268 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



eighteen inches forward, which enables the animal to get up easily; and 

 also a motion sidewise of several inches, giving almost as much freedom to 

 a bullock's head as it would have if tied by a rope. 



Australian Wheat. 

 Mr. Henry Steele presented some specimens of Australian wheat, brought 

 by him from the great Exhibition in London. 



Winter Barley. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — I sowed a winter variety of barley last year. 

 This variety produces a very large, long head, and yields abundantly — 

 from forty to fifty bushels per acre. I think this barley will be very 

 advantageous to our farmers to raise. 



Mr. John G. Bergen said that the greatest fault with Mediterranean 

 wheat upon Long Island is its weakness of straw, and that certainly is not 

 owing to want of silex in the soil. 



Prof Mapes. — Having an abundance of sand in the soil will not supply 

 the. necessary soluble silicates, as all soils contain several hundred times 

 more silicates than are necessary. If Mr. Bergen would treat his soil with 

 a supply of uuleached wood ashes, he will find his wheat stand up. 



The Price of Apples and Pears. 



Mr. Carpenter stated that the King of Tompkins County apples are worth 

 $3.50 a barrel; and he was offered to-day $40 a barrel, or twelve and a 

 half cents a piece, for Glout Morceau pears. 



Mr. Robinson suggested that they had probably cost him that to produce, 

 counting all the expense of nine years to bring them into bearing, and all 

 the failures. 



Mr. Fuller said that, not more than one barrel of three that the trees of 

 this variety produced are fit for market, and probably not more than one in 

 forty can be preserved by ordinary cultivators to a period when they will 

 bring $40 a barrel; and if Mr. Carpenter has only got one barrel in nine 

 years from all his trees, the crop, even at the priced named, is not a very 

 profitable one. 



Mr. Carpenter contended that the pears were nearly all clear gain, as the 

 ground had been cultivated all the time in profitable crops. 



Prof. Mapes insisted that land at $500 an acre could be profitably used 

 to grow pears. 



Mr. John G. Bergen thought ten will fail where one succeeds in making 

 pear growing profitable upon any land. 



Mr. Fuller said that he had rather grow grapes at five cents a pound, and 

 he would not recommend the Glout Morceau as a profitable pear to grow. 



Prof Mapes. — If I were planting only six varieties, I would not include 

 Glout Morceau; and I do not know that I would in twelve sorts, but I cer- 

 tainly would in twenty. 



Mr. Porter, whose pump I spoke about a few meetings since, is desirous 

 the Club should appoint a committee to examine his pump. 

 ■ The following were appointed the committee: Messrs. J. J. Mapes, John 

 G. Bergen and J. V. Henry Nott. 



