which she so abundantly produces, I trust that some exertions will be made to raise flowers for her support. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE VINE AND FIG. Your committee on the Vine and Fig have not been able at all to satisfy themselves in relation to the subject assigned to them. The experiments hitherto made are too few and two little diversified to be relied on as a guide in extensive operations. We have also as yet been unable to procure from books the desired information. Figs and grapes have been dried in small quantities at the islands, and are reported to have kept well through a voyage to the United States. From the Rev. J. Si Emerson we have received the enclosed description of his process of curing the fig-which is all we have to offer. From a conversation with Dr. Hildebrand I am led to think that the process described by Mr. Emerson is the true process for curing the fig, but he says we are too far south to cultivate successfully the more delicate kinds of Vine. DRYING FIGS.-This cannot be done with any certainty of success except in the dry season, generally between May and October. The length of time requisite for the completion of the process of drying is six or seven days-a dry atmosphere and a good breeze, are important in facilitating the work, which may most economically be done as follows: 1. Erect a platform in some airy situation where the sun will shine upon it at least 8 or 10 hours of the day. Let the platform be so high that the chinese or half chinese fowl, if well fed, will not be likely to trouble it; say 5 feet from the ground. Let this platform be not over 3 or 3 feet wide, as it will be requisite to reach from either side daily to turn the figs on the board, or change their location to facilitate drying. 2. Let the figs for drying be picked before they are so soft as to crush each other in the bucket when picked, and yet they should be fully ripe. Let them be placed on the platform one or two inches apart to increase the power of the sun and air upon each fruit. After the first day each fig should be moved from its location to the intermediate space between it and the next so as to occupy a dry and hot place, and this change should be made in the hottest part of the day. 3. There should be a set of spare boards or some other covering that may be thrown over the platform at night or in case of a rain, that will exclude dew or rain, but not air. This covering should always be put on at night, or in case of rain. The heat of the sun only is adequate for the process of drying the fig. An oven has been tried but without success, except that figs for exportation may be made to keep longer by completing the drying in an oven after baking bread in it. Figs have been dried here and exported to the United States in a perfectly good state. They also have been kept here one year perfectly good. Yours truly, J. S. EMERSON. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SALT, BY W. NEWCOMB. According to Marcet, sea water contains in 1000 parts 26.66 Chloride of Sodium, 4.66 Sulphate of Soda, 1.232 Chloride of Potassium, 5.152 Chloride Magnesium, 1.5 Sulphate of Lime, and small traces of other 39.204 [compounds. In the manufacture of salt it is of the first importance to clear the water from all the foreign constituents except the Chloride of Sodium. By the ordinary process of solar evaporation as conducted here, this is not effected, and the whole of the solid constituents of sea water are obtained as the result of the solar evaporation. Not possessing the necessary re-agents for a complete analysis of Chloride of Soda, I can but give an approximation to the constituents of the commercial article manufactured at Puuloa. The test for sulphuric acid (existing in the sulphates of soda and lime,) gives a smaller quantity than the fine table salt introduced for our consumption, and usually esteemed as far more pure. This unexpected result is highly complimentary to the manufacturer at Puuloa, who has succeeded even better than others in clearing his salt from these impurities. The Sulphate of Soda is mostly left in the form of bitterns which might perhaps be profitably manufactured by condensation and farther evaporation into Glauber's salts. The chloride of magnesium is a more difficult substance to get rid of, and we find that in 120 grains of the commercial salt of Puuloa, the amount of this earthy substance thrown down in the form of a carbonate, together with the lime amounts to a fraction short of 3 grains. In the test applied to the foreign article, less than half a grain was obtained from the same quantity. The experimental tests which I have made leads me to the conclusion that to perfect this important manufacture, we have but to apply the proper remedy for the removal of the chloride of Magnesium, when our salt will be found equal to any manufactured at Turks Island, Liverpool, or on the continents of Europe or America. Fortunately the carbonate of Magnesia resulting from this process will probably meet all the expense attending the separation. The quality of the salt from Puuloa exhibited yesterday commanded the admiration of all who examined the beautiful samples. The large chrystals surpassed in beauty and regularity any specimens of West India salt that your committee have ever met with. An analysis of these chrystals give but three eighths of a grain of magnesian and calcareous earths in 120 grains, or one quarter of a pound in 300 lbs. The comparative amounts of the sulphates of soda and lime can be seen by the precipitates thrown down by our imported fine table salt, the chrystals from Puuloa, and the ordinary Puuloa salt from saturated solutions of the several articles. In the last named there are other matters precipitated besides those tested for. From the above evidence I do not hesitate in asserting that no salt ever introduced upon these Islands for consumption from abroad equals in purity the large chrystals exhibited at our Agricultural fair. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PROCURING SEED FROM Hon. WILLIAM L. LEE, President of R. H. A. Society. SIR. The Committee appointed at the first annual meeting of the R. H. A. Society, to institute experiments with a view to obtain plants from the seed of the sugar-cane, would report that, although some experiments have been attempted for the purpose proposed, yet that, owing to the lateness of the season of their appointment, and the want of facilities for conducting the experiments, they have not yet been successful. Measures have been taken to import the needful manures for conducting the experiment, and your committee hope that they may at some future time be able to present a more satisfactory report, should it be deemed advisable that they should continue their efforts. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SUGAR. BY L. L. TORBERT. Gentlemen of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society: Hoping that I may throw out a few hints which may be useful to those engaged in sugar plantations, I beg your attention for a few minutes. Although at the present day the properties of cane juice are pretty well understood, and the process of reducing it to sugar is rendered very simple, yet there are so many things, any one of which neglected, that injure the quality or reduce the quantity of the article, that many if not all of us come far short of perfection in its manufacture. In working our common cattle mills, it is found, by repeated experiments, that we obtain about sixty-three pounds of juice from one hundred pounds of sugar cane. The converting this juice into sugar is the most interesting and difficult portion of the planter's labors. The first step in its manufacture is to mix a certain quantity of lime with it for the purpose of separating the impurities from the saccharine fluid. In ascertaining the proper quantity of lime to be mixed with the juice consists one of the great difficulties which the sugar boiler has to encounter. If too little is used the syrup does not grain well, if too much, it darkens the syrup and forms an imperfect grain in which the molasses becomes tangled and cannot be separated from the sugar; so that it is a nice point to get the right proportion; and when you have found the exact measure for one lot of cane it may prove to be too much or too little for another lot. There is scarcely any two day's grinding which yields the same richness of juice. But if the juice should always be the same, the quality of the lime used is not always the same; so that it is impossible to come at any rule which will be right in all cases. There have been several ingenious methods invented for the purpose of adjusting the temper, but none of them as yet are perfect. We have, however, a general rule which comes pretty near the mark. Put five ounces of common coral lime into 100 gallons of juice as soon as it it is pressed out and stir it well. This quantity will be found sufficient unless the juice is very rich, in which case add a trifle more, or if the juice is weak do not put in so much. After the juice is limed bring it to within about five degrees of the boiling point over a slow fire, then let it stand fifteen or twenty minutes and scum it. Then give it a quick boil for about ten minutes, scum it |