142 
NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB. 
plants his com in hills, three feet apart one way 
and two feet the other; and that, at the first hoe¬ 
ing, he reserves three stalks to a hill, each of which, 
we may reasonably conclude, will produce one ear, 
and in many cases, two or more. Admitting that 
an acre thus planted will contain 7,260 hills, and 
that each hill will produce an equivalent of three 
ears, ten inches in length, the result, according to 
the premises above, will give 136§ bushels of 
shelled corn ! 
NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB. 
For some weeks past the meetings of this Club 
have been well attended and much interest manifest¬ 
ed, not only in the topics of discussion, but in the 
distribution of grafts, cuttings, and seeds. Al¬ 
though much may be said and done to little or no 
purpose by associations of this kind, yet an 
immense deal of good results from them, and 
it rarely happens that a farmer, or any one 
else, occupying a rod of ground who attends 
these meetings, will go away dissatisfied or unpaid 
for his trouble. At this club, he will generally 
meet persons of experience and intelligence from 
various parts of the world who can enlighten him, 
perhaps, in every department of agricultural know¬ 
ledge ; or if he chooses, he is not compelled to be 
the listener, but is kindly and thankfully permitted 
to impart whatever he knows, and to contribute for 
distribution whatever he may please. 
The Turnip-Cabbage. —Mr. Samuel Allen pre¬ 
sented a root-cabbage, weighing about 15 lbs. He 
remarked that the seed of this singular vegetable 
was from Russia, and he had understood that it 
was good for cattle, and yielded a heavy crop. He 
said that he had brought it for the purpose of gain¬ 
ing information as to its properties and uses, and 
desired that some member should take it home, 
plant it, preserve the seed, and return them with a 
report to the club. 
Dr. Underhill replied, that this root is much 
cultivated in Germany, by the name of Kohlrabi , 
or ground-cabbage. He had raised it on his farm, 
he said, and that it kept well through the winter, 
and when boiled, the root tasted like a cabbage, 
but was of a coarse texture.(a.) 
Silk-Grass, or Florida Hemp. —A letter was read 
from Richard H. Jones, of Charleston, S. C., ask¬ 
ing for information as to the price per ton, for the 
well-prepared fibres of what he calls Silk-Grass , or 
YuccaJilamentosa. He had understood that some 
dealers in flax and hemp, in the city of New York, 
had pronounced the foliaceous fibres of this plant 
to be worth $135 per ton. If such should prove to 
be the case, he thinks that the South will become 
possessed of a new source of wealth. Mr. Jones re¬ 
quests information from those engaged in the manu¬ 
facture of hemp and flaxen goods, as to the uses to 
which this article may be applied, and its value, when 
compared with that of flax and hemp. He also wishes 
to know what amount of fibre can be produced from 
an acre, the soil in which it will best flourish, the 
modes of culture, preparation of the article for mar¬ 
ket, and where and at what price he can procure 
the seed.(ft.) 
The jirst Seed-Store in New York. —Mr. Grant 
Thorbum rose and said, This is the first meeting 
of this Club which I have attended I am seventy- 
five years of age, and feel great pleasure in look¬ 
ing back to the early periods of my life—in tracing 
the providential occurrences of it. I began life as 
a maker of wrought-iron nails—after the old fash¬ 
ion, with a hammer ; cut nails afterwards came in 
and cut me out. I then set up a grocery in order 
to maintain my little family; but a grocery was 
established opposite and cut me out, too. What 
seemed at first evils, I soon after found to be bless¬ 
ings. I had saved about $100. I knew very 
little of plants or seeds, but happening one day in 
market to notice a plant in an earthen pot, I 
asked its name, and was told it was a geranium. I 
bought it, and thinking that the brick-colored pot 
would look better if it was painted green, I so 
painted it. The geranium was the rose kind. I 
thought it strange that such a green plant should 
have the smell of roses. I then got several pots 
and exposed them in my window. One day a coach 
passed, out of which a lady leaned to view my 
green pots. She stopped and bought some. This 
was in 1799. I then began to inquire for seeds— 
no one then made a business of selling them. I 
accidentally met with a man who had some, and I 
bought his stock for $15, in April, 1801. These 
were soon sold, and I looked about for more, and 
found a lot of two barrels of imported seeds. I 
got them cheap, and sold them at apothecaries’ profit. 
Then I hardly knew geranium from cabbage. I 
was the first to import the potatoe oats from Scot¬ 
land. Since that I have sold seeds here to the 
amount of $25,000 per annum. The celebrated 
William Cobbett once set up a seed-store in 
opposition to me. His public advertisements were, 
that he sold seeds from sunrise to sunset.—I adver¬ 
tised that I sold them from sunrise to moonset! I 
beat him. On the subject of the potatoe, let me ob¬ 
serve, I have lately sent to the Emperor of Russia 
ten pounds of potatoe seed at the price of twenty 
dollars the pound! And I now say, resort to the 
seeds ! Save the seeds ! 
Culture of the Grape. Dr. R. T. Underhill hav¬ 
ing been called upon for information on this sub¬ 
ject, remarked that the interest in the cultivation of 
the grape rapidly increases, and in a few years it 
will be more extensively raised. He had seen late 
publications [The February numbers of the Far¬ 
mers’ Library, and the American Agrictriftmst ?] 
showing how to cultivate the grape in America. 
These directions may do well for Germany, he 
said, but not for this country. A vineyard cannot 
be made here as it is there. Cuttings will not an¬ 
swer to plant in our vineyards. They must first be 
started in a nursery and transplanted at two, three, 
or four years old, from the slip. 
Mr. Browne here asked leave to inquire of Dr. 
Underhill whether Mr. Longworth of Cincinnati, 
and others, do not plant their vineyards with cut¬ 
tings, and whether they would not live if screened 
from the intense heat of the sun in the early part of 
the season, and watered in times of drought. 
Dr. U. replied that they might succeed in damp 
soils—but the more dry the soil the better the vines. 
Germans, here, he said, have tried watering them 
and have failed of success—the heat of summer is 
too great. The plan of watering vineyards made 
