342 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Hawthorn Hedging. 



Mr. C. ~W. S. Anderson, Waterford, Pennsylvania, asked how to 

 treat the seed in order to secure plants. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller — Hawthorn seeds seldom germinate until the 



second year after planting. The fruit should be gathered as soon as 



ripe, and placed in a barrel or other vessel where it can be kept moist 



until the pulp decays ; then wash out the seed, mix with soil, and 



bury in the ground where it will freeze in winter and remain moist 



in summer. When they have been in this position one year, take 



out and sow in drills, covering the seeds three inches deep. If the 



seeds are good and no accident has befallen them, they will germinate 



the following spring. The reason why so few wild seedlings are 



found is because the seed becomes dry the next season after they fall, 



and this destroys their vitality. 



Adjourned. 



November 21, 1871. 



Nathan C. Ely in the chair ; Mi" John W. Chambers, Secretary. 

 Hand Cultivators. 



Mr. Ezekiel Snider, Rockville, Canada — I would be pleased to learn 

 something of the practical workings of any of the hand cultivators now 

 in use for such drilled crops as onions, beets, etc. Are they in any 

 way superior to the hoe and rake? 



Mr. A. S. Fuller — I have found them to work very successfully and 

 save labor in light soil, free from stones or other obstructions ; but 

 they pull heavy in hard lands, and few hired men are willing or able 

 to use them. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman — They are a novelty, and seem to be an improve- 

 ment ; but my experience is that they tire a man faster than a light 

 hand hoe or fine-toothed rake ; you cannot get quite as close to the 

 row. In onions there is no substitute for the thumb and forefinger, 

 and in beets and bagas the drills should be far enough apart to allow 

 the use of a small one-horse cultivator. 



Pasturing on Clover. 

 Mr. T. L. Shepard, Lowell, Ohio — As I have been puzzled by conflict- 

 ing testimony in regard to turning cattle into clover, part of which I 

 thought good, and part decidedly bad, I determined to give some 

 rules so plain that the wayfaring man need not err therein, and here 

 they are : 



