PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS* CLDB. 257 



saw in Illinois, where an excellent quality underlies a vast area 

 only sixty feet below the surface. 



Mr. N. C. Meeker said some of it is excellent, but some was 

 poor for household use, as it contained so much sulphur that when 

 shut up in close stoves it was apt to explode. 



Early Potatoes. 



Mr. J. B. Updegraff, Downsville, Washington county, Mary- 

 land: " Which is the best, earliest, and most productive potato; 

 and which is the best mode of culture, and best manure?" 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — Goodrich, Early, Dykman, Buckeye, 

 Early York, Early June, and several other sorts, are each said to 

 be the best by those who grow them. No one sort is established 

 as the best or most productive. The best mode of culture is to 

 make your land rich by previous manuring, and deeply mellow 

 by frequent plowing, and then cultivate flat. Salt, ashes, plaster, 

 and bone dust, for top dressing are valuable manures. 



How TO Preserve Fox Grapes. 



Mr. Isaac Hicks, North Hempstead, Long Island, gives the fol- 

 lowing as the mode he follows : "Squeeze the pulp from the skin; 

 put it in a kettle with a little water. Boil slowly, and stir for 

 fifteen minutes to loosen the seeds. Strain through a collander. 

 Put the pulp again into the kettle, and add the skins with half a 

 pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. When cooked, put up in 

 sealed jars. Fox grapes are better than cultivated varieties for 

 this purpose. 



Mr. Solon Robinson recommends making the grapes into a jelly 

 similar to currant or apple jelly, as preferable to the above mode 

 of cookino^. 



Relic of an Extinct Monster. 



Dr. J. V. C. Smith exhibited a fossil shark's tooth five ])y six 

 inches in length and width, which he said, compared with teeth 

 of sharks of the present day, would indicate this monster to have 

 been more than a 100 feet in length. It was found fifteen miles 

 from Richmond, Va. Fossil shark's teeth are also found at Gay 

 Head, Mass., but these are seldom over two inches in lenofth. The 

 teeth of the sharks of our day are not often larger than my thumb 

 nail, yet such an animal is large enough to consume a man. Esti- 

 mating from that point, it is difficult to imagine tJae size of this 



[Am. Inst.] Q 



