17 



January 8, 1852. 



Evening Meeting. Hon. D. A, Wliite, President, in the 



chair. 



A verbal report on some vahiable papers, relating to mil- 

 itary stores, intercepted and taken from British vessels, 

 and which were brought into Beverly at the commence- 

 ment of the Revolution of 1776, was made by Jndge Wa- 

 ters. Most of them were MSS letters from General Wash- 

 ington. They were deposited, by Josiah B. Prince, of 

 Beverly, in the Archives of the Institute. 



Mr. Henry F. King presented a report on the subject 

 of the gum of the peach, which had been committed to 

 him. Peach gum is of the same character as Gum Arabic 

 of the shops. It exists in the stems, fruit buds and seeds 

 of most trees. It is found in the fruit of the peach in the 

 proportion of five per cent, and flows freely from the bark 

 of the peach tree on being wounded or cut. This occurs, 

 however, at a later season of the year than at the first 

 flowing of the sap. In fact, the disease called Gum by 

 horticulturists, is the elaborated sap bursting from the 

 cellular tissue and inspissated by being exposed to the air. 

 A defective perspiration from the want of a vigorous 

 foliage causes a too great atmospheric pressure, and the 

 consequence is the bursting of the bark. To obviate this, 

 various expedients have been resorted to, such as drainage, 

 and the shortening in, or pruning of the young wood, to 

 secure a strong and healthy foliage. 



On the acceptance of the report, it was open to discus- 

 sion, in which Messrs. Russell, Lee, Farnum, Phippen, 

 Manning and others participated. 



Dr. Henry Wheatland exhibited some specimens of 

 tropical insects (Goliath Beetles) from the cabinets of the 

 Institute, and made some observations on their history, 

 habits, beauty, and the extraordinary prices (as mercan- 

 tile commodities) they bore. Two species of the above 

 had been presented to the Institute by Dr. Geo. A. Perkins, 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. 3. 



