motive to induce the native manufacturers to produce any thing better. As the foreign article can no longer enter into competition with him he contents himself with manufacturing and selling as much of the inferior domestic product as he can, and the only competition which arises is who will sell the cheapest below the artificial price to which the foreign article has been raised.

While such laws, therefore, are a great pecuniary benefit to the manufacturer, they do not raise the standard of the manufactures of the nation. It is curious to observe that the arguments made. use of in our time in favor of a protective policy, are of the same general character as those employed in the middle ages in favor of the exclusive system of guilds, a system which, though designed to encourage trade and protect it, proved to be, in reality, one of the greatest obstacles to its progress. In fact, agriculture, commerce and manufactures have been more frequently retarded than benefited by legislation, as trade and everything which depends upon it, may be compared to the rivers that convey its products, which serve the great purposes of nature best when they are left to find their own way and work out their own channel.

In this country I fear that little is to be expected from government, and that which is done must be done as in Great Britain, by the corporative action of societies. Societies, however, depending solely upon the annual subscriptions of members, are involved in a constant struggle for existence, and unlesss they have an income derived from a permanent source, their future is always precarious. The London Society of Arts has this security in numerous legacies, which have been left to it by enlightened individuals, who have had the sagacity to see the importance of extending the sphere of a society, the aim of which has been the development of new sources of national wealth, creating thereby new fields for the employment of labor; a course as much to be commended as leaving legacies to charitable institutions, whose office it is to relieve that poverty which springs, in so large a degree, from the want of employment. The bounty which is bestowed to prevent poverty, being a more enlightened and comprehensive charity than the alms which is merely given to relieve it when it exists.

We have become a great agricultural and commercial nation, and as we are a very inventive and ingenious people, with an especial aptitude for the mechanic arts, there is no reason why we should not also become a great manufacturing people. To do so, however, we must resort to the same means that other nations have employed, and I have sufficiently indicated what these means have been.

This metropolis is the commercial, the monied and the industrial

centre of the country. It was the first city upon this continent to advance the useful arts by the offer of rewards and premiums; the first in which an industrial exhibition was given, and through the exertion of your society, the only one in which it has been annually kept up. Here, then, is the appropriate place for a powerful society to accomplish this great object, whose ramifications should. extend throughout the Union; a society wielding the same influence and producing the same effects as the London Society of Arts, or the society for the encouragement of the National Industry at Paris.

To raise the American Institute to this high a position is an object worthy of your ambition, and it is one that may be attained in the course of years, if you should steadily direct your efforts towards the securing of a permanent fund and the erection of a hall adapted to the purposes of your organization. These are two steps essential to give you the assurance of permanency. I understand that you have already an amount sufficient for the erection of a public building, and the corporation of this city, with a view to the interest of the city alone, could not do a wiser act than to give you the land upon which to erect it. For the rest you must depend upon your own exertions and the liberality of individuals. In going over your history, I am surprised, in view of your limited means, and of the great labor and expense attending the getting up of industrial exhibitions, that you have been able to accomplish so much. Your past is therefore a promise of your future. You have a great end before you; and in respect to it, I would close by interpolating a couplet from an old English poet:

Attempt that end and never stand in doubt;
High though the aim, a will will work it out.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB.

RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF AGRICULTURE.

1. Any person may become a member of this Club, and take part in the debate by simply conforming to its rules.

2. Any member, for disorderly conduct, may be expelled by a vote of the majority.

3. The minutes of the Club, notices of meetings, etc., shall, as formerly, be under the control of the Secretary.

4. The Club shall be called together Tuesday, at 1 o'clock, P. M., of each week.

5. A chairman pro tem. shall be chosen at each meeting.

6. The first hour of the meeting may be devoted to miscellaneous subjects, as follows: papers or communications by the Secretary, communications in writing, reports from special committees, subjects for subsequent debate proposed, desultory or incidental subjects considered.

7. The principal subject of debate shall be taken up at 2 o'clock (but may be introduced earlier by a vote of the meeting), and continue until 31 o'clock, unless a motion to adjourn prevail.

8. No person shall speak more than fifteen minutes on the principal subject, unless by consent of the meeting.

9. All controversy or personalities must be avoided, and the subject before the meeting be strictly adhered to.

10. Questions pertinent to the subject of debate, may be asked of each through the chairman, but answers must be brief, and not lead to debate. 11. The chairman may, at any time, call a person to order, and require him to discontinue his remarks.

12. When any committee is appointed by the Farmers' Club, the members of said committee shall be members of the American Institute.

13. No discussion shall be allowed that is not connected with the great subjects of Agriculture and Rural Improvement.

Mr. Edward Doughty, of Newark, N. J., in the chair.

MELON SEEDS FROM THE AMAZON.

May 5, 1863.

The Rev. J. C. Fletcher, Missionary of the American Sunday School Union, in Brazil, presents, through Mr. R. G. Pardee, seeds of choice watermelons, grown upon the Amazon, from 400 to 1,100 miles from the mouth. These were distributed among the members who will try the experiment of producing them here. Mr. Fletcher thinks they would certainly grow in New Jersey, as the region where they grow on the Amazon, though in a tropical latitude, is of a mild temperature. The quality is said to be exceedingly delicious.

Wm. S. Carpenter presented seeds of one of the mush-melon family from Japan, grown by him last summer, in Westchester county, which he thinks the very best of this variety.

SEEDS OF A NEW TEA-PLANT.

Solon Robinson presented the seeds described in the following letter, which Mr. Carpenter was requested to take charge of. Charles A. Perdue, of Inland, Summit county, Ohio, writes: "I inclose a few seeds of a perennial evergreen vine, growing wild on Fidalgo Island and other places on the Pacific coast, in Washington Territory. The plant is used there by the inhabitants as a substitute for tea; is said to have a fine flavor. I have just received it from my brother, who has been a resident there for several years. I also inclose a specimen of the plant. I suppose, from his statement of the climate there, it would need some protection in the winters of this latitude."

These leaves are about the size of tea leaves, and are extremely pleasant to the taste and smell, and we have no doubt they would make a tea quite as pleasant as much of the stuff sold here at a dollar a pound.

A SEEDLING MAGNOLIA.

Wm. S. Carpenter called the attention of members to a seedling of a Chinese magnolia, now ten feet high, hardy, upright growth, very prolific of magnificent, fragrant flowers, double and compact, about twice the size of a hen's egg, white, slightly pink at the base.

A NEW FIBROUS PLANT.

J. H. Moorehead, of Ida, Iowa, writes as follows:

"Inclosed I send you a sample of fiber cf a plant that grows very abundantly in this region of Iowa, on what is termed weed land, extensive tracts being covered with it.

"The sample sent was stripped from the plant by simply breaking the woody substance and drawing the fiber from it. The plant having stood during the winter where it grew. The growth is from three to five feet in height, and about as large as a common penholder.

"At the present time, when wool and cotton are worth from 80c. to $1 per pound, and material for paper is scarce and high, this may be used for some good purpose. From my recollection of the plant it is a kind of nettle, but of this I am not certain. If you can give the name of the plant, or if considered of any valne, state what, you will oblige me."

Dr. Trimble thought he recognized the fiber as that of a plant that used to grow upon the Brandywine river, and which he had often thought might be a valuable one to cultivate.

No one present was able to give any valuable information about the plant, but it was generally conceded that it is the best of all the specimens of fiber from wild plants that have been sent here, and the hope expressed that Mr. Moorehead will try what would be the result of cultivation, and, if favorable, take measures to have seed saved and distributed. If he will send specimens of the plant to Wm. R. Prince, Flushing, he will ascertain the proper name and class to which it belongs. If such fiber, as the sample sent, can be gathered in quantity from the plant growing wild, we have no doubt it would sell to paper-makers, at such a price as would pay far better for the labor than growing corn in Iowa.

THE OAT APHIS.

Mr. Carpenter, in answer to an inquiry whether this pest of the farmer is likely to abound this season, said he believed it would. It was very destructive to oats and wheat last year in the eastern part of Westchester county, and he now discovers that the young willow-shoots that grow along the streams are covered with aphis, which he supposes to be the same kind that destroyed the grain last year, as Dr. Fitch, entomologist, says that they are often found upon the early willow buds, and upon other plants before their favorite food, oats and wheat, is forward enough for them to depredate upon. If they increase in proportion this year as they did last upon former years, farmers will have to abandon the cultivation of small grain where this pest abounds.

Dr. Trimble doubts whether the aphis now found upon apple and willow buds is the same that destroys oats, because there are a great many varieties, and some attach to one species of plants and some to another; and he does not think it would be good policy for a farmer to neglect to sow grain because he saw aphides upon willows; nor is it worth while to despair of growing grain because these destructive insects are troublesome this year-they may not be so next year, they have so many natural enemies. The ichneumon flies may be so numerous as to destroy the aphis in one year. As for a cure of the pest, there is none. Man is powerless against such a tiny foe. He must wait patiently for time to bring the remedy. Lady-bugs and birds feed upon aphides, and inchneumon pierce them with their ovipositors, and thus they are destroyed. I can manage the curculio; I cannot the aphis; but there is a power that can and will. Let us not be discouraged.

Mr. Pardee read a receipt sent him from England "to destroy ants and beetles." It is to dilute sulphuric acid, and slack lime, say half pint of acid to half a bushel of lime, and put the powder in holes infested with ants or black beetles.

Prof. Mapes thought that lime prepared in the way recommended could not vary materially from common plaster of Paris-sulphate of lime.

BUGS ON POTATOES DO THEY CAUSE THE ROT?

A. Hogeboom, of Shedd's Corners, Madison county, N. Y., asserts dogmatically that the sole cause of decay in the tubers is a bug upon the vines. As his letter contains some practical hints upon cultivation, we give it entire as follows:

"I am greatly pleased with your short cut of disposing of the subject of a sure panacea for the potato rot. It is time we were rid of this mooted subject. Nearly twenty years ago I published what I knew to be the cause of the blight of this valuable esculent. I will not trouble you with my method of testing unmistakably the cause of the disease.

"Positively it is nothing more nor less than the poison infused into the juice of the vine by a little black bug. All other theories are simply utopian, that divert attention from all there is of any practical utility in the treatment of the potato blight. The fancied discovery of any absolute