819 



periments and practice, be attained. We have 

 several excellent varieties of the Grrape, and to 

 which constant additions are being made. These 

 are born on American soil, and suited to it — a soil 

 and temperature extensive and varied enough for 

 every range of quality and quantity. He, there- 

 fore, who shall discover a plat of ground capable of 

 yielding a " Johannisberger," a "Tokay/' or a 

 "Chateau Margaut," will be a public benefactor; 

 and somewhere between the lakes and the gulf, 

 and the two oceans that circumscribe it, we shall 

 find it. 



History informs us that " the planting of vine- 

 yards in Italy had so much increased about A. D. 

 85 that agriculture was thereby neglected ; on 

 which account Domitian issued an edict prohibiting 

 any new vineyards to be planted in Italy, and 

 ordered one half of those in the provinces to be 

 cut down." With our utmost zeal, it will be long 

 before such an enactment can be needed in the 

 United States. 



The Isabella was introduced in 1818, and the 

 Catawba at about the same time ; and these were 

 our only good Grapes until the Diana, which was 

 first shown in 1843, but not appreciated until some 

 years later. The Concord was first exhibited in 

 1853, the Rebecca in 1856 ; the Delaware was first 

 brought to the notice of this Society in the same 

 year ; and the new kinds introduced since that 

 time have been so many and so good that we can 

 already hail the advent which we then foresaw, 

 when grapes not inferior to the European varieties 

 shall be raised in our gardens, furnishing fruit for 

 the table a large portion of the year. Now that 

 the fixed original habit of the Grape is broken, 

 and the tendency to variation has come into play, 

 and the possibility of hybridization between the 

 European and native sorts is established beyond a 

 doubt, we may expect the appearance every year of 

 many new varieties, from which we shall be able to 

 select those possessing every desirable quality. In 

 view of the great and growing importance of this 

 interest, we cannot employ our time more profitably 

 than in such discussion of the culture and best 

 varieties of the Grape as will elicit the information 

 g£,ined and the improvements made, the difficulties 

 encountered, and the means adopted to overcome 

 them. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF THE SOCIETY. 



In taking a general view of the work of this So- 

 ciety, we cannot but be struck with the richness, 

 the embarrassing richness, I may say, of the ma- 

 terial presented to us. In making up our Cata- 

 logue, we have been obliged, in every species, to 



omit, for some slight deficiency, varieties possessing 

 so many good qualities as almost to grieve us to 

 pass them by. It has been objected to Pomological 

 Conventions, that the testimony to the qualities of 

 the difibrent sorts of fruit is so conflicting as 

 greatly to impair their value ; but we believe that, 

 to one unaccustomed to weighing evidence, the 

 marvel will be, not that there should be discordant 

 testimony, but that, in our vast country, with its 

 endless diversity of soil and climate, there should 

 be so many kinds whose uniform excellence is 

 either attested unanimously, or with barely ex- 

 ceptions enough to prove the rule. There may be 

 some here who remember a motion, at the first 

 meeting of the Congress of Fruit-growers, for a \ 

 committee to report a list of one hundred varieties 

 of Pears lor general cultivation. The proposal was 

 received with surprise at its audacity, if not with a 

 stronger feeling at its folly ; for had we not been 

 told, by novices who thought they had got hold of 

 an idea which more experienced cultivators had 

 failed to discern, that there were not above twenty 

 Pears of any merit ? Yet the list of twelve Pears 

 accepted at. that meeting had, in 1856, only eight 

 years after, grown to ninety-four, recommended for 

 general cultivation either on Pear or Quince, or as 

 promising well. 



The progress we have made is nowhere more 

 forcibly shown than by the fact that, while thus in- 

 creasing our list, the standard of excellence has not 

 been lowered, but raised. Twenty-five years ago 

 every new fruit of good quality was at once recom- 

 mended for more or less extensive cultivation ; if a 

 good bearer, it was so much the better ; if a hardy 

 and vigorous tree, better still ; but quality was all 

 that was deem.ed indispensable ; while to-day a 

 fruit must combine, in a good degree, all these, 

 and many other points, or be at once passed by ; 

 and many of those then thought most desirable are 

 now on the rejected list. We hear no more of va- 

 rieties which, though not of sufiicient excellence 

 for extensive cultivation, were yet so good that " a 

 single tree should be in every large collection." A 

 sort worthy of no more extensive cultivation than 

 that is not worth growing at all, unless it may be, 

 as in a museum, for its historical value. 



Our Society has brought together, from more 

 than thirty States and Provinces, the most intelli- 

 gent, experienced, sagacious and skilful cultivators, 

 who have taught each other, and made the know- 

 ledge of one the property of all. Its example has 

 led to the formation of similar associations in 

 England, France and Belgium, and of local associ- 

 ations in our own country. It may fearlessly ask 



