Pboceedings of the Farriers' Club. 477 



the old-fashioned bars that caused me so much trouble when I was a 

 boy, and ha\"e substituted gates in their places. I have, altogether, 

 • between sixty and seventy gates, I hinge them to their posts in the 

 usual manner, but I take care to make their swinging or outer ends 

 as light as possible, to counteract tiie tendency to sag. The best way 

 to make a gate is to make it with the ordinary horizontal slats, but, 

 in place of the heavy upright bar generally provided at the outer end, 

 nail on two light upright strips of tough wood. 



Clotiies-Line and Halter Clenoh. 

 Mr. Williams, 82 Cedar street, IS'ew York, exhibited a novel device 

 for holding clothes-lines wlien put up in their places. It consists in 

 a small iron lever pivoted in a light frame, which is attached by 

 screws to a post, the side of a building, or other like support. The 

 end of the line is passed over the upper end of the lever and under or 

 past the lower end in such manner that the strain on the upper part 

 will cause the lower extremity to bite upon and hold fast the end of 

 the lino. The inventor proposes to apply the same principle in the 

 construction of devises for fastening cattle-ropes to mangers, &c. 



Adjourned. 



December 29, 1868. 



Mr. Natilvn C. Ely in the chair ; Mr. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



Scaly Bark on Trees. 



Mr. D. A, Compton, Holly, Pa., writes as follows, concerning 

 rem'edies for scales on the bark of young orchard trees ', 



" I have frequently understood that soft soap is a good remedy for 

 the scales that some kinds of insects make on the bark of young fruit 

 trees. I have tried this plan pretty thoroughly. I brushed thQ soft 

 soap lightly over the bark, the young shoots, and also upon the leaves, 

 but it failed ; the insects kept on increasing. I should mention that 

 I applied it in the spring of the year. Perhai^s tliis was too early ; or 

 is the soft soap good for nothing for the purpose ? " 



Mr, William S. Carpenter. — Mr. Chairman : In this case the soft 

 soap was probably not applied • in the manner it should have been. 

 It is not the soap, as such, that constitutes the remedy but the alkali 

 contained in the soap. If Mr. Compton will make a saturated solu- 

 tion of potash and wash the diseased bark with it, he will find that 

 the scales will be removed, but the trees will have to be watched and 



