PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 129 



I find the wind has blown from the N. W. forty, or more than 

 half the days, since spring commenced, mostly with a light atmos- 

 phere, and as a general rule, the lower the barometer has been, 

 the harder the wind has been. I trust the above rules will bear 

 a practical application, and therefore offer them for the considera- 

 tion of the public." 



Prof. Tillman. — There is no doubt in my mind that we shall 

 yet reach such a state of information, as to foretell, with a good 

 deal of accuracy, the condition of the weather. At present I am 

 willing to concede that whoever depends upon such scientific 

 instruction as has already been given, or upon the barometer, and 

 the rules laid down, will fail most signally, because that instru- 

 ment changes with the wind, and a change of wind does not always, 

 nor generally, indicate rain in this latitude. 



Mr. Hicks said that it was an almost universal rule upon Long 

 Island, that rain would follow a change of wind to the northeast, 

 and it scarcely ever failed that the barometer- rose, and, according 

 to the rules laid down, indicated fair weather, at the very time 

 storm was approaching. He believed it was the settled conviction 

 of many persons who had purchased barometers, that they are 

 useless implements for farmers. 



Dr. Crowe 11 said that there were many plants that were better 

 indicators of approaching rain storms than the barometer. What 

 farmers need more than buying these instruments is to observe 

 things around them. 



How TO Make Coffee. 



Prof. Chas. A. Seeley. — The virtue of coflee consists in its 

 volatile aroma and its fixed extractive matter. The happy com- 

 bination of these with hot water is the problem for the coffee- 

 maker. This happy combination, in my opinion, when realized 

 in perfection, implies that all the aroma and all the extractive 

 matter of the ground coffee be got into the hot water and retained 

 there. It seems to me that no argument is required to show that 

 any aroma which escapes into the air, or any extractive matter 

 left in the grounds is so much virtue wasted. Now, to get at the 

 same time the whole of these constituents of coffee, has seemed 

 very difiicult. If boiling water be filtered through ground coffee 

 — this is the French plan — the aroma is promptly extracted, and 

 very little else, for the fixed matter needs more coaxing. If the 

 [Am. Inst.J I 



