THE SEPTEMBER PEACH FESTIVAL. 303 



Israella, Salem, Kebecca, and Hartford; Toles' Martha and Hartford; Kenny 

 Bro's Delaware and Rogers' 19, and Fowler's Concord, Delaware, and Hartford, 

 the No. 2 was awarded. 



The committee stated that the collection of grapes brought in by J. M. 

 Sterling, of the Pointe Au Peau Vineyard, Lake Erie, came too late to be 

 examined by them. 



The foregoing reports were accepted, the committees discharged, and the 

 Society adjourned till 8 o'clock this evening at the hall. 



Mr. Sterling also brought some very fin6 specimens of a large water lily, 

 known as the Sacred Bean of India, or more properly, the Egyptian Lotus, 

 from the mouth of the River Raisin, Monroe county, Michigan. 



Prof. Beal, of the Agricultural College, took occasion to botanically explain 

 the nature of the plant, and to state that it is found in but few localities of 

 the United States. The leaves of the plant brought by Mr. Sterling measured 

 two feet across. 



It is proper to State that Mr. Sterling was delayed by misconnection of 

 trains on his way here, and did not arrive in time to place on exhibition his 

 fine lot of Delawares, ripe and sweet, and the other fruits which he had poet- 

 ically designed to be an offering in marriage of the shores of Lake Erie to the 

 bolder bluffs of Lake Michigan through their kindred products. The nuptials, 

 though heralded with little sounding of trumpets, were duly solemnized, and 

 fixed another tie in the fruitful bond that binds the Eastern to the Weatera 

 shore. 



Mr. C. Engle, of Paw Paw, showed some very fine bunches of grapes, raised 

 on his farm twenty-five miles inland from the lake shore, where they flourisk 

 in profusion, and took occasion to sketch his experience in peaches and pears 

 at that point. His orchard is located on a ridge elevated 160 to 175 feet aboye 

 the lake level, and, strange to say, scarcely any trees were killed by the cold 

 last winter. The products of this region speak volumes for the capabilities of 

 the soil and climate. 



THURSDAY EVENING SESSION. 



The Society met in Dyckman's Hall at 8 o'clock. T. T. Lyon, of Plymouth, 

 in the chair. 



The Secretary read the list of entries that have been made, together with 

 the names of exhibitors. 



The committee on plums requested Mr. Windoes, who had a seedling on 

 exhibition, to make an explanatory statement of the fact that the specimens 

 shown were not ripe when gathered, and the committee were thus led into 

 error in pronouncing upon its flavor. Mr. Windoes said the plum had been 

 plucked two weeks too early through the inadvertance of the party to whom 

 be had sold his farm, and this fact accounted for the unfavorable report of the 

 committee, who were not aware of the fact. The plum, which is a seedling of 

 the Green Gage, is said to be second to none, except its parent stock, in qual- 

 ity. 



The Secretary announced, from the committee on peaches, an additional 

 report, stating that P. I. Parks, of South Haven, exhibits a very fine basket of 

 Crawford's Early, brought in on the first day of the fair, But not discovered 



