boobies, frigate birds, tropic birds, tern, noddies, petrels, and some game birds, as the curlew, snipe and plover. Of terns there are several varieties. The most numerously represented is what I believe to be the Sterna Hirundy. These frequent the islands twice in the year for the purpose of breeding. They rest on the ground, making no nests, but selecting tufts of grass, where such may be found, under which to lay their eggs. I have seen acres of ground thus thickly covered by these birds, whose numbers might be told by millions. Between the breeding seasons they diminish considerably in numbers, though they never entirely desert the islands. They are expert fishers, and venture far out to sea in quest of prey. The noddies (Sterna stolida) are also very numerous. They are black birds, somewhat larger than the pigeon, with much longer wings. They are very simple and stupid. They burrow holes in the ground, in which they live and raise their young, generally inhabiting that part of the deposit which is shallowest and dryest. Their numbers seem to be about the same throughout the year. The gannet and booby, two closely allied species (genus Sula), are represented by two or three varieties. They are large birds, and great devourers of fish, which they take very expertly, not only catching those that leap out of the water, but diving beneath the surface for them. They are very awkward and unwieldly on land, and may be easily overtaken and captured, if, indeed, they attempt to escape at all on the approach of man. They rest on the trees whenever there is an opportunity, but on these islands they collect in great groups on the ground, where they lay their eggs and raise their young. One variety, not very numerous, has the habit of building up a pile of twigs and sticks twenty or thirty inches in height, particularly on Howland's Island, where more material of that sort is at hand on which to make their nests. When frightened, these birds disgorge the contents of their stomachs, the capacity of which is sometimes very astonishing. They are gross feeders, and I have often seen one disgorge three or four flying fish fifteen or eighteen inches in length.

The frigate bird (Tachypetes Aquilus) I have already alluded to. It is a large, rapacious bird-the tyrant of the feathered community. It lives almost entirely by piracy, forcing other birds to contribute to its support. These frigate birds hover over the islands constantly, lying in wait for fishing birds returning from sea, to whom they give chase, and the pursued bird only escapes by disgorging its prey, which the pursuer very adroitly catches in the air. They also prey upon flying fish, and others that leap from sea to sea, but never dive for fish, and rarely ever approach the water. The above are the kinds of birds most numerously represented, and to which we owe the existing deposits. When the islands were first occupied they were very numerous, but have since been perceptibly decreasing.

CUBAN TOBACCO GROWN IN NEW JERSEY.

Prof. Mapes presented a very handsome specimen of tobacco leaves grown by Mr. Quinn, at Newark, N. J., from Cuban seed, which produced at the rate of 1,100 pounds per acre. This tobacco is worth in this market about twenty cents per pound. The color of the leaf regulates the price. This growth is much larger than the same seed would have produced in

Cuba, where it is stunted, and the leaves so small that cigar makers find it difficult to work up a crop without buying wrappers. It is said that large quantities of tobacco grown in Connecticut is sent to that market to be used for that purpose. The finest leaf is grown in Canada, upon the shores of Lake Erie, and is used entirely for wrappers, the leaves being thin, silky and handsome colored. Large quantities of Cuba tobacco are grown in Florida.

Mr. Solon Robinson.-There it does not improve. It is almost equal the first year to that grown in Cuba; the second year it is not as good, and the third year only about one-quarter higher priced than common tobacco. The same results happen if seed is imported each year, and planted upon the same ground, and the best or highest priced tobacco is only produced upon certain soils.

Mr. John G. Bergen.-That is also the case in Connecticut. Other parts of the State will not produce such tobacco as that grown along the river; and only a small portion of that is such as sells for the highest price for wrappers. The great object in tobacco raising is to get the leaf of a uniform color.

SUPERIOR WINTER PEARS.

Mr. Geo. H. Hite, of Morrisania, presented some Lawrence and some Pass Colmar pears, in perfection for present use, grown upon dwarf trees in his garden. He stated that he could only induce the Colmar to bear by trimming on the spur system, and then the trees are productive, the fruit sound; and none can doubt, who taste of these, that the quality is excellent and fully equal to the Virgalieu.

Mr. John G. Bergen. I have tried to grow the Pass Colmar, but I presume the nurseryman who sold me the trees thought that I could not, and therefore sent me Beurre Diel.

Mr. Quinn.—The Pass Colmar is a very good bearer when it gets age, and I must acknowledge that the quality is super-excellent, but the tree grows unsightly, and is apt to shed its fruit very often; the fruit also cracks. This is the reason it does not give satisfaction. The specimens shown by Mr. Hite are very fine, but with me the cultivation is not profitable. The Lawrence is a healthy grower, bears good crops, and the fruit is very sightly. It grows well on the quince.

Mr. J. G. Bergen.—I have found the Lawrence pear tree a very healthy and vigorous grower, either as a dwarf or a standard.

Mr. Doughty. The great fault with my Lawrence trees is their overbearing.

Mr. Hite. That must be remedied by thinning. It is just as important to prune off fruit as limbs.

A VALUABLE CONNECTICUT APPLE.

Mr. Joseph N. Hurlburt, No. 323, Broadway, presented specimens of a very handsome and very excellent apple, from Winsted, Conn., which was not recognized by any one present, including some good judges of fruit, such as John G. Bergen, Wm. S. Carpenter, R. G. Pardee, Geo. H. Hite, P. Quinn, E. P. Doughty, Dr. Trimble, Prof. Mapes and others, but was [AM, INST.] 13

admired by all. It is a handsome red apple, about the size and color of the Baldwin; flesh firm, yellowish white, and in flavor resembles Norton's Melon, which is one of the very best apples known, and has been more admired in England than any other American apple. It originated in East Bloomfield, N. Y., near where the Northern Spy originated, but grows well in this vicinity. This new apple from Connecticut is thought well worthy of extensive propagation.

The Chairman called the attention of members to the fact, and thought it should be made known extensively, that the standard of good apples has been very much elevated in this city within a few years; so much so that such apples as once sold at fair prices are now quite unsalable, except at very low rates. The most common buyers are learning to know and are willing to pay well for really first class fruit.

HOW TO MAKE TREES BEAR EVERY YEAR.

Prof. J. A. Nash inquired if there was anything that we can recommend farmers to do to their trees to make them bear every year instead of alternate years. He inquired the cause of this off and on bearing. Is it because one crop exhausts all the pabulum in the soil so that a year of rest is necessary to prepare a new supply? And, if so, will high manuring during the bearing year make the tree produce a good crop the next year, and so on regularly?

Prof. Mapes. If part of the fruit is stripped off before it exhausts the tree, it will give it strength enough to produce another without any necessity of resting to recuperate. I am aware that it requires a great deal of moral courage to strip off this surplus fruit, particularly from a pear tree, when the owner knows that every pear that he perfects will bring eight cents.

Prof. Nash.—It is not the lack of courage with farmers, but the lack of time. They have no time to go into the orchard to thin out the fruit, or if they have they will be almost certain to neglect it. What is wanted is to know how to treat an orchard so it will produce moderately every year.

Mr. R. G. Pardee. This was undertaken by Robert L. Pell, and he reported here that he had succeeded, but I think that he was mistaken. He pays more attention to the cultivation of his orchards than any other one that I know, and has the greatest number of trees, but he does not get a full crop every year. He plows his orchards to make the trees grow; he rarely plants anything in his orchards.

Prof. Mapes. I have tried experiments to make trees bear out of their regular course, by using soda wash upon the bodies, and lime and salt and manure upon the roots, and though the fruit was increased, it was not enough so to make it profitable, though the growth of leaves and wood were largely increased.

Mr. Carpenter thought he had succeeded, by high manuring and good cultivation, in making some of his trees bear good crops every year.

Prof. Nash.-Suppose we put a bushel of ashes to each tree, and there

is nothing better for an orchard, immediately after the crop is set.

Mr. Solon Robinson.-You cannot alter the result. A few simple facts will upset all theories about high cultivation and high manuring. You

cannot counteract nature. I would just as soon undertake by high feeding to make a hen lay two eggs a day as to make an apple tree bear full crops every year. As to the cause being an exhaustion of the soil, so that the tree is only able to produce a crop every other year, that is answered by numerous cases on the western prairies, where the soil is forty feet deep, and absolutely inexhaustible, and where trees commence bearing very moderate crops, and not exhausting ones, and go on bearing a full crop one year, and a very sparse one the next, just as nature's great law had predetermined, and which man cannot alter..

Prof. Mapes. From my own experience and from the experience of others, the apple and pear tree has produced crops yearly.

Mr. John G. Bergen. My father tried that experiment pretty well without success. In my opinion, if a tree begins to bear full upon an even year, say 1850, it will always bear even years; and even if it should not bear a crop for half a dozen years, when it did, it would be upon the even year; and no tree that naturally bears full, alternate years, can be made to bear as full upon the odd years. The Newtown Pippin, with me, used to bear good crops every alternate year. You can never change the bearing year; though I perfectly agree with Mr. Carpenter, that the better the attention paid to an orchard, the better will be the result. An application of manure to trees during the bearing year will be too late to affect the next crop, as the fruit buds are previously determined.

Mr. Pardee.I would ask Prof. Mapes whether, if the soil is constantly stirred, it would serve as a summer fallow.

Prof. Mapes.-I am glad that question has been asked. Mr. Smith, of Lois Weedon, has planted wheat in alternate strips of land. The other strip is cultivated in root crops. By this means he is able to get a crop of wheat from the same field every year. The soil must undergo the necessary chemical change.

HOW TO MAKE GOOD BREAD.

Prof. Nash. I have just been reading, in Muspratt's Chemistry, that a gain of twenty-five per cent. may be made in the manufacture of bread by pursuing the following course: A quantity of wheat bran is put in water and soaked over night, when the water becomes somewhat gelatinous, and has a milky appearance. This water is used to wet flour to make up a batch of dough. If the weather is cool the bran may be kept in soak, and even after the first water is used, more may be added for the next baking. Adjourned..

JOHN W. CHAMBERS, Secretary.

November 25, 1862.

Mr. Edward Doughty, of New Jersey, in the chair. The object of the day, "Pruning of Fruit Trees and Grape Vines," was first taken up.

Mr. Geo. H. Hite explained the manner of grafting grape vines. The cutting of the vines from which the bud is to be taken is cut about three inches in length; the shoot is split and the sap scraped out; the upper part

of the shoot, with the bud in, is cut so as to fit into the shoot of the vine into which you are going to insert the bud; it is left a short distance above where the graft is inserted, which is cut to fit the piece containing the bud; it is then bound with bass, and a small quantity of grafting wax is placed around it to make a perfect union. The reason I have the shoot larger than where I insert the bud, is to allow the sap to flow above; after the bud has grown, all the vine above the bud is removed.

Prof. Mapes asked if the shoot from the bud would ripen if grafted in June. Mr. Hite.I have not seen vines grafted so, growing in the open air. The Chairman asked Mr. Hite to explain the manner of growing a grape vine from a cutting.

Mr. Hite. After the border is properly prepared I dig a trench from four to six inches deep, at the bottom of which I plant the cutting, say three or four inches deep. I keep the trench open until winter, when I fill it up, cutting down the shoot to about five eyes. The following spring allow two shoots to grow from the vine; in the fall cut these two shoots back to five eyes each, and tie them to the horizontal wire of the trellis. In the following spring, when the buds begin to shoot, rub off the buds on the lower sides of each shoot. The shoots from the buds will bear fruit this year; in the fall they should be cut back to two eyes. If you wish to extend the vine, shoots may be left to fill the upper wires. Only one shoot should be allowed to grow from an eye. The specimen I hold in shows the bad effects of leaving several shoots to grow from a bud.

my hand

Prof. Mapes. I have been very successful in planting pear trees. The holes in which I plant my trees are dug four feet deep and four feet wide, in the center of which I bore a hole with a borer used in setting telegraph poles, which allows the top root to descend. I use the top soil between the trees to fill up the hole. Barn-yard manure should never be used in planting out trees. I also mulch the trees with salt hay; between the rows I cultivate root crops. I apply a gill of soluble nitrogenized superphosphate of lime and a gill of wood ashes to each tree, spread around the soil within the circumference of the hole. I find that quantity of manure sufficient. The soil should be constantly washed, the more the better. Between the rows of trees I run a subsoil plow. Some years since I purchased some adjoining land, on which were some large apple trees that had not borne fruit for twelve years. I experimented on these trees, cutting out a large quantity of limbs, and trimming them very close, washing the bark with caustic soda, one pound of soda to a gallon of water, scraping off the rough bark, and treating them with the phosphate and ashes. The trees bore good crops for several years, until I found other crops paying me a great deal better than raising fruit, which induced me to cut them down. When I first purchased the farm I now occupy it was difficult to use a subsoil plow. I think I used the subsoiler eleven times before I could properly subsoil it. With a pair of mules I can run the subsoil plow anywhere on my farm. i.

The Chairman. I observed around a number of your trees large quantities of charcoal dust. What benefit do you suppose arises from its use?