198 TKANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAX INSTITUTE. 



WINE FROM UNRIPE FRUIT. 



The secretary made a statement from a correspondent at New 

 Harmony, Ind., that unripe frnit makes better wine than that 

 fully ripe. Of course the writer adds a large portion of sugar. 

 A gentleman present stated also that a friend of his, in making 

 wine from grapes, never separates- the green ones. 



HOLLYHOCKS, 



Mr, Robinson. — I call the attention of the club to this beauti- 

 ful basket of flowers, which I now hold in my hand. They are 

 merely a few samples of that very much neglected flower, the 

 holly hock. You see how much the original sorts have been 

 improved. Here we have flowers as large and full as the very 

 finest dahlias, and more easily cultivated. These were mostly 

 grown from seed planted when I took possession of my eight-acre 

 farm in the spring of 1859. This very beautiful yellow one came 

 from that prince of flower distributors, B. K. Bliss of Springfield, 

 Mass. I have called your attention at this time to this lovely 

 kind of flowers, that you may commence at once to save seeds of 

 all the fine varieties that you happen to see in bloom. One of 

 the best situations to plant hollyhocks is by the border of flow- 

 ering shrubbery, such as blooms early, and would now appear to 

 one at a little distance to be loaded anew with flowers. AB 

 around the house, and in the yards, garden, lawns, there are 

 plenty of waste spots which might be highly beautified if planted 

 with a few seeds, that in time produce such magnificent flowers 

 as these that I now exhibit to you, and which I hope some of the 

 ladies present will take home with them as tokens of remem- 

 brance to try and produce others, and still finer ones. 



Wm. S. Carpenter. — The hollyhock is cultivated to great per- 

 fection in England, and I am very glad to have the subject called 

 up, and I hope it will have a tendency to increase their cultiva- 

 tion in this country. 



R. G. Pardee. — I saw lately a hundred varieties of this most 

 beautiful and easily cultivated ornament of the country cottage, 

 or even the town residence. Now is the time to think of saving 

 seeds, and now is a good time to plant them, and then they will 

 flower next summer. I join with others in urging the increased 

 cultivation of hollyhocks. They are very hardy, requiring little 

 or no protection in winter, and are certainly highly ornamental. 



