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TJiAXSACTIO.XS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



thus given to the particles causes them to move upon each other, and 

 of course comminutes the soil ; but how few appreciate the real phi- 

 losophy of plowing the ground. The speaker illustrated his state- 

 ment still further by alluding to the fact that although there are 6,000 

 different kinds' of grasses, 126 of them in the State of New York, 

 few farmers can distinguish more than half a dozen. Many cannot 

 tell the difference between meadow foxtail and timothy ; ytt it is essen- 

 tial that tliis should be done and the difference borne in mind, because 

 timothy has four times tlie nutriment for herbivorous animals that the 

 meadow foxtail has. In order to derive any advantage from this 

 value of one grass as compared to another, the farmer must learn to 

 distinguish each kind. This, simple as it may appear, is no trifle. 

 The annual grass crop of the United States is worth five hundred 

 millions of dollars. It had been often said that he who made two 

 blades of grass grow where one did l)efore, was a public benefactor. 

 Kow by a careful education into the knowledge of their values, the 

 farmer will be able to select the best yarieties and do this, thus add- 

 ing to the wealth of the country enough to pay the national debt. 

 It was done, for there were farmers in New York who raised 300 

 tons on 100 acres, while the average over the State was only twenty- 

 seven tons to 100 acres ; and, too, in Kings county, the product was 

 160 tons to the 100 acres, while in the adjoining county of Queens 

 it was only 113 to the 100, If farmers were educated to know the 

 needs of their soil and to understand the adaptation of crops to it, 

 we should have this result over the whole country. 



De Zeng's Soluble Piiospho-Silicates. 



The chairman introduced Mr. De Zeng, of Geneva, N. Y., who 

 said, it has been kindly suggested by Prof. Tillman, to bring before 

 the attention of the Club, his soluble phospho-silicates. Tliis article 

 was manufactured from the slag of iron or other smelting furnaces. 

 It was a well-khown fact, that the most fertile soil in the world was 

 in volcanic countries ; no other sections had ever produced 100 

 bushels of wheat to the acre. The reason of this was tlie peculiar 

 creation of tiie soil, which was a decomposed scoria. The process 

 has been going on for ages by the action of the atmosphere. In the 

 production of our phospho-silicates, Ave merely copy this action of 

 nature. The article is intended to be ground and mixed with otlier 

 fertilizers. 



Specimens were shown very much resembling pumice stone. The 



