252 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



and will plant them in the spring-, if I can learn how to make them grow." 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The best way to grow the seeds of the orange or 

 the thorn, is to plant them just as soon as ripe, and mulch the bed with 

 manure to keep it warm during winter. Dry seeds should be soaked, or 

 kept moist in cand, in a box where it will be warm some weeks before the 

 spring opens, and then the ends will be ready to plant as soon as the ground 

 is, and will be ready to sprout as soon as the sun warms the earth. Some- 

 times it may be well to start the plants in a hot-bed, or in boxes in the 

 house. But upon a large scale that would not answer. 



The Secretary.— Mr. Thomas Bell, of Eatontown, N. J., has been very 

 successful with the Osage orange for hedges; for the first three years you 

 must be sure and keep it well pruned. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — Mr. Reid, at Elizabethtown, N. J., had great 

 experience in hedge making; he recommends the honey locust as superior 

 to the Osage orange. 



Mr. Abram Parish. — I am acquainted with the line of travel between 

 this city and the Mississippi river. I have seen hundreds of miles of 

 Osage orange planted as hedges, all that it requires is proper cutting; 

 when it is properly attended to I think it one of the first hedges grown, as 

 a protection. It also makes a fence quicker than any other plant. 



Prof. Mapes. — Mr. Reid was a very neat man, his hedges were kept in per- 

 fect order. In my neighborhood the Osage orange grows well and makes 

 an excellent hedge, but I think by the common law we are not compelled 

 to fence out our neighbor's cattle. There has been a great many views in 

 relation to the use of fences. I think we only want an outside fence. 

 Nicholas Biddle estimated that the cost of the fences in the United States 

 was equal to the national debt of England. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — There is an idea prevailing throughout the com- 

 munity that the Osage orange is liable to be winter killed in our locality. 

 The subject of living fences is a very important subject, and I hope we 

 shall, at a future meeting, full}^ discuss it. 



Adjourned. 



John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



January 12, 1864. 

 Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair. 



Paint for Out-Buildings. 



A farmer in Dutchess county. New York, wants the Club to discuss the 

 subject of painting out-buildings of the farm. He says : "The question is 

 not whether we shall paint them in order to preserve them, but what we 

 shall paint with. We often see in the newspapers substitutes for the oils 

 and lead generally used, and well recommended by the manufacturers of 

 them. A very prominent one at this time is advertised by a manufactur- 

 ing company in your city, called the Gutta Percha Paint. Now the im- 

 portant question is. Is it durable — is it cheaper than the oils and lead ? 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — I will give the receipt that I have given many 



