AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 345 



8th. How shall I destroy the gopher mole that sometimes makes sad 

 work with my vegetables ? 



The thermometer ranges here from 100 degrees above zero in the sum- 

 mer season, to 40 degrees below zero in winter. January 1, 1860, it was 

 32 degrees below. We have not had over two inches of snow this winter, 

 and now the ground is bare, 



Mr. Smith- — His strawberry bed must be covered in winter in such a 

 cold climate as that. 



Mr. Carpenter. — Let him use ashes if he cannot get muck ; also leaf 

 mold and woods earth. 



Mr. Pardee. — The best manure would be clay, muck, peat, leaf mold or 

 ashes. By adding these he can raise rhubarb. Such a mixture as he 

 speaks of, in a strawberry bed, will not produce well, and will soon run 

 out. The kinds should be kept separate. Leaf mold, ashes, bones, old 

 leather, and more clay is needed with tho sand to grow grape vines. 



Solon Robinson. — I have no doubt clay would be a valuable addition to 

 that soil. He can, doubtless, grow potatoes in the way suggested, but I 

 would put the coarse manure on the surface to act as a mulch. There is 

 no better mode of guarding the fruit trees from the injury spoken of than 

 mulching. Before you destroy the gopher mole, ascertain what it lives 

 upon. Perhaps it does more good than harm, by destroying noxious 

 insects. 



Mr. Fuller suggested that the best name for the tomatoes mentioned was 

 the botanical one. 



The next meeting will be on Monday, Feb. 26, and the subject of grape 

 culture, spring planting, flower culture, &,c., will be continued. 



The Club adjourned. 



H. MEIGS, Secretary. 



February 20, 1860. 



Mr. R. L. Pell in the chair. Present 68 members. 



The Secretary read the following translations and extracts, made by him 

 since the last meeting of the Club, from the articles " Foreign and Home," 

 received by the institute, viz : 



[Bulletin Mensuel De La Societe Imperiale, Zoologique D'Acclimatation. Paris, Dec. 1859.] 



The President, Drouyn de L'Huys, presents a letter from the general 

 agent of the Society, relative to the Santa Martha potato, referred to the 

 5th section. 



Mr. David, relative to the Australian potato, grown successfuly at Cerny, 

 near the Ferte-Alais, (on the Seine and Oise) 60 tubers raised from one. 



Mons. Chalet, relative to a Siberian potato ; results favorable. 



Mons. Lucy, as to the culture of the Bambon, from the mountains north 

 of China, now with success at the mouths of the Rhone. 



Mons. Chagot, Sen., presented beans from- Senegal, having pods over two 

 feet long. The bean is much valued by the Chinese. 



