^gg Transactions of the American Institute. 



houses. It looked like a block of polished stone, fit to ^o into a 

 nice house, and each side differed in appearance from the other. It 

 is composed of eight parts of coarse sand, two of sawdust, one of 

 good lime, and one of good cement. The material is suited for 

 roofs, cellars, basement bottoms, ice houses, cistern tops, &c. There 

 is a patent. The members were much interested, but as it is a new 

 article, no opinion was expressed. 



METALLIC COLLAR FOR CHIMNEYS. 



Mr. W. H. Kelsey, Red Bank, N. J., exhibited a small model of 

 a roof of a house with chimneys, to show how chimnej^s can be con- 

 structed to prevent water from rmining down on the inside of the 

 house. A sheet iron, zinc or tin frame is nailed to the roof before 

 the chimney is built, and the upper side of the tin is turned over 

 in a horizontal direction and received in the joints between the 

 courses of the bricks. The device seemed to be an excellent con- 

 trivance for that purpose. Adjourned. 



May 28, 1867. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely, in the chair. Mr. John W. Chambebs, Secretary. 



STRAWBERRY PLANTS FROM FROM VINELAND. 



Mr. Charles Williams exhibited a specimen of Vineland field 

 culture of strawberries, which gave the members a high opinion 

 of that region for this fruit. 



Mr. Carpenter. — This is quite creditable to Vineland cultivators, 

 and we are pleased with the evidence of what they can do. We 

 are surprised that they should have plants nearly os vigorous as 

 ours. 



FRUIT-PRESERVING HOUSES. 



Prof. Nyce, of Cleveland, took the stand and answered several 

 questions on preserving diflerent kinds of fruit. He showed speci- 

 mens of apples in complete preservation. In his houses it takes six 

 months for an apple fully to decay after it commences, but the cause 

 is original imperfection, while if taken in perfectly sound, they will 

 keep two years. Out of sixteen hundred bushels he does not expect 

 that more than eighty bushels will be lost by June 1, which is only 

 five per cent. Neither peaches or strawberries can be kept, and 

 never will be. Peaches have longitudinal fibers, and in a manner 



