AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 313 



ten acres of tomatoes in one field, and they muat liave the plants set out 

 as soon as the weather will permit. 



MUMMT PEAS. 



Wm. S. Carpenter. — I have some peas said to have come from an E'TVptian 

 tomb, presented by Prof. Morse, who has proved their germinatino- power, 



Andrew S. Fuller thinks there is an immense deal of huuibuo- about 

 these mummy peas, mummy wheat, &c. He thinks that evidence is needed 

 to prove the germinating power of any seed three thousand years old. 



Dr. Samuel R. Percy.-— I once took some seeds of grain, called club 

 wheat, from the mummy clothes in Abbot's Museum, and planted them, and 

 they vegetated and grew freely. There is no doubt in my mind that these 

 seeds were as old as the mummy, for I took them out of the envelopino' wax. 



FOREST TREES, AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



Andrew S. Fuller, a practical horticulturist in Brooklyn, gave the Club 

 a discourse upon the question, of great ability and interest. He stated 

 that the only place where a complete collection of American trees can be 

 found, was in the parks of the city of Paris. 



Many kinds of valuable trees are becoming very scarce, and he there- 

 fore recommeneds that all the choicest sort of valuable timber trees should 

 be planted, upon many an acre in this vicinity that is almost worthless for 

 any other purpose than forest. 



It is a fallacious idea that men must be professional nurseymen to grow 

 forest trees. Every farmer can grow them as easily as he can grow corn. 



He spoke of the immense advantage of surrounding prairie farms with 

 belts of forest trees. In many cases a crop of forest trees would be more 

 profitable there than any other crop. 



He then gave a most interesting history of the planting of forest trees 

 upon the estates of the Earl of Fife in Scotland. In some places, the 

 trees were planted upon the sides of hills, so steep that men were let down 

 by ropes to do the work. How many situations in this country of the 

 same kind might be planted with trees ? 



Another anecdote of the sixth Earl of Haddington was given from one 

 of his letters, which stated that his mother caused large bodies of forest 

 trees to be planted ; some of the land was a drifting sand when naked, and 

 worthless for cultivation. 



Mr. Fuller stated that he had grown seedling maples, to one year old, 

 at an expense of $1 a thousand. He raised $40,000 seedlings upon 

 one-eighth of an acre, at an actual expense of $18. I sow them in beds, 

 one foot wide and three feet apart, covering the seeds only half an inch 

 deep. The plants must be carefully hoed, and kept clear of weeds. The 

 plants can be transplanted at one year old to rows four feet apart, setting 

 the plants two feet apart, trimming off side branches and cutting off top 

 roots. At two years old, several sorts of forest trees thus treated, will be 

 twelve or fifteen feet high in rich soil. Then every other tree may be re- 



