302 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



oflScer of the revolution, cultivated the Catawba at Georgetown, 

 District of Columbia. " I believ^e," said he in a letter to Long- 

 worth, who followed his example, " that in making known to my 

 country the merit of the Catawba grape, I have done more good 

 than if I had paid the National debt." That prophecy is being 

 realised ! 



The Isabella owes its name to Madame Isabella Gibbs, who brought 

 it from North Carolina to Brooklyn, Long Island, where it flourished 

 on the estate of her husband. It was first called the " Laspeyre 

 grape," the name of a French colonist, who cultivated it in Wil- 

 mington, North Carolina. However, American wines will never 

 equal the European ! 



MAMMOTH VEGETABLES. 



Our Golden State, California, continues to excite wonder in the 

 production of vegetables more than her gold. 



The San Francisco Herald, of October 6, 1856, announces the 

 exhibition of the squashes raised at Sacramento by Mr. J. S. 

 Cohen, at the State Agricultural Fair at San Jose. One of these 

 squashes weighs three hundred pounds, another two hundred and 

 seventy pounds. The circumference of the largest is seven feet 

 six inches. 



RUST IN WHEAT AND OIDIUM IN GRAPES. 



We are to suppose that what we see in tlie nineteenth century 

 is entirely new ! On reading the Geography of Strabo, long ago, 

 I found his description of the climate of England so precisely 

 that of our day, that I felt almost inclined to desist from my long 

 continued meteorological observations. He remarks that in the 

 district where London now is, fog, mist and drizzle were almost 

 constant for a portion of the year. That once in a while, about 

 noon, the sun broke through the fog and shone for a short time, 

 and then the fog closed up again. His descriptions of the Crimea 

 are known to be exactly true this day. 



Horace, in ode 23d of his Carminum 3d, under his motto, 

 " Puris tantum manibus deos placari," The Gods are pleased with 

 pure hands, speaks of rust in wheat and blast in grapes. " That 

 a pestilential air from Africa, humid and hot was very noxious to 

 the wheat and grapes of Italy, producing rust or smut which 



