PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB, 185 



Mr. Pardee. — In Newburgh, Catskill and Peekskill, there are 

 whole vineyards of Isabella grapes, and nobody thinks of burying 

 the vines; and I never saw finer Isabellas than I have eaten 

 around Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. We might as well talk 

 against the Spitzenbergen apple as the Isabella grape ; and we 

 can encourage the Concord without depreciating the Isabella. 



Rev. Mr. Weaver. — I lived for some years north of Albany, and 

 we had excellent Isabella grapes, although we never pretended 

 to bury the vines. 



The Isabella is not a grape that will ripen under all circum- 

 stances ; but four years out of five they will do well. With care 

 and cultivation they will do well two hundred miles north of New 

 York. 



DOUBLE FLOWERS, 



Mr. Carpenter stated that of a dozen Zinnias raised from the 

 seed, but one had proved to be double. The flower is very pretty, 

 and lasts very long — sometimes over a month without fading. 



Mr. Pardee. — The Zinnia has been a long time a single plant, 

 and it is difficult to break up its habit. Unless the central petals 

 are pulled out it is almost impossible to obtain seed from the 

 double flowers. The seeds are scarce and costly, and the seeds 

 of the single Zinnia exactly resemble them in appearance. It is 

 not to be wondered at, therefore, that after the seeds have passed 

 through several hands, but one out of a dozen is pure. If there 

 is but one plant, and if that is double, the seeds will be perfect. 

 But if there are any single plants in the garden almost all the 

 seeds will produce single flowers. So with balsams. One single 

 balsam will hybridize all the rest, if permitted to go to seed, and 

 the seed will be utterly Avorthless ; whereas, if that one is de- 

 stroyed, the balsam seeds will almost all be double. It is a valu- 

 able rule with regard to all kinds of flower seeds, to protect the 

 double plants from the single plants, because it is the nature of 

 the single plants to produce seed in abundance. 



The great difficulty with regard to flowers is that the soil is 

 not half prepared. The proper implement is the spading fork. 

 The ground ought to be turned over almost every day for a week 

 or more before planting the seeds. The bayonet hoe is an excel- 

 lent implement for distributing the soil without disturbing the 

 plants. If the soil is disturbed just before a rain, it will become 

 very light and porous. Flowers want plenty of room, plenty of 



