PROCEEPISaS OF TFIK FARMERS* CLUB. 33 



Mr. li. S. IliiiiiiMn, IMcasaut Vulc, Ct., sends \\\c ((illdwini:; f(ir tnakiii;^ ;i 

 first-rato Jirticlf i>f hard soap for family use, which is good for clothes-wush- 

 iiig or t(»ilot use: Clean wlutc grease, G pounds; sal soda, 6 pounds; lime, 

 3 pounds. Slake the lime in 4 gallons of water, and add the soda and heat 

 to boiling, and then stand till the water will pmr off clear, quite free from 

 settlings. Now add the grease and boil till it is soap, and, when c(Jol 

 enough, pour into a 8uital)le form to cut out l)ars when cold. 



Hard soap can also be made by using an article sold under the name of 

 saponifier, by following the directions given on the box. 



Wheat and Fruit. 



Dr. S. J. Parker of Ithaca. It has been said that the past winter has 

 been a severe one on fruits and wheat and other products. If so, we have 

 a favored spot, here in the Cayuga valley. As to wheat, no more com- 

 plaints have been made of loss than usual. Most of our wheat of this 

 eastern part of the Genesee country is of the winter variet}', little or no 

 Buow covered it the past winter. It stands a little thin, yet for miles in 

 the .sight of my house the lovely green of thousands of acres attest that we 

 8hal! have a fine crop if the balance of the season is good. Four years 

 ago much spring wheat was sown as the insect ruined the wheat, but the 

 insect is gone and the winter wheat is sown as the best wheat. 



Peaches are opening their blossoms. Cherries and pears and apples will 

 be fidl bloom. Currants, though denuded by the worm of every leaf by 

 July 25th last year, and had not a leaf fen* the remainder of the season, are 

 now n full leaf and full of fruit buds just opening. 



Grape buds are safe, and expanding finely, though the roots are black- 

 ened by the open winter, near the top of the Hoil, and the grape crop 

 promises to be a rich one. 



A letter from Kelly's Island, Ohio, says : "Yours, and your box sent me 

 of grape roots are safe at hand. I see your roots have suffered a good 

 deal, about as much as our's here, by the sudden cold of January. I never 

 saw roots killed half as bad as last winter. Thousands of roots have evury 

 fibre dead. One man had Delaware roots for.sale, strong plants, and I found 

 every one dead. My Delaware, Concord, Diana, &c., stood well. Allen's 

 hybrid killeil to the ground, as were Linccdn, Clara, Ilerbemont and others." 



Now what I want to note is, that though my roots look blackened near 

 me surface, .say eight inches off the top of the ground, yet they are not dead, 

 nor arc the fruit buds injured. My Lincoln is killed root and all. Taylor 

 Bulli't lo.st all the fibers and spongioles of the root, y^et the vine and fruit 

 survives. Diana also swells its buds slowly and has its rootlets injured. 

 Indeed I regard this as peculiar in several grapes and ask attention to it. 



The shnvness of the expansion of the buds show that the vino has to re. 

 vivc the rootlets before it can grow vigorously. Several of my new fcvU- 

 lings that I hybridized in 1861 and 1862, are dead root and all, even when 

 covered with six inches of earth. 



But on tlu? whole, nature wears a smiling face and flourishes wvU in this 

 vicinity, notwithstanding it has been a winter with less snow than ever 

 before within the memory of man. 



Adjourned. Jonx W. CiuMnERS, Secretary. 



I Am. In3T.] C 



