230 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



this account, more than any other, it has been discarded withm 



the last few years. I perliaps cultivated the last which was sown 



in our immediate neighborhood about 8 years ago. 



Extracts translated by H. Meigs. 



[Journal De La Societe Imperiale et Ceiitrale D'Horticulture, Napoleon 3d, Pro- 

 tecteuT. Paris, April 1856.] 



SESSION OF 27th OF MARCH. 



A letter from the Mi'iister of Agriculture with a basket of 

 thistle potatoes to be experimented with by the society, referred 

 to the director of the experimental garden. Some of them will 

 be given to members who wish to try the experiment. 



Mon. Morel read a note on the use of 7iux vomica in the brew- 

 ing of beer in England; that the quantity used thus, amounted to- 

 one hundred thousand kilogrammes — about 125 tons. 



Mon. Eouis does not think that strychnine is used in the brew- 

 ing, because it is extremely easy of detection, both by its peculiar 

 symptoms and easy analysis. 



Sessioji, April 10, 1856. 



Mons. Payen remarked upon the sophistications of vinegar and 

 the serious evils growing out of them. 



Mr. Lenormand desires a committee to examine his improved as- 

 paragus. 



Mr. Dupuis presents his treatise on the mushroom — the eatable 

 and the poisonous. Referred to Mons. Vilmoriu to examine and 

 report. 



Report by Mons. Saillet, &c., on the disease of the apple tree, 

 in Normandy. 



LENORMAND'S PLAN FOR IMPROVING ASPARAGUS. 

 Since 1834 he has been engaged in its cultivation, and his farm 

 has been often examined by committees. Your committee have 

 on the 17th visited him. A square ol 320 metres was planted by 

 him, in the first days of April 1855, with 1440 roots grown from 

 the seed one year previous. The product already equals the ordi- 

 nary beds of three or four years' growth. There were out of 

 ground now 2,550 stalks, half of them fit for the market. 



He thoroughly cleans out all weeds and plants of every sort 

 from the ground he intends for asparagus. He digs it nearly a 

 ioot and an half deep, when perfecly levelled, he marks off beds 

 about four and a half feet wide, separated by paths of about two 

 iind a half feet wide. He digs trenches in tliese beds about 16 

 inches deep, which he fills with horse dung 8 inches deep, and 

 s lamps it down with his feet. If the dung is dry, he moistens 



