PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 289 



vested. It is sometimes put into casks or close bins, and the 

 surface covered with flour of lime two inches deep. The lime is 

 blown out Avhen the wheat is wanted for use. Sunning the wheat 

 before putting it up is an advantage. 



Dr. Trimble said ships when once infested with weevil are unfit 

 to receive another cargo. Barns, also, when infested, become unfit 

 for storing wheat. This weevil is not a fly, but a beetle somewhat 

 like the curculio or the pea-bug. There is one kind that infests 

 pearl barley. These are so small that a dozen may exist in one 

 grain. 



Fence Posts. 



Mr. Henry W. Clarke, Newport, R. I.: "I have patented an 

 improvement in fence posts. My plan is to surround the post 

 under ground to a depth below the frost, and extending upward 

 about two inches above the surface, with a hollow frustum of a 

 cone, having its greater base downward. The inside of said frus- 

 tum to be filled with gravel, and top tightly closed around the 

 post with some water-proof material. This prevents the frost act- 

 ing upon the post and throwing it out. The frustums may be 

 made of earthenware, water-tight, twenty-four inches long." 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter said he had seen a recommendation for 

 setting iron posts by making bricks with holes in them, and hav- 

 ing the post run through two of these, and standing with the foot 

 in a third, which would make a small iron post stand firm. 



Mr. Enos Stevens said that one of the greatest causes of the 

 decay of wooden posts which generally fail right at the surface, 

 arises from allowino; grass to g;row in contact with the wood. 

 Grass has a remarkable power of digesting dead wood ; some 

 kinds will use it up in two or three years. So will buckwheat. 

 Kailroad ties decay rapidly where grass grows around them. 



Mr. John Crane, Union, N. J. — There is a fence in my neigh- 

 borhood, made with chestnut posts, which has stood firm over 

 thirty years. Large holes were dug and filled several inches 

 around the post with stones. 



Dr. Hal lock. — I know gate posts which have been planted a 

 long time, and stand firmly, by filling the holes with broken stone, 

 and then mixing water lime with sand and water to a consistence 

 that would pour and fill up all the interstices. That is cheaper 

 than the plan recommended by Mr. Clarke. 



Mr. Crane said that is the way Jerseymen set the posts of their 

 hay barracks, which it is necessary should stand firm and straight. 



[Am. Inst.] S 



