Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 46 L 



Mr. James A. Whitney. — The so-called fish guano is simply the 

 refuse of the fish called moss bunkers, after they have had the oil 

 squeezed out of them in strong presses. The bones of the fish of 

 course contain much phosphoric acid, and the flesh in decomposing 

 generates ammonia. It is as good, to say the least, as the average 

 guano. 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — I am very much in favor of this manure. 

 It is commonly sold for from twenty dollars to twenty-four dollars 

 per ton. It acts quickly and is more lasting in its effect than guano. 

 It is not put up in as good condition as it ought so be, but it can be 

 handled very wel\ with a spade. It may also be mixed with dry earth, 

 and is a cheap manure at thirty dollars per ton. 



Report on American Champagne. 



The chair read the following as the report of members of the com- 

 mittee on American wines, appointed at the meeting of the previous 

 week: 



"As to the bottle-sparkling wine from Ryckman, Day & Co., 

 ' Lake Shore vineyard,' Chautauqua county, IST. Y., I have to say I 

 invited some others to test or taste its qualities, two of them being 

 good judges, and they and myself call it a fine quality of wine, much 

 better than most of the imported. We thought, however, that it was 

 not dry enough, or, in other words, too sweet to suit the taste of most 

 gentlemen." 



J. Y. C. Smith and others who had tested the wine, expressed their 

 concurrence in the favorable opinion expressed by the chairman. 



The ISTattjre and Uses of the Eoots of Yegetables. 



Mr. S. Edward Todd. — Most persons are arpt to think that a root is 

 nothing but an under ground portion of a tree, or growing plant, 

 pushed out of the kernel through the soil, as one would thrust a 

 walking stick into a sand-bank ; and judgiag from the manner in which 

 roots are crushed, mutilated and torn, when a tree or plant is removed, 

 one would suppose that roots are of no more account than numerous 

 wooden pegs thrust in every direction from the parent stem, to aid 

 the growing plant in maintaining an erect position. But to the 

 practical cultivator of the soil, a correct understanding and proper 

 application of the particular functions of roots ; how they are formed ; 

 how they ramify through the soil ; how they change the lifeless clods 

 into fine mould ; how they maintain the life of the growing plant, 



