What would we consider a perfect grape? What are the essential requisites? These:

1. A large amount and the proper proportions of sugar and acid.

2. A good flavor.

3. A tender, melting flesh.

4. Large and compact clusters.

5. Large berries, firmly adherent.

6. Few and small seeds.

7. A thin skin.

8. A fruitful, vigorous vine.

9. Good keeping qualities. 10. Longevity.

Perhaps a fuller account of these requisites will bring more clearly before us, "the perfect grape " for which we are looking.

1. Should there be but a minimum amount of sugar and acid the grape would be insipid. The Concord and the Salem possess this defect to some extent. Should there be a large amount of acid, and little sugar, the grape would be sour. The Hartford Prolific is an example. Too much sugar for the amount of acid, or rather too little acid for the sugar, is a fault of many of our grapes - the Delaware for example; but it is not a very objectionable feature. The Catawba is a good example of a grape with about the proper portions of sugar and acid in a moderately large amount.

2. A grape that does not possess an agreeable flavor is of little value for eating fresh, though perhaps of some value in the kitchen, where the flavor may be supplied artificially. The flavor is an element aside from the taste given by the sugar and acid. We speak of the grape as having a musky, or vinous flavor, or aromatic, or foxy flavor, or perhaps of an agreeable, or a delicious flavor, each of which is independent of the sugar and acid. Some grapes possess a fine perfume, also, which is a desirable quality, and should be mentioned in connection with the flavor, although it may not bear any direct relation to the latter.

3. The flesh should be tender, melting in the mouth. Goethe, Salem, Witt, and Allen's Hybrid may be cited as possessing this quality, while Hartford Prolific and Venango are examples of a tough flesh. The nearer the flesh approaches a liquid condition the better. Freedom from pulp, as the Herbemont and Adriondac, is desirable.

4. Too small bunches is a fault possessed by several excellent grapes, notably the Delaware. A large bunch, like that of the Niagara, or the Wilder, or the Agawam, or the Empire State, is a desirable quality. The bunches should also be compact, like those of the Delaware, Clinton, Ives, etc. One objection to the Catawba is the looseness of its bunches.

5. The berries should be large, uniform in size and firmly adherent to the stem. The most prominent of the defects of the Northern Muscadine is the falling of the berries as soon as ripe. The persistence with which the berries cling to the stem is one of the desirable features of the Catawba, the Niagara and the Empire State. Large berries like the Catawba, Niagara, and Rogers' seedlings - as Wilder, Goethe, etc. - should obtain. The small size of the berries is alone sufficient to exclude the Delaware from the list of perfect grapes. The color might properly be mentioned in this connection. Whether it is black, red or white is perhaps of little moment; but the color should be clear and bright. All dull colors are objectionable. The presence of bloom is also desirable, especially on the dark grapes. It adds to the value of the Concord and Adriondac.

6. As we do not depend upon the seeds for reproduction of the grape, the fewer and smaller the seeds the better. Of course we must depend upon seeds for the improvement we are to make; but when the "perfect grape" is once secured, there will be no further need of seeds.

7. The skin of the berry should be thin, making but a small part of the grape. But it should be sufficiently tough to prevent breaking in ordinary handling. A tough skin is especially necessary for marketing, but for home use the more tender the skin, within certain limits, the better. A tough skin is also sometimes desirable in order to better resist the depredations of insects, supposed to injure some varieties. Among the varieties possessing too thick a skin are the Lydia and the Isabella.

8. Although a grape possess all the other requisites and not be fruitful and vigorous, it could not, I think, be pronounced a perfect grape. No one will devote much time to a vine that returns but a few clusters a year for his pains. A shy bearer cannot be an ideal grape. Vigor of vine includes not only good growth, but hardiness and freedom from mildew and other disease, liable to attack poor growers. The "robust health and rugged hardiness, productiveness and general adaptability to all soils," of the Concord have long been important factors in popularizing this variety; the same must be said of any grape to be of the first importance. The Empire State and perhaps the Pocklington, of the new grapes, possess these features. The Jefferson and Isabella are sufficiently productive, but are not hardy enough for this latitude. Evenness of ripening is a point to be observed in connection with the fruitfulness. The berries upon a bunch should all ripen at the same time. The variableness in time of ripening is a great defect of the Diana. Freedom from rot is another important factor in the series of qualities of "the perfect grape." The Vergennes, a good grape in many respects, is subject to rot in some localities.

The popularity of the Niagara may in the future be diminished by its being subject to rot and mildew in some sections.

9. Good keeping qualities may not be regarded by some as essential to the best grape; yet we cannot say that we have attained perfection in the grape, until with the other qualities, we have a good keeper. Some varieties perish almost as soon as ripe, while there are others that may be kept the year through. A grape that will retain its freshness and flavor for a long season, is a valuable one, though it may not be of prime quality to begin; but good keeping qualities coupled with all the other requisites will certainly be an acquisition.

10. And lastly, but perhaps not least, the vine should be long lived. It should not be necessary to renew the vineyard every five, ten or twenty years, but the vine should live indefinitely, possessing vigor throughout its whole life.

When we have produced a grape possessing all these qualities, it will, I think, have " the essential requisites of a perfect grape." Perhaps when the ideal here figured shall be attained, other qualities will be found desirable. In fact the standard of perfection in the grape, as in all products of human labor, is constantly advancing. Each progressive step points to yet higher, better, nobler things still to be achieved.

[From Proceedings of the Columbus, Ohio, Horticultural Society. - Ed. G. M].