PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 145 



feet apart. Then, if there is any virtue in such protection, you will have 

 it. I have none upon any of my buildings. 



American Raisins. 



Mr. J. H. Sherman, of Galesbury, III, asks if any member of the Club has 

 made raisins from our native varieties of grapes., and if so, what is the 

 process ? 



It was stated by a member of the Club some year or two ago, that the 

 Diana grape i^eadily dries and becomes a rich winey raisin. A similar 

 assertion in regard to both the Diana and Delaware grapes, was made by 

 Mrs. Nairin, of your city, in her interesting letter read by Solon Robinson 

 last spring. Presuming that good raisins had been made by the writer of 

 article referred to, or by others to his certain knowledge, I take the liberty 

 of asking that the process be made known through the proceedings of the 

 Club. 



No one was present who could give the information, but the Chairman 

 said he would translate from French works in his library, and next week 

 give the process by which French raisins are made. 



The Grape Rot. 



The Chairman stated that the grape rot is now attacking the grapes in 

 this vicinit}^ The Catawba suffers most. The Concord and Diana are also 

 affected. The Delaware, Herbemont, Isabella, Union Village and Northern 

 Muskadine, are so far free of the disease. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The following is the German remedy: 

 " Dissolve two and a half pounds of glue in ten gallons of boiling water, 

 and when cooled so as not to be either stiff or too thin and watery, dip the 

 bunches of grapes in the solution, by holding a pan in one hand and guid- 

 ing the branches with the other, so that each one will be coated with a 

 thin film of gluten, which preserves them from the action of damp atmos- 

 phere, which produces the disease." 



Fruits in Season. 

 Mr. R. G. Pardee presented some fine specimens of ripe Bloodgood and 

 Buerre Giffard pears, and some Tysons, nearly ripe, from lona Island. 



Fruits and Flowers in Kansas. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The following interesting' letter, from a lady 

 residing at Black Jack, Kansas, and I ask our flower growing friends to 

 send her an abundance of seeds, to enable her next year to rival the 

 natural flowers of that region: 



"Is there anything singular in these strawberry leaves? When we first 

 came to this place, four years ago last spring, my husband purchased some 

 strawberry plants of a person who had forgotten their name. They have 

 never borne fruit, owing, we suppose, to their having been planted in sod 

 ground. Last spring I transplanted them into deep, rich soil, made in 

 ridges a foot high, and filled the intervening spaces with hay. It was late 

 before I could transplant them, and the season has been very hot and dry, 



TAm. Ins.1 10 



