AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 301 



London, where good Indian corn bread is always to be had, but 

 that is the only one I know. 



NEW KIND OF HORSE SHOE. 



Mr. Sewell Short, of New-London, Conn., exhibited a horse 

 shoe of novel construction. The main merit claimed for it was 

 that it could be used without the ordinary nails, the mode of 

 fastening it was by means of a thin iron cap fitted as an external 

 covering to the foot to which the body of the shoe is appended, 

 the whole being kept on the hoof by a small nail rod, attaching 

 the sides at their ends. It was alleged to be cheaper and more 

 durable than the common shoe. The case would answer for many 

 shoes, and each fai-mer could shoe his own horses. 



Several objections to its practicability were raised — that it 

 would infringe upon the hoof, cause contraction of the same, and 

 prevent the proper exudation. 



Mr. Short insisted that these objections would be found obvi- 

 ated upon trial. 



The Chairman suggested that the proof of the pudding was in 

 the eating. 



THE MEASURE WORM. 



Dr. Gardner read the following letter relative to the molesta- 

 tions of the measure worm, from Dr. Harris, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity. 



Cambridge, Mass., June 19, 1855. 

 Dr Augustus K. Gardner, No 141 East Thirteenth street, New- 

 York: 



Dear Sir: The " measure worms" referred to in your letter 

 are probably identical with the insects here called " canker 

 worms." They Avere prevalent in the vicinity of New- York 

 sixty years ago, as appears by the remarks made uj^on them by 

 Dr. Mitchill, and published in the New- York Magazine for April, 

 1795, with a plate containing figures of the male and female 

 insects. Wherever these insects have been once established, they 

 are sure to return again at irregular intervals of time. You 

 may satisfy yourself whether the measure worms are the same as 

 our canker worms by comparing them with the description of the 

 latter contained in my Treatise on Insects Injurious to Vegetation, 

 which you will find in the Astor Library, and at Mr. C. M. Sax- 

 ton's Agricultural bookstore. That you failed to discover the 

 adult insects when they issued from the ground in the autumn 

 and spring, and were ascending the trees, may have been owing 

 to your not looking for them carefully at the right time 



