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H/8/1928 - 1 -

THE HIGHLANDS
September 4th, 1928

The August meeting of our Society was held
with Douglas and Helen Farquhar at The Cedars,
on August 7th. We assembled on the spacious
porch, a large attendance of members and some
guests, made us a goodly number.

The meeting was called to order by the
Chairman, Cousin Charlie Brooke, and the minutes
were read and adopted.

Our first reader, Cornelia Bentley read
of grape culture in the Chautanqua and Erie
Grape belt. Also of an order prescribing a reduction
in freight-rates from the point of
origin to the point of destination, which is effective
Sep. 1st. California growers having come
into competition with a region which for generations
has supplied grapes and their derivitives
to the east. The grapes of the New York belt
are for most part Concord variety, and the
competition with California is in the field of
Talbe uses, jams, jellies etc. Security for this
industry means much for the localities affected,
and the action of the Interstate Commerce Commission
is fully justified. Also the Sycamore Section
was discribed with it's acres of grapes. Here
grapes are advertised as obtainable by the
pound or ton.

Mrs. Hagerman, the other appointed reader,
read, "the miracle of mulch paper", giving the
story of this new helper to the gardner and trucker.
Mulch paper was first used in far away
Hawaii by Charles F. Eckart fourteen years ago.
the trial was made on a sugar plantation and in
pineapple growing. Not only were weeds controlled
but increase productiveness and quality of fruit
was the result. The paper mulch increased the
soil tempreture, the mulch gave it's moisture
slowly to plant roots, rather than by evaporation
by the heat of the sun. In our country experiments
have been conducted on such crops as samll
corn, beets, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, white
potatoes, spinnach, turnips, peanuts, cotton, and
countless other varities of produce. With but a
single exception, peanuts, these trials have indicated
the value of this mulch paper in stimulating
plant growth. These trials have been made
under the supervision of Chas. F. Eckart. The
Department of Agriculture have conducted a series
of trials over a period of four years at the