REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 309 



C. L. Whitney led in the discussion of the paper by showing that there 

 were thirteen essential elements entering into the combination of plants and 

 necessary to their growth, viz. : potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, 

 carbon, silicon, sulphur, phosphorus, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and chlorine. 

 Ten of these were abundantly provided by nature in the soil maintain and 

 aid and none need have any care about their supply, but the other three, potas- 

 ium, phosphorus and nitrogen, were usually needed and should be supplied in 

 our system of manuring. Each ton of green clover plowed under had manur- 

 ial value in it of $12.62. As five tons of green clover can be grown to the acre, 

 a crop turned under was worth $63.13; with the same cured and sold for hay, 

 it would not bring $40 if it did that. 



A ton of the best barn yard or cow stable manure is worth $5 while the 

 ordinary manure is only worth $1 98 per ton and some i3 not worth that. 



A ton of dry muck has a value of $7.81 mostly in nitrogen. Dry bones pul- 

 verized finely are worth $32.89, for manure they lack in potassium. 



Wood ashes have a manurial value of $11.60 per ton and if leached still are 

 worth $6.80, but neither have nitrogen in them, hence muck and ashes are 

 good used together. 



Plaster is valuable. First, to aid in the decomposition of the silicates of 

 alumina and silicon: second, to arrest the escape of the volatile carbonate of 

 ammonia, hence its value upon the compost heap and stables, etc. All animal 

 remains, bones, flesh, hair, etc., should be saved and carefully covered with 

 earth. All waste from the house and barn, cleanings of the hen roost and 

 privy, all weeds, etc., should be carefully compacted and saved for the soil. 

 They are more valuable than barn yard manure. Salt, lime and ashes, min- 

 erals, are valuable, as also coal ashes, in making light soils more compact and 

 capable of holding moisture. They are more or less valuable as insecticides. 



April Meeting. 

 C. L, Whitney read a paper entitled 



ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS AND THEIR CULTIVATION, 



of which the following is a synopsis: 



Gardening is a fiue art, one of the six fine arts of the day, and bears a similar 

 relation to architecture that painting does to sculpture — that music does to 

 poetry. The effect or use of these arts is to create pleasure by producing 

 beauty. Gardening may be useful as well as beautifying, adding to the wealth 

 as well as to the gratification of the artist, but we shall treat of the subject 

 only in the ornamental sense. 



Why do we plant trees, shrubs, etc. ? First, because of an intense desire to 

 see something growing, to shelter and to add to the natural surroundings of 

 our homes. Second, to ornament by hiding the defects and deformities in our 

 surroundings. Third, to add to the natural beauty of the landscape and to 

 supplement the efforts of the architect in the buildings. 



