PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 159 



Dr. Trimble exhibited specimens of the Gansell, Bergamot, and 

 Seckel pears from New Jersey. 



Mr. Fuller said that he considered the Northern part of New 

 Jersey, and northward even up to Albany, a safer place for a 

 vineyard than localities further south. The shoots do not start so 

 early in the spring, and are more likely to escape the spring frosts. 



Prof. Mapes stated that the strip of land between Newark and 

 New Brunswick produces sweeter grapes than are grown else- 

 where ; but so long as the people of New York city will eat sour 

 grapes they can be better grown further north. 



Mr. John G. Bergen had observed that the sweetest and best 

 grapes are those which have the most sunshine. 



Mr. Fuller. — The grape vine is more affected by soil than any 

 other plant. Vines may be destroyed in three years, for quality, 

 by the mismanagement of the nurseryman. Make short cuttings 

 from the base of healthy shoots upon a healthy vine. Pinch in 

 every lateral so that the cuttings shall ripen every particle of 

 their wood to the top, and proceed properly, ^tep by step, with 

 the vines thus produced, and the grapes will be as good or better 

 than those of the parent vine. Instead of Isabella, which ripen 

 late and which the season is hardly long enough to ripen at all, 

 so far north, he would plant the Delaware which ripens its shoots 

 to the very top, and whoso leaves remain healthy until the grapes 

 are gone ; the Concord, which, altliough not equal to the Dela- 

 ware sells better than the Isabella; the Hartford Prolific, which 

 rattles too easily from the bunch unless thoroughly ripe, but 

 which is a week or ten days earlier than the Concord. The Diana 

 will be a favorite Avith some people because of its musky flavor. 

 It is a little later than the Concord. The Rebecca sometimes 

 grows well in the city yards, but in the fields is good for nothing. 

 The Delaware grape may be readily propagated from layers, but 

 from cuttings it is difhcult to produce it. All hardy cuttings 

 should be set out in the fall. If cuttings of the currant are set 

 out now, they will be rooted within ten days, although they will 

 have no tops; and next year they will grow two or three times 

 as much as if cut in the spring. 



Mr. Carpenter stated that ho had been deterred from attempt- 

 ing to strike Delaware cuttings from the representation of its 

 difficulty, but upon trying it, he had been as successful as with 

 other varieties of the grape. He considered the Clinton a valua- 

 ble grape, after ripened by the frost. 



