166 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



have it. Why not put it out and luake it« face as dark as its influence has 

 the minds of mortals ? Shall wo see any more of the moon ? 



Adjourned, Johk W. CuAMBERa, Secretary. 



October 20, 1863. 

 Mr. John P. Veeder, of Guilderland, N. Y., in the chair. 



Natural Productions of Kansas. 



Mr. R, G, Pardee read a letter from Mr. Beckwith, Olathe, Kansas. 



" I want to give to the American Institute Farmer's Club a brief men- 

 tion of some of the trees and plants of Kansas. B(;side oak, hickory, and 

 elm, of each several varieties, we have the black walnut so plentiful that 

 it is used for fuel and fence-rails. On the river bottoms, basswood, syca- 

 more (or buttonwood), and cottonwood, grow to a very large size. Beside 

 the above, the soft maple, hackberry, mulberry, willow, wild cherry and 

 plum, and box elder are quite common, and in some portions the hard maple 

 and pine. From the box elder I have made an excellent quality of sugar, 

 by the same process as is used in the case of the rock maple. We have 

 also the pecan-nut tree, the persimmon, paw paw, and crab apple. Of 

 shrubs and fruits, we find the gooseberry and blackberry very abundant 

 and of excellent quality and size. The dewberry and black raspberry are 

 also quite common. The red waxberry is also very abundant and showy, 

 and so is the hop tree or shrub. But of more importance than any other 

 wild fruit is the grape. Large parties go for miles to gather wild plums, 

 of which there are in some seasons immense quantities, and of very good 

 quality and large size, as large, usually, as the cultivated varieties. But 

 of the grape we have several varieties, ripening in succession from July 

 till frost. Some of these are as large as the Clinton grows in New York, 

 though not quite as large as it grows here, for it is vastly improved from 

 what I knew it to be in New York. The earliest of our wild grapes, which 

 ripens in July, is very small, but is really a grape of very fine flavor. 

 Though I have some eight or ten varieties of cultivated grapes, I am culti- 

 vating this wilding, hoping, if nothing more, to make it rival the Zante 

 currant, for which it is frequently substituted. I will mail to you a parcel 

 of the grapes dried, which I wish you to distribute to those who will plant 

 them, as it is not unlikely that the grape may be increased in size, if not 

 in quality, by growing in a cooler climate. It makes a very pungent and 

 aromatic red wine. Kansas is a fine grape-growing country, and at some 

 not very remote day must become justly celebrated for it. The strawberry 

 is also very abundant on the prairies in cool seasons. For the wild flowers 

 of Kansas I must express my especial admiration. Any one here may have 

 a flower-garden of considerable show who will cultivate two square rods of 

 ground with wild flowers. 1 will name of the many only the following few 

 as deserving of some notice. The blue iris, the yellow day lily, and the 

 purple phlox grow only in the forests, and also the Judas tree and a straw 

 colored honey-suckle. On the prairies we have the yellow cactus, groM'ing 

 only on rocky slopes, the blue and the white larkspur, the latter dotted 

 with purple, growing on moist spots, but only where the grass is very thin. 

 The white evening primrose, a perennial, grows in similar localities, and 



