72 STATE BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. 



they were all alive, strictly speaking. A dozen of them would have produced 

 butterllies next spring and the remainder were perfectly alive with parasites. 

 I should say then let all alone, for the parasites will probably whip out the 

 remnant the coming season. One word more in the tenor of this paper and I 

 close. Many people have been foolish enough to apply Paris green to cabbages, 

 and as the poison in this powder is arsenic some lives have been lost. Paris 

 green should never be used except with great care. It must never be applied 

 to those parts of plants which are to be eaten by any animal. Applied to 

 potatoe tops it becomes a good remedy for the potatoe bug ; but applied to cab- 

 bages which are to be sold in market or used as diet by any one, it becomes a 

 remedy for the increase of the human race. 



DISCUSSION. 



Secretary Baird — Do you find many of the parasites of the cabbage worm? 



Mr. Skeels — I have examined five hundred of the chrysalis and only forty of 

 them would produce Hies; four hundred and sixty were destroyed by the par- 

 asites. 



Prof. AV. J. Beal next gave a lecture on Horticultural Experiments at the 

 Agricultural College. 



(See lectures given at more than one Institute.) This lecture and the dis- 

 jcussion upon it occupied the remainder of the forenoon session. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Lecture by John T. Fraser, V. S., on the subject of "The Structure and 

 Care of tbellorse's Foot." (See lectures given at more than one Institute.) 



Robert F. Kedzie, assistant chemist at the Agricultural College, gave a lec- 

 ture entitled "Superphosphates on the Farm." (See lectures given at more 

 than one Institute.) 



EVENJNG SESSION. 



After opening with some appropriate music Mr. Peter H. Felker gave an 

 interesting address on the 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD. 



This address was extempore. The following is a brief synopsis of it. : 

 Mr. Felker set out with the declaration that a fair estimate of the amount 

 ■of solid and liquid food a healthy man would consume in the course of a year 

 would be 2,500 pounds. It was always best, he insisted, and cheaper in the 

 long run to buy the best of everything, especially in the matter of articles. He 

 first took up the subject of baking powders and showed how they were adulter- 

 ated by the use of terra alba, or white earth and burnt alum — the latter very 

 injurious to bread and forbidden to be used under stringent penalties by the 

 British government. Mr. Felker illustrated by experiments with a simple 

 decoction of logwood the presence of alum in baking powder ; if present it turns 



