238 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Fawkes by Mrs. M. E. Cornieny, as a token of her respect and high appre- 

 ciation of the skill and science displayed in this Wonder of the Age, the 

 Steam Plow." 



Mr. William Lawton, of New Rochelle, exhibited some of his fine black- 

 berries, and gave them to the members. He remarked : 



I saw an article in Moore's Rural New Yorker, a most valuable weekly 

 visitor, in regard to the second blooming of the Lawton blackberry, and 

 I now exhibit a branch of bearing wood, which has been regularly 

 to illustrate the habit of the plant in this respect.- 



The blossoms put ferth very uniformly upon my acres of bearing plants, 

 and remain for several days in unblemished white flowers, vhich, in con- 

 trast with the perfect foliage, is a most beautiful sight. In about two or 

 three weeks after the fruit is set, a second set of shoots, upon the same 

 bearing wood, put forth their blossoms, and perfect their fruit in Septem- 

 ber, and occasionally a few plants will ripen a cluster of berries in Octo- 

 ber. I should suppose that at least 10 per cent of my fruit will be gath- 

 ered from the second blooming of this season. I may mention here that 

 every berry upon my plantation ripens and is gathered, and I confidently 

 expect to continue sending fruit to market during the whole month of Sep- 

 tember. It readily commands twenty-five cents for a quart box during the 

 whole season. 



Dr. Adarason, of the Cape of Good Hope, remarked that the modes of 

 treating and of training the grape-vine in the Cape colony were probably, 

 in some respects, peculiar to that country. Diiferent varieties suited dif- 

 ferent kinds of soil and required different modes of support and of pruning. 

 The grape from which the raisins of the country were made corresponded 

 most nearly to that known by the name of Royal Muscadine. The berry 

 was of a richer yellow, and sweeter, with a higher flavor than those found 

 in our markets. Those vines, as well as the varieties used for making 

 ■wine, are pruned short, the bearing spurs being cut back to two or three 

 buds, and only three or four such spurs being left on each stump. The 

 stumps stand about eighteen or twenty inches in height. Staking is en- 

 tirely dispensed with, owing partly to the scarcity of suitable timber and 

 partly to fierce dry summer winds, the force of which is avoided by keeping 

 the plant as low as can suit its growth. The common wine of the country 

 is made from a grape presumed to be the same as that of Madeira. This 

 wine has never had a high character. Its manufacture is. conducted care- 

 lessly, and a harsh taste is communicatcid by the use of the vapor of sul- 

 phur to check the tendency to acetuous fermentation. The sweet wines of 

 the country are superior. The length of the bright dry summer favors the 

 formation of sugar in the grape. The Constantia grapes are all well- 

 known European varieties. Of these there are four, viz : Frontignac, 

 Muscatel, Red and White, (the latter probably the Sweetwater,) and the 

 Pontac, the wines from which differ somewhat in character and price, but 

 all fetching in the market about thirty times as much as the common wine 

 called Cape Hock or Madeira. The sweet wines growing in other 



