are essentially manufacturing, it may be that tiie Terrsecul- 

 tural Counties can obtain a hearing, and thereafter secure what 

 will be of some direct, actual benefit. 



The authority that is, and that which would be, on either side 

 of the Atlantic, attuning a profound note in G., — Gladstone or 

 Greenhalge, — are tireless in their exhortations to the yeomanry 

 of Mid-Lothian, or Middlesex, to diversify their methods of Ter- 

 rseculture, substituting Fruits for Corn, — Celery for Pork ! 



