PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 229 



cold air to strike it, but it should not come directly in contact 

 with the ice. 



Mr. Kavanagh said that frost had a tendency to make meat 

 tender. 



Mr. Bergen could not say as to the ejBfect of ice upon some kinds 

 of meat ; but he had always been accustomed to keep fish upon 

 it, and it was kept in this way as fresh as when first taken from 

 the water. 



The Chairman said that in New Hampshire, the plan in cutting 

 ice was to use the ice-plow, and to cut the ice to some depth both 

 ways, so as to make the cakes about fifteen inches wide and twenty 

 inches long. The ice was always got as thick as possible — gener- 

 ally about fifteen inches — so that the cake would have about the 

 proportions of a well-formed brick. The pond being checked off 

 by the ice-plow, the workmen then went along and struck care- 

 fully into these cracks all along, which would produce a crack the 

 whole distance, perhaps, so that sometimes a piece ten rods long 

 might be broken off* perfectly straight ; then it is separated the 

 other way into squares. The thicker the ice is the better. 



THE CRESSANE PEAR. 



Mr. Bergen presented a specimen of the Cressane pear, which 

 had kept until this time in good condition. He considered it a 

 pear worth raising, although the Pomological convention had 

 rejected it. It is a good and regular bearer, of good flavor, and 

 keeps well. 



THE CULTURE OF SILK. 



Mr. Henry said he considered this time of war the most appro- 

 priate one that could be chosen for the agitation of the subject 

 of silk culture. It was the duty of every lover of his country to 

 bring into notice those products which bring it wealth and keep 

 its means within itself. There is no article, for which so much 

 money is sent out of the country, as for silk. It is the result of 

 a war that there becomes a preponderance of the female popula- 

 tion, and the culture of silk is the most profitable kind of labor 

 that can be devised for this class. The mulberry tree grows in 

 almost every part of our country naturally. The high duty placed 

 by the government now on all imports is also favorable to silk 

 culture. 



Mr. Carpenter said this country was not poor enough yet to go 

 into this subject practically. There are so many other more profit- 



