94 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



worm that infests apple trees, plow your orchard pretty deep after they 

 have gone down, and be sure and turn over every foot of ground near the 

 trees, and it will settle so that few or none will ever come up again. Bnt 

 if your trees are large and the branches too low to plow under them, then 

 tie old newspapers round the trees; then dissolve rosin in oil until it is 

 quite adhesive, spread this on while warm with a hair brush (a painter's 

 brush is best), early in the spring, and they will crawl on to it and stick 

 fast. Coal oil is said to be best, as it is fatal to almost any insect that 

 touches it. Lard will do pretty well in place of oil for adhesive composi- 

 tion, but it is now too late for this season; therefore ^''ou may shake oflf 

 the worms and catch them as they go up again on it. Another way 

 practiced by some of my neighbors is to bind long straw around the trees, 

 with the lower end hanging loose, in which the eggs will be deposited, 

 and before the eggs hatch out, take off the straw and burn it. Chickens, 

 if you have enough of them, will scratch up and destroy great numbers of 

 them. Thrashing the limbs injures them very much. Tar, oil, paint, or any- 

 thing that rain will not wash off, is very injurious to the trees. 



Dr. Trimble. — The paper of dry seeds, mixed with yellow dust, that was 

 sent hero last week for examination, I carried in my pocket, and the 

 warmth proved the dust to be eggs of plant lice, for they hatched, and 

 showed that they are the little pest that has destroyed so many fruit trees, 

 for which a sure remedy is much wanted. Any caustic wash applied to 

 eggs or insects, will kill them. One man steeps leaf tobacco in ley, and 

 mixes soft soap till the mixture is of the consistency of paint, which he 

 puts on with a brush. That must be good, as it will not injure the trees. 



Adjourned. 



John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



May 26, 1863. 

 Dr. John M. Crowell, of is'ew Jersey, in the chair. 



California Beer Plant. 



John E. Irvine writes from Coshocton, Ohio, inquiring about the Califor- 

 nia beer plant, which he became acquainted with three years ago at Nat- 

 chez, Miss., where it was considerably used, and, as he supposes, not kno-wn 

 in the North. He says : " If 3'^ou are acquainted with this plant, please 

 inform me where it can be obtained. If it is new to you, and you desire a 

 more extended and minute description of it, any information that I possess 

 is cheerfully at j^our service." 



Mr. Robinson said this plant is not new to the North. I had it in my 

 house two years ago, using it occasionally for beer, or as a substitute for 

 yeast in making bread. In its manner of growth it is not very unlike the 

 yeast plant, though much larger. A small portion placed in a bottle of 

 water will continue to enlarge until the bottle is filled with a white fungus- 

 like substance. If the liquor is poured off, and a little molasses and ginger 

 added, and that corked in a bottle for a day or two, it is a drinkable, weak 

 sort of beer. I do not think it any acquisition to a family for any purpose. 



^ Corn and Potatoes. 



L. A. Williams writes from Yatton a recommendation to plant potatoes 



