PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 185 



sary to sow the seed at the full, notwithstanding' everybody said it must 

 be done. She says: " This experiment convinced my children that planting 

 seeds in the moon is humbug." 



Cultivation of Sunflowers. 



Mrs. Ferris also urges the Club to recommend the cultivation of sun- 

 flowers, because their growth, it is thought, absorbs miasma and prevents 

 chills and fevers. She says: "We have for several years past raised a 

 great many on that account. We also find the birds are very fond of the 

 seeds. I have seen at one time thirteen winter birds on one stalk. 'Tis 

 very pleasant to know we have raised something to feed the dear little 

 creatures in the cold weather, and call them around our homes. They chirp 

 and sing so sweetly. Sunflower seeds make excellent food for chickens, 

 and the flower is easily and cheaply grown." 



How TO Destroy Foul Seeds in Manure. 



Mr. E. D. Wright, Pierpont, Ashtabula county, Ohio, wants the Club to 

 discuss the question how to destroy foul seed in manure, as he thinks it 

 one of the most important questions that a farmer can consider. 



Mr. Solon Robinson — It is truly so; as it is more profitable to grow 

 grass, cereals or roots than it is weeds. The only way to destroy such 

 seeds is a hot, fermenting compost of the manure, which would lessen its 

 value, and which would not always elfect the purpose. We have come to 

 the conclusion that the only way to get rid of such seed is not to ripen it. 

 Of course this requires eternal vigilance. 



Prof. Mapes — Whether it will lessen the value or not, there is certainly 

 no other way to destroy foul seeds in manure than the process of compost- 

 ing. 



Silkweed. 



Levi Pounall, Lancaster county, Penn., sends " a pod and cotton of a 

 stalk that has grov/n for ten years among some bushes," though he has 

 never seen its fruit until this year, and he asks: "Is the cotton of any 

 value." 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — It is evident that the common milkweed (Asdejnas), 

 that has grown for ages all over New England, is not common in that part 

 of Pennsylvania, or else it would be no curiosity to the writer, and he 

 would have learned before now that the fiber has no practical value, or 

 at least not enough to make the plant a valuable crop, though it has been 

 thought the juice might make it so, use d ithe same way as gutta percha. 



Prof. Mapes — A gentleman has furnished me with a specimen of a plant 

 which ma}' be one of the Asclepias family, which grows stalks four or five 

 feet high, three-eighths of an inch in diameter, which are covered with a 

 thick, fibrous coat, much stronger than hemp; and if they will bear culti- 

 vation as well as hemp, their appearance indicates that they will produce 

 a very profitable crop, as the fiber is soft, and the woody part of the stalk 

 easily separated by any machinery that will break flax or hemp. 



The Value of Grass — The Failure of New England Pastures. 



Mr. Ward Cotton, Hartland, Vt., writes upon this subject as follows: 

 "As I have taken deep and abiding interest in the discussions in the 



