O. MISCELLANEOUS. 583 



James Arnold, of New Bedford, and is intended to include, 

 as far as practicable, all the trees, shrubs, and herbaceous 

 plants, whether indigenous or exotic, which can be raised in 

 the open air at West Roxbury. 



In the Bulletin of this highly useful institution there are 

 several papers of much value, the first being a report of re- 

 sults obtained on examining some commercial fertilizers, by 

 Professor F. H. Storer, who holds the chair of agricultural 

 chemistry. These consist of sundry superphosphates, bone- 

 meal, bone-blacks, and nitrogenized manures. In this article 

 Professor Storer calls attention to the fact that artificial ma- 

 nures are less likely than the natural to contain eggs or lar- 

 vae of injurious insects, referring to a case where some dung 

 from a hen-roost had been found filled with the maggots of 

 the onion-fly, so destructive in many parts of the country. 



The second paper contains a record of results obtained 

 on analyzing several samples of American "shorts" and 

 "middlings," with remarks on the average composition of 

 bran, also by Professor Storer, in which he comes to the con- 

 clusion that the use of these substances, consisting in great 

 part of the refuse skin of the wheat or grain, may be greatly 

 extended to the benefit of the farmer. It is, however, rec- 

 ommended to begin with a small quantity, and to feed up 

 gradually. The special advantages of these brans is their 

 fitness for supplying the phosphates needed for milch cows 

 and growing animals, and the fact that the manures from 

 them will probably be rich in phosphates. Indeed, Professor 

 Storer thinks that when bran is judiciously used there will 

 be no need of feeding bone-meal to cattle, as is so often done 

 in New England. 



Professor D. D. Slade, M.D., of the department of applied 

 zoology, contributes a paper on "The Humane Destruction 

 of Animals," in which, by a series of figures, he shows the 

 proper mode of killing horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, fish, 

 etc. No reference is made by him, however, to a very im- 

 portant apparatus recently introduced in France, with the 

 best results, consisting of a heavily weighted pick, construct- 

 ed something like a punch for cutting gun-wads, which, with 

 a very slight effort, cuts out a clear plate of bone in the fore- 

 head, and penetrates the brain ; of course producing instanta- 

 neous death, without the necessity of repeated blows. 



