3T0 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



also a specimen of the pampas grass of South America ; also 

 grafts from pears and apples of the best varieties. 



Mr. Lawton said that it was not light frosts that occur early 

 in the spring that injured fruit, but the exposure of the embryo 

 fruit itself to the frost. An apricot tree might be far advanced, 

 and in flower, but until the flower is cast, so as to expose the 

 fruit in embryo to the action of the air, the apricot tree would 

 not be injured by the frost. He ascribed the eifects produced 

 under changes of temperature in part to electric changes, so that 

 the thermometer is not a sUre indication of the efiect which such 

 changes will produce upon vegetation. 



Mr. Carpenter said that in places where the trees were sheltered 

 from the morning sun, as in a valley facing the north, the ther- 

 mometer might sink to 20 degrees below zero without destroying 

 the peaches. 



GRAPES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 



Dr. Trimble read an extract from a letter inquiring whether 

 the Golden Chasselas grape could be cultivated in the open air. 

 His own opinion was that it could only be grown under glass. 



The Chairman. — That is my opinion. 



Mr. Pardee considered it a question of care, exposure and 

 knowledge. If we have the proper protection from cold winds, 

 and the sun after frosts, and will take pains with it, and if we 

 know how to take care of it, when to uncover and when to pro- 

 tect it, we could raise not only the Golden Chasselas and the 

 Black Hamburgh, but most of our foreign grapes, in the open air. 



Mr. Carpenter considered foreign grapes as of no practical use 

 in this country. They might grow in some sheltered situations, 

 but would generally mildew and die. While we have such 

 natives as the Delaware, the Diana, the Rebecca, the Isabella 

 and the Concord, it would hardly pay to spend time upon foreign 

 varieties. 



Mr. Pardee would not recommend any one to try to raise the 

 foreign grapes unless he knew how, but it had been done success- 

 fully, and could be again. The Golden Chasselas had been suc- 

 cessfully raised in the open air, by the side of a barn in Utica, 

 and also in New York city. 



Mr. Lawton said that he had repeatedly seen the Black Ham- 

 burgh, the Black Prince, the Golden Chasselas, and other foreign 

 grapes, successfully grown here in the open air, producing the 

 finest fruit. They require a difierent treatment, and will not 



