516 Transactions of the American Institute. 



have mowed it for ten successive summers, and never gathered less 

 than half a ton of clear, bright hay from it. In 1864, the third year 

 of mowing, after a fall dressing of fine barn-yard manure, I had a ton 

 of clear timothy hay or four tons per acre, and about one-fifth of the 

 ground shaded by the apple trees. The average yield for the ten 

 years has been 1,200 to 1,400 pounds of hay, beside the fruit. The 

 only manuring has been lime three times, ten bushels each, and barn- 

 yard manure three times, four loads each. In 1871, after manuring 

 in the spring, I had 1,400 pounds of hay, five barrels of good winter 

 apples, six bushels of cider apples, beside cherries, and two months' 

 family use of fall apples. Here is a summary for 1871 : 1,400 pounds 

 of good timothy hay, ten dollars ; five barrels good winter apples, 

 fifteen dollars; six bushels cider apples, three dollars ; cherries, and 

 other apples (more, but say) three dollars; total, thirty-one dollars. 

 Four loads manure, six dollars ; spreading, do., one dollar and fifty 

 cents ; gathering hay, two dollars ; gathering apples, one dollar and 

 fifty cents — eleven dollars ; net produce, twenty dollars, or eighty dol- 

 lars per acre. Thirty bushels of lime and twelve loads of manure, 

 worth twenty-four dollars, is all the land has had for eleven years ; 

 but no plastering is allowed on the lands. Every stone is picked off, 

 and every briar or weed pulled before • it seeds, so that now, after 

 eleven years from plowing, a clean, smooth sward is presented. 

 L. A. Morrell, Esq., presented the following paper on the 



Philosophy of Wool. 

 Structure of the Skin. 



The skin of the sheep and of animals generally is composed of thin 

 coats or layers. The external one is called the cuticle or scarf-skin, 

 which is exceedingly tough, devoid of feeling, and pierced by innu- 

 merable small holes for the passage of the wool and insensible 

 perspiration. 



The next layer is termed the mucous coat, a soft structure, its fibers 

 having scarcely more consistence than mucilage, and consequently 

 separated with much difficulty from the coat below it. Erom the 

 fact that the pulpy substance of this layer uniformly approximates 

 the color of the hair or wool, it is supposed that here resides the 

 coloring matter. This is also the seat of sensation — the nerves, or 

 rather their terminations, ramifying minutely in its substance. 



The third or lowermost is the cutis or true skin, a dense, firm 

 elastic substance, in order to fit closely to the parts beneath, to yield 

 to the various motions of the body, and the resistance of external 



