370 Transactions of the American Institute. 



get started, so as to raise enough to keep three or four cows and a 

 horse and a hog or two, summer and winter. That accomplished, I 

 am satisfied that it can soon be doubled. I have several loads of 

 beeves' heads and jaw-bones, and would like to know how to use them. 

 Mr. J. B. Lyman — The first experiment on that mossy pasture 

 should be with lime. As a rule, lime will kill moss unless the surface 

 is very springy and needs draining very much. Probably he made a 

 mistake in turning up four inches of poor subsoil at the first plowing. 

 He may bring the field up with liberal manuring, but it would have 

 been better to have fertilized the four top inches first, and then gone 

 down an inch a year, manuring the subsoil as he brings it to the sur- 

 face. Now that he has it up, the true policy is to manure heavily and 

 cultivate clean till the part broken up is good and rich. Then lay it 

 down in timothy, and top-dress when it begins to fall off. As to his 

 bones, let him crush them as fine as he can with a big hammer, and 

 then rot them in a compost with ashes and horse-manure kept moist 

 with soapsuds. Of course the compost heap must not freeze. Keep- 

 ing the bones in this sweat for several months will soften all the small 

 and fine pieces. The larger and tougher should be returned and 

 allowed to decay another year in a similar compost heap. 



Adjourned. 



December 12, 1871. 



Nathan C. Ely, Esq., in the chair; Mr. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 

 SoUTH-WESTEKN TEXAS. 



Mr. T. Gr. Williams, San Antonio, Texas, being present, and by 

 invitation of the Chairman gave an extended account of south-west- 

 ern Texas. All that part of Texas west of the Colorado river is 

 called western Texas, comprising a tract with an average width of 

 300 miles by about 900 miles long. Although there are fewer people 

 living in all western Texas than in Brooklyn, yet to-day western 

 Texas has for sale over 300,000 head of four-year-old beef cattle, and 

 about one-half of western Texas is yet unused as a cattle range, on 

 account of Indian raids — Indians living domiciled in the territory of 

 our friendly neighbor, Mexico ; no protection given by the State or 

 the United States. Every farmer who last year — one of the driest 

 ever known — planted his corn before the 20th of February, and who 

 gave only ordinary diligent cultivation, averaged twenty-five bushels 

 of corn to the acre. "Wheat averaged fully nineteen bushels, oats 



