426 I Assembly 



tion. Some have tried clean dried straw in a coach house, where 

 fruit would not freeze from the amount of^traw covering. I 

 have taken apples from my trees when frozen hard, and, to my 

 surprise, they kept well. As to the Diana grape, it resembles 

 Catawba in color. The lady whose name it bears obtained some 

 Catawba grapes from the Hon. Mr. Seaver; she planted the seeds. 

 This Diana vine stood near a wild black grape, which may have 

 caused the quality of the Diana grape. LoHgworth has experi- 

 mented on seedlings of Catawba and rsal>ella by millions, with 

 little, if any, success. ^ 



George S. Riggs stated that Father Juan de Ugarte, about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century, introduced into California almost 

 every kind of grape grown in New Spain. 



President Tallmadge. — 1 do not oppose any mode of preserva- 

 tion that is profitable; but we wish here always to follow a safe 

 leading, and none other should be pressed or urged upon us. We 

 know the distinguished care, skill and experience of Mr. Pell. 

 We must not puzzle the farmers about grapes, or any other culti- 

 vation, I^;t us always encourage production universally. With 

 these few general remarks, let me speak of the Catawba and Isa- 

 l>ella grapes as natives; but our true native grapes ripen a fort- 

 night sooner than the Isabella, and more than that before the 

 Catawba grape. Our wild grapes are foud of the banks of rivu- 

 lets, in alluvial soil. In»our Iruit convention, where I had the 

 honor to i)reside, a catalogue of our grapes was presented, which 

 contained the number of three hundred varieties of our grape 

 vines. It vvaa there agreed that the i>roduct of the seeds was so 

 uncertain as to quality that out of millions hardly a good one can 

 be obtained. Mr. Longworth, of Ohio, has proved this by very 

 large experiments. The niMification of the character of grape 

 by ditferent localities was well established also. On motion of 

 Mr. Colt,of Paterson, to inquire and determine how many of our 

 grapes are worth growing, he said all agreed that only nine of 

 them were wortli growing, and that the three hundred names 

 wf>uld be reduced to about fifty genuine natives. Some members 

 i>elieved that there were no more than fifteen or twenty varieties. 

 The art of naming, for the purpose of selling as new vines, had 



