Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 455 



not Mr. Whitney look into this matter and prepare a paper or give a 

 verbal report of his investigation ? 



Mr. James A. Whitney. — I will, cheerfully, if I may be allowed 

 the necessary time for it. I have a number of important analyses 

 now on hand, and when they are completed will take up the sweet 

 potato. 



A Yalediotoet. 



Mr. Solon Kobinson. — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Far- 

 mers' Club, I have stepped in for a moment to say that for a number 

 of months I may not have the pleasure of meeting with you. Life 

 is always uncertain, and especially so when one has reached the down- 

 hill slope of a laborious career. If anything will prolong my years 

 it will be the mellow and balmy air of that shore to which I go. The 

 climate of Florida is, / hiow, the most delightful of any in this 

 country, and I do not believe it is surpassed by the air of Italy, or of 

 any ocean islands. Though distant I shall often think of you ; for if 

 there is any act or service in my life in which I have taken pleasure, 

 it is in watching the growth of this organization. Once it was a 

 sapling not so thick as my thumb ; now it is a well-grown oak. 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — May we not hope to hear from you during 

 your sojourn in Florida ? 



Mr. Solon Eobinson. — Yes, gentlemen, I will write you, and report 

 fully the attractions and advantages of that region, and in May I hope 

 to be with you again. 



Peaches in Noetheen Michigan. 



Mr. E. P. Avery, of Old Mission, Grand Traverse, writes that in 

 his region peaches have been grown with success along the lake shore 

 for twelve years past, the climate being so mild that dahlias were in 

 bloom on the second day of November. He does not think, however, 

 that any but the more hardy kinds of fruits could be raised at a distance 

 of twenty miles from the shore. 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — The climate is always milder in the immediate 

 neighborhood of great bodies of water than in inland regions under 

 the same lines of latitude, and in all probability the Grand Traverse 

 district is no exception to the rule, although grapes have been killed 

 by the cold at New Mission, not more than a mile from Old Mission. 

 Peaches are grown in large quantities and of fine quality at Dundas, 

 Canada West, under conditions of climate and locality very simliar to 

 those of the Michiccan lake shore. 



