PROCEEDINGS OP THE FARMERS* CLTIB. 123 



young and old, and some portions of our females. There is enough in this 

 world that is nutritious and useful for agriculturists to produce that will 

 be a blessing instead of a curse. Grape culture, for the purposes of wine- 

 making is also reconunendod. Wine never is beneficial in any case. 'Ti3 

 merely a stimulant, not a tonic — and millions have been and are being de- 

 stroyed by it. The first record we have of the use of wine is, that Noah 

 drank of it till drunken, and then cursed his son. Grapes arc excellent 

 and nutritious, and every family ought to have them for their healing 

 properties, in cases of fevers, and especially bowel complaints. A nice 

 syrup can be made of grapes, and kept without fermentation, which is very 

 soothing in cases of debility." 



Dr. Trimble. — This lady tells us how to drive away ants from the trees, 

 but she don't tell us what harm they do. Can any one tell whether they 

 do any ? 



Mr. R. G. Pardee. — Yes : I have had strawberries nearly destroyed by 

 them, and I have ^always found the best thing to treat them with is hot 

 water. Find thoir nests, and scald them and cook their eggs. 



Mr. AVm. S. Carpenter. — T use no other remedy. It can be poured hot 

 enough to cook the ants, without injury to an}- but vei'y tender plants. 



Mrs. Elizabeth Bush, of Busti, N. Y., recommends spirits of camphor 

 upon the nests or haunts of ants, but she is in doubt whether they do not 

 do more good than harm in the garden, since she finds them destroying 

 other insects. For instance, she says : 



" I had a box of pansy seedlings a few weeks old, that the little green 

 bugs were killing, though I had smuked them with tobacco, and tried 

 other means to destroy the bugs, not the pansies. I set tbeni out on the 

 ground, and this morning I did not see any bugs, but the little ants were 

 running over' the box. You that are learned in such mysteries, tell us, do 

 they do any harm ?" 



That is an important question for all cultivators to consider — Are ants 

 noxious animals or not ? We must learn to distinguish enemies from 

 friends. 



Mrs. Bush also says : " I desire to express the interest I take in the dis- 

 cussions of the Fanners' Club. I wish, too, to second the motion of C. W. 

 Craig, of Kansas, that you talk more about flowers. Please to mention 

 for her benefit that I got althea seeds of B. K. Bliss, Springfield, Mass," 



Tomatoes and Melon Bugs. 



A lady gives the fuilowing remedy fm- the striped melon bugs. She says: 

 "Some six or seven years ago, a gentleman who is something of a gar- 

 dener, told me he had observed that vines growing near tomatoes were never 

 touched by the striped bug. In a very quiet way, and by several years 

 trial, he had satisfied hiinsclf that the striped bug had a peculiar aversion 

 to the odor of the tomato-plant. Since that time I have tried it repeatedly, 

 have had excellent cucumbers, and never a bug. Perhaps it will not be 

 too late for some of the Club {o give it a trial this year. An occasional 

 plant among the vines, with plenty of good hoeing, and frequent watering 

 if the season be dry, would probably be better than to have so many as to 

 shade the vines. Perhaps it may interest some of your readers to know 



