ON THE INTRODUCTION OP NEW FRUIFS. 143 



other countries of a similar latitude, or perhaps we should say of 

 a similar clime. Why should it not be so ? Ours may not pos- 

 sess some of the excellences wliich are found in those abroad. 

 On the other hand, there are qualities of a valuable nature in 

 ours, which theirs have not. A warmer climate may produce 

 better fruit than one that is cold, but this is not the question 

 now before us. The question is, can foreign grapes be pro- 

 duced generally which upon the whole are better than ours. 

 The Committee think not. There are peculiarities which it 

 is thought well to mention in the flavor, by which many of the 

 grapes of this and some other countries are distinguished from 

 each other. This is the foxy taste of ours, and musky taste of 

 theirs. The Committee are not certain but these flavors are e- 

 qually unpleasant at first to all, or that they do not become equal- 

 ly pleasant after a little use. The greatest diflerence perhaps may 

 be found in the fact that one has by a train of circumstances not 

 important to mention, worked itself into fashionable connec- 

 tion, the other is yet mixed with uncultivated life. This dis- 

 relish to the foxy taste of our grapes which many entertain, may 

 be, as many such aversions have been, overcome. The oldest 

 portions of the community can well recollect the time when 

 many would leave the table, and some \vould faint, if musk- 

 melons happened to be a part of the dessert. The tomato and 

 rhubarb plant have worked their way to general favor at a 

 much later period. A hundred years have not been numbered 

 since a highly respectable physician in Virginia, whose name 

 does not at this moment occur to the Committee, with 

 his family, were thought to have an idiosyncrasy in their con- 

 stitution, which enabled them to use the tomato as food, while 

 it would operate as a poison upon others. 



Time and use may produce as great a change in regard to 

 the foxy taste of our grape. But even if it should not ; if 

 the foxy taste be a serious objection, a difficulty which cannot 

 be overcome, it should be recollected that it is an objection 

 which lies against only a part, and not always the best part of our 

 grapes. Many indeed of those grapes which have received the 

 name of the fox have not as many have supposed received it, 

 because they had anything of this flavor, but because they 



