278 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



or meal, when such fodder is no better for them than old shoes made into a 

 soup would be for human beings." 



" I once took a few bundles of stalks and packed them into the gangway 

 of my cellar, where they were completely saturated with the rains and 

 snows of winter. In the spring I threw them on to the garden, where my 

 cow found them, and ate them all up with great eagerness. If corn is top- 

 ped when the stalks are in the best condition for fodder, the corn will 

 be much injured, so that what is gained in one way will be lost in the other. 

 I once had an acre of stout, handsome corn ; when the ears were fully de- 

 veloped, and had begun to harden, and while the stalks were yet green, I 

 topped it, and left the bottom stalks to ripen the corn. They did so as well 

 as they could. But every kernel was shrunken and the cobs brittle. 

 There was scarcely a sound ear of corn in the piece. Nature knows best 

 how to ripen her fruits, and will do it if not interfered with by man's ig- 

 norance and folly." 



Delaware Grape. 



Mr. R. W. Holton, distributed some cuttings of the Delaware grape to 

 the members of the Club. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — The way I propagate the Delaware grape is 

 that I leave two eyes upon each cutting, and cut the wood within a short 

 distance from the eyes; before you plant the cutting, cut off the hard bark. 

 The most successful way is to raise them in hot beds. 



Mr. R. H. Williams. — I have been through a number of grape districts 

 during the past year ; and there seems to be no difiSculty in getting the 

 Delaware to grow, all you want is a little heat. 



Mr. R. W. Holton. — I think that a vine should have at least three eyes, 

 the upper eye should be at the surface, the lower eye will send out some 

 roots, also the middle eye, the eye near the surface will also send out some 

 strong roots; when I plant these vines I cut off" the lower part about one 

 inch below the upper eye. 



Adjourned, John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



February 9, 1864. 

 Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair. 



Do THE Trunks of Trees Lengthen? 



Mr. Solon Robinson read this question from a soldier in the Array of the 

 Potomac : 



" Suppose an elm tree at five years has, at the height of six feet, the 

 trunk divided into two equal branches, will the fork of that tree ever be 

 more than six feet from the ground ? In other words, does the natural 

 body of a tree ever lengthen ?" 



The opinion of all the members who expressed themselves upon this ques- 

 tion was against the theory of the lengthening of the bole of the tree. 



Mr. E. Williams said the height of the fork would be increased only by 

 the layers of wood. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller, said in all his observations of trees he had never wit- 

 nessed any increase of length. 



Dr. Grant said it was a fact worthy of note that a limb growing horizon- 



