^58 Transactions of tee Axertcan Institute. 



bug, which infests vines in the kitchen garden. It is simply this: 

 Smear a lot of stones, or old pieces of cloth, with coal tar, and 

 place them near the growing plants. The offensive odor emitted 

 from the tar will repel the bugs most effectually from the growing 

 plants. This is easily tested, but we doubt the efficacy of tar for 

 this purpose. Adjourned. 



August 27, 1867. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair ; Mr. Johx W. Chambers, Secretary. 



FARMING BY WOMEN, 



Mrs. Mary Baker, Gorham, Fulton county, Iowa, writes to the 

 Club, that, besides doing general housework, she cultivated an acre 

 wholly herself, having put a part in strawberries and other small 

 fruits, and the rest in beans, vines, and other crops, and now there is 

 not a weed to be seen. The summer has been very pleasant to her. 



SPONGE FOR BEDS. 



Mr. "Wm. P. Peck exhibited a quantity of sponge, prepared by 

 a new process, which will supersede feathers. Being entirely des- 

 titute of animal matter, which is so objectionable in feathers, it will 

 neither breed nor retain insects; it is elastic and comfortable, and 

 is sold at the price of feathers. 



Dr. J. C. V. Smith. — Sponge may make a good bed. I neither 

 deny or affirm, for I have no knowledge of the subject, but nothing 

 is more certain than that sponge is an animal. Every hole is a 

 mouth through which food was introduced, and the sponge is only 

 the skeleton of the animal. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — Feathers will always sell, for there are 

 always fools who will buy them. I am in favor of recommending 

 geese for profit, though I will not sleep on feathers. 



Dr. J. E. Suodgrass. — Sponge contains a considerable quantity 

 of iodine, and will be likely to have a medicinal effect. 



Dr. Lewis Feuchtwanger. — Permit me to remark, gentlemen, 

 that sponge is neither a vegetable nor an animal — it is a zoophyte; 

 that is, an organism exhibiting characteristics of both. 



GEESE. 



Mr. James R Wheeler, Queens county, L. I,, makes an iuquiiy 

 as to the profit of raising geese. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — Geese are as profitable as young cattle. 



