AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 333 



it could be traced to a peculiar variety of tlie bramble. He took 

 a plant from the woods, where it had grown in fine soil, a^id 

 planted it in poor soil, and yet it produced berries as large as 

 Lawton-s, although only a small crop. Several berries measured 

 four inches each in circumference. ' From his experiments he was 

 convinced that there were distinct varieties of the bramble, some 

 of which were more favorable tlian others to produce the fine 

 fruit now grown by Lawton, and that it is to the variety rather 

 than to either the soil or the cultivation that the superiority is to 

 be attributed. 



CHERRY CURRANTS. 



Mr. Andrew Caywood, of Modena, in Ulster county, exhibited 

 a cutting of a bush full of currants, grown by him in sandy 

 loam. He calls them " Cherry Currants^'' a new variety. A 

 single currant measured one inch and seven-eights in circumfer- 

 ence. He used no special care in growing them. 



OCTAGON PLAN OF SETTLING LANDS. 



Judge Meigs exhibited Mr. Clubb's plan, wliich can be viewed 

 at any time at the Institute, by wliich the settlers of new lands 

 are enabled to locate together in a village, around an octagon 

 green or park, each dwelling-house being at the same time conve- 

 niently situate on a farm of from forty to one hundred and sixty 

 acres, according to the scale adopted. The social and educational 

 advantages of the plan, he said, are important, as it would secure 

 to first settlers the civilized influences of society, the want of 

 which is one of the greatest objections to pioneer life. The plan 

 is so arranged that, in its ultimate design, the whole settlement 

 would become a town, with streets around tlie octagon park, each 

 street preserving tlie octagon form, intersected by avenues, 

 radiating from the angles of the central octagon. A combination 

 of suce settlements forming eventually, as population increases, a 

 city well ventilated by spacious parks, squares and octagons, on a 

 liberal scale, so as to avoid that over-crowding, which is the chief 

 evil of established cities. The originator is our friend Mr. Clul)b ; 

 let us hear him. 



Mr. Henry S. Clubb further explained the object of the plan, 

 and stated that its pecuniary advantages were, that the forms were 

 so situated as to be convertible into smaller estates, for gardens 

 and detached residences, which must increase the marketable 

 value of the farms in any country where the population is on the 



