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.
[Illustration: Moore’s Early Grape]
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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