CA NA DIA N IIORTICUL TV R 1ST. 



271 



THE NORTHERN LIGHT. 



''Trills new flaiiiijuit for' i)ul)lic 

 X favor is a white, or rather, 

 green grape, witli a slight green bloom. 

 It originated on the l)anks of the 

 Ottawa some nine years ago, and has 

 produced live crops of fruit. In 1887 

 it was e.xhibited foi- the first time at the 

 United States Pomological Societies* 

 Exhibition at Boston, where it received 

 marked attention from several leading 

 grape cultivators. Some first class 

 offers have been made for the vine, 

 but none have yet l)een accepted, as it 

 was thought best to have a limited 

 number of plants propagated and 

 tested in the States and Canada. 



Although the present position of the 

 vine is not favorable for early ripen- 

 ing, l)eiiig shaded for. several hours by 

 a stone building from tli<^ morning sun, 

 it has invarial)ly ripened its bunches 

 under very adverse circumstances every 

 year, when Concords and several of the 

 leading varieties, such as Niagara, Pock- 

 lington and many of Rogeis' hybrids, 

 have failed to mature. It is confidently 

 expected that wlien the vine is placed 

 in a favorable position and carefully 

 pruned and attended to, the fruit will 

 ripen shortly after the (Jhampioii. 



The vine is a vigorous grower; it has a 

 thick, leathery leaf, of the Concord type ; 

 The bunches are well formed, sometimes 

 shouldered, compact ; berries round and 

 large ; bunch rather long ; berry not 

 pulpy ; seeds separating freely ; skin 

 rather thick ; fruit melting, .juicy, no 

 foxiness in taste or smell perceptible ; 

 fruit stalks and tendrils —especially 

 the latter — red to jtink in color. 



Already many en(juiries have betui 

 received from leading nurserymen for 

 vines, and good offers for its i»urchas«- 

 have been made. It is hoped by the 

 end of 1889 the owners will have some 

 eight hundred or a thousand vines to 

 dispose of, as they have placed it in 

 the hands of an experienced cultivator 

 to propagate. By the end of next 

 year it is hoped a test on a small scale 

 will be made in several localities at 

 wide distances apart, on varied varieties 

 of soil. When this has been done, and 

 if the test proves successful, the entire 

 stock will either be sold out, or a strong 

 company formed for its propagation 

 and sale. The enormous crops the vine 

 has yielded for the past four years is 

 something almost incredible, and would 

 not have been permitted had it been in 

 the hands of an experienced vineyard- 

 ist ; the effort to ripen the fruit has 

 retarded tiie ripening of the wood. 

 Its northern home will give it an 

 advantjige over its more southern breth- 

 ren : it grew up without care or pro- 

 tection, but for the last few years it 

 has been covered with soil lest some 

 fatality might overtake it, and the life 

 of this magnificent child of nature 

 (|uenched ; it was, tiierefore, thought 

 best to guard it from every source of 

 danger, especially as the mercury along 

 the Upper Ottawa has several times 

 l>ecome solid. The glass in this region 

 sinks below zero on an average from 

 forty to forty-five nights during each 

 winter. The extreme cold appears to 

 have given the plant and foliage their 

 great robustness. 



