DEC 22 
d\)t lHnn}in*i). 
THE VERGENNES GRAPE. 
REMARKS AND OPINIONS OF GEO. W. CAMP¬ 
BELL, E. WILLIAMS, T. T. LYON, J. G. BUR¬ 
ROWS, GEN. W. H. NOBLE AND THE RURAL. 
The Vkrgennes Grape bas been very sat¬ 
isfactory during the four years I have grown 
it. It has proved hardy in Winter, vigorous 
in growth, productive and healthy in foliage. 
It has fruited here the two years past, and I 
think promises to be a really valuable acquisi¬ 
tion. It ripened early the past season, a little 
in advance of the Concord. The clusters upon 
young vines were not quite as large as the 
published illustrations, but the berries were 
larger. In quality it was very good; pulp 
tender and melting, entirely free from foxi¬ 
ness, or coarseness in flavor. In color red; 
about like the Brighton, aud somewhat like 
it in other respects; but it retains its charac¬ 
ter better in long keeping, and does not de¬ 
teriorate by hanging on the vine long after 
maturity. It is a good keeper, and I think it 
will be a good shipping grape. So far it has 
shown no indicatiousof rotting,and. altogether, 
it comes nearer answering the description and 
recommendations of its introducers than any 
new grape of recent introduction. For my 
locality, 1 should plant it in preference to the 
Brighton, as the viue seems hardier in Winter, 
and the grape keeps longer in good condition, 
both on the viue and after being gathered. 
Delaware, O. gko. w. Campbell. 
The V ergenxes Grape has fruited with 
me only the past season, anil a single trial will 
not. justify an opinion as to the position it will 
eventually assume. Under more favorable 
climatic influences than this season has 
afforded, I should expect improvement in 
quality, and I look for an increased size of 
the clusters. The vines have shown sufficient 
vigor of growth and fruitfulness, to be entire¬ 
ly satisfactory in these respects; but in com¬ 
mon with others they suffered severely the 
past season from mildew, though quite free 
from rot. One vine somehow withstood the 
attacks of mildew to a remarkable degree 
compared with others, and produced fruit I 
suppose somewhat approaching its normal 
condition. The clusters were very uniform 
in size, a little shorter, otherwise about like 
the illustration of the Pockliugtou on the first 
page of the Rural for Nov. 17th. The berries 
are large, of ar. attractive red color; skin 
thick, which is generally considered essential 
in a good-keeping grape; quality, fair to good; 
not equal I think to some others. I have 
some still on hand in good condition, but 
whether they will keep 
all Winter, as claimed, 
remains to be seen. 
A correspondent asks 
what 1 think of the Ver 
gennes compared with 
the Concord, Catawba 
and Worden. I think it 
ripens about with the 
Concord and before the 
Catawba: hence it is more 
certain than that varie¬ 
ty. The Worden is ear¬ 
lier than either of them, 
aud highly esteemed by 
all who know the genu¬ 
ine article. The same 
correspondent asks what 
grape hus the Catawba 
flavor, and is better 
adapted to our climate. 
I give it up ! The Ca¬ 
tawba has a flavor pecu¬ 
liarly its own, aud if it 
were three or four weeks 
earlier it would be 
grown much more exten¬ 
sively tbau it is. 
K. WILLIAMS. 
Moutdair, N. J. 
I have only one vine of the Vergennes 
Grape. It fruited for the first time this year 
with me. It is a moderate grower: foliage 
tolerably good, I may’ say as good as the aver¬ 
age. Quality better than that of Rogers's 
Hybrids, the pulp being more tender, and the 
grape ripening earlier. I hope to test it more 
fully next season. 
Fishldll, N. Y. J. G. Burrows. 
I think the Vergenues Grape iu quality 
and quantity would keep its place on our 
table beside the apple; certainly with the last 
of the long-keeping pears. Its shrinkage has 
wood, and fruit, for its long keeping quality, 
I think this the equal of any American grape 
yet grown. Gen. Wm. H. Noble. 
Bridgeport, Conn. 
/ ® V 
' ... . 
...... - . y 1 .• ' ... - 
; 
\ v" 
V 
Clark's Prolific Apple. Fig. 707 
The Vergennes at the Rural Grounds.— 
A single plant was received (our record does 
not state from whom) and planted in April of 
1881. The stem measures five-eights of an 
inch in diameter one foot above the ground. 
Three canes were trained perpendicularly and 
each made a growth of eight feet during the 
past season. They are rather short-jointed 
and of a light brown color. The leaves are of 
medium size, downy’ and 
healthy. The vine bore five 
bunches the past season, of 
which the engraving (Fig. 
708), which is a true por¬ 
trait, show? the average 
size. 
The berries are very large, 
nearly round, and cling 
.firmly’ to the pedicels. The 
I color is nearly pink or rosy- 
I pink when fully ripe, with a 
J rich bloom. It is both sweet¬ 
er and more sprightly than 
the Coueord. with less hard 
pulp and a thick skin. Con¬ 
cords tasted insipid after 
eating Vergennes. It is too 
soon to speak of its hardi¬ 
ness or productiveness. It 
ripened a few days before 
Concord. 
This grape originated with 
V • 
:V 
nothing of that wilting and flabby texture* 
which besets so many fine*grapes, like the Con¬ 
cord and Isabella aud even the Catawba and 
Diana, after a long tarry in the fruit room 
Another excellence of this grape is its early 
maturity. The Vergennes ripens all its 
bunches evenly; no green grapes or parts of 
bunches are seen iu its fruitage, as in some 
other varieties of excellence. It is not subject 
to mildew, an.l therefore holding its leaf, ma¬ 
tures its fruit and wood. 
The Vergennes boasts another quality long 
sought iu our American grapes—an absence of 
what we call pulp or core. In this regard it 
is more like the European grape. It is a meaty 
grape, tender in flesh clean through. The fit¬ 
ness of the Vergenues for wine has been thor¬ 
oughly tested, it making a light-tinted, deli¬ 
cate liquor, with a rich and pleasant bouquet. 
I think it destined, in this quality’, to excel any 
American grape. 
In short, for hardiness, vigor of growth, 
large, bounteous fruitage, a luscious fruit of 
the richest tint of blended pink and purple 
bloom, for its yield of wine, with the most 
tfelicate aroma, for its early maturity of 
Mr. Wm. E. Green, of Vergenr.es, Vermont. 
Porno IxUiiCfll 
CLARK’S PROLIFIC APPLE. 
CHARLES DOWNING. 
Clark’s ProlificlFig. 707) was grown from seed 
by W. G. Clark. Albia, Iowa, who states that 
it is very hardy—iron-clad. Tree a vigorous 
grower with a round, rather spreading head, 
dense, dark-green foliage, an early and very 
abuudant bearer on alternate years, with a 
moderate crop in Ihe intervening ones. It is 
highly esteemed in the neighborhood of its 
origin for its hardiness, productiveness, good 
quality’ and for continuing a long time in use, 
The fruit is medium to large, oblate-eonieal; 
sides sometimes unequal and a little oblique, 
slightly angular; skin bright yellow, a shade 
of light red where exposed to the sun, and a 
few brown dots; stalk short, small; cavity 
broad, deep, uneven, slightly russeted; caly x 
small, closed; basin rather small, slightly 
Pkrhai’S owing to my 
own fault the plants of 
the Vergennes Grape, 
which have been grow¬ 
ing on my premises a 
couple of years, have 
done but poorly, grow¬ 
ing very slowly—so much 
so that 1 cun luirdly hope 
to see fruit of it even 
next year. I have never 
seen it in bearing; but I 
had been led to suppose 
it a free grower aud a 
heavy bearer, I regret 
my inability to make any¬ 
more definite statements 
respecting it. 
T. T. Lyon, 
South Haven, Mich, 
Vergennes Grape.—From Nature, Fig. 708, 
corrugated; flesh white, fine, very tender, 
juicy, sprightly subacid, with a pleasant, 
spicy, aromatic flavor; core rather small. It 
ripens in October aDd November, and con¬ 
tinues in use till mid-Winter, and longer with 
a little care 
[Our outline sketch (Fig. 707) is from one 
sent to us by Mr. Downing.— Eds.] 
Value of Apple and Other Fruit 
Pomace. —I have occasionally seen articles in 
the agricultural papers, asserting that this 
was of no value, but the few experiments I 
have made with it have proved quite bene¬ 
ficial so far as I can judge. The soil on which 
my trees and grapes are planted is a poor one, 
and I have very little manure to spare for 
them. In the absence of this, I have carefully 
saved the parings of apples and pears, and 
the skins of grapes, and the little apple 
pomace I could obtain, and mulched the trees 
and vines in a two-foot breadth of ring directly 
underneath the outward ends of their limbs. 
Since this was done, alt have borne more 
abundantly than before, and I think the fruit 
is improved somewhat in quality. Why 
should not this be the case, when, from the 
decaying of the pomace, the numerous fine 
rootlets are supplied with such elements as 
are exactly suited for the production of fruit 
A. B. ALLEN. 
ijorticultitral. 
THE TOMATO;—FACTS AND 
THEORIES. 
In very few of our garden plants are the 
varieties so little fixed as in the tomato, but 
in this vegetable our varieties are largely 
modern. The appearance of the foliage and 
the color of the fruits are characters that may 
be depended upon, but the form and size of 
fruits, and the number of their cells are in most 
varieties extremely variable. The time of 
maturity is neither constant in different 
varieties, nor between individual plants of 
the same variety. Last year the May¬ 
flower Tomato ripened two days earlier 
than the Acme; in the season just past, the 
Acme surpassed the Mayflower in its earliness 
by seven days. Last year the Acme was six 
days earlier than the Paragon; the past season 
it was thirty days earlier. Iu both cases, the 
seeds of the two varieties were planted on the 
same day. I noticed the past Summer that 
one plant of a variety often ripend fruit sev¬ 
eral days earlier than its neighbors. It fre¬ 
quently happened also, that one or two fruits 
of a variety would ripen many days before 
a sufficient number would be ripe to furnish a 
supply for the table. 
Last year plants of the Mayflower produced 
only large and smooth fruits: the past season, 
one plant of that variety produced only small, 
worthless fruits, although the seeds were gath¬ 
ered from the finest specimens. A friend told 
me that he had the same experience with the 
Mayflower, and this might perhaps have been 
expected in a new variety. I have repeatedly 
noticed that some of our best varieties, the 
Trophy, for example, often produce very 
rough, ill-shaped fruit. How are we to account 
for these variations J 
In regard to the latter, that is the irregular¬ 
ity in form of the fruits of some varieties, I 
have a theory based on analogy, which I 
hope to be able to verify by future experi¬ 
ments, and which I suggest in order that 
others may test it with me. If we wei e to 
take a sample ear of corn in which kernels of 
several different colors are mixed, and plant 
ir and the descendants of it year after year 
iu succession, choosing for seed each year, the 
finest-formed ears, without reference to the 
color of i he kernels, we should not expect to 
get a variety that would run all of one color. 
As I have remarked, the number of cells 
iu most of our varieties of tomato is extreme¬ 
ly variable. In selecting fruits for seed, we 
Usually select those which are finest in ap¬ 
pearance, regardless of the uumbei of cells 
that they contain. The result is that our 
plants yield fruits in which the number of 
colls follow no law, and so we are sure to have 
many rough fruits. For, as the rule, many- 
eelled fruits are rough fruits, The Acme is rare¬ 
ly, if ever, rough, aud seldom contains more 
than four cells. '1 he t berry aud Apple 
Tomatoes are models in form, and rarely have 
move than two or three cells. It is possible 
that if we were always careful to select for 
seed only fruits that have but two or three 
cells, we should be able to produce smooth 
fruits from our roughest varieties, and that 
without reducing their size. 
Does the tomato rot affect the fruits from 
the outside, or is it developed from within i 
A learned fungi specialist wrote me a few 
days ago that he has only noticed the tomato 
rot affecting fruits that were cracked of 
