liv. 



had often to be resorted to, tliongh it was 200 feet above the sea and not 

 near a river. He mentioned the great advantage to the dryness of a field 

 of keeping ditches and outlets clean and open. Having offered the thanks 

 of the Club to Sir Talbot for his paper an adjournment of three-quarters 

 of an hour Avas made tor luncheon, it being about two o'clock. 



After luncheon Mr. Chas. F. Hope gave the Club some information 

 about Lathyrus sylvestris, on which he had been unable to write a paper 

 as set forth in the programme through Avant of time. Professor Wagner 

 had succeeded in producing a variety of this plant (Wagner's flat pea or 

 Lathyrus sylvestris Wagneri), which was of great value in agriculture. It 

 is maintained that the plant will yield on an average 17 tons of green 

 food (equal to about 4 tons of hay if dried) to the acre per annum in 3 or 

 4 cuttings which should be made just as it comes into bud, the plant then 

 being about 15 inches high. It is stated that the plants will continue in 

 bearing for 40 or 50 years with no manure, and will grow on waste stony 

 ground, where nothing else will flourish, and resist the most unusual 

 drought. 



Mr. Hope has analyzed a sample Avith the folloAving result :— 



Lathy) us Average Composition of 



sylvestris. Green Plants for comparison. 



Green. Dry. Lucerne. Vetch. Clover. 



Moistur 58-63 0-00 75-3 82-0 TS'O 



Fat, Chlorophyll, Wax, &c. . . 2-05 4-95 07 0-6 OS 



Albuminoids (\. X ti. 33) .. 7-54 18'22 4-5 3-7 3-7 



Digestible Cellulose, &c. .. 10-48 39-85 8-4 6-1 8-6 



Indigestible Fibre .. .. 12-21 29-52 9-3 6-0 7-2 



Mineral Matter 309 7-46 1-8 1-6 1-7 



100-00 10000 100-0 100-0 100-0 



Containing Nitrogen . . .. 1-11 2-S5 



Equal to Ammonia .. .. 1-41 3-49 



Albuminoid Ratio . . . . 1:4-5 



Mr. Hope proceeded as follows : — 



" About tAvo hundred and fifty plants Avere given to me by Mr. F. E. 

 Clotten, six of Avhich Avere accepted by the Yorkshire Philosophical 

 Society, and planted in their gardens in November, 1889, to Avhich lot the 

 above analysis refers. The plants appeared very dry and much shrivelled, 

 but in spite of their unpromising appearance, the Avhole of the six plants 

 lived, but several out of the larger lot, Avhich Avce accepted by a skilled 

 farmer, died. The six plants did not produce a robust groAvth — possibly 

 due to the city smoke, and their uncongenial treatment before they Avere 

 received in York. The average length of the haulm Avas about tAvo feet, 

 and the maximum three feet, the younger part of Avhich appeared more 

 robust and better developed than the older. All the floAvers aborted ; 

 the blooms Avithered in August, Avhen the plants Avere cut and analyzed 



