36' On Producing new and early Fruits. 



I proceed to experiments on the Grape ; which, though 

 less successful than those on the apple, in the production of 

 good varieties, are not less favourable to the preceding con- 

 clusions. A vinery in which no fires are made during the 

 winter, affords to the Vine a climate similar to that which 

 the southern parts of Siberia afford to the Apple or Crab 

 Tree : in it a similarly extensive variation of temperature 

 takes place, and the sudden transition from great compara- 

 tive cold, to excessive heat, is productive of the same rapid 

 progress in the growth of the plants, and advancement of 

 the fruit to maturity. My first attempt was to combine the 

 hardiness of the blossom of the Black Cluster, or Burgundy 

 Grape, with the large berry and early maturity of the true 

 Sweetwater.* The seedling plants produced fruit in my 

 vinery at three or four years old, and the fruit of some of 

 them was very early ; but the bunches were short, and ill- 

 formed, and the berries much smaller than those of the 

 Sweetwater, and the blossoms did not set by any means so 

 well as I had hoped. 



Substituting the White ChasseJas for the Sweetwater, I 

 obtained several varieties, whose blossoms appear perfectly 

 hardy, and capable of setting well in the open air; and the 

 fruit of some of them is ripening a good deal earlier in.the 

 present year than that of either of the parent plants. The 

 berries, however, are smaller than those of the Chasselas, and 

 with less tender and delicate skins: and, though not without 

 considerable merits for the desert, they are generally best 



* This Grape is often confounded by gardeners, both with the White Chasselas 

 and White Muscadine. 



