108 



Mr. Osgood gave an informal talk on the present aspect 

 of the mining lands and the presence of minerals in the 

 vicinity of Newburyport, and expressed himself rather 

 skeptical as to the richness and value of any of the de- 

 posits yet found. Without doubt valuable ore is there, 

 though whether it would pay to work the mines, expecting 

 a large yield, is questionable. He thought that no new 

 discoveries had been made favorable to such an opinion. 



Mr. J. H. Stevens of Salem, being called upon, said 

 that the Institute was doing much to develop among the 

 people, and particularly the j'oung people, a knowledge 

 of natural history. He then gave an interesting account 

 of the growth of the cane brakes (AruncUnaria 7nac7'0- 

 sperma) in the Southern States. Hundreds of miles of 

 country along the Mississippi bottoms are covered by 

 these brakes, some growing to the height of twenty-five 

 or thirty feet. When young and tender the leaves furnish 

 food for deer and other animals. He had often wandered, 

 rifle in hand, through that country, and felt the want of 

 the kind of knowledge that the Essex Institute and these 

 field meetings were disseminating in order to appreciate 

 the opportunities for the study of nature there presented. 



He also spoke of the American Tulip Tree (^Lirioden- 

 dron lulipijera), which grows luxuriantly in the same 

 vicinity, and when in bloom presents the appearance, as 

 seen from the high bluffs, of an immense flower garden 

 extending sometimes for miles. 



Mr. Putnam said that in the Mammoth and several 

 other caves in Kentucky there were often found pieces 

 of canes, with one end burned, and it was supposed 

 that they had been filled with grease and used as torches 

 by some of the Indian race, who, to a certain extent, 

 used the caves for various purposes. 



