STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 179 



second quality, 1600 gallons. The juice of the selected grapes or first picking, averaged 

 91. o 1 -', uii (tecbsles' BCftlee, equal to about •ll}.{ per cent, of su^ar. The must of the other 

 grapes, of which the Becond quality of wine is made, varied between 70° and 88°, but it 

 will be seen that this wine (the second quality) is better developed and riper than tin' 

 select quality. It is well known that an inferior must clears up better and faster than 

 rich must. It is reported, thai in Germany, many of the wines of 1865, a vintage re- 

 markable Cor the richness of BUgarln the most, are not yet clear. 



Catawba. — Vintage, 1808 ; commenced Oct. 6; quantity obtained, 1100 gallons. The 

 vims bad suffered severely from mildew, which had destroyed more than half of the crop, 

 and injured the quality of what was left. It is too young yet to deserve the name of wine. 



('•>ncord. — Vintage, 1867 ; commenced Sept. 16 ; quantity obtained, -too gallons ; rich- 

 ness of must, 78°, equal to about 17 per cent, of saccharine matter. I am not blind to 

 the merits of the Concord as a market grape, but do not agree with those who pronounce 

 it a good wine grape. 



Herbemont and Cassady have been made only in small quantities, and the quality fails 

 to give me satisfaction. T. E. 



TESTING COMMITTEES. 



Dr. Hull — I move that three committees, one for each fruit dis- 

 trict, be appointed to test and report upon new varieties of fruits, 

 etc., that may be put in their hands for trial. Carried. 



REPORT VICE PRESIDENT THIRTEENTH DISTRICT. 



The Secretary submitted the following reports from T. A. E. 

 Holcomb, Vice President for the 13th District, and member of the 

 Entomological Committee : 



Up to 5th of April, the prospect for a fruit crop was unequaled. The dry autumn 

 of 1867, seemed to have had no bad effect, and the buds for the crop of fruit for 1868 

 were excellent in condition and abundant in quantity. The well matured wood of last 

 season's growth passed through the winter in apparent safety, and the opening of 

 spring found the Horticulturists of the 13th district making preparations for gather- 

 ing and marketing an unprecedented amount of all kinds of fruit. But 



" The third day comes a frost — a killing frost," 

 or, if it miss the third and even the fourth day, it comes on the fifth, and In a night, 

 lays waste the hopes of a year. 



Peaches and Pears were in bloom, strawberries had partially opened and apples were 

 just ready to unfold their beauties, in promise of coming abundance. The peaches 

 and pears were killed, the strawberries showed many a black eye as evidence of the 

 severe mill they had passed through, and the apples still straggled and feebly bloomed. 

 Such was the general result of the early April freeze. It afterward appeared that 

 some localities escaped. The northern part of the district, where the season was not 

 so far advanced, and the eastern part in some way protected by the rivers, and here 

 and there an orchard in the south produced an ordinary crop of peaches. A large 



