DEC 2 
842 
THE RURAL J8IW-Y0RMIB. 
As compared with some others of Mr. Rogers’s 
red grapes, I have found the Salem in flavor 
and quality very much like his hybrid No. 5. 
The latter, however, is less vigorous in 
growth, but has healthier foliage, and Is har¬ 
dier in Winter. Both are pure-flavored, and 
quite free from foxiness. Agawam, or No, 15, 
is a stronger grower, with larger berries and 
clusters also a red grape, less inclined to mil¬ 
dew, and hardier in Winter than the Salem. 
Lindley, or No. 9, has larger clusters, healthier 
foliage, stronger growth, and is hardier than 
Salem, and to most tastes is equal in quality. 
Ma«sa«oit, or No. 8, is also a red grape, quite 
hardy and healthy, with large berries and 
medium sized clusters, end is the earliest- 
ripening of any of Mr. Rogers’s Hybrids that 
I have grown; it is fine-flavored when just 
matured; but a little foxy when over-ripe. 
The Pkenti83 Grape 1 have only grown 
for two years, and it has not yet fruited on 
my place. I have for several years had op¬ 
portunities fortesting its quality, and for com¬ 
paring it with other varieties. From repeated 
exhibitions of this grape upon branches of the 
vine, I think it must be very productive, and 
in quality, when compared with the Rebecca 
grape exhibited at the same time, they were 
so much alike that no one seemed able to dis¬ 
tinguish one from the other, or to say which 
was the better grape. I find the Prentiss a 
more vigorous grower than the Rebecca, 
under the same conditions; and have no doubt 
that it is a more productive vine. I regret 
to say it seems to have the same t jndency to 
mildew of the foliage which characterizes the 
Rebecca. I have not sufficiently tested it to 
say what its character for hardiness may be. 
For those who are not familiar with the Re¬ 
becca grape, I will say the Prentiss is a pleas¬ 
ant and agreeable grape, rather sweet, 
sprightly, not high-flavored, but free from 
coarseness or foxy odor—a grape that would 
be regarded as “good” in any market; and 
if it proves sufficiently hardy in Winter, will 
be valuable in favorable grape growing lo¬ 
calities where mildew is not unduly prevalent. 
Delaware, O. Geo. W. Campbell. 
The Salem has not done very well with me. 
Of the Prentiss I have only a two-year-old 
vine. I should not like to describe either. 
Dorchester, Mass. M. P. Wilder. 
In estimating the value of our grapes we do 
not pay enough attention to the betanical 
class, sub-class or family from which they 
originate. We can no more understand the 
characteristics of the individual variety under 
consideration than we can glean a sufficient 
knowledge of the diversities and differences 
betwen races of men, or of our domestic ani¬ 
mals, without such inquiry. 
The Salem, Rogers’s No. 53, is a hy¬ 
brid between a foreign grape (the Black 
Hamburg) and a strong, vigorous un¬ 
named Labrusca grape, native of New Eng¬ 
land, with berries of large size, and 
strong, durable foliage. I believe it to be 
unfortunate that Mr. Rogers used such a 
strong, healthy native in his hybridizing ex¬ 
periments, for these grapes carry so much of 
their native health that we have all been led 
to hope for success in this direction, while the 
sober truth is that there is no more to hope for. 
Thousands of such experiments have since 
been made, and not one of them has succeeded 
so well. It seems utterly impossible to make 
these Vitis vinifera grapes, or their hybrids, 
succeed as well as our own native classes, in 
any of the Atlantic States. The Salem is cer¬ 
tainly a fine amateur grape, and sometimes, 
under favorable conditions, valuable for vine 
yard culture, but I do not think it as hardy as 
Wilder, Agawam or Massasoit, nor so good as 
Delaware, Iona or Eumelan. It grows well 
in one spot, when but a few rods away an¬ 
other vine fails. The roots are the weak 
point; the liber is thick and soft, and very 
susceptible to the attacks of phylloxera. 
When the roots can go down (as over a drain) 
beyond the reach of the insect, it is a remark¬ 
ably strong grower. The wood is not hard 
and firm, and is liable to go into winter-quar¬ 
ters in an unripe condition. The foliage is not 
so durable as that of the Concord, yet is better 
than that of the Delaware. The berries are 
large; the clusters tolerably compact; skin 
tough and thick, making it a good keeper; the 
seeds are large and numerous; last, but not 
least, the vine is rather a shy bearer. 
The Prentiss seems to succeed under favor¬ 
able conditions, but I have not seen enough of 
it yet to come to a conclusive opinion. I have 
merely seen and eaten the fruit, and observed 
the growth and foliage of young vines. The 
foliage seems much like that of its parent, the 
old Isabella, The fruit resembles closely in 
size and form of berry and bunch the Rebecca, 
but in my judgment it is neither so good nor 
attractive. Here, again, in the absence of 
sufficient observation, we must refer to the 
family and the class from which it originated 
to estimate its probable relative and future 
value. The Isabella, the parent of the Pren¬ 
tiss, was brought north from the Carolinas, 
and belongs to the Southern type of our La- 
bnisca grapes. Like the Catawba, it is the pa¬ 
rent of numerous varieties, and there has not 
yet been introduced any seedling of either of 
these grapes equal in all respects to the pa¬ 
rents. The doctrine of the survival of the 
fittest may not always hold good as to animal 
life, but, as applied to this Southern type of 
grapes, nature has evidently selected the 
strongest for ns. The trouble with these 
grapes at the North is, that they are not adapt¬ 
ed to our climate; our seasons are too short here 
to matnre the wood, and the canes go into 
their winter-quarters in an unripened condi¬ 
tion, and this causes them to be more or less 
tender. Some of the descendants of the Isa¬ 
bella are certainly among our most delicious 
grapes; for instance, Whitehall. It will be 
hard to beat this grape for quality as a table 
grape; it is delicious, but, unfortunately like 
Rebecca, the vine is very tender, and few per¬ 
sons have ever seen or eaten the grsps. 
TIere can be no doubt but if we can succeed 
in thoroughly acclimatizing the seedlings o£_ 
this Southern type of our Labrusca grapes, 
we will secure better fruit than from the 
Northern types, and they will be better keep¬ 
ers, for the skin of the fruit is usually thicker 
and tougher. Europeans despise our grapes, 
but it was the despised Jewish nation that 
gave to the world the Saviour of men. The 
Prentiss may be the coming grape, and the 
exception, but from what I have seen of it I 
fesr there is little of the miraculous about it. 
I have great faith, however, in the future of 
American grapes, but I am yet waiting for 
the king. Let our horticulturists persevere 
and grow seedlings; from seedlings we shall 
in time succeed in acclimatizing this fine South¬ 
ern type of one of our native classes. The 
Prentiss is but one remove from the original; 
we need go further. Who knows, it may be 
the ancestor of the coming king. 
Watertown, N. Y. D. S. Marvin. 
I have been a grape grower for more than 
20 years. My vineyard first was set mostly 
to Delawares; then, as new and old varieties 
appeared, I tested all, so that at one time I 
had 50 varieties in bearing. I soon discover¬ 
ed most of them were of no use to me, and 
so I discarded them. In my judgment the 
Delaware, Catawba. Walter, Diana and Iona 
are the best for making good wine, the Diana 
being the best for flavor and richness. Again, 
they are all as hardy as the Concord; and the 
Salem, Walter and Delaware with me, ripen 
several days ahead of the Concord. Rogers's 
Nos. 4 and 19 ripen with the Concord, and 
both are fine.large grapes. The Salem, Rog¬ 
ers’s 15, is also a fine grape when it ripens well, 
which is not often. It is a poor bearer, and 
the bunches are loose and sti aggling. It is 
found to be subject to mildew and rot by 
some grape-growers. All but this are first- 
class table grapes. Amoag the white grapes— 
Prentiss, Poeklington, Empire State and Ni¬ 
agara—to my taste the first taste of the 
Niagara is splendid, the after-taste not so 
good; the Pr<utiss is not as good as the Niag¬ 
ara, being a little insipid, and not to be com¬ 
pared with the Salem; the Poeklington is good 
and fine all through eating; the Empire 
State is best of all, and will be so rf corded by 
grape-growers. It is certainly a fine grape in 
all respects; none better, in my judgment. 
Yates Co., N. Y. Alfred Rose. 
Two Grapes—the Prentiss and the Sa¬ 
lem.— Several bunches of the Prentiss Grape 
were received a few weeks ago from Mr. T. S. 
Hubbard, of Fredonia, N. Y., a fine portrait 
of the best of which is presented on our first 
page. This variety Is not in our trial grounds, 
and we therefore present the opinions of emi¬ 
nent vineyardists of various parts of the coun¬ 
try, as we have no evidence of our own to place 
before the reader. It is a seedling of the Isa¬ 
bella; bunch of medium size, rarely shouldered 
and always compact. The berry is of medium 
size, nearly round, of a light green color. The 
skin is tough and the berries carry well. We 
have had the Salem grape for ten years. It 
does not thrive with us, and it has rarely pro¬ 
duced a perfect bunch and never a full crop. 
The vine has often been injured by the Win¬ 
ters. The bunches portrayed by our artist In 
so life-like a manner were sent to us by Mr. 
Alfred Rose of Penn Yan, N. Y., as being of 
average size as they grow with him. 
ANTIQUITY OF BAGGING GRAPES. ETC. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of Nov. 4th., 
in noting the benefits of paper bags in pre¬ 
serving grapes from mildew, insects, etc., 
you say: “The person who first suggested 
it is entitled to the thanks of all who love to 
cultivate the queen of fruits, etc.” The prac¬ 
tice is an old one, having been in use a hun¬ 
dred years ago in England, and been recom¬ 
mended in some of the old works on garden¬ 
ing. It was in use in this country fifty or 
more years ago by Mr. Alphonse Loubat, a 
French gentleman, who in 1828 had a vine¬ 
yard near Fort Hamilton, Long Ialand, forty 
acres in extent, and containing 60,000 vines, 
in fifteen varieties, all foreign. He used paper 
bags pinned over the bunches to protect them 
from rose-bugs and mildew. He was the au¬ 
thor of a little work, in English and French 
on opposite page®, entitled the American Vine- 
Dresser’s Guide. It was published in 1827. 
Apropos of vine culture in this country, the 
first attempt in the industry on a large scale 
was made in Georgia. A French gentleman, 
Mon. L. M. de St. Pierre, in 1770 settled a col¬ 
ony of French vine-dressers in the township of 
New Bourdeanx, Warren Co. Ga. The first pipe 
of wine made in the United States was made 
by Christopher Gerb, one.'of these colonists. 
This wine was made from the Warrenton 
Grape, since known as Herbemont’s Madeira, 
by some supposed to be a native grape, but 
more probably a foreign grape imported by 
those colonists, or perhaps a seedling from a 
foreign variety. 
VYritingabout this new-old practice of bag¬ 
ging graDes, suggests to me another new-old 
practice lately brought forward, namely that 
of treading or trampling in seeds after sow¬ 
ing and covering them, which is highly recom¬ 
mended, as it should be, by one of our most 
prominent horticultural writers who claims it 
as a practice of his own devising. [We think 
not. Eds.] But he iB not aware that it is 
recommended in the first work on horticul¬ 
ture published in this country, at Boston Mass, 
in 1799, in which it is laid down as in the reg¬ 
ular routine of seed sowing. 
I do not agree with Soloman when he said, 
that there was nothing uew under the sun; 
nevertheless my reading and observation 
have made me almost An Old Fogy. 
Let all enthusiastically join the Rural 
army of seedling grape-growers for 1883. 
(Exiimmrnt <£rouml$ of the gUifttl 
Itcu’ - pother. 
Potato Tests Continued. 
Wall’s Orange. —ThiB potato was sent to 
us for trial by I. F. Tillinghast, and 
cut to single eyes which were pUnted 
one foot apart in drills three feet apart, April 
11th. The vines were spreading aod bloomed 
profusely by June 25—the blossoms of a solid 
purple color. Fruit (potato balls) set and ma¬ 
tured on every plant in large quantities. The 
yield was 506.66 bushels to the acre and the 
number of potatoes to the acre, large and 
small, was 173,316. The largest five weighed 
three pounds, three ounces. We should judge 
that in other soils and situations this potato 
would yield tubers of a uniformly medium, 
size. With us the average was under medium 
as shown by the number to the acre as com¬ 
pared with the yield per acre. It has a dis¬ 
tinctive shape, as the engraving, which is a 
true portrait, may serve to show, being oblong 
—sometimes roundish-oblong, but always 
flattened. The skin is generally splashed with 
purple. Sometimes it is of a buff color with 
purple eyes. The potatoes were eaten by 
six persons, September 15, who pronounced 
them flaky and of excellent quality. It has 
a positive aDd agreeable flavor. The soil in 
which they were raised is a mellow loam that 
seldom suffers from drought. Indeed it is 
too moist in wet seasons. A light spread of 
stable manure was spaded under; 500 pounds 
of Mapes’s Light Soil Fertilizer were then 
sown broadcast, and upou the seed-pieces 
lightly covered with soil 500 pounds of Mapes’s 
Potato Fertilizer per acre were strewn in the 
drills. The cultivation was entirely flat, a 
hand cultivator alone being used between 
the rows. Paris-green was applied twice. 
Early Sunrise, or ns it is now called New 
Sunrise, was sent to us by Price & Knicker¬ 
bocker of Albany, N. Y. It was planted and 
cultivated the same as Wall’s Orange except 
that Baker’s Potato Fertilizer was alone 
used at the rate of COO pounds to the acre 
strewn in the drills upon the covered seed- 
pieces which were planted not until April 23. 
August 19 the vines were dead. The seed sent 
to us (about the time of planting) was finely 
preserved and as plnmp as if freshly dug. It 
has a white skiu, sometimes pinkish, with su¬ 
perficial eyes and the typical shape is shown by 
the engraving. Fig. 444. The vines were small. 
The yield was 250.33 bushels to the acre— 
swalland lar^e, 130,680 to the acre, the five 
largest weighing 26 ounces. Potatoes were 
eaten Sept. 1st and the quality pronounced 
mealy and good without any positive flavor. 
The Early Ohio.— We believe that Alfred 
Reese of Bucyrus, Ohio was the originator of 
the Early Ohio Potato, at first named Early 
Reese. He sent to the American Institute 
Farmers’ Club a few for trial about ten years 
ago, claiming that they were earlier than 
Early Rose. About two years afterwards Mr. 
J". J. H. Gregory disseminated it under the 
name of Early Ohio, because he thought that 
Early Reese and Early Rose were so nearly 
alike that it would lead to confusion. This s 
about all the advertising the potato has ever 
had, so that it may be said that, for the most 
part, it has earned its own reputation. 
We believe it to be from seven to ten days 
earlier than the Early Rose; in quality fully 
its equal and that in light soil, it w ill yield 
more to the acre though, perhaps, not to the 
hill. The tops are so small and the tubers form 
so dose together in the bill that twenty five 
per cent more hills may be raised to a given 
area. Our outline sketch is made from a 
specimen weighing one pound sent to us by Mr. 
Augustus Hewlett, a neighbor, whose soil, 
like that of the Rural Farm, is a light sandy 
loam. He raised 300 bushels to the acre the 
past season and has cultivated it since its in¬ 
troduction, saving his own seed which he 
thinks is all the while improving. See Fig 443. 
Rural Cross-bred Wheats —Continuing 
our accurate portraits of cross-bred wheats 
crossed and raised at the Rural Farm we now 
present in Fig 447 a head that of all our wheats 
promises to yield most. The portrait is one 
of 49 heads from one Kernel. The average 
number of kernels to a breast in three, 
some of the Central ones producing as 
high as five. The grains are large and plump, 
neither white, amber nor red in color, but 
semi-transparent, resembling white flint corn. 
As we have said, the number of kernels to the 
breast which a given wheat yields, is depend¬ 
ent upon soil, cultivation and climate. For 
instance, the Clawson and Fultz often give 
five grains to a breast in our Western Winter 
wheat sections, while here they yield but two 
or three. What we need, therefore, to increase 
our wheat yields is by selection and breeding 
to produce varieties which, in a given 
soil and climate, will give a greater 
number of grains to a breast or epikelet, 
the number of breasts and size of kernels 
remaining the same or being increased. We 
do not give the parentage of Fig. 447 for 
the reason that no record was kept of 
it. Fig. 446 is a cross between Winter Hard 
Australian and Velvet Chaff—the former the 
mother plant. For the reason that it is diffi¬ 
cult to manipulate bearded wheals, in no case 
have we used them for the pistillate parent 
but only as pollen parents. The present cross 
is one of very few that resembles the father 
more than the mother. 
IS THE UPPER EAR MORE VALUABLE 
THAN THE LOWER FOR SEED. 
PROFESSOR W. J. BEAL. 
To help to determine this point, in 1881, the 
seed from six ears of dent corn, which had 
come from stalks bearing two ears each, was 
planted. The seeds from upper and lower ears 
were planted in alternate rows, three feet 
apart and nine hills in length, with four 
stalks to the bill, with a few exceptions as to 
number of stalks to the hill The soil w-as not 
very good and it was not manured heavily. 
In Autumn, when husked, “ in every case,” 
says my assistant, “the ears were larger from 
the seed of the upper ear than from the seed of 
the lower ear. Only one 9talk of the best lot 
bore two ears. These were saved and planted 
in 1882 in alternate rows. 
SEED FROM UPPER EAR. 
Row No. 1—8 stalks bore two ears each 
and 16 bore rudiments with silk each below 
one ear. No account was made of the good 
single ears. 
Row No. 3—0 stalk bore 2 ears; 13 rudi¬ 
ments with silk each below 1 ear. 
Row No. 5—1 stalk bore 2 ears; 9 rudi¬ 
ments as above. 
Total—9 stalks with 2 ears each and 38 rudi¬ 
ments below ears 
SEED FROM LOWER EAR. 
Row No. 2—1 stalk bore 2 ears and 12 rudi¬ 
ments each with silk below 1 ear. 
Row No. 4—1 stalk bore 2 ears and 7 i udi- 
ments each with silk below one ear. 
Row No. 6—1 stalk bore 2 ears and 9 rudi¬ 
ments. 
Total—3 stalks with 2 ears each and 28 rudi¬ 
ments below ears. 
Two good ears of dent corn were saved 
from one stalk in 1881, and planted in alter¬ 
nate rows of nine hills each in 1882. 
UPPER EAR. 
Row No. 1—2 stalks produced 2 ears each, 
and 22 had one ear each and a rudiment with 
silk. 
Row No. 3—0 stalk with 2 ears; 14 rudiments. 
Row No. 5—0 stalk with 2ears; 12 rudiments. 
Total —2 stalks with 2 ears; 48 rudiments 
with silk out below one ear. 
