VOL. III.] JANUARY, 1880. [No. 1, 



THE NIAGAEA GUAPE. 



It is one of the interesting duties of the Canadian Horticultubist 

 to keep its readers informed as fully as possible concerning the new 

 fruits that are being laought to notice. To announce to the horticul- 

 tural worhl the advent of a novelty, however valuable, is not the 

 M'hole duty of those who are supposed to stand on something of vantage 

 ground with regard to the cliaracter of the new comer, but the ratlier, 

 impartially to set forth, so far as lies in their power, its true character. 

 And this is verily not always an easy task. Those who have an 

 interest in bringing out the new beauty have a tongue only for its 

 excellencies and none for its defects. Besides, there is a charm about 

 any new thing, and especially a new fruit of any merit, that throws 

 a golden light all around it and upon it, so that we see it and think of 

 it not in the soberness of the clear noonday, but in the mystic haziness 

 of a lovely twilight. 



Just now tliere is a rush of white grapes to the front, each claiming 

 the attention of the planter, and each championed by those who are 

 interested in its dissemination. This creates a stir among the grower? 

 of grape vines, and fills the air with the notes of preparation for a 

 vigorous campaign, in which everything will be tried that ingenuity 

 can devise to place the new vines profitably. It is just at such a time 

 as this that the honest discharge of duty to our readers is especially 

 valuable to them, and yet difficult of performance, for the most honest 

 intentions may be thwarted by error in judgment or by lack of 

 knowledge of all the facts upon which an intelligent judgment can be 

 based. Yet such have been our opportunities during tlie past season 

 of seeing and testing the leading competitors for popular favor, that 

 we shall venture to give our readers tlie opinion we have formed of 

 the one whose name stands at the head of this paper, believing that 

 we shall not lead them far astray by these remarks. 



The history of a new fruit is always interesting, and often helpful 

 in forming an estimate of its probable character and worth. The 



