PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 257 



SO late in the season, that like melons ripened in the cold, they 

 were more or less insipid. 



The Chairman said that he had supposed that sweet potatoes 

 would not thrive in this latitude ; but he had become convinced 

 that it was a mistake. He had seen them growing twenty-seven 

 miles north of New York, in different soils. It would be an 

 important point, if the sweet potato could be made earlier by a 

 judicious selection of seed. He had eaten very fine Nansemond 

 potatoes, grown upon Staten Island, upon a heavy clay soil. 



Rev. Mr. Weaver, of Fordham, said that a neighbor had given 

 him some sweet potatoes, and urged him to plant them. He did 

 so, selecting a light soil, and in the fall had an abundant crop. 



Mr. Cavenach expressed the opinion that sweet potatoes could 

 be successfully grown upon Long Island. A neighbor, in Brook- 

 lyn, plants them in a light clay soil, which has been filled in 

 three or four feet deep, and has an astonishing yield. 



Prof. Renwick said that sweet potatoes have been grown with 

 success for many years as far north as 40 deg. 50. min. 



GRAPE CULTURE. 



Mr. Robinson read a letter from G, P. Norris, of Wilmington, 

 Del., offering to prepare a paper upon the culture of foreign 

 grapes under cheap glass structures. The ofier was accepted by 

 the Club. 



The Chairman said that public opinion had very much changed 

 with regard to the Concord grape-, which seems to have improved 

 in quality. The Hartford Prolific would be a popular market 

 grape, if the berries did not rattle from the bunch, being a week 

 in advance of the Concord in ripening. The renewal system of 

 pruning he had used with success, and it seemed to have improved 

 the Hartford Prolific in respect to the hanging on of the berries. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — I have twenty or thirty varieties of 

 grapes, and I am satisfied that no general rule will apply to prun- 

 ing all kinds of grape vines. The Isabella and Catawba are ram- 

 pant growers ; but there are other kinds that do not make one- 

 third of their growth. The same rule could not be equally well 

 adapted to both classes. He had found the fruit of the Concord 

 equal to that of the Isabella in quality. The public will proba- 

 bly be disappointed in the Delaware, for it is too small to be an 

 attractive grape in the market. 



Dr. Holton said that in the neighborhood of Paris the vines are 

 [Am. Inst. J Q 



