The one point which I consider as important, above all others, in this pursuit, is the fact, which I regard as fully established, that a hybrid or cross between a hardy native and a tender exotic grape may have the hardiness of constitution and vigorous, healthy foliage of the native, while the fruit may possess the delicacy and excellence of the foreign parent. I have seen grapes of this character, both from Mr. Ricketts, of Newburgh, and Mr. Underhill, of Croton Point; and I have myself grown hybridised seedlings from Concord, and other hardy native grapes, which retain all the vigor of growth, and very nearly the hardiness and health of foliage of the Concord, and produced grapes very difficult to distinguish from Golden Chasselas, Muscat Hamburgh, and Chasselas Musque either in appearance or flavor; and all raised in open garden, wholly unprotected, and with only ordinary care. If these facts do not point to a glorious future for American grape-growing, I confess myself unable to comprehend their significance.

A few remarks upon hybridizing may be of interest. Hundreds of vines are doubtless grown which are supposed to be hybrids, but which are only simple seedlings. To be certain of success in this pursuit, great care and very delicate manipulation are necessary. The bud must be opened prematurely and all the anthers removed from the grape-blossoms before the pollen-cells have burst. The incipient cluster, thus prepared, should be enveloped in an oil-silk covering to prevent the embryo grape from being impregnated, either by the agency of insects, or by pollen floating in the air. Pollen, from whatever variety it is desired to impregnate the parent grape, should then be carefully applied to the prepared bunch, and the silken en velope retained until the growing berries indicate that the process is complete. Seeds saved from these grapes will produce plants, some of which will resemble the foreign, and some the native parent. Those only, whose habit of growth and foliage resemble the native parent, should be saved - as my experience has shown that the more nearly these seedlings follow the foreign kinds in foliage, the more they are subject to mildew and rot; and are consequently of little value for general use.

Many of the hybrid seedlings will be found with thick, strong foliage, in texture and character like our natives, and it is among these we must look for grapes of the greatest value, hardy, healthy and bearing fruit of improved quality.

In this connection, I wish to make public a discovery, which I believe to be entirely new, and which I think will be of great value to all experimenters in growing hybrid and seedling grapes. It is a method by which the future character of the fruit of a grape-seedling can be determined in the first year of its growth - years before it can be brought into bearing. To illustrate this: I had three vines selected from a lot of seedlings grown from Delaware, crossed with Grizzly Frontignac. Three years before they came into bearing, I announced that No. 1 would bear a black grape, having the Frontignac or Muscat flavor; that No. 2 would bear a red or white grape without the Muscat flavor; and that No. 3 would also bear a red, or white grape, with the Muscat flavor. This prognostication was the more remarkable, because I had never, up to that time, raised a grape seedling having this peculiar flavor, found only among foreign varieties and their hybrids. When these grapes came into bearing, my predictions were found entirely correct. Nos. 1 and 3 had the Muscat flavor; No. 2 was flavored like the Delaware, with no trace of the Muscat; No. 1 was black; Nos. 2 and 3 red.

A year or two later, of seven seedlings from Concord, crossed with Chasselas Musque, I selected two as promising to have the Muscat flavor, and five without. Six of the seven have now borne, and the two selected have the flavor of the Muscat as distinctly as the Muscat Hamburgh and Chasselas Musqud, which they severally resemble, while the other four are as free from it as Chasselas Fontainebleau. One more incident will probably give as full an idea as may be necessary of the extent and capabilities of this discovery. A chance seedling, selected by my gardener for its fine habit of growth, handsome wood and healthy foliage, had all the appearance, especially in its prominent buds and elegantly lobed leaves, of a most promising hybrid. The wood, the form of the buds and foliage, very strongly resemble the foreign varieties. The application of my test, however, indicated that the fruit would be of the character of our wild forest grapes, I need hardly say I waited its bearing with some anxiety - for every appearance of the vine was adverse to my prediction. But, as in every other case, the correctness of my discovery was triumphantly established.

It bore a very small, black grape, nearly all skins and seeds, and of a sour and acrid character, wholly uneatable.

Repeated and unvarying tests of a similar character have so far convinced me of its entire correctness, I do not hesitate to announce that, in the taste, or flavor of the green tendrils of the vine may be found a true index of the character of its fruit. Although this is something that cannot be exactly defined, or accurately described, it may be acquired by any one with a nice, discriminating taste. Go into a green house where foreign grapes are growing, and taste the tendrils of the Muscat flavored varieties, and of the Black Hamburgh and Chasselas, and you will soon learn to distinguish the difference, which is as distinct as the flavor of the grapes themselves. Again, taste and compare the flavor of the tendrils of Concord and Hartford Prolific with those of Delaware, Allen's Hybrid and Iona. You will find in each, distinctive differences suggestive of the character of the grapes. Then test and compare the native wild grapes, the Fox and Frost grapes of the woods, with the tendrils of our cultivated varieties, and you will soon learn easily to distinguish the wild from the cultivated.

The limits of this paper will not permit me to enlarge upon the subject of vine-culture. I will, however, venture to express my disapproval of cramped space and close pruning of the vine, especially during its summer growth. The American vine and the American people are not unlike in this respect. They require room to spread themselves, and do not thrive under restraint. Give the vine plenty of ground-room that its roots may have ample space in which to obtain the sustenance requisite to the production and maturity of its burden of fruit, and it will require a corresponding space above ground upon stakes or trellis for the accommodation of its luxurious growth and abundant fruit and foliage. A certain natural equilibrium exists between the roots and upper-growth of the vine, which cannot be disturbed to any considera-ble extent, especially during the growing season, without serious injury. To illustrate this: I have planted a young and healthy vine, with smooth and perfect roots, in early spring. When it had made a growth of two or three feet, I have cut it back to a single bud and leaf at its base.

After this, the plant remains apparently dormant for ten days or longer, when the bud slowly swells and breaks; and if it is a hardy and vigorous variety, is soon making a new growth, but with less than its former strength. When it has again attained a similar growth, I have again shortened it to one bud and leaf above the former cut. A longer period of rest now ensues, followed usually by a weak and spindling growth of a few inches, with scarce vigor to ripen a bud or two at its base before the autumn frosts have destroyed its foliage. Now, if we take up this vine, we shall find that all the new roots which had formed previous to the successive cuttings of the top, are dead and rotten. Only the old roots, which the vine had when planted, remain, and these rough, knobby and diseased - the vine in no respect as good as when it was planted in the spring. The vine will bear, without apparent injury, any reasonable amount of pruning during its dormant state, in fall or early spring; but I think the above experiment proves that any severe cutting during summer is an unmitigated evil. All the summer pruning 1 would recommend, would be the early rubbing out of superfluous shoots, upon their first appearance; leaving only what is required for next year's bearing wood.

This, with the pinching or stopping the ends of such shoots or canes as were disposed to be too rampant in growth, would be all I would ever consider necessary. Some of the most successful grape-growers within my knowledge, carefully prune their vines in fall or early spring, and then leave them entirely without summer pruning. Much more might be said upon this and kindred subjects, but I fear I have already exceeded the limits proper for a paper on an occasion like the present. Delaware, O.