Yol. XXXIX. No. 6, 
Whole No. 1567. 
’ } 
NEW! YORK, FEB. 7, 1880. 
11 iuce Fite Cents. 
| $2.00 Peb Yeab. 
fEutered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1S8Q. by the Rural Now-Yorker Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
fit fiittprl). 
THE EUMELAN GRAPE. 
J. T. LDVBTT. 
This Grape, which originated at Fishkill, 
New York, and was purchased in 1806 by that 
hero of American Gra m Culture, the late Dr. 
C. W. Grant, (by whom it was subsequently dis¬ 
seminated), Is not, although generally supposed 
to be, (which is qDite natural owing to the fact 
that it has been stated as such in various 
treatises on American Grapes) a variety of the 
Fox Grape, ( Vitis Labrusoa'), from which the 
majority of the varieties cultivated at the 
North have descended; but a variety of the 
Summer Grape ( Vitis wstivalis). And there are 
few Grapes about which there is such a wide 
disagreement of opinions regarding their value 
—(which by the way is more or less the case 
with all varieties of the species) and said dis¬ 
agreement in all probability will ever exist 60 
long as does the variety. This is readily ac¬ 
counted for from the fact that it behaves so 
vastly differently in different situations, even 
within a short distance of each other. In a 
word, it is a most precarious variety, as much 
as or more so than the Triomphe de Gand and 
similar varieties of the Strawberry. It is ex¬ 
ceedingly handsome; very early, and as its 
name implies, (“Good Black') is of extremely 
high quality, “when,” one would say, “youcan | 
get it.” It is so rich in sugar that it has been 
reported to have “ raisined ” on the vine under 
favorable circumstances; but this I cannot 
vouch for, never having seen it do bo. Dr. 
Grant describes it in his catalogue as : bunch 
of good size, elegant form, and a proper degree 
of compactness; berries medium to large, 
round, black, with a fine bloom, adhering 
firmly to the bunch long after ripe: flesh, ten¬ 
der, melting, all going to wiB6-like juice under 
slight pressure of the tongue; ripens very 
early (even before Hattford Prolific) and 
evenly to the center. Flavor pure and re¬ 
fined, very sugary, rich and vinous, with a 
large degree of that refreshing quality that be¬ 
longs distinctively to the best foreign wine 
grapes ; all of which I can indorse when the 
vines remain vigorous aud healthy. But I 
must add, so far as my experience goes, it ap¬ 
proaches in the 6ame marked degree, that best 
of American Grapes, the Adirondac, in the un¬ 
certainty of a crop as it does in the quality of 
its fruit. 
There is one peculiarity about the Eumelan 
that I have never been able to understand—a 
decided difference in the growth of vines under 
the same treatment. Instances are known 
ot vines propagated from the same parent 
vine, propagated in the same way, planted side 
by side and given the Bame cultivation and fer¬ 
tilizers, yet one would grow into a large vig¬ 
orous, fruitful vine and another would make 
scarcely auy growth at all; nor will nursing of 
any kuowu kind restore such runts to vigor, 
but invariably, after years of watching and 
care, they must be dug up and thrown away as 
worthless. 1 have thought that the difficulty 
may arise from the bud producing the cane 
from the eye or cutting, being weak or defec¬ 
tive in Borne other way; but this because I 
could account for it in no other way. It is 
simply speculation on my part, aud the phe¬ 
nomenon Is one that has often puzzled me. 
Little Silver, N. J. 
-*-*-♦- 
The Eumelan Grafe.—I consider this of ex¬ 
cellent quality, and where it succeeds well a 
very desirable Grape to plant. In our light soil 
here it does not always prove a good bearer, 
but when it does fruit, it is very fine. 
Passaic, N. J. Geo. C. Wooison. 
■ -»■»■»- 
A List of Grapes.— Mr. E. Williams names 
Cottage, Telegraph, Worden, Concord and 
Martha as a good list of five varieties of Grapes. 
To enlarge the liat he would choose Goethe, 
Brighton, Merrimack, Lady. Wilder, Salem, 
Agawam and Massasoit. We have hopes that 
Mr. Miner’s native seedling Grapes will prove 
worthy of being added to the above list. 
gortirultural. 
AN INTERESTING STRAWBERRY DIS¬ 
CUSSION. 
New Jersey Horticultural Society. 
Fruit Grower* In Council. 
[Rural Special Report.] 
MORNING SESSION. 
At the fifth anoual reunion of the above 
Society at Newark on January 15tb, the first 
question discussed was : “ The future of Straw¬ 
berry Culture as a Source of Profit.” The sub¬ 
ject was introduced by Rev. J. L. Chapman, 
of Irvington, a thorough-going amateur. He 
to secure a vigorous growth ; hut when to 
apply the top-dressing to secure the best re¬ 
sults, be was not prepared to say—he waB ex¬ 
perimenting on that point. Mowing off the 
tops, as practiced by Borne, was a questionable 
practice. In a wet season, it might be of ad¬ 
vantage, but in a dry one plants were irrepar¬ 
ably injured. A neighbor was growing the 
Crescent Seedling. “ What for,” he asked— 
“to make sauer kraut?" No, but because it 
was productive; could be sold cheap, and peo¬ 
ple would buy it. It might be so, but he want¬ 
ed no such fruit. 
He thought berries should be graded 1st, 
2nd, and 3rd quality, as to flavor, by a com¬ 
petent committee, so that people would know 
what to plant. New varieties were annually 
sent out at high prices, many of which, on 
trial, proved worthless. Any new fruit intro¬ 
duced ought to have a certificate from such a 
committee. He had tested about a dozen kinds ; 
among them Glossy Cone, Great American 
Beauty, Black Giant, Pioneer, etc. He thought 
Mr. Roe would rather have that question an¬ 
swered than any other; he came to learn, and 
had been much pleased with the remarks of 
the speaker. 
Mr. Crane supposed it was well known to be 
the offspring of the May beetle or dor-bug, and 
he would suggest that May was the time when 
the warfare should commence. He thought 
we ofteu erred by destroying their enemier* 
The skunk was one of these, consuming great 
quantities of Insects. 
Mr. Hale had used salt as a remedy with 
partial success. Had hung boards covered 
with coal tar about his grounds at night and 
caught quantities of the beetles, but he could 
not say as to the relative proportion of friends 
and enemies thus caught. 
Mr. Capen, of Boston, would merely suggest 
that protecting the birds might obviate the 
necessity of hanging out tarred boards. 
Mr. Ward would make a plea for the birds. 
He thought he had good cause of complaint 
against damage by cat-birds, yet deemed the 
benefits generally outweighed the damages. 
He thought the iDjury by “ grubs” was more 
apparent among the weak plants than the 
strong ones. 
AFTERNOON SE8SION. 
The strawberry question being resumed, Mr. 
Batty of Manchester, by request, gave an ac¬ 
count of some of his seedlings. His best was 
a pistillate variety very robust in habit; berry 
conical, about the color of Green Prolific, firm 
enough to stand shipping well, and about 
doubly as productive as the Wilson, with him. 
Mr. Quinn thought a few years ago he knew 
something about Strawberries, but the views 
of those days had been somewhat changed by 
the progress made since. Hovey’s Seedling 
was then considered one of the most profitable 
till the Wilson superseded it on account of its 
greater yield and better shipping qualities, 
but the berry was too sour to suit the public, 
and the cry among the berry growers was t 
“Anything to beat the Wilson." The Charles 
Downing, Boyden's 30, and the seedlings of 
Mr. Durand, had entirely superseded the Wil¬ 
son in his vicinity. He believed no finer, 
larger or better berries were grown anywhere 
than in Essex county. His most profitable 
berry was Charles Downing, but some of his 
neighbors had better success with Boyden’s 30. 
He advocated high manuring—no danger of 
using too much. He followed potatoes with 
Strawberries, setting the plants in July, in rows 
three feet apart. With a favorable season 
they would give a full crop the season follow¬ 
ing. He covered the rows with fine ma¬ 
nure iu winter, and in spring raked off the 
coarser portion between the rows. He hoed 
the surface uot more than one sixteenth of an 
inch deep! (That's getting things down to a 
fine point!—Rep). By this practice he grew 
171 bushels ou au acre in 1878; last year the 
same grouud produced 156 bushels. Fifty 
bushels were formerly considered a good crop; 
but now less than 100 was unsatisfactory. 
Mr. Jones, a neighbor, grew at the rate of 
412 bushels in his garden. Mr. Durand had 
been very successful. His Great American had 
been the most productive ot any variety he 
ever saw. A Mr. Brown at Middleville had a 
crop last year that was like apples for size (!!). 
Green prolific was too soft. 
Dr. Hexamer was glad to hear Charles 
Downing spoken so well of. It was a berry of 
great intrinsic value. Triomphe de Gand used 
to pay him the best of any. Cumberland Tri¬ 
umph was a very flue berry, one he could sell 
auy quantity' of. Sharpless was the most 
promising of the new varieties. Champion 
was also very valuable, in some localities it 
was very profitable. The New Ytfrk market 
was not always a fair test as to the value of a 
variety. He should prefer locating near a 
town of a few thousand population, where he 
could put hiB fine berries in market and have 
them consumed the same day they were picked. 
Mr. Roe felt amply repaid for attending. He 
EUMELAN GRAPE.—Fig. 32. 
took his text—a small strawberry plant—in 
his hand, and commented on its structure, ca¬ 
pacity and requirements, aud criticized the 
actions of plant growers for disseminating 
such quantities of feeble plants as he hold in 
his hand, which was a fair specimen. He 
urged a reform iu growing better plants, 
charging more for them. The public would 
be the gainers. To nurse feeble aud &ickly 
plants was a waste of time and labor which he 
could not afford. Less in number and better 
in quality was his advice. 
He advocated high culture and top-dressing 
the coming berry was the Gipsey, a fine- colored 
berry of good shape) flesh fine and buttery, a 
beautiful hardy plant, uot large enough to suit 
the prevailiug roauia, but his wife told him to 
part with auy but that, as she liked it the best 
of any that came to her table. He advocated 
thorough preparation of the soil before setting 
the plants, anO clean culture afterwards. He 
had been troubled with the “grub.” Great 
American had suffered most, and old beds more 
than new ones. 
Mr. Lovett asked if any one had been suc¬ 
cessful in exterminating the pests, and how ? 
