REPORTS OF DISTRICT AND LOCAL SOCIETIES. 525 



quality, which you may cut and take off a dozen equal slices from each half and then 

 put the two ends together and have a melon as large as the Hungarian. I have grown 

 many of the White Icing so large they would not go into a bushel basket. 



Gen. Grant sweet potato, vine a vigorous, compact grower, tubers unconditional 

 spreaders, good, but hard to catch. Dixie, more rambling in vine, pink skin, good, one 

 weighed thirty-six ounces. 



For your benefit, not mine, perhaps, I would better tell you of one other species; or, 

 better, an old species under a new dispensation, which I cultivated; or, rather, which 

 cultivated me. I was fixing the fence at the further side of a ten-acre lot. He came 

 clear there to see me. He was well dressed and wore a recognizing smile. The birds 

 were trilling their softest notes. He carried a small roll of paper in his hand. The 

 cows were biting industriously at the short grass. He approached confidingly. The 

 skies were serene and all nature seemed at ease. " Good morning," said he, " a very 

 pleasant day, and you have a pretty place here. I was not aware that you had so nice 

 a place out here. I have a few clematis here that I procured for a lady on Union street r 

 but she is gone from home and I thought I would offer them to you; that fine porch of 

 yours needs a few clematis to set it off to advantage." By this time he had unrolled 

 the paper and displayed three fresh-looking roots. "Where were they grown?" I 

 asked. " At Rochester, New York," said he. " By what firm ? " " By Williams & Co. ; 

 I am their general agent for this state." " It must be a new firm, then," said I, " for I 

 have been acquainted there a long time and have not heard of them before. "O, yes, 

 just started, doing a fine business, giving the old firms a hard push." "But is it not too 

 late to set them? I have never set such plants so late as July." "O, no; it is just the 

 time; they do better now; the roots are fresh, just received this morning; that long root 

 is a purple clematis, that one a red, and that one a magnificent white." " Is the purple 

 a Jackmanii ? " I asked. " O, yes, and one of the finest clematis grown." Now, I have 

 had that same Jackmanii covered with bloom from June to October, plants that a ten- 

 dollar bill would not buy, and confess to a weakness for clematis; but of course he did 

 not know that, so I assumed a look of indifference and asked the price. " They are 

 worth much more," said he, " but I need the money today and you may have them for 

 fifty cents." I knew that three good clematis would be cheap at a dollar. The bait was 

 tempting. I bit. He modestly took the money and his departure, and has kept them 

 both ever since. 



I handled those roots gently; I set them carefully, shaded them tenderly, and 

 watched them concernedly; and finally was rewarded by buds bursting up to the light 

 of the outer world. Faith, aided by works and water, had triumphed. 



What joy when the first leaf unfolded! But somehow it looked suspiciously unlike 

 any clematis leaf I had ever seen. The next leaves were like unto the first, and the 

 third plant played ditto. 



Now a microscopic examination showed all three of the plants to ampelopsis quin- 

 quefolia, or the common five-fingered ivy, dozens of which I had been trying to kill out 

 around my house for the past four years. When the truth broke upon my benighted 

 brain it caused my head to swim and my heart to pit-a-pat in such a way that all that 

 day it seemed to say: " O. what— a sin, to be ta— ken in, as slick — as a pin, by a game 

 — so thin, and lose — your tin." And when the shades of night had fallen and the 

 drapery of my couch was wrapped around my guileless form, and earth's despond had 

 given place to dreamy bliss, floating far away I saw a white- winged messenger, one 

 thumb beside his nose and fingers working mischievously, while faint voice in silvery 

 tones brought back the soothing refrain : " 'Twill now be told, in acceuts bold, to the 

 shining fold, in the streets of gold, that you're getting old, and easily sold." 



Was I spunky? Would you have been? 



W. K. Munson then gave a description of the method of cold storage by- 

 means of which he kept his Niagara and other grapes in the excellent con- 

 dition which he exhibited them. He thought the method was the best in 

 use for keeping all kinds of fruit and vegetables, but he saw no particular 

 profit in keeping grapes for winter, because the market is then dull and 

 the price is not adequate to the trouble of keeping. 



Henry Smith, who had a fine exhibit of chrysanthemums and roses, 

 explained the culture and improvements made. He said he had one hun- 

 dred varieties, each flower distinctly separate. He gave a sweeping invi- 

 tation to all present to visit his greenhouse. It was conceded by all 

 present that chrysanthemums were especially valuable for bouquets, as hav- 

 ing such lasting qualities. 



