418 [Assembly 



February 6, 1855. 

 Present — President Pell, Hon. Robert Swift Livingston, Messrs. 

 Pardee, Dr. Church, John Ireland, of Long Island, Leigh, Paul 

 Stillman, Butler, Peter B. Mead, Rockwell, of Williamsburgh,Dr. 

 Waterbury, Gumming, &c. — Mh four in all. 



Judge Livingston in the chair ; H. Meigs, Secretay. 



The Secretary read the following papers prepared by him : 



[United States Patent Office Report, vol. 2 for 1854— Extracts.] 



GRASS. 

 The Ceratochloa breviaristata, cultivated byB. T. Iverson,Esq.j 

 of Columbus, Muscogee county, Georgia. 



He says that its seed is nearly as large as grains of wheat ; ex- 

 cellent grass to turn in ; best for milk making and butter; makes 

 the sweetest and yellowest butter. No frost hurts it. He sows 

 it late in September, and on the 25th of November his 100 acre 

 field has it from eight to ten inches high. Neither drought nor 

 water seem to hurt it; will give from four to six tons per acre. 

 All poultry get fat on the seeds. It needs no sowing again; en- 

 riches the land, besides grazing the stock and giving the hay. 

 With rich culture it will yield one hundred bushels of seed per acre. 

 Mr. Iverson sells the seed at five dollars a jjeck! 



[From the Journal of Agriculture and the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural So- 

 ciety of Scotland, January, 1S55.] 



SUBSTITUTES FOR THE POTATO. 



Let the tubers of poisonous plants be examined, for the leaves 

 of the potato are poisonous, and the tubers perfectly wholesome. 

 Try the Glycine Jljnos, the Saa-ga-ban of the Micmac Indians. It 

 is a perennial plant, with a twining stem, primate leaves, and a 

 blue and purple flower. The root is tuberous, the tubers situ- 

 ated a few inches below the surface of the soil, and strung to- 

 gether by a strong ligament. They are not large, but numerous, 

 in appearance resembling the common potato, and of a similar 

 taste and odor. They are very farinaceous, and contain a large 

 percentage of starch; also albumen, gum and sugar. It is a com- 

 mon plant throughout the Northern and Southern States of Ame- 

 rica. 



