380 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Mr. Curpenter— -1 have tried this grass, and shall abandon It ; it Is not 

 worthy of our cultivation in this section. It is a very coarse article, and 

 exhausts the very best land. 



Mr. Miller of New Jersey : The advantage of this grass Is, that it may 

 be sown in mid'suramer, to help out the hay crop when it is likely to be 

 shortv 



Mr. Smith— I have tried it one year, and gave it up. 1 prefer oats to 

 millet. 



The Chairman said that he had tried this millet until satisfied, and 

 abandoned it. 



Mr. Quinn, Prof. Mapes' farmer, of New Jersey, hoped that this Club 

 ■would not indorse this humbug name of " Hungarian Grass," to a plant 

 long known as German Millet. It is only worth cultivating under certain 

 circumstances, such as do not often occur with farmers in this section. 

 *' Honey-blade Grass," is another humbug name for the same variety of 

 millet. 



FEEDING ARSENIC TO ANIMALS. 



Robert L. Pell made a statement of an experiment with the use of arsenic, 

 ■which he had found beneficial when fed to horses ; but if once given, it must 

 ever after be continued. It has a tendency to make the animal lay on fat, 

 and look very sleek. It must be given with great care. It is taken in. 

 very minute quantities by some of the peasants of Italy. 



Dr. Trimble objected to any recommendation of arsenic, except in the 

 hands of a skillful physician. As a medicine for fever and ague, it has 

 been highly recommended, and is an almost certain curative ; but its in- 

 jurious effects caused its disuse. 



PEACH-BUDS IN NEW JERSEY. 



Dr. Trimble, of New Jersey, exhibited a lot of peach-buds perfectly 

 sound, and remarked that the cold must be 18° below zero to kill peach- 

 buds in the early part of winter. It is not a long^continued cold spell, 

 unless it is 17° or 18® below zero, that kills peach-buds, except after the 

 buds start in the spring. When half the buds are killed, the crop is usu- 

 ally the best. There is no danger of the buds killing, or rather the peaches, 

 after the blossoms have fallen. 



Mr. Carpenter said that he had known the thermometer 30*^ below zero 

 without killing the peach-buds. 



K. G. Pardee corroborated this opinion. It is owing to location. 



A gentleman thought the injury was done by a sudden and severe change. 

 ^ Mr. Gore, of New Jersey, said that he saved his peaches once, by wet- 

 ting the trees before sunrise after a hard freeze. 



The Chairman said that a cloudy day after a frost upon corn, often pre- 

 vented injury to it. A hot sun after a frost is sure to kill plants. 



POTATOES — AN EXPERIMENT IN PLANTING POTATOES. 



John G. Bergen, of Long Island, gave the Club the following results of 

 experiments of planting potatoes at various depths, with seed from difi"er- 

 ent parts of the tubers, with compost manure in the hill : 



