88 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



commend the Agricultural Department at Washington to employ compe- 

 tent persons to search after and collect neglected American fruits and 

 plants that appear likely to be valuable, and test them in cultivation, and 

 report thereon. 



A New Hay Rake. 



Solon Robinson. — Here is a letter from Jas. W, Henry, Cortland county, 

 N. Y., with a drawing and description of a new contrivance to be used in 

 hay-making, which he wants me to lay before the Club. I do it, without 

 pretending to understand its merits, if it has any, and as I have no time to 

 inquire into it, I hope the Club will refer it to some one that has. 



Prof. Mapes. — A number of machines have been invented for this pur- 

 pose. Mr. Nourse, of Massachusetts, has made a number of experiments 

 to produce a perfect machine for the purpose of raking hay. 



On motion, the subject was referred to Prof. Mapes to examine and 

 report. 



Questions for Discussion. 



C. C. Funk, Recdsburg, Ohio, proposes the following questions for dis- 

 cussion by the Club: 



" How can we prevent young fruit trees from being injured by locusts ? 

 This is expected to be locust year in this part of the State. 



" If we, in a soil of sandy clay, turn down a sod of a dark color, and in 

 two or three years turn the soil again, why is it a yellowish color, and 

 what effect has the color on its fertility ? The same effect found under a 

 pile of straw or manure. 



" Is well-rotted wood (especially large trunks) good for preventing 

 strawberry runners ? And is it not an excellent manure for gardens and 

 fruit trees when it becomes mold ?" 



He also makes the following statements respecting crops: 



" Wheat looks very badly, seldom worse than this spring, but there is 

 considerable old wheat kept by farmers. 



" A great breadth of barley and flax sown, but not so much oats as usual. 



" Farmers are more energetic and industrious than a year ago, and, of 

 course, more hopeful." 



Locusts. 



Dr. Trimble made a statement of localities where the locusts will appear 

 this year, and he asks persons in each of the places to note the exact day 

 of their appearance, and send reports to this Club. From his own obser- 

 vation, he is satisfied that these insects always come out of the grouTid at 

 evening, and they are then in a very helpless condition, but cast tiieir 

 shell and become lively the next morning. As to injuring plants, he does 

 not believe they do above the ground, but in all the long years of their 

 life below ground, they live upon the roots of trees, and from a record kept 

 by two farmers near Rahway, N. J., for sixty years, thej' are satisfied 

 that their crop of cider regularly diminishes toward the period when the 

 locusts are to appear. This Dr. Trimble thinks perfectly reasonable, as 

 they come out of the earth very fat, which they must have gained from 



