220 



BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CATAWBA GRAPE. 



[1855. 



4. Patent OfSco Report for the year 1853. Part II. Agriculture. 



5. Patent Office Report for (he year 1849-50. Agriculture. 



6. Patent OlEce Report for the year 1849-50. Mech.anical. 



The thanks of the Institute were ordered to be conTCyed to Mr. 

 Brodhead. 



A Paper was read by the Rev. Professor Hincks " On the Classifi- 

 cation of Birds." 



Tivcinii Oiclinary Mectins—Marcli lOtli, 1S55. 



The names of the following candidates for membership were read :— 



Augustus Nanton Toronto. 



William Couper " 



The following gentleman was elected member : — 



J. W. Dunbar Moodie County of Hastings. 



The following donation was announced : 



" The Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James 

 Watt," by James P. Muirhead, M.A., 3 vols. Presented by George 

 Wilson, jun., New York. 



A communication on the suhjectof " Spurious Mexican Coins," was 

 made by Professor Croft. 



A paper " On the Indian Tribes of Canada," by the Rev. W. Bleas- 

 dell, M.A., was read. 



A communication from Major Lachlan, Montreal, "On the Union 

 of Lakes Erie and St. Clair," was read by the Secretary. 



Tliirtecnth Ordinary Meetiug»SIarcU irtli, 1835. 

 The following gentlemen were elected members : — 



Augustus Nanton Toronto. 



William Couper " 



A Paper "On Railway Truss Bridges," by T. C. Clarke, C.E., was 

 read by Sandford Fleming, C.E. 



Professor Croft made some obsei'vations on a specimen of Bitumen 

 from the Western District. 



Professor Chapman described a convenient method of tabulating the 

 organic remains found in different strata. 



Foiuteciith Ordinary Meeting— Marcli Sltli, 1853. 



The names of the following candidates for membership were read : — 



John Macpherson Hamilton Toronto. 



William Dixon " 



Theodore Bown Hamilton. 



R. James Johnston Thorold. 



William H. Lambe Montreal. 



Frederick W. Torrance .......^ " 



Hon. John Young «* 



The Vice-President aimounced the receipt of several numbers of the 

 "Boston Journal of Natural History," laid on the table by Mr. Ure. 



It was resolved ' that the Canadian Institute, in returning their thanks 

 to the Natural History Society of Boston, for their kindness in forward- 

 ing three parts of the sixth volume of their Journal, and several sheets 

 of their Transactions, desire at the same time to express their readiness 

 to transmit the " Canadian Journal" in exchange.' 



A Paper "On the Origin of the Basins of the Great American 

 Lakes," was read by Professor Hind. 



LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF 

 QUEBEC. 



LIT^ERARY OR STATED MEETING. 



Wednesday, 7th Febeuakt, 1855. 

 The following donations were announced, viz. : — 



"Kugler's Handbook of Painting," edited by Sir E. W. Head, pre- 

 sented by the Governor General. 



" Abstract of Meteorological Observations made at the Magnetic Ob- 

 servatory at Toronto, from January, 1840, to June, 1853." 



"Geological Map of Canada," and a "Table giving the five-day 

 Means of the Temperature of Toronto, from twelve years' observation," 

 presented by E. A. Meredith, Esq., LL.B. 



" Statement of Vessels arrived at the Port of Quebec in each year, 

 from 1764 to 1854 inclusive, with their Tonnage and Number of Men," 

 presented by the Hon. Henry Black, Q.C. 



" Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 7, No. 3," presented by 

 Lieutenant Noble, R.A., F.B.A.S. 



The thanks of the Society were ordered to be given to His Excellency 

 and the other gentlemen above-named, for their respective donations. 



The Hon. John A. Macdonald, Attorney General for Upper Canada, 

 and F. T. Roche, Esq., were proposed as Associate Members. 



Lieut. Noble, R.A., F.R.A.S., communicated to the Society, at the 

 request of Lieut. Rankin, R.E., a Formula for ascertaining the height 

 of mountains, which that gentleman states has been recently submitted 

 to the scientific world in Edinburgh : — 



h — hl1t + C; 

 Where A is the height of mountain in feet, t the difference between 

 temperature at which water boils at summit and base of mountain. 



The thanks of the Society were ordered to be given to Lieut Rankin, 

 R.E. for his interesting communication. 



A Paper was read by Lieut. H. G. Savage, R.E., on the "History 

 of British Poetry." 



The thanks of the Society were ordered to be given to Lieut. H. G. 

 Savage, R.E., for his Paper, which was referred to the Class of Litera- 

 ture. 



MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING. 



Wedxesdat, 14th Febkuary, 1855. 

 A donation was announced of "A Copy of Meteorological Observa- 

 tions, made at the Magnetic Observatory at Madras, in the years 1846 

 and 1850," from the Court of Directors of the Hon. East India Company. 

 The thanks of the Society were ordered to be given to the Court of 

 Directors for their donation. 



The 21st of February being Ash-Wednesday, no stated meeting of 

 the Society was held. 



HENRY E. STEELE, 



Recording Secretary. 



Brief History of tlie Cata^vba Grape* 



The Catawba grape, according to the Home Journal, was first dis- 

 covered near Asheville, in Buncombe county, North Carolina, in the 

 southwest corner of the State, near the head waters of the Catawba 

 River. It was found by a Mr. Murray, about the year 1801 ; the 

 grapes were growing wild in the woods in the greatest profusion. 

 General Davy, a Senator in Congress, living at Rocky Mount, on the 

 Catawba River, transplanted some of these grapes to his residence, and 

 from thence took a few plants with him to Washington during the pe- 

 riod of his senatorship — some time prior to 1816. From or through 

 him the distinguished Major Adlum obtained some of the plants, and 

 was the first person who made wine from them — about 1822. In 1823 

 he sent some of the plants, with specimens of the wine, to Mr. Long- 

 worth, of Cincinnati, to whom we are thus indebted for its first intro- 

 duction in the West. 



There are several other varieties of native grapes from which small 

 quanities of wine are made, but they are generally inferior in many 

 respects to the Catawba ; from the wine of this grape, which has un- 

 dergone simple fermentation, is made the celebrated "sparkling 

 wine," first introduced to the world at Cincinnati, in whose vicinity 

 there is at the present time near fifteen hundred acres in cultivation, 

 producing an average yield of three hundred gallons to the acre ; dur- 



