PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 213 



China, without the use of rags or cotton, would just now be valuable to us. 

 The art of riveting glass, so common in China, is unknown to all the rest 

 of the world; and until very lately so was the art of mending cast iron by 

 uniting new metal to the old. Look at the cast iron mirrors, made very 

 cheaply, and apparently without any finishing, being cast upon some finished 

 surface. Their work in metal is wonderful. How do they harden copper for 

 hammers, and brass to make cold chisels that cut iron like steel ? Simple as 

 the Chinese blacksmith's bellows appear to us, it is the famous Watt & Bolton's 

 double acting cylinder pump. The truss bridge, for which so many patents 

 have been granted in this country, is an old affair in China; and so is the 

 silk loom, which surpasses the wonderful invention of Jacquard. On a 

 Mandarin's coat can be wove the whole history of his life. So common a 

 thing as Indian ink, we have never been able to imitate. So with vermilion; 

 no French or English chemist can make it equal to theirs; and Chinese 

 telescope glasses are so superior in excellence and cheapness that we 

 import them. But perhaps the most wonderful of all their mechanic arts is 

 their varnish, which never cracks, and is so hard that papier mache is used 

 for almost all domestic utensils, and for furniture. Who has been able to 

 make a chair of wood that weighs but fourteen ounces, like the Chinese 

 bamboo chairs, of equal strength ? Nor has any part of the civilized world 

 been able to imitate many of the arts practiced in that country. 



"Beautifying our Country Homes" was made the subject for the next 

 meeting. 



Adjourned. JOHN W. CHAMBERS, Secretary. 



December 9, 1862. 

 Mr. Adrian Bergen, of Long Island, in the chair. 



Columbia Virgalieu Pear. 



,Mr. Booth presented some beautiful specimens of this pear, grown upon 

 the Fox farm, near Morrisania. They were tested by the members, and 

 unanimously commended for quality. The size was very large, perfectly 

 grown and ripened. 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — The great objection to this pear is the tendency 

 to fall from the tree. In some instances those who grow them tie them on, 

 or hold them up by net bags, and it is stated that Mr. Booth fastened sheets 

 to catch the pears that fell, to prevent injury by their great weight in 

 dropping to the ground; but for this objection these pears would be 

 preferable to the Vicar of Winkfield. This pear originated in Westchester 

 county. 



Rev. Mr. Weaver. — I grow this pear, and find it very liable to drop from 

 the tree. 



Prof. Mapes. — The winter Nelis I consider about the best of our winter 

 pears. The principal objection to it is its tough skin. 



