150 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



valleys are the most rich, terras di riego. Locusts sometimes destroy their 

 crops. 



" What bird is that ? " " One of bad omen, Senor ; the leader of those 

 birds who will leave us no bread to eat;" and so it was. They came on and 

 on, a hideous brown cloud shading the sun, with horn-sheathed eyes and 

 cutting forceps that left the trees leafless and the ground bare. 



They have granaries. Some in holes in the dry earth lined with stones. 

 These are filled with wheat, the upper third part of which cakes, and keeps 

 the rest. Also, whole skins of oxen — the flesh and bones being all drawn 

 out through the neck — filled with earth to cure it — then with wheat. A 

 row of these stuff"ed with wheat resemble the Assyrian stone bulls, side by 

 side — horns suspended just above ground. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



Samuel Edwards, of Bureau county, is said to produce one hundred bush- 

 els of strawberries per acre, as cheap as corn. Dr. Pennington, of Rock 

 river, grew on a ten acre orchard $6,000 worth of apples, the trees being 

 from eight to fifteen years old. 



PLANTING TREES ON HIGHWAYS. 



The Fairfield County Agricultural Society, Conn., has voted a premium 

 of fifteen cents a tree for every row of forest or fruit trees, not less than 

 twenty, set out on any park or highway in that county this spring. The 

 premium to be paid for all those living next September, at the county fair. 



Chicago has established an Audubon Club, (care of birds.) 



Mr. Bergen. — I have no doubt of the cost of our fences, but I don't 

 know how farmers can dispense with them. Some people will let their cat- 

 tle run at large and sending them to the pound don't do much good. For 

 my part, I prefer to graze cattle, and so I must have cross fences. Unless 

 we soil cattle, we must have inside fences to protect our own crops. In my 

 opinion, this question will regulate itself. When the time comes that it is 

 best to do without fences, the farmers will dispense with them. I don't 

 know that we shall change anybody's opinion by talking over the subject 

 here in this Club. 



Solon Robinson. — In my opinion this is a question of great importance 

 to the people of this country, and whatever we can say here to induce them 

 to think upon the subject will be of advantage. Let them talk over the 

 matter among themselves and determine, if they can, that the present sys- 

 tem is better than the almost-no-fence system that I advocate. Whatever 

 we say, that will have a tendency to make people discuss this question will 

 be of advantage to the country. Before men act they must think. It is 

 our province to give them food for thought. 



Mr. Meigs. — Some think that our United States pay more for their fences 

 than their houses, so short is the duration of the fences compared with 

 their houses. 



A few years ago, a committee of the American Institute visited the farm 

 of Elijah Kimball, at Flatlands, and found an hundred acres without an 



