Mr. Campbell said he had tested it, and so far his impressions of it were favorable; be found it earlier than any other black grape of decent quality, much superior to the Hartford Prolific in its flavor and freedom from pulp, as well as in hanging perfectly on the vine, even when over ripe. The Creveling is ripe very soon after it is colored, and does not, like many others, need to hang a long time to acquire its best flavor.

Diana. Fine bunches exhibited from Columbus, Cleveland, and other sections not fully ripe, but quite good, and promising well. Specimens of a spurious kind were also exhibited-cuite worthless in character, but the vines have been extensively disseminated for genuine. Mr. Bateham said the vine had fruited well at Columbus, and was much liked by amateurs, though he had not found it as much earlier than the Catawba in its time of ripening as its Eastern friends had claimed for it.

Capt. Stewart, of Cleveland, had not thought much of the Diana until last season, and the present it had done very well with him. This season he had found it almost equal to the Delaware. Mr. Boalt, of Norwalk, also spoke well of it-said it ripened ten or twelve days earlier than the Catawba with him. Dr. Taylor thought it was variable in quality and time of ripening; he had it very good this year. Mr. Powers said he had two vines, got for Diana; much alike, but not quite identical; one ripened a week or two before the other-perhaps several spurious varieties are abroad.

Anna.-Specimens unripe, and the testimony of all who had tried it was, that it ripens too late to be of value in this latitude.

Ontario and Union Village -Specimens of both these were exhibited, and so nearly alike that most persons would say they were identical. Mr. Luce, of Ashtabula, had fruited the Ontario two seasons, and was well pleased with it; vine grows well, seems perfectly bardy, and free from mildew; fruit ripens about the same time as the Isabella; bunch and berry larger, not of first quality, but good. Dr. Taylor also spoke favorably of it; was not sure that it would not prove identical with Union Village, as had been claimed by some of the castern pomologists, but he thought otherwise. Mr. Campbell would not say positively that the Ontario is not the Union Village; but the difference in fruiting on his vines the past three years has led him to doubt their being the same. The vines called Ontario have invariably stood the winter and spring frosts better, and had larger and more compact bunches, and ripened carlier than the Union Village. Their habit of growth and foliage are alike. Tokalen, Garrigues, and Louisa-Dr. Taylor said, could only be regarded as sub varieties of the Isabella, and of no particular value.

Isabella and "Aiken "--Most of the grapes exhibited at the Fair as Isabellas were of the kind having large compact bunches, and large round berries, ro unlike the old style of Isabellas that few persons could regard them as the same, and yet the testimony of a large number of the growers would seem to show that the change is only the result of soil, season, and culture. Mr. Batebam called attention to the remarkable difference among the specimens exhibited; he said his attention had first been called to this subject by witnessing similar exbibitions in this part of the State two or three years ago, and on calling the attention of fruit growers to it, through the papers, he was informed that the large round variety was not the Isabella, but should be called

the Aiken. Since that time he had seen more of these grapes and the growers, but he is still unable to satisfy himself that there are two distinct varieties—and yet he admits that the differenee in the specimens is greater than he has ever supposed could be produced by soil and culture.

Capt. Stewart said he had found in his vineyard great difference among Isabella vines, in the size, shape, and time of ripening of the fruit, as affected by the soil and location; could cut some ten days earlier than others-thinks all the difference in the specimens exhibited may be effects of soil, &c. Mr. Storrs, of Painesville, expressed the same opinion.

Mr. Oviatt, of Richfield, Summit county, said he had a vineyard partly on clay soil and part sandy loam; the vines all propagated from one source by himself, and those growing on the sandy soil produce larger and more compact bunches, and larger and rounder berries than those on the clay-difference like that exhibited in specimens here to-night and at the Fair; hence he did not believe in the Aiken variety.

Dr. Taylor thought it would be found that the large round specimens grew on rich sandy land where the roots found plenty of food and moisture, and the vines not overloaded with fruit. Dr. Kirtland had told him that last fall he found the large round (Aiken) variety growing on his ground where the vine stood near a sewer, while other vines of the same origin, on common soil, bore old fashioned Isabellas.

Mr. Wild, of Brownhelm, Lorain county, said that a variety resembling the Isabella, but a rounder berry was introduced in his neighborhood fifteen or twenty years ago, by a German, who claimed to have brought it from Germany (?) Specimens of the fruit were sent to Mr. Longworth, and he pronounced it Isabella or a sub-variety of it. Mr. Bateham thought this might be another branch of the Aiken. He was convinced that there had been several good seedlings raised from the Isabella, during the past forty years, and pretty extensively disseminated through the country, but he did not believe any of the stories about such grapes being brought from the old

countries.

Dr. Beardslee, of Painesville, said there was a seedling variety of the Isabella growing in his vicinity which he thought was earlier and larger than the old one. CONCORD-Only a few specimens at the Fair, but very good. Mr. Bateham thought this variety was becoming more popular than had formerly been expected; though not a first-rate grape in quality, its merits in other respects were sufficient to gain for it the good will of the people.

Mr. Smith, of Toledo, said he had seen it rot badly in Montgomery county; when the Catawba also rotted badly. Captain Stewart said he served on a committee last fall for inspecting vineyards in Cuyahoga county, and while most other varieties were found more or less affected with rot, the Concord was free and healthy.

TAYLOR'S BULLITT.-Dr. Taylor said this variety had done so much better with him this year that he felt inclined to speak more favorably of it than he had done formerly. It may prove valuable, especially as a wine grape.

OPORTO.-Specimens exhibited and tasted by some! who expressed their utter dis

gust and surprise that such a grape should ever be recommended to the public. It was thought to be too mean a fruit for even the possibility of making wine that could be palatable.

ROGERS' HYBRIDS.-Specimens of several varieties exhibited, from Mr. Campbell's collection. Mr. Bateham said he was willing to award much praise to Mr. Rogers for having shown that our native grapes can be crossed with foreign sorts, but he regret. ted that Mr. R. should have felt it necessary to choose the coarse Fox grape and Black Hanburg as the parent of his batch of nurslings. The progeny is certainly as good as could have been expected, but he was apprehensive that people will be disappointed in not finding the fruit of finer quality. Perhaps, however, Mr. Rogers has better things in store than have yet been given to the public.

Mr. Campbell, at the request of the Secretary, furnishes the following notes on these grapes: "I think some of the hybrids of Mr. Rogers promise to be real and valuable acquisitions, though my experience with them is not yet sufficient to be entirely satisfactory on all points. The present is the third year since I have fruited a portion of them. I have never given them any winter protection, and though the past four winters have not been of extraordinary severity, these hybrids have all proven hardy and uninjured. They are all strong growers-some of them extraordinarily so. None have thus far shown any disposition to rot, and but one-No. 13-any signs of oidium, or mildew of the leaf, and this to no apparently injurious extent. As to quality, none of them equal the Delaware, or approach near it, so far as I have at present tested them. But I regard Nos. 3, 4, 5, 9, 15, 19, and 33 as superior in flavor and quality to Isabella and Concord, while they are, most of them, also much superior in size and appearance to those varieties. As to their productiveness, I do not consider that sufficiently tested, though the indications are so far good. To most persons who have tasted these hybrids in my presence, they have been very acceptable, and regarded as very valuable and good."

PEACHES.

The show of peaches at the Fair was not very large, the crop being light, or a failure in most parts of the State. Among the lots shown, were only three or four sorts not well known.

Dr. Taylor had a fine dish labeled "Middleton's Imperial." The tree came from New Jersey, and was sold to him under that name; but he finds no such name in any of the books or catalogues. It is a large handsome yellow peach, ripening early in September, about the season of Crawford's Late; not as highly colored as that variety, but like it apparently not sufficiently productive for a good market variety. Dr. T. thinks it may prove to be the Susquehanna or Griffith peach of Pennsylvania, which it certainly resembles.

Mr. E. Corner, of Columbus, exhibited a dish of highly colored peaches, supposed to be a seedling variety-resembling Bergen's Yellow-large roundish, deep yellow, nearly covered with red; flesh very yellow, juicy and good-sweeter and more juicy than most yellow flesh varieties; ripens between Crawford's Early and C. Late; said

to be productive. Mr. Bateham promised to make further inquiry respecting it, as he thought it migh prove valuable if productive and a seedling.

BERGEN'S YELLOW.-Mr. Bateham said he believed this to be the finest market peach known to him as coming in season after Crawford's Early, and before Crawford's Late; though he was not quite certain in regard to its productiveness. It is called Orange Freestone in some parts of Ohio. The Jacques' Rareripe is also a good yellow peach, ripening about the same time, and much esteemed for the markets, though not as rich and juicy as Bergen's.

HALE'S EARLY (too late for specimens)-Mr. Bateham said he had seen this variety in bearing this season for the first time on the grounds of Storrs and Harrison, at Painesville-where the Serrate Early York and Early Tillotson were growing in the same row and under precisely similar circumstances. From what he saw and tasted of the fruit he can say that its merits exceed his highest anticipations, as to earliness, size, looks and quality of fruit and the habits of the tree, and he is not at all surprised to learn that people are loud in its praise wherever it has come into bearing. The Chicago peach-growers say it is so much earlier than any other good market variety, that they are in want of another kind equal to it to fill up the interval of a week or so between the time when Hale's is finished and the next comes in !

Dr. Taylor said he had seen and tasted the fruit the two past seasons, and it was undoubtedly the best early peach extant. Market peach-growers were now eagerly buying and planting the trees in all parts where it is known. The nurseries would not be able to supply half the demnad for trees.

Mr. Marshall, of Massillon, had fruited it this year; ripe about ten days sooner than Early York (Serrate); fruit handsomer, full as good, and tree much healthier. M. Boalt, of Norwalk, and Dr. Beardslee and Mr. Storrs, of Painesville, bore the same testimony.

AN ESSAY:

READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY BY T. T. LYON, OF PLYMOUTH, MICHIGAN.

On the adaptation of the Lake Regions for the growth of Fruit, with hints as to the marketing of the products.

That the lacustrine portions of the great Northwest possess, by virtue of their peculiar location, a climate eminently adapted to the production of fruits few we imagine, at the present day, will be disposed to question.

It is a common and strictly correct remark that, on account of our exposure to lake winds, we are subject to great and sudden variations of temperature. This, however, must be taken in connection with the fact that, in passing over these immense bodies of water, our winds are so far shorn of their frostiness that we often escape tho e extremes of cold which occasionally fall with such fatal severity upon sections farther west, and even south of us. As proof of this I may be allowed to refer to the storm just now passed; during which the thermometer in most of Southern Michigan was at or about the freezing point, accompanied with rain at the east and snow at the west during the first day; and at sunset on the second day it had reached its minimum, at or near-200, while in Wisconsin we are told it reached the extreme limit of —45, and even as far south as St. Louis it reached - 210. As another and a very striking confirmation of this n odifying effect permit me to refer to the series of cold winters of the last decade, which so nearly swept away the entire orcharding of the regions lying west and southwest of these lakes, while the peninsula of Michigan and the south shore of Lake Erie escaped with scarcely a decimation.

I am not, however, disposed to attribute the successful production of fruit in this region to climate alone. It is a well settled opinion among agriculturists that no single crop can be grown with equal success upon all soils, and that fruit-growing is no exception to this rule I am not disposed to doubt. We, at the west, have virgin soils containing in abundance all the elements necessary to the growth of wood as well as the production of fruit, and we shall hardly be questioned if we assume as a rule that our soils grow richer and deeper as we go westward, at least so far as the plow of the settler has yet brought them under subjection. As this increment of richness may be assumed to be mainly the result of an increased proportion of vegetable matter, the natural office of which is the production of wood rather than fruit, the suspicion may easily and naturally be induced that to this cause may, to some extent, be attributed the comparative unproductiveness of many eastern varieties of fruit when planted at the west. If to this consideration we add that of the almost tropical heat