MOORE’S EARLY GRAPE.
In the February number, page 22, we called attention to this new grape as one of considerable promise, it having received from that very careful and cautious body, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a prize for the best early grape. Since that time it has been tested another season, and received from that society the prize of sixty dollars for the best new seedling grape. It has also been exhibited before other societies, and received several first prizes. We have been so fully persuaded that it was a variety worthy of the attention of those who grow grapes in Ontario that we have requested Mr. Moore to send us an engraving shewing the form and size of the bunch and berry, so that the readers of the Canadian Horticulturist may be able to form a correct estimate of its general appearance. We are happy in being able not only to say that Mr. Moore has kindly acceded to our request, so that we are able to give the engraving in this number, but has also sent an advertisement, which will be found in its appropriate place, informing our readers where, and at what price, they can secure plants that they can rely upon as being genuine.
This grape first bore fruit in 1872, being one of a lot of two thousand five hundred seedlings raised by Mr. Moore, and every year since that time it has been under examination by the fruit committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, so that they have taken ample time to test its merits before it received the sixty dollar prize. The fruit, as will be seen on looking at the engraving, is large both in bunch and berry, the berries being as large as those of the Wilder or Rogers’ number four. The color is black, with a heavy blue bloom, and the quality considered to be better than that of the Concord. The vine is stated to be exceedingly hardy, having been exposed to a temperature of twenty degrees below zero without injury, and has also been entirely exempt from mildew. It ripens ten days earlier than the Hartford Prolific, and twenty days before the Concord.
The fruit committee, who examined several hundred of the vines growing in the same vineyard with the Hartford Prolific, found the fruit fully ripe on Moore’s Early, while the Hartford Prolific was not ripe, requiring a considerable number of days more to bring it to maturity. The earliness and hardiness of this grape are qualities of considerable moment to all who grow grapes in our climate, whether they be grown by amateurs for their own tables, or on a more extended scale for the market. It is true that ripe grapes can be brought by express from more southern latitudes, and so come in competition with our earliest sorts, yet the more freshly gathered fruit will ever receive the preference, and the cost of transportation is always in favor of the nearer article. The large size and showy appearance of this grape will enable it to command attention in any market, while the quality of the fruit is sure to give satisfaction.
We hail with much pleasure the advent of these new grapes raised in high latitudes, believing that from them the Canadian will be able to make a selection of sorts that will make him quite independent of more southern vineyards. The Burnet Grape, disseminated by the Fruit Growers’ Association, of Ontario, last spring, we believe will prove to be a most valuable variety in Canada; and we expect to find other sorts, such as this Moore’s Early, and seedlings of Wm. Haskins, W. H. Mills, and others not yet sent out that will be planted with it, and give us a great abundance of delicious grapes, ripening early, and able to endure unharmed all the rigours of our climate.
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