220 Transactions of the American Institute. 



gent, hard working farmers, increased application of fertilizers to 

 the soil, and improved agricultural machinery, are the proper legis- 

 lators to appeal to, to settle the labor question. 



SOUTH JEBSEY. 



Mr. A. Hogerboom, Newfield, Gloucester county, N. J. — Never, 

 perhaps, did geographers blunder more than in stating South 

 Jersey to be " a pine barren." Farms in Gloucester, Cumberland 

 and Saleen counties, that have been decently farmed, certainly give 

 the lie most emphatically to this. I have traveled over much of 

 Jereey, and know whereof I affirm. As we recede from the Dela- 

 ware, in the direction of the Atlantic coast, we shall find the soil 

 gradually becoming more sandy. But, for at least half the distance 

 across the State, with the exception of here and there a circum- 

 scribed locality, it is good farming land, if judiciously farmed. But 

 what is of most importance, and regarding which we want line 

 upon line, and precept upon precept, is the utility of deep and 

 thorough cultivation, and of clover. Little is really known of the 

 value of clover as a fertilizer, to say nothing of its value as a crop. 

 As for deep cultivation, I have my method, which is very simple, 

 to be sure, of bringing this new land under cultivation, and at once 

 converting it, as it were, into a garden, but it is not by plowing 

 among the stumps. Adjourned. 



July 16, 1867. 



Mr. Nathan C. Elt in the chair; Mr. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



MANAGEMENT OF GRAPE VINES. 



A letter was received from O. M. Hamilton, Brownville, Ohio, 

 stating that in 1865 he planted twelve Concord grape vines. The 

 first winter he cut back to two or three eyes; the second, so as to 

 leave two feet of new wood. Last spring he trained them on a 

 trellis, raised from six to eight canes, pinched out the laterals, and 

 now there are from twenty to thirty large clusters of fruit on each 

 vine. The question is, how he shall proceed for next year. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — "With the Concord one can hardly make 

 a mistake. With other varieties this course would be fatal. I saw 

 a Delaware vineyard ruined by pursuing this course. In the spring 

 one should raise two canes, which are to be grown for the bearing 



