176 OBSERVATIONS ON THE MEANS OF 



taken from the tree ; but it is a good deal earlier, and probably cannot 

 be preserved so long. 



I proceed to experiments on the grape ; which though less successful 

 than those on the apple, in the production of good varieties, are not less 

 favourable to the preceding conclusions. A vinery in which no fires are 

 made during the winter, affords to the vine a climate similar to that 

 which the southern parts of Siberia afford to the apple or crab-tree : in 

 it a similarly extensive variation of temperature takes place, and the 

 sudden transition from great comparative cold to excessive heat, is pro- 

 ductive of the same rapid progress in the growth of the plants, and 

 advancement of the fruit to maturity. My first attempt was to combine 

 the hardiness of the blossom of the black cluster, or Burgundy grape, 

 with the large berry and early maturity of the true sweet water*. The 

 seedling plants produced fruit in my vinery at three or four years old, and 

 the fruit of some of them was very early ; but the bunches were short, 

 and ill-formed, and the berries much smaller than those of the sweet- 

 water, and the blossoms did not set by any means so well as I had 

 hoped. 



Substituting the white chasselas for the sweetwater, I obtained several 

 varieties, whose blossoms appear perfectly hardy, and capable of setting 

 well in the open air ; and the fruit of some of them is ripening a good 

 deal earlier in the present year than that of either of the parent plants. 

 The berries, however, are smaller than those of the chasselas, and with 

 less tender and delicate skins ; and, though not without considerable 

 merits for the dessert, they are generally best calculated for the press : 

 for the latter purpose, in a cold climate, I am confident that one or two 

 of them possess very great excellence. I sent a bunch of one of those 

 varieties to the Horticultural Society, in the last autumn, and I propose 

 to send two or three others in the present year. 



I have subsequently obtained plants from the white chasselas and 

 sweetwater, whose appearance is much more promising ; and the earliest 

 variety of the grape I have ever yet seen, sprang from a seed of the 

 sweetwater, and the farina of the red front ignac. This is also a very 

 fine grape, resembling the frontignac in colour and form of the bunch ; 

 but I fear its blossoms will prove too tender to succeed in the open air in 

 this country ; a single bunch, consisting of a few berries, is however, all 

 that has yet existed of this kind. The present season also affords me 



* This grape is often confounded by gardeners, both with the white chasselas and white 

 muscadine. 



