Institute, and that during the year these gentlemen will deliver a course of lectures before the Institute. All of which is respectfully submitted. NEW YORK, March 24, 1864. WILLIAM HALL, D. S. GREGORY, PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTE. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE OF THE The Committee on Agriculture of the American Institute, in pursuance of the 49th section of the by-laws, beg leave respectfully to report: Your committee, in accordance with the duties prescribed for them, have actively carried out the purposes of the Institute entrusted to their care. The great International Fair at Hamburg is not among the least interesting events of the year, and from the able report made by Austin Baldwin, Esq., we learn that the American Institute was properly represented on that occasion. This report, which will be read to you, places the fact of the superiority of American agricultural machinery fairly on record. Your committee report with sorrow the loss of one of their most efficient members, Edward Doughty, Esq., of Newark, N. J., who died on the 20th day of June last, after a long and useful life. The Farmers' Club of this Institute was the first of its kind in this country, and its peculiar rules of order have been the model of hundreds of similar societies. Your committee have been regular attendants upon this useful adjunct, and with the assistance of many members of the Institute and others, have been able to render the meetings most interesting. Among the attendants are to be found some of the most able pomologists of the country, and every novelty connected with the protective art has been, to a greater or less extent discussed at these meetings. The suggestions of scientific men and enthusiasts have met the chastening influence of practical and operative members. The number of letters of inquiry received by the Club, and responded to by committees, members, etc., has been large, and generally have been written in consequence of the reports of the Club meetings published in the New York Tribune, whose agricultural editor is always in attendance, and supplies much of the miscellaneous matter which occupies the deliberations of the Club. In addition to the discussions of miscellaneous matters, the following list of subjects have each occupied one or more meetings, and elicited all the known facts in relation to them: Potatoes-preserving, planting, new varieties, rot. The reports of transactions of the Club have been ably collated by Mr. John W. Chambers, and many of them will be found embodied in the published transactions of the Institute. All of which is respectfully submitted. JAMES J. MAPES, WILLIAM S. CARPENTER, NEW YORK, February 2d. 1864. Committee, REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MANUFACTURES, SCIENCE AND ART OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. The Committee on Manufactures, Science and Art, report: That during the past year but two inventions have been submitted to them for examination, and each was a subject of a brief report to the Institute. The Autumnal Fair in 1863 afforded ample opportunity for the exhibition of novelties and their examination by competent judges has precluded any reference to your Committee. They have the satisfaction of reporting favorably with regard to the action of the Polytechnic Association, whose organization and interests are committed to their charge. By the re-appointment of one of their own number, S. D. Tillman, Esq., as Chairman, they have had the means of direct communication at all times with it. A majority of your Committee have attended some of its meetings during the past year; and can bear testimony to the high character of its debates upon technological questions, and its impartial scrutiny of new inventions. Mr. Benjamin Garvey was appointed Secretary in November last. A prominent object of the Polytechnic being to offer all classes of inventors and discoverers facilities for bringing their novelties before the public, free of expense, a portion of the time of each meeting is set apart for their benefit. It is evident that discussions, depending upon a few regular, and the many casual attendants of these meetings, may sometimes be devoid of original views; there is also danger of a sameness of treatment where subjects are committed to a comparatively small number of speakers. To guard, in some measure, against a flagging interest in these meetings, and to insure the presentation of subjects new and important, the Chairman has undertaken to prepare for each meeting a summary of scientific intelligence, chiefly gleaned from foreign journals, thus offering a new inducement for regular attendance to those who desire to keep abreast of the progressive movement. He further suggests that a report should be made of the most important patents issued weekly at Washington, thus always ensuring a surplus of topies for discussion, and giving to the Association the characteristics of a Scientific Exchange. The Polytechnic, during the past year, has had a competent re porter of its proceedings, but during most of the previous year it had neither reporter nor regular secretary, it is therefore matter of surprise and gratification to find its discussions occupying its usual share in the volume of Transactions just published. The matter is printed in smaller type than heretofore, thus a work of more contents than usual has been embraced in a volume of smaller size. The supervision of the proceedings of the Polytechnic in their preparation for the press, and the correction of proof, was the voluntary work of the Chairman, assisted by Mr. Chambers, the librarian. The very few typographical errors which will, in no instance, mislead the reader, resulted from the fact that the proof reader and the printer were one hundred and fifty miles apart. The chief topics discussed in the volume-improvements in weapons of war, locks, locomotion, the use of steam expansively, the production, refining and useful applications of petroleum, are interesting alike to all classes of the community, and will doubtless attract very general attention. Respectfully submitted, CHARLES A. JOY, Chairman, JOSEPH DIXON, JAMES L. JACKSON, S. D. TILLMAN, Committee. |