199 



Tlie hardiness of the Isabella — its less tomentose and wooly fo- 

 liage — its smoother, cleaner and less wiry wood — its free growth, 

 its somewhat shouldered clusters — its oval berries and sweet 

 nectared pulp when perfectly ripened, all conspire to make it a 

 very proper parent on one side for hybridizing with the Asiatic 

 or foreign varieties. On the one hand we have the extreme 

 limits of the least foxiness and astringency and American char- 

 acteristics of the hardier species, and on the other the nearest 

 approximation with these qualities to the better character of the 

 delicious grapes of the older countries. 



I cannot assign any possible result to similar trials on the 

 coarser and more unpleasant favored species e. g. the common 

 Fox grape of New England i^Vitis lahrusca^ L.) with the sum- 

 mer grape ( V. jEst'ivalis, Mx.) or Avith any other American spe- 

 cies, when impregnated with superior foreign varieties, but I 

 should expect to find the qualities of the hardier and less attrac- 

 tive parent still lingering on the offspring. Much better prom- 

 ise, would trials with the Catawba and Diana give to any one 

 who might be induced to institute them with a view to improve 

 that stock. 



Wednesday^ February loth, 1856. 



Quarterly meeting of the Essex Institute was duly held this 

 afternoon ; — Kev. John Lewis Russell, Vice President, in the 

 chair. 



A proposition to amend the Constitution of the Institute in 

 Article 2nd, lino 3rd, as follows, viz: Eor "nine" read 

 " twenty-four," was submitted to the meeting for a second time. 

 After election of two resident members on regular nomination, 

 the Institute voted to adjourn. 



Monday, February Ibth, 1856. 

 • Evening meeting, at which G. L. Streeter presided. Re- 

 cords of preceding meeting and a list of donations to the libra- 



