136 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



easily brought to the ground by water, or by two railroads. The question 

 is, will it pay ? Perhaps it would pay to grow currants on the dry land, 

 and cranberries on the wet, for they are natural to the whole region, and 

 so are whortleberries. I think the currant will grow in such land, but not 

 ■without artificial fertilizers, and it might not pay. 



Here is another man who has been attracted by A^^hat has been said here 

 to try his land in the business. He writes from Pendleton, Indiana, and 

 says : 



" I am A^ery much interested in the proceedings of the Farmers' Club, 

 and have been induced to make an effort to grow some of the fine fruits you 

 talk so much about." 



So he sends me a couple of dollars, and asks me to send a few Lawton 

 blackberry and a few cherry currant plants by express. Not being in the 

 business, I will hand over the money to Mr. Fuller, who will aid this new 

 convert to the religion of spreading abroad the cultivation of good fruits. 

 So send on your money, all ye who are disposed to propagate such a reli- 

 fion as this. For I contend, that if religion consists in doing good to our 

 fellow-creatures, it is a religious duty to encourage the cultivation, the im- 

 provement and propagation of the good fruits that a good Power has made 

 the earth produce for man's sustenance and alleviation of natural diseases. 



Kev. W. Adamson, Secretary of the Geographical and Statistical Society, 

 was requested to speak of southern Africa, where he had resided twenty- 

 six years. He placed on the table the horns of the ox of that country, 

 measuring thirty-three inches from tip to tip, beautifully curving upwards 

 from their roots where they are nearly fourteen inches in circumference. 



Mr. Adamson said : The native ox of southern Africa is easily recognized 

 as a well characterized variety. The line of the face declines more from 

 the vertical, and, with the general outward sweep and direction of the 

 horns, gives the countenance an appearance of greater flatness and slope 

 than is seen in those of Europe, or of this country, or of the mixed breeds, 

 which by importations from Hollond or Great Britain, have become com- 

 mon in the Cape territory. There is nothing of the artificial evenness of 

 back and shortness of limb, which are seen in our improved breeds. There 

 is a good natural undulation in the spinal ridge. The hump above the 

 shoulder conforms to the fashion of the zebu, or Brahmin cattle of 

 India, and at the killing of the beast is used in the same way as the noted 

 Bengal humps, being cut off, salted and smoked, like a ham. The crea- 

 ture rises to a large size, has great bones, and long powerful legs. The 

 natives, before the advent of Europeans, used him for riding ; having, as a 

 substitute for a bridle, a stick passing through the cartiledge between 

 the nostrils, with a cord or thong from each end, carried back to the rider's 

 hand. They are, from injudicious treatment, far more stubborn than the 

 steers of this country, but are not vicious in temper. 



You can see from the specimen on the the table, that the horns are 

 largely developed. I have had a pair measuring, with the interposed frontal 

 bone, five feet eight inches from tip to tip. They are said sometimes to 



