No. 124.] 33 



The line of grape vines, if extended, would be about sixteen 

 miles. 



Dr. Underbill has also on his farm about 1,700 apple trees, the 

 greater ])art of which are of the most valuable kinds, and are sold 

 for the London market at high prices. The trees were beaiing as 

 much fruit as they could well sustain -, they were admirably pruned, 

 and the apples remarkable for their fine smooth skins and perfect 

 forms. 



Dr. U. has also about 2,700 peach trees, which are in good condi- 

 tion and bid fair to yield fine crops. 



Your committee cannot omit noticing also, some quinces growing 

 on the farm, whose abundance, size, and full fine form, surprised 

 them ; never having seen any equal to them. 



Dr. Underbill has not only evinced knowledge, but in the execu- 

 tion of this admirable fruit farm, he has shown the most persevering 

 industry. He has laised alluvial deposits of the river and placed 

 them on this farm, to iht, amount of fifteen thousand loads. 



Your committee have pleasure in saying that they have no know- 

 ledge of any vineyard culture of our native grapes equal to this of 

 Dr. Underbill's, and that he deserves not merely the medal of the 

 Institute, but the gratitude of the nation, for such a noble contribu- 

 tion to its stock of good things. 



H. MEIGS, 

 ALDEN SPOONER, 



JVew-Yorki J^ov. 8, 1843. Committee. 



Report of the Committee appointed to inspect and examine the Isa- 

 bella Vines and Grapes of H. Steele, Esq., Jersey city. 



The committee respectfully report : That they have visited Jersey 

 City, and after being very politely received by Mr. Steele, were 

 shown twelve bunches of fully ripe Isabella grapes, of a rich and 

 luscious flavor, possessing much saccharine matter and very little 

 pulp. The bunches were very large and particularly uniform, com- 

 pact and well shaped ; six berries from each bunch measured in the 

 aggregate fifty-five and a half inches in diameter, being a fraction 

 over three-quarters of an inch each. 



The twelve bunches weighed ten and a quarter pounds, and on the 

 12lh of September, specimens submitted to the Farmers' Club for 

 examination were found to be fully ripe ; thus demonstrating that 

 frost was not requisite either to ripen or give the Isabella grapes a 

 rich flavor. 



The mode adopted in pruning these vines was that recommended 

 by Hear, in his treatise on the subject. It consisted in cutting the 

 stems so as to leave but two eyes or buds, the first for producing 

 wood for the crop of the following year, and the other for bearing 

 fruit. These branches were well loaded with bunches, and the other 

 of a most luxuriant growth, both as to length, thickness and size of 

 leaves. The great luxuriance and richness of the vines and Iruit, 

 may be attributed not only to the method of pruning, but the supply 



[Senate No. 124.] E 



