PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 169 



Rev. Mr. Weaver presented some very splendid specimens of Camelia 

 balsams, which wei'e very much admired. 

 Adjourned. JOHN W. CHAMBERS, Secretary. 



October 21, 1862. 

 Dr. Hawks, of New York, in the chair. 



Profits of Grapes for Wine. 



Mr. C. S. Middlebrook, a wine maker in Connecticut, says that if he 

 could sell the pure grape juice at one dollar a gallon, it would afford him 

 a large profit. He also thinks that sugar added, at the rate of one to three 

 pounds per gallon, does not produce alcohol so as to increase the intoxi- 

 cating power of the wine. He finds no difficulty in keeping pure grape 

 juice, but he does in selling it, even at fifty cents a gallon, and had to send 

 300 gallons, after keeping it a year, to the distillery. It took eight gal- 

 lons of wine to make one 'of brandy. He proposes to send samples of wine, 

 if agreeable, to be tested. 



We can assure him of the agreeability, and, also, that some members 

 of the Club are decidedly good judges of good wine. 



Destroying Gophers and other -Burrowing Animals. 



Mr. A. D. Gaylord, of Gaylordville, Connecticut, wants to know what it 

 was that was recommended some time last year, to burn in the mouth of 

 a burrow, to make a gas heavier than air, so that it would descend and 

 destroy the animal. 



Mr. Gajdord wants to destroy woodchucks, which he says have become 

 a great nuisance in that part of the State; more than ever before. "They 

 are destroying fruit trees — apples and pears. They are so numerous that 

 our dogs cannot keep them down, and are constantly on the increase. Traps 

 are too slow; I want something to get satisfaction sooner, and must have it, 

 too, if it can be obtained. They are our worst- pest in the country, mice not 

 excepted. As they are graniverous animals, it is difficult to poison them 

 in the fields where cattle or sheep are allowed, and all the traps in chisten- 

 dom won't do it, as old ones will almost always dig out a new hole and 

 avoid the trap. Something that will produce a gas that will descend into 

 their holes and destroy them, would benefit the farmer thousands of dol- 

 lars if made use of all over the States. Can you, or can any one, give me 

 any information ? 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The article was sulphur, which, in burning, pro- 

 duces a deadly poison to all animal life, and the article stated that if set 

 on fire in the mouth of the burrow, and that covered over nearly air tight, 

 the whole of the oxygen within would be consumed, and the lives of 

 animals destroyed. 



Grafting Grape Vines. 

 Dr. S. N. Rowell, of Malta, N. J., wants information about grafting 

 grape vines. He says: 



