552 tliansactions of the american institute. 



Tup: Castor Bean. 

 Ml*. D. B. Ranney also desires information of this tropical plant. 

 How is the oil extracted; what machinery is required, its cost ; also, 

 an estimate of the profits reasonably to be expected from an acre ? 

 Mr. J. W. Gregory replied : In Illinois the crop which some years 

 ago reached up to twenty bushels or more per acre has fallen off to 

 eight and ten, and still is raised, probably being preferred on account 

 of requiring less labor than almost any other crop. In Texas, Judge 

 Bellinger informed me he had raised 100 bushels, and though this is 

 an extraordinary case, yet I presume when it has been well attended 

 fifty bushels per acre has resulted. This has brought about $1.75, 

 coin, per bushel of forty-six pounds, and of course shows the great 

 adaptation of both soil and climate of Texas to its successful growth. 

 It commences ripening about June 20, and continues until tlie end 

 of November. 



Allies of the Ageicultueists. 



Dr. J. Y. C. Smith. — I am not going to inflict you with a speech, 

 but rise merely to make reference to one of the birds shown here a 

 fortnight ago by our kind-hearted friend. Dr. Trimble, namely, the 

 read-headed wood-pecker. I made a dissection, and found it one of 

 the most curious and interesting subjects I have had under my scalpel 

 for many a day. I wanted to find out how these creatures give the 

 trip-hammer motion to the head. Dr. Smith then proceeded to 

 explain by means of drawings, and went on to say that the bird ascer- 

 tains the position of its victim in the tree by means of exceedingly 

 acute sense of hearing. 1 do not think, he continued, that they ever 

 make a mistake, thougli they may be frightened away and thus leave 

 the work, in some instances, incomplete. The tongue is exceeding 

 long, and the insect is pierced and drawn out of its resting place. 

 In conclusion the speaker said : You may depend upon it the red- 

 lieaded wood-peckers are the friends of the farmers, and, as Dr. Trimble 

 urged, they ought not to be destroyed. There is no excuse ; even 

 sick people had better have mutton broth. To shoot these scavengers 

 is nothing but cruelty and hard-heartedness on the part of those who 

 roam over the country with guns, and call it sport. 



The Chairman. — We are certainly under renewed obligations to 

 Dr. Smith. I have thought that one of the most important papers 

 ever presented here was his plea for toads. I put the suggestion into 

 practice, and since then have been frequently laughed at by my 



