1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



19 



or a pear covered with a yellow russet, sells the 

 best ; while a green-skinned pear is not so at- 

 tractive in appearance, and does not sell nearly 

 as well. As an instance of the effect the differ- 

 ence in appeax'ance of this fruit has on the price, 

 I find that the Belle Lucrative, one of the finest 

 pears of its season, sells badly, owing to its green 

 color, while the Duchess d'Angouleme, a third- 

 rate fruit in quality, sells reacily at high prices, 

 owing to its size and beauty. 



Most persons entering upon the cultivation of 

 this fruit set too many varieties ; they will suc- 

 ceed much better by planting only a few of the 

 best kinds of well established reputation in the 

 market, varieties that will grow vigorously, bear 

 well, and the fruit of large size and handsome ; if 

 fall pears, kinds that will keep a few days with- 

 out rotting at the core. 



NOW AS TO THE GRAPE. 



A variety of the grape to be worthy of general 

 cultivation in Massachusetts should possess the 

 following qualities, all of which are necessary to 

 make it come up to what should be our standard 

 of excellence : 



First, it should be as hardy as an oak, — one 

 the wood of which will winter without any kind of 

 protection ; a free grower, an abundant bearer, 

 the branches large and with good-sized berries 

 adhering strongly to the stem, so that they will 

 not easily drop from the bunch, ripening early in 

 the season, and not subject to mildew or blight. 

 Added to the before-named requisites, the fruit 

 should be of fine quality, as good as the varieties 

 raised under glass, if possible. We have varie- 

 ties combining all these requisites, except quality. 

 That is to say, we have no hardy gi'ape equal in 

 quality to the varieties raised under glass, but 

 still we have varieties of fine quality that are 

 worthy of extensive cultivation, and I think no 

 one of them more so than the Concord. Some of 

 our horticulturists are raising seedling grapes, 

 hoping to succeed in getting a better variety than 

 we now have, and we shall undoubtedly get from 

 them a superior variety within a few years. 



For a long time many of our eminent horticul- 

 turists have attempted to improve our wild grape 

 by hybridization with foreign varieties which are 

 tender in our climate, hoping to get a variety 

 combining the hardiness of the wild with the fine 

 quality or the foreign grapes. These trials have 

 all proved failures. They either ])rove to be not 

 hardy, or are late, or subject to mildew or blight. 



Recently, cultivators began to raise seedlings 

 from some of the best native varieties, and have 

 succeeded better, having raised some pretty good 

 grapes — among them the Concord, Northern 

 Muscadine, Hartford Prolific, Diana and a num- 

 ber of other kinds which are better than the orig- 

 inal sorts. From these repeated attempts I think 

 we may look for new and better varieties. I have 

 seen two new seedlings raised in this way which I 

 think are better than any of the above varieties, 

 particularly as table grapes ; they were raised from 

 seeds of the Concord. One of them is very prom- 

 ising, in color resembling the White Nice, with a 

 heavy whitish blcJom, berries and bunch large, 

 and without any foxy taste whatever ; flesh rath- 

 er firm, quality equal or nearly so to the foreign 

 varieties. I have examined the original vine, 

 which is now growing in an unfavorable location, 



shaded and crowded by other vines, never having 

 had any protection, and not an inch of the wood 

 has winter-killed, nor is there any mildew or 

 blight, while near by this were other vines cov- 

 ered with mildew. 



The question that has often presented itself to 

 my mind is this : Is it an object to enter into the 

 cultivation of the grape for the purpose of sup- 

 plying the demands of the market ? Good judges 

 estimate that an acre of Concord grape vines, set 

 eight feet apart, or four to the square rod, being 

 640 to the acre, will produce, the fourth year af- 

 ter planting, twenty lbs. of fruit to each vine, 

 which would be 12,800 lbs. to the acre, which 

 v.'ould probably be worth 10 cts. a lb., amounting 

 to $1,280 per acre; deduct one-half, and still it 

 M'Ould leave $040, which would pay largely for 

 the cultivation and capital invested. 



And for the purpose of wine-making, persons 

 are willing to contract for large quantities of the 

 Concord, at five cts. a lb. Of the manner of plant- 

 ing and general cultivation, I do not intend to say 

 much, and will only add, that the grape is not 

 very particular as to soil, if not too wet. Any 

 soil sufficiently rich to bear fifty bushels of corn 

 to the acre will be rich enough for the grape. 



The location I regard as of much more impor- 

 tance than soil ; and I mean, by location, a situa- 

 tion where the vines will escape the late spring 

 frosts, which are much more destructive than the 

 frosts in the fall of the year. 



There has always been a large demand for good 

 table grapes ; that demand has increased very 

 much within a few years, and is not one-quarter 

 supplied now. The drawback to raising them has 

 been the want of a good variety, that will ripen 

 early in the season ; but with some of the newly 

 introduced kinds this is somewhat obviated. The 

 prices at which hot-house grapes now sell, put 

 them beyond the reach of persons of moderate 

 means, except as a luxury. What we want is a 

 hardy grape, equal in quality, if possible, to the 

 foreign, to supply the wants of the whole com- 

 munity, at a low price, and so abundantly as to 

 be within the reach of all. When we find such 

 a variety, whoever in old Middlesex entei's into 

 its cultivation will reap an abundant rcM'ard for 

 his labor. The new seedling that I have described 

 comes nearer to this want than any grape that I 

 know. 



Of the manner of pruning, I will merely say 

 that I have tried the various methods described 

 in the books, and much prefer what is called spur 

 pruning. 



There are many farmers, and other cultivators, 

 who think that a wild vine, taken from the woods, 

 or some location where it has been uncultivated, 

 and put into a garden under good cultivation, will 

 immediately come up to the Concord, Isabella or 

 Catawba, in size and quality, which is erroneous. 



The size and productiveness will be soraevvhat 

 increased, but not the quality ; or if the quality 

 is affected, only in a very slight degree. A gen- 

 tleman living within ten miles of Concord, called 

 my attention to a variety of grape exhibited by 

 him, and grown on his farm, as something supe- 

 rior to any other grape, and remarked to me that 

 there was "no grape equal to his, which grew away 

 down in the corner of the wall." In the judg- 

 ment of the committee on grapes, it was remark- 

 able only in one way, and that was for its ex- 



