134 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



little or no clay, flourish most luxuriantly, where wheat and some 

 other cereals will not yield satisfactory crops. 



Mulching Strawberry Vines. 

 Mr. Solon Robinson read a letter from Mr. N. C. Meeker, Don- 

 gola, 111., concerning the cultivation of strawberries. He thinks, 

 with them, nothing is equal to Wilson's early variety, which is 

 exceedingly prolific. They lost most of their last year's crop, 

 because they failed to mulch the vines. He says, had we mulched 

 our vines, we should have raised a bountiful crop of berries. He 

 urges people to apply a heavy mulch of straw to all their vines, 

 as that will not only keep the ground moist, which is essential to 

 the perfect development of the fruit, but the straw Avill keep the 

 fruit out of the dirt, so that it will be clean. 



A Caterpillar Exterminator, 



Exhibited by W. S. Carpenter, was made of card teeth, in a 

 cone shape, about eight inches long, and one and a half inches 

 diameter, fastened on a pole, to insert in nests and twist them out 

 of the limbs. 



Dr, Trimble put the very pertinent question, whether the trouble 

 of cleaning the implement of the webb would not more than 

 counterbalance its advantages. 



Caterpillars can be killed, says C. Arms, Knox county. 111., by 

 saturating the nests with soap-suds, made with two quarts of soft- 

 soap in twelve quarts of water. The work should be done in the 

 hottest part of a clear day. 



An Improved Pitchfork. 

 Mr. Montgomer}', Williamsport, Penn., exhibited a pitchfork, 

 which every one conceded to be an improvement upon the old 

 style, as the tines are made separate and fastened to the sides of 

 the staflf, instead of being joined to a shank, which is inserted into 

 a hole bored in the center of the staff, and Avhich it is often diffi- 

 cult for a farmer to do, when necessary to make repairs. Another 

 advantage the present fork has, is that when a tine is broken, it 

 »can be replaced b^^ a new one in two minutes, or in case a farmer 

 has a number of similar forks, he can make one good one out of 

 two broken ones. These tines are firmly fastened to the sides of 

 the staff by a little turn in the shank, that enters a hole, and by 

 the ferule, which is driven down from the upper end, and held to 



