18 Cincinnati Horticultural Society. [January, 



To test thorouglily the plan of planting more female than male plants 

 — which was the plan adopted by Mr. Longworth, and the gardeners in 

 the vicinity of the city — a committee was appointed in 1846, to visit 

 the markets of the city, and ascertain the quantity sold during the 

 strawberry season. 



Accordingly, this committee commenced on the 19th of May, to take 

 account, and ended on the 12th of June — a period of twenty-two days — 

 when they reported the quantity sold in market, and at hotels, to be 

 4,150 bushels. 



This enormous yield, compared with the number of acres of ground 

 cultivated, satisfied the Society of the correctness of the theory, which is 

 now adopted by all our gardeners. 



The proper culture of the grape, and the manufacture of wine, was 

 made one of the most important considerations of the Society, from the 

 time of its first organization ; and in 1846, a report was presented by a 

 competent committee, on the analysis of the soils of Hamilton county, 

 the quantity of ground cultivated in vines, and the product of the 

 vineyards, with a correct chemical analysis of the Catawba, Isabella, and 

 other native wines, as compared with foreign productions. 



This report, in connection with the early and continued able efibrts of 

 N. Longworth, Esq., induced many of the farmers of the country to turn 

 their attention to the cultivation of the grape, and by adopting an 

 American mode of pruning, better suited to our soil and climate than 

 the foreign practice, the success was much greater than expected, and 

 we may now safely predict, that the Ohio Valley is to be the rival of the 

 vine-growing regions of Europe ; nor is the time far distant when the 

 Catawba and Herbemont wines of Hamilton county, will ornament the 

 tables of the aristocracy of the old world. 



In 1845, the citizens of Cincinnati became interested in securing, in 

 the neighborhood of the city, a suitable Cemetery for the burial of the 

 dead, and the members of the Horticultural Society were the first to 

 select the beautiful ground now known as Spring Grove Cemetery. A 

 committee was appointed to make the purchase from Josiah Lawrence, 

 Esq., who agreed to sell the farm known as the Glerrard farm, for 

 $10,500. In consideration of this proposition, a charter was passed by 

 the Legislature, in February, 1845, incorporating the Society, and giving 

 them power to dedicate a " rural cemetery, or burying ground, and for 

 the erection of tombs, cenotaphs, and other monuments ; to lay out the 

 grounds into suitable lots, and to plant and embelish the same with 

 shrubbery." About the time that the negotiation was completed with 

 Mr. Lawrence, some of the members of the Society preferred a separate 



