Proceedings of the Faemers' Club. 429 



highest cultivation. The soil of all this great region is the very best 

 and finest garden soil. 



Dr. Peck, further said, he never owned any land of the Hempstead 

 plains, nor never had any pecuniary interest in any land in the town 

 of Hempstead ; but that he had, for more than twenty-five years 

 past, advocated and urged the sale and cultivation of these lands, as 

 a great public good. 



The Chairman. — I look upon Mr, Stewart's enterprise as the open- 

 ing of a new era for Long Island, and for many people in l\ew York 

 as well. Mr. Stewart is a more liberal man by far than lie has credit 

 for, and I feel sure he will do an excellent thing for the masses. 



Mr. A. M. Powell. — I have no doubt that Long Island lands are 

 valuable. They have been too long overlooked by farmers, and 

 especially by persons in populous city pent, who sigh for cheap houses 

 in the open country. 



Mr. John Plarold, Secretary of the Queens County Agricultural 

 Society, forwarded a small box containing a portion of the Hemp- 

 stead plains, one spade in depth, "so that the members might see for 

 themselves what constitutes the long-neglected and miscalled Long 

 Island barren lands, and the lands which A. T. Stewart intends shall 

 blossom as the rose." The specimen was eighteen inches in thick- 

 ness, and looked like a rich, mellow mold, free of stones, and well 

 adapted to all agricultural uses. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — I believe this is most valuable, because I have 

 known it to be sold extensively in the New York market for guano. 

 People paid for guano and were buying Long Island dirt. 



Dr. E. F. Peck. — I would like to have tlie gentlemen present 

 examine the soil sent. It is a fair show or specimen of the soil of the 

 10,000 acres in question. 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble. — I am informed that the Squankum Com- 

 pany have a scheme in view for sending this famous fertilizer to the 

 region in question. They will, if they have tlie privilege, regenerate 

 the waste places. Only yesterday I heard of a man who went from 

 Monmouth county to Port Jefferson on the Island, and continued 

 there the good practice of using marl. Of course he found it most 

 valuable, and he has recently ordered a third cargo. 



Egg Plant — How Cooked. 

 Mr. Lera. Lewis, Jackson, Adair county, Iowa, — I would like a lit- 

 tle information from the Club, how to use the fruit of the q^^<^ plant ; 



