AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 153 



of plenty. A good plan at any time, but not so'necessary In a whole con- 

 tinent like ours, where wheat always grows somewhere. 



Our friend, Mr. Steele, of Jersey city, invited a committee of the Insti- 

 tute to view his succef sful treatment of plums. We found that by visita7ice 

 proper^ his plum trees bore as many of the most perfect plums (Green 

 gages), as the branches of trees could sustain ; every branch was a wreath 

 of plums. 



POTATO ROT REMEDY. 



Prof. Nash — I have received a letter from a woman at Einghamton 

 about the potato disease, which says that potatoes and pumpkin vines grown 

 together have invariably prevented the potato disease. Another person 

 finds that coal ashes is a remedy. The theory is, that the coal ashes are 

 offensive to the bugs, and that the bugs are more fond of pumpkin vines 

 than potato leaves, and so they let the potatoes alone for more favorite 

 food. 



John Gr. Bergen. — It is a ccinmon practice on Long Island to grow 

 pumpkins and potatoes together, and yet the potatoes do rot — pumpkins 

 won't save them. Besides, it is a very different bug that works upon pota- 

 toes from the one that eats pumpkin vines. 80 that theory won't do. 

 People are too apt to jump at conclusions from single experiments. The 

 truth is that no theory has been advanced about the potato disease that will 

 stand the test of practice in all parts of the country. 



THE COST OF FENCES. 



The fence question was called up and partially discussed,. and continued 

 to the next meeting. 



The Chairman said that he was satisfied about the inutility of fences. 

 He remembers but few fences in Scotland, except along roads or between 

 proprietors. Cattle are kept by shepherds and their dogs, and fed right 

 alongside of grain fields, with but little damage to the crops. 



Prof. Nash. — My observation in Scotland is that the cattle are only 

 kept under control by constant vigilance. We have double the amount of 

 fences upon all our farms that we should have. For permanent fences we 

 should Kyanise our wood, and then it will last almost as long as stone. 



Mr. Meigs. — The curculio is a coleopter, the family of which is very 

 large. He has sheaths for his wings — so called from the Greek KoXeog, 

 a sheath, and rrrepov, a wing. He can bore a hole in a tree and in the 

 ground. They are the most numerous of all the orders of insects. La- 

 treille, in his noble work on insects, divides them into Pentamera, Te- 

 tramba, and Trimera. The larva is a worm with a hard head. He makes 

 a cell in the earth, of oval form, and there changes into an inactive pupa, 

 of a whitish color, with the wings and legs folded on its breast. But their 

 habits vary very much, both in their immature and in their perfect state. 

 The Orthoptera are more closely connected with these Coleopterae than any 

 other mandibulate insect. 



