NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB. 
303 
NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB. 
The meetings of this Club have not been very 
fully attended the^ last few months, owing to the 
extreme heat of file season, the absence of many 
persons from the city, and the necessity of the far¬ 
mers in the vicinity to remain at home and attend 
to their crops. 
Grafting the Tomato upon the Potato. —Mr. 
Meigs read from the " Annals of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society of Paris,” an account of a suc¬ 
cessful experiment of grafting a stem of the tomato 
upon the stalk of a potato, by which a crop of 
tomatos was raised in the air, and one of potatoes 
in the earth. He also read from the same journal 
an extract from a paper by Baron D’Hombres- 
Firmas on a 
Journey to Pcestum, in which it is stated that, 
near Naples, they cultivated large fields with 
gourds, and among them heads of cabbages, cauli¬ 
flowers, salads, and other kitchen vegetables, all of 
which grow and prosper together. They also cul¬ 
tivate large quantities of melons, the consumption 
of which is enormous, for nearly half the year. 
These melons are preserved in winter suspended in 
straw under the roofs and about the windows of 
the houses both in the country and in town. Large 
fields of Indian corn were mentioned, the stalks of 
which served for beans to climb upon and ripen 
after the ears had been gathered. Plantations of 
mulberry-trees were also observed, entwined by 
grape-vines, and the grounds beneath them richly 
laden with bolls of cotton which are picked from 
August till October, and dried in the sun. The 
mulberry-trees, which shaded the cotton plants, 
after having fed two generations of silk-worms, 
were in vigorous leaf for the third time. 
Valencia Winter Melons. —Mr. Charles Henry 
Hall, who resided several years in Spain, and par¬ 
ticularly directed his attention to the products of 
that country, said, that the melons mentioned by 
the Baron of Hombres-Firmas, are the same as 
those known at Valencia by the name of winter 
melons. They are preserved there for half the year 
by being suspended in small nets under the project¬ 
ing parts of the roofs of the houses, in a similar 
manner as they are in Italy. He said that, when 
he returned to the United States, he brought home 
several of these melons in a perfect state of preser¬ 
vation, and that others were consecutively cultivat¬ 
ed from their seeds, in New York, until they run 
out by cross-fecundation. 
Wine-making .—Mr. Hall stated that he had had 
some experience both in raising grapes and in 
making wine; and that he had personally examin¬ 
ed the vineyards in Europe, and the caves or cellars 
there, which are indispensable for the manufacture 
and preservation of good wines. He said that 
wine is made with as much facility, nearly, as cider. 
Before the “ must,” or expressed juice of the grape 
undergoes its first fermentation, it may vary in its 
specific gravity according to the kind of wine into 
which it is to be made. That of the best white 
wines of France and Spain has a specific gravity of 
1.083, which is determined by an instrument known 
under the names of hydrometer , aerometre , saccha- 
rometer, &c. If the specific gravity of the must is 
below this point, it is increased by the addition of 
sugar. By this means, good wine can be made 
from the juice of unripe grapes. While the must 
is undergoing its first fermentation in the vats, a 
scum or froth rises to the surface, in a similar man¬ 
ner as the pomace and other impurities do in the 
“ working” of cider, which is skimmed off. When 
it becomes clear it is put into casks, and kept in a 
cellar or cave of a temperature of about 60° F., 
where a second fermentation takes place, and 
where the wines are finally prepared and kept for 
use, or for exportation. In the manufacture of 
wine, he said, the addition of alcohol is unneces¬ 
sary, and contrary to the prevailing opinion, it will 
keep and bear transportation as well without it as 
with it. While in Spain, he ascertained that most 
of the wines of domestic consumption, as well as 
those exported to the West Indies and other colo¬ 
nies, for the use of the Spaniards, were made with¬ 
out the addition of brandy; whereas, all the strong 
wines shipped to Britain and the United States* 
contained at least 25 per cent. When the makers 
of wine for export to England or to this country 
were asked by him, why they put brandy in it, 
the answer was—“ You, English, have hot mouths , 
and we must gratify them.” 
Wine from the Isabella Grape. —Mr. Hall ob¬ 
served that he had made some excellent wine from 
the Isabella grape, in a perfect state of maturity. 
By adding to the must, or grape-juice, three- 
fourths of a pound of sugar to a gallon, he obtain¬ 
ed a wine much resembling the quality of hock ; 
by adding a pound to a gallon, a fair wine was 
produced; and with the addition of a pound and a 
half of sugar to a gallon, he obtained a fine sweet 
wine, which, when tasted by some gentlemen who 
were experienced in the qualities of wine, not 
knowing whence it came, was pronounced by them 
as a foreign article of a delicious flavor, resembling 
that of Muscat. 
Mortality among Horses.. —The Secretary called 
the attention of the Club to a distemper prevailing 
among horses in the neighborhood of this city. 
The disease was principally confined, at first, to 
Kings County, Long Island, but has since appeared 
at Flushing, Staten Island, and other places. This 
malady appears to reside in the head, and generally 
proves fatal in one or two days. In every instance, 
it is said, the horses had been turned out to pas¬ 
ture, and those which have been constantly kept in 
stables, have escaped the disorder. In several 
cases, the animals have been carefully opened, and 
every part, except the head, was found to be 
sound. The brain, on dissection, appeared like a 
mass of clotted blood. The disease, it would 
seem, is not contagious, because, in one instance, a 
horse died, where there were standing in a stable 
several other horses by his side, and none of them 
were at all affected. It is believed by many that 
the disorder has been produced by the effects of the 
sun, which, if true, it is hoped, as the weather be¬ 
comes cooler, will soon disappear. 
Mr. Hall stated that he had seen a similar epi¬ 
demic in the horses of Spain, a kind of apoplexy, 
or ** blind staggers.” He said that it had been 
cured by winding blankets steeped in hot water 
around the head of the animal, and following it up 
by copious bleeding. 
