372 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Mr, Win. Lawton, — I was especially pleased with the snpfgestion 

 in the paper that lime is one of the cheapest and best applications to 

 wooden surfaces. I have fences that were whitewashed twenty-five 

 years ago. They were not new then, and the palings and rails are 

 sound to-day. Lime corrects the sourness of the sap, and prevents 

 mould, mildew and mosses from attacking timber. These, when 

 once started, destroy wood very fast. 



FoEBST Fences. 



Dr. I. Jarvis read a short paper on the subject of the day. He 

 thinks a narrow belt of mixed woods, such as chestnut, pine, hemlock, 

 laurel, beach and cedar could be planted on lines between farms, and 

 soon become a fence that would at the same time add to the beauty 

 of the estate, furnish some wood and timber, nuts and fruit, be 

 perpetual and indestructible. 



The Walter Grape. 



The committee appointed to visit the Walter grape, grown by Ferris 

 & Caywood, report that they went to Poughkeepsie and saw the vine 

 well loaded. The iruit resembles the Delaware in appearance, and 

 it is as large as the Diana, from which two varieties it is claimed 

 to have been derived by hj^bridization. It is as good as the Delaware, 

 though without its watery sweetness, and it does not have the peculiar 

 and objectionable flavor of the Diana. The foliage is much more 

 vigorous than the Delaware; it approaches the Concord in roughness ; 

 it is without the wooly covering on the under side of the leaf, and 

 it seems to be a vigorous grower and healthy. The period of ripening 

 is said to be that of the Hartford prolific, which is our earliest fine 

 grape ; but it does not drop its fruit like this variety. As to the claim 

 that the Walter will make a raisin of any quality, we saw no 

 specimens and had no evidence. 



We should, not neglect to state that the soil in which the Walter 

 is grown is a clay loam mixed with gravel and much slate, and that 

 a bed of gravel of considerable depth lies below, giving complete 

 drainage, and the location is about a mile from the Hudson river, 

 and several hundred feet above it, all of M'hich conditions should be 

 favorable for grape growing. From these facts, we conclude the 

 Walter should be a valual)le grape in the grape regions of the Upper 

 Mississippi, on the shores of Lake Erie, in western New- York, on 



