402 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



place, and furnished with eight nail holes and conical works 

 Secured into the bottom of the shoe, so as to save the necessity of 

 taking the shoe off to mend its corks. The shoes were admired 

 for their accuracy of figure. 



President Pell stated that about four years ago the plan of steel 

 corks secured on to the bottom of the shoe, was invented and 

 tried by himself to save the trouble and expense of removing the 

 shoe and nailing on again to the constant injury of the horses 

 hoof. 



Mr. Morgan exhibited an orange having a longitudinal segment 

 extending from fllower point to stem point, growing over (appa- 

 rently,) the original skin of the orange. Was it artificial ? 



William Lawton, the introducer of the well known peculiar 

 fine blackberry, at New Rochelle, presented seeds of the great 

 United States cedar of our Pacific shore, which sometimes grows 

 100 feet in girth, and over 300 liigh. These seeds are about the 

 size of very large barley seeds, and the tree grows readily and its 

 beautiful symmetrical figure recommends it as an ornament to 

 lawns, &c. In Oregon they call it the red-fir. 



Mr. Meigs — It must be called eminently — The Great United 

 States tree ! . Is of rapid growth while young. 



It is a majestic witness of the average climatic ranges for sev- 

 eral tliousand years past in steady succession. For if there had 

 been, on the spot where they have so long stood, any change of 

 temperature, fire, cold, drought, wet, winds, earthquakes, or any 

 unusual changes, even for six months at a time, these great wit- 

 nesses would have been destroyed ! They therefore testify better 

 than all our historians the average state of things since the "dry 

 land appeared after the Mosaic deluge." And such is the testi- 

 mony of the great trees in South America, in Australia, Teneriffe, 

 &c., &c. 



The journals of the late John Jacob Astor, of the original set- 

 tlement of Astoria, were lent to me by him soon after the settle- 

 ment in 1811. I made by his permission extracts therefrom in 

 1813, and was astonished at tlie accounts giv^en of the enormous 

 size of vegetables grown by the party at Astoria, from the seeds 

 taken by them from New-York. Kadishes, instead of their con- 

 stant small size, growing as large as a moderate leg, turnips as 

 big as peck measures, &c. And the unlucky accident wliich befel 

 the party of nearly 200 men, hy a tree blowing d<mm across the 

 road towards the interior, made by them with great labor, and now 

 the necessity of hard labor to get around it ! It was one of the 

 great trees, so full of moisture they could not burn it, so large 



