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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A PLEA FOR OUR SMALL FRUITS.
The farmers of Ontario seldom need to be urged to plant fruit trees, they are awake to their value both for home consumption, in the restricted sense of the producer’s household, and for market. They would not like to be without their apples especially, they are so very convenient and agreeable, can be used in so many ways, and contribute so largely to the comfort of the whole household. But the same can not be said of the small fruits. They have not yet been allowed to command the share of attention which their value deserves. The reason of this may in a large measure be found in the fact that they require attention after they have been planted, else they will yield no fruit. The apple tree, once established, is able largely to take care of itself, and in spite of entire neglect will yield considerable fruit. Not so with our small fruits. They require cultivation, to be kept free from weeds, regularly supplied with food, and to be properly trimmed. To do this was irksome, especially to one who did not know how to do it properly. Besides, it was small business in comparison with the more important crops of the farm, and the farmer felt that weightier interests demanded all his time and thought. There is some change in this respect for the better, but not all that there might be, not all that a true appreciation of our small fruits will yet produce. Those farmers who live near to the larger villages and towns have many of them discovered than an acre or so of small fruits is a very profitable acre, and well repays all the outlay for planting, tilling, and fertilizing. In a pecuniary point of view it pays. But we wish to call the attention of our readers to the fact that a supply of small fruits sufficient for the daily use of the farmer’s family during their season pays large, pays better than the village or city market, pays in many ways, pays far beyond any money value. Will it be necessary just here to stop and demonstrate that the acquisition of money is not the most important object in life? True, many live as though it was. To very many it doubtless is. There are men who will sacrifice health, and peace, and even life itself in the acquisition of money. But does it pay?
There is something of value in being able to supply one’s table with an agreeable variety. It is not conducive to our happiness or our health to be confined to a very limited number of articles of food. And He who best knows the wants of the physical man has furnished us with not only the staff of life, but with many other articles of food as adjuncts to that, which play no unimportant part in the perfect development and healthful continuance of our bodies. The wise man will seek to avail himself of these, and will find in our summer fruits a convenient and designed supply. As the summer heat begins, how grateful is the strawberry, with its mingled sweet and sour, counteracting the bilious tendencies of the season, and refreshing while it gratifies. Scarcely will it have passed away before the raspberry comes to continue the acid tonic with a change of flavors, thus enticing us in the use of a diet so healthful, until the ripening of the currants, and the gooseberries and the blackberries, and the grapes, as the season advances, gives ample scope for all our likes and dislikes, and an abundant supply of nutritious food and most agreeable medicine. For the sake of your health then, and that of your families, you will set apart some convenient spot for the cultivation of these small fruits, so that from the time that the strawberries ripen until the frosts come again, there will be fresh fruit upon the table every day.