308 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the third wire. During the summer there is no one in this section that pinches back at 

 all ; after the buds start we go through the vineyard and thin out to about what we want 

 for a crop. I think pinching back hurts the vine. I have tried it, and have come to 

 that conchision. A neighbor of mine says he has picked twenty-eight pounds of Delawares 

 from one vine ; he says he has picked over thirty pounds of Concords from one vine, 

 and the vine was not hurt by over-bearing. I have Concord vines that have over twenty 

 pounds on this season, and they look all right. 



Yours, respectfully, Z. SNOOK. 



Vermillion, Ohio, August 15, 1875. 



Mr. Hayden — Dear Sir: Yours received. In reply, would say that we do but 

 very little summer-pruning. We never pinch off canes bearing fruit. We let them run, 

 and sometimes they run ten or fifteen feet, according to variety. The most we do in the 

 way of summer-pruning is to thin out the fruit. 



Cutting off fruit-bearing canes affects the ripening of the grapes. They will not 

 ripen as well. 



In the summer I cut out canes where they are too thick, fruit and all, and very 

 often those not bearing fruit. 



I have had Concords bear twenty-one pounds to the vine on the average, and not 

 to their injury. I have had one hundred roots do this, set eight by ten feet. 



The fruit crop in this vicinity is very poor, compared with many other years in the 

 past. Grapes are fair, but not more than half a crop. Ives, Hartfords and Delawares 

 are coloring; have been for a week; will do, some of them, to ship the first of Septem- 

 ber. Rogers' No. 4 is also coloring, and a beautiful grape, too. I like it better than 

 the Concord ; it handles so very much better, and is a good bearer. 



Yours, truly, L. N. TODD. 



OCTOBER MEETING. 



This meeting was held at the residence of A. A. Hilliard. There 

 was a slim attendance, and no papers or discussions of any thing more 

 than local importance. It was the week of the St. Louis Fair, and much 

 sickness prevailed in the neighborhood. 



NOVEMBER MEETING. 



The November meeting of this Society was held, on the 4th inst., at 

 the residence of Isaac Snedeker, of Jerseyville. The attendance was 

 not large, but the meeting was full of life. 



President Hollister being absent, Vice-President Isaac Snede- 

 ker called the meeting to order at 11 o'clock. 



The presence of C. W. Murtfeldt, of St. Louis, and George H. 

 Gill, of Kirkwood, Mo., added much to the interest of the meeting. 



