332 Transactions of the American Institute. 



tion of the middle States twice as fast as in a colder climate. When 

 this business of canning gets fairly under way, canners will take all 

 the pears we can grow. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller — I. didn't mention the Lawrence, for the reason 

 that it is a slow grower in cold localities. The Yicar does well 

 almost anywhere. 



Dr. E. Ware Sylvester- — I grow over forty varieties, and regard 

 the Louise Bonne de Jersey as the very best for that use. First, 

 because it does not ripen quite so early as the Bartlett, and there is 

 not so much danger of fermentation on account of warm weather ; 

 second, it is entirely free from the muskiness that characterizes the 

 Bartlett, and which is very objectionable to some persons ; third, it is 

 handsomely shaped, so it looks nice when canned ; fourth, it is just tart 

 enough to give a fine flavor to the canned fruit ; fifth, the Louise 

 Bonne de Jersey is much larger in size when grown on the quince, 

 and comes earlier into bearing ; sixth, the tree is very healthy and 

 hardy, bearing abundant crops at the west and north ; a single tree, 

 or a very few at most, of this variety, would supply a large family 

 with abundant pear material for canning. 



Professor James A. Whitney remarked that, in reading a large 

 number of English, French and American scientific exchanges, he 

 frequently found items like the following, that seemed of general 

 agricultural interest. 



Cotton-seed Oil. 



It is eighty-six years since it was first proposed in England to extract 

 oil from cotton-seed, but it is only about fifteen since this has been 

 done to any extent in this country. It has been used for many pur- 

 poses in its original state, and, when purified both by itself, as a salad 

 oil and as an adulterant of olive oil. The latest suggestion for its 

 use is to make it a substitute for ordinary shortening in cooking. It 

 is designed to do this by boiling it in water with a little chlorate of 

 potash and nitre, and then passing a stream of oxygen gas through it 

 to oxydize or burn out the impurities and remove the odor. In the 

 process a temperature of four hundred degrees (about enough to scorch 

 pine shavings) is necessary ; and this is obtained, without danger of 

 burning the oil, by driving a jet of steam into the liquid. The pro- 

 cess may not be good for anything, but, if it should prove successful, 

 it can doubtless be used for fitting other oils for culinary purposes. 



