326 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — My brother has employed plastic slate roof- 

 ino- to a limited extent, and he thinks it requires much skill to put 

 it on correctly. Still, he considers it, on the whole, a valuable 

 loofinsr material. 



Mr. Wm. Lawton spoke at some length on the superior advan- 

 tages of shingles over all other materials for roofing. 



The Chairman stated that he had been unsuccessful in his efforts 

 to make plastic slate roof. But he has so much confidence in that 

 material that he would make another effort. He expressed a desire 

 that the report of the committee should satisfy all inquirers about 

 plastic slate roofing, as its merits and demerits had been fairly pre- 

 sented. 



CLOTHES FRAME. 



Mr. J. R. Tewksbury, 31 Dey street, New York, exhibited a new 

 style of clothes frame, which is secured to the side of the room, 

 where the bars can be folded out of the way, or the arms may be 

 extended at pleasure; occupying a depth of less than two inches; 

 which opens in ten fingers, equal to thirty feet of line. It is also 

 used as a clothes horse. It was considered a very ingenious and 

 highly useful device for holding clothes after they have been 

 ironed or put through the mangel. It was approved of by the 

 Club. 



brown's washing jiachine. 



Mr. O. Long, Tom's River, exhibited one of Brown's washing 

 machines. It operates like a fulling-mill. 



TRANSPLANTING FOREST TREES. 



Mr. Jno. L. Coulson, Natchez, Miss. — I also notice some remarlts 

 on the subject of transplanting trees. In the month of January, 1847, 

 I planted fifty-one water-oaks in my yard: forty-seven grew finely; 

 just measured seventeen of them as they stand in the row; they 

 girth, on the average, fifty-three inches. I dug the holes four feet 

 square, two feet deep; I -went to the woods and dug up trees about 

 eio-ht or ten feet hi£rh, about the size of an ordinary man's wrist. 

 I took up no earth with them; I trimmed the roots off to about 

 twelve to eighteen inches; I cut off every branch to about six 

 inches, but was careful not to cut or touch the center or pointer, 

 which, in my judgment, should abvays be left, if you want a hand- 

 somer tree or quick growth. I filled in the hole with the earth 

 dug out, and I put it in as firm as before it was spaded out, and 

 had the ground moistened around the roots, packing closely, and 



