122 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 475. 



total impression. It is the greatest artist who can produce 

 the most impressive pictures with the commonest material 

 — ordinary shrubs and trees and grass. Indeed, so-called 

 specimen plants have a larger and a more important place 

 in the architectural or formal garden than in the best work 

 of those who attempt to hold the mirror up to nature. 



It is a pity that the advocates of formal gardens so gen- 

 erally misrepresent what is the fine art of gardening, for 

 there ought to be no conflict between the so-called schools. 

 The man who creates broad and tranquil pastoral scenery, 

 so that it presents to the imagination pictures of peace, is 

 certainly an artist. The man who in a smaller way treats 

 a bit of ground about a house with a leading motive, so 

 that the picture is a unit in its expression, is certainly as 

 much of an artist as one who makes a perfect balance in 

 the orderly arrangement of his hedges and scroll-work. 

 The latter maybe art, too, just as surely as the mingling 

 of colors and forms in an oriental rug is art ; but the formal 

 garden addresses the esthetic sense alone, and if there is a 

 difference in degree it is the nobler art which appeals to 

 something beyond the sense of beauty, and taking the ma- 

 terials which nature gives so groups them as to make a 

 picture with power to stir the feelings and touch the heart. 



The Ideal Grape. 



ONE of the strong features of the horticultural teaching 

 at Cornell is the seminary work, which is really a 

 modification of the old lyceum idea. Teachers and stu- 

 dents meet together in an informal, half-social way to 

 discuss some topic which is previously agreed upon. The 

 result has been the organization of a club known as the 

 Horticulturists' Lazy Club, and it is provided with a unique 

 and attractive club-room built especially for this use, and 

 connected with the forcing-house. Pictures of horticul- 

 turists and botanists, fruit and flowers, diplomas and other 

 subjects relating to the craft are hung about the walls. 

 Here every Monday night from twenty to thirty enthusi- 

 astic students meet, Professor Bailey being among the 

 number, and here, too, at all times of the day they find a 

 waiting-place and a meeting-place. There is a growing 

 library in the room, with files of the leading horticultural 

 journals in English, French and German. At each meeting 

 some student makes running comments on the horticul- 

 tural news in the papers and books, and then the topic for 

 the evening is taken up. This Lazy Club is so democratic 

 that it has no officers and no rules. There is simply a 

 register in which each participant places his name, if he 

 desires to, at each meeting. Near at hand is a storage 

 cellar, in which over thirty varieties of apples have been 

 kept, to enliven the exercises all winter long, and there is 

 always something in the forcing-houses to provoke dis- 

 cussion. 



Aside from the stated meetings of the club, a seminary 

 on plant-breeding has been running on Thursday nights 

 during the winter term. The business of this seminary has 

 been to discuss the fifteen rules in chapter iii. of Professor 

 Bailey's Plant breeding. The book was used as a text-book 

 in the fall term, but about fifteen advanced students have 

 discussed the questions more at large during the winter. 

 Having finished the fifteen rules and having two meetings 

 of the term left, the seminary took up the question of 

 " Unattained Ideals in the Strawberry and the Grape." The 

 Grape meeting was enriched by letters from Grape experts, 

 one of which, by Mr. T. V. Munson, has been sent to this 

 journal by one of the members of the seminary. The paper 

 is so good that we publish it entire. 



THE UNATTAINED IDEALS IN THE GRAPE. 



When it comes to the practical point of combining all the 

 desired characters in one variety, it is found there are conflict- 

 ing elements to be worked out first. To render my meaning 

 clear I will mention the characters desired, yet not found com- 

 bined in any variety in existence, and which quite probably 

 never can be : 



1. Vigorous, healthy plant; resistant to fungous diseases 



and to phylloxera ; hardy to withstand cold and heat north and 

 south ; long-lived ; prolific ; adapted to all tillable soils and 

 aspects. 



2. It should ripen a constant full yield, evenly in the cluster, 

 here in the south from June 25th (when the very earliest 

 known varieties begin) until November 1st, or to the time of 

 killing frost. 



3. For appearance sake it must bear a good-sized cluster, 

 neither too loose nor too compact, with berries never below 

 medium size (unless in wine grapes, when they may be 

 smaller), persistent to the pedicel, with skin thin, tough, never 

 cracking in changing weather, and in color yellowish green, 

 lively red of various shades, and black, as these shades are 

 always in good demand throughout the entire season. 



4. The requirements as to flavor demand a skin non-astrin- 

 gent and non-pungent ; a pulp tender, meaty or juicy, yet not 

 " slushy," like that of a berry affected by white rot, as some 

 varieties naturally are, ricli in both sugar and acid so as to be 

 sprightly, yet not too tart (Delaware is a little " tame"; Catawba 

 just beneath the skin is excellent, but next the seeds too acid, 

 while the Vinifera class is generally too much like sweetened 

 water in flavor, and Iona at its best is perfection); flavors must 

 be delicate, not musky like the Labruscas, however — a faint 

 touch of this is permissible. (There are peculiar and various 

 very agreeable fruity flavors in our native Post Oak grapes, 

 V. Linsecomii, of Texas, Indian territory and south-west Mis- 

 souri, which I consider superior to any other native grapes.) 

 The dead, earthy taste found in the aftertaste of most La- 

 brusca varieties is to most grape connoisseurs even more 

 objectionable than their "foxiness"; the seeds should be 

 small, soft, few (one to three), and separating readily from the 

 pulp. The sprightliness and flavor should remain in the 

 grape a long time. (The Concord becomes flat here in the 

 south in a few days after it turns black.) 



Now, it is clear at once that no one variety will ever be 

 developed to supply all the above requisites. The varieties 

 that ripen in the heat of summer quickly pass away. Two 

 weeks is about the length of time that the best varieties will 

 keep their character, in July and August, although they last 

 much longer in September and October, so that our grape sea- 

 son requires at least five successions of two weeks or more to 

 cover our entire grape season. 



The old standard varieties are all gone here by about the 

 first week in August. After that for a month the Rotundifolia 

 varieties come in. I have tried to fill in this gap and have par- 

 tially succeeded in the varieties named Fern, Lanssel and 

 Marguerite. 



Each of the five ripenings should have at least one first-class 

 red, one yellow and one biack table grape, to say nothing of 

 wine grapes, thus making at least fifteen varieties to cover the 

 season in the south. For the north one half the number 

 would be sufficient. By comparing the above ideal succession 

 with the actual it will be quickly seen that the field is not occu- 

 pied by a great deal either north or south, but better in the 

 north than in the south. 



If you will endeavor to fill up each square of the following 

 diagram with an ideal grape, as outlined for it above, with 

 nine squares, or a month and a half for the north, say, the 

 latitude of New York, and for fifteen squares or the full 

 season of three months, the deficiencies will at once become 

 apparent : 



Bl.ACK. 



Red. 



Yhllow. 



I 



2 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



11 



12 



13 



14 



IS 



First ripening, 15 days, 

 Second ripening, " 

 Third ripening, " 

 Fourth ripening, " 

 Fifth ripeninsr. " 



Grapes which are of a green color when ripe are undesirable, 

 so are pale dull red ones such as Perkins, and varieties which 

 ripen unevenly, as the Concord generally does in the south, 

 are almost worthless. The Elvira is a green grape, the Pock- 

 lington a yellow grape ; the first is far better in quality, but the 

 latter will outsell it on account of color. 



When all points constituting the ideal variety for each space 

 are considered, it will be found that nearly, if not quite, all the 

 spaces will be found empty, and this emptiness only shows the 

 work yet to be accomplished by originators. 



Let us try a few varieties and see where and how they fit. 

 Space No. 1 will not contain Champion on account of its poor 

 quality and its habit of dropping from the cluster, but it would 

 go in so far as productiveness and size are concerned. Camp- 

 bell's Early is now being put forward as completely filling it, 



