INTRODUCTION OF NEW FRUIT. 89 



INTRODUCTION OF NEW FRUIT. 



The Committee on the introduction of new Fruit, report : 



That the onlj fruit submitted to them for premium were two 



seedling Grapes, from James Blood of Newburyport. These same 



grapes were offered for premium last year, when an account of 



them, as received from Mr. Blood, was submitted to the Trustees 



of the Society in the report of the Committee of that year, and is 



now repeated. Mr Blood states, " these two specimens of grapes 



were raised from the seed of Malaga raisins, and cultivated in the 



open air, and ripen by the last of August. The vines have been in 



bearing nine years, and have never failed to produce a good crop 



in the natural soil without any nursing, such as bone manure, guano, 



&c. Their great recommendation is, that they ripen four or five 



weeks earlier than the Isabella. Slips from these vines have 



proved as productive in Vermont and New Hampshire, and ripen 



as early as in the County of Essex." The two specimens were 



entered by Mr. Blood for the two premiums offered by the Society. 



At the request of Mr. Blood, your committee visited his garden 



September 7th, when they were told by Mr. B. that he considered 



his grapes ripe, and subsequently on September 15th, they received 



from him specimens of the fruit. 



The committee found the vines from Avhich the grapes offered for 



premium were produced, growing in a sheltered situation on a 



trellis in the garden of Mr. Blood ; the vines did not appear to 



have ic.eived any particular cultivation, and Mr. B. stated that 



the only manure apphed to them was that received from a slight 



mulching of their roots ; there was a good crop of fruit upon the 



vines. It did not appear to your committee at the time of 



their visit, on September 7th, that the grapes were fully ripe, 



although in that opinion they differed from Mr. Blood, and in 



which they were subsequently confirmed by tasting the grapes 



September 15th, when the}' had acquired additional sweetness and 



flavor. Your committee feel that implicit confidence is to be given 



to the statements of Mr. Blood in every respect, and they do not 



intend to be understood as questioning his account of the origin of' 



these grapes, by imputing to him a possibility of error, when they 



state, as they feel constrained to do, that everything about his 



vines, both the fruit and the foliage, — an unerring indication — 

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