Page 262

262   TRANSACTIONS OF THE NORTHERN WISCONSIN
considering. As a substitute for plaster it is valueless. Of
the other samples, No. 9 is of fair, and No. 7 of excellent
quality. Assuming No. 9 to weigh 300 pounds per barrel, it
costs $8.333 per ton, and we have the following as the relative
value of the samples:
No. 7.   No. 8.   No. 9.
Pure plaster in one ton ........... .  1, 925.4 lbs.  None  1, 527.0 lbs.
100 Its of pure plaster cost ......  39 cts.  -  54i cts.
$100 buys of pure plaster ............  2.56 lbs.  None  183 lbs.
H. P. ARMSBY,
Prof. of Agr'l. Chemistry.
MADISON, WISCONSIN, March lth, 1886j.
Mr. K. M. Hutchinson, of Oshkosh, then read a paper en-
titled:
MY NEIGHBOR AND I.
An old gentleman, a neighbor of mine, often calls upon
me in the evening if it is winter, and at any time he catches
me wandering about my grounds, if in summer.
He is a great talker, but what is peculiar about him, he
never talks about himself or his former history, but seems
to give much of his time to meditation upon subjects out-
side the range of every day events, as the weather, politics,
or town affairs, and having matured his thoughts -loaded
himself up as it were -he then seeks the firs~t opportunity
to fire them off at me, at the times I have mentioned.
If it is winter he comes in at the kitchen door without
knocking (and this is a great annoyance to our servant girl,
for she sometimes has a beau who comes to talk philosophy
with her), goes through the hall-way, lays aside his over-
coat and hat, stands his cane in a corner, then walks into our
family sitting room, and with a cheery "good evening, my