132 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter. — I prefer the Honey locnst to any plant I have 

 seen for hedp;es. 



Mr. Solon Robinson observed that the great difficulty with the osag-e 

 orange, as a hedge plant, was the danger of the thermometer falling 20 

 degrees below zero, when they wonld be destroyed. 



Mr. James B. Olcott, East Greenwich, R. I., contributes the following 

 pleasant letter to the Club: 



Of Poison Ivy and Sumac, 



my experience may be interesting. I have been poisoned by them a hnn- 

 dred times, I dare say — once so badly that inflammation closed my eyes, and 

 often so that a week's misery ensued. My father bad a swamp lot — as 

 good as the itch to me — which, despite my last year's smart, I wonld an- 

 nually assist in mowing. I tried remedies and preventives, drinks and 

 washes, all of no avail. Woolen pantaloons and bnckskin mittens would 

 not keep me clear of poison. At last I hit upon the idea of washing myself 

 in simple water as soon as possible after exposure, within two hours is 

 best, though a thorough washing and rubbing at the end of each half day's 

 work will do. In this way I can work among poison plants with impunity, 

 or at most, feeling but a slight burning of the skin, which, but for the 

 washing, would result in blisters. In clearing a swamp, with plenty of 

 poison sumac in bunches, I left the snmae until I had two or three hour's 

 work, then cut, piled and burned it, never forgetting to wash myself imme- 

 diately afterward. My theory is that the trouble arises from the fresh juice 

 of the plant, or its exhalations near the person. The smoke of it will not 

 poison me: that is the juice scalded, I suppose. I do not believe people 

 are poisoned simply by walking near these plants. If it were so I know a 

 much traveled road that would keep half the inhabitants of a country 

 scratching themselves. Some persons can handle these plants without 

 harm, and among my acquaintance the exempts have mostly fair complex- 

 ion. I kill these plants remorselessly whenever they come in my way, 

 unless it be when the ivy handsomely covers a wall or tree. 



Furze-top Grass. 



In Rhode Island farmers buy and sow grass seed under the name of 

 " furze-top," or Rhode Island bent. I have been trying to get a knowledge 

 of that grass these four summers past. I am no botanist, but study Flint's 

 work on grasses, and ask questions of all my neighbors. The gra.ss which 

 my neighbors call " furze-top" blooms about the last week in June, red- top 

 fashion, but lighter colored, and blooms but once a year, throwing up a 

 thick aftermath of narrow, yellowish-green leaves. It constitutes the 

 greater portion of the sod in the hollows of old meadows, pastures, and by 

 the roadside, where sand and gravel prevail, perhaps throughout New 

 England. This grass very nearly answers the description of Flint's "green 

 meadow grass, June grass, common spear grass, Kentucky blue grass," 

 &c. It may be the grass which Mr. Flint calls " fine-top," and which he 

 Bays dealers sell out of the same bog from which thoy sell red-top. I judge 

 80 from the similarity of the names tine-top and furze-top. The grass I am 

 speaking of makes the handsomest and best turf for lawns. Is it identical 



