proceedings of the farmers' club. 193 



Wine Maker's Guide. 



Mr. H. J. Stanffer, Salem, Ohio, wants some trustworthy work on the 

 Grape and the Manufacturing of Wine, especially the latter. 



Mr. Francis Delvit, a French vine-dresser by profession, who formerly 

 had charge of Dr. Grant's propagating houses, answered that there was no 

 such work exactly suited to America. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller said the best American work upon wine-making was 

 written by Robert Buchanan, of Cincinnati. McMullen's work, and Mulder 

 on Wine-Making, are probably the best European books. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter said that something better adapted to the wants 

 of grape-growers in this country was now in preparation. 



The Secretary — Col. Haraszthy, of California, has prepared a valuable 

 work on the subject of Grape Culture, Wines and Wine-Making, it contains 

 numerous plates of apparatus used in wine-making. 



A New Fibrous Plant. 



Prof. Mapes presented a new fibrous plant which he hopes may prove a valu- 

 able one for cultivation, as the stalks grow three feet high, one-fourth inch 

 diameter, and covered with a thick coatof soft fiber of the very strongest kind. 

 Mr. Fuller at first thought it was the marsh mallow {Hibiscus jjolustrus) ; but, 

 being assured that this plant grows upon dry land, he examined the seed- 

 pods, and decided it to be one of the asclepias family, and probably that 

 known as " Indian Hemp," which is found in spots all over the country, 

 but has never been cultivated. 



Conceding that it can be cultivated, Mr. Solon Robinson asked the very 

 pertinent question, what advantage it possessed over flax ? Prof. Mapes 

 thought the advantage was in this, that this plant is perennial, but Mr, R. 

 thought that fact was not well established. Will somebody gather some 

 of the seed of Indian Hemp, and experiment with it and report? 



Subsoil Plows. 



This question is asked by Mr. S. B. Elliott, Mansfield, Tioga county. Pa.: 

 " Is Mapes's a good one ? ur, in short, whose is the best for a clayey loam, 

 free from stems ? where can it be got, and what the cost ? If you have 

 time to answer these questions, you will confer a favor on one who desires 

 to improve his present cultivation." 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The gentleman has taken the first and most im- 

 portant step toward improvement, the desire for it. I will answer his 

 question, that the subsoil plow, known as Mapes's, and which is sold at 

 nearly all large agricultural warehouses, at from S8 to $18, according to 

 size, is the only one that I would use under any consideration, if attainable. 

 The only value of the one known as the English pattern, is for old iron. 

 Mr. Elliott also wants to known about a subsoil attachment to a common 

 plow, that has been spoken of in the Club. I answer, that is not properly 

 a subsoil plow, it only scratches the furrows a little deeper. A real sub. 

 soil lifter attached to a turning plow would not bo advisable, because it 

 requires the force of a strong team to pull a subsoil plow alone. 



Mr. P. Quinn said that a two or four-horse plow working in the bottom of a 



[Am. Inst.] N 



