222 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Dr. Sicard presented samples of products obtained by Mm from 

 Sorglio Sucre — an album of 90 colors from the seed covers, and 

 straw and paper from the stalks. 



Mr. Paul Latourette, of Angouleme, has kept wild ducks and 

 their progeny for a dozen years, without finding any alteration of 

 their original character. 



Consul Montigny has sent home some enormous tubers of fine 

 feculent quality, from the forests of Siam and Laos; and also a 

 catalogue of twelve species of Dioscorea, (Yams) with descriptions 

 of them and the methods of growing them. 



Mr. Daelen of Roldue, near Aix-la-Chapelle, announces a pre- 

 sent to this Society of a peculiar race of pigeons, called Clayner, 

 (Clappers.) 



Doctor Sicard states that the young growth of Sorgho Sucre is 

 excellent forage — that sugar is made of the ripe plant, and flour 

 of very good quality from its grain — that the plant suffers near 

 Toulon from the mistral, (the north-west wind.) 



The Secretary read the following note from Madam D.N. Saun- 

 ders, of Leesburg, Virginia, dated April 24, 1857 : 



" Will any gentleman of the ' New- York Farmers' Club,' have 

 the kindness to bestow on a Virginian lady, half a dozen seeds of 

 the 'Imphee' or sugar plant, brought to this country by Mr. Leon- 

 ard Wray, of Natal, South Africa. Any of the varieties would be 

 thankfully received, but those for the north would suit our altered 

 climate best. 



" Our wise State government has made our taxgs so heavy that 

 our ladies will have to make their own sugar for the future. 

 ' " In the hope to benefit my neighbors, I make this, perhaps, 

 unprecedented request. If my application should be success- 

 ful, please enclose the seeds in the accompanying envelope. 



With much respect, 



D. N. SAUNDERS. 



Mr. Ayres of Hartford, Connecticut, placed on the table a model 

 of a self-acting bucket, &c., by which stock — one at a time — can 

 raise water enough for its own drinking by means of its weight 

 upon a platform next to the well. Large numbers of cattle or 



