213 



ing out badly, and the late planted corn is not coming up well, there 

 not being moisture enough, in the ground to germinate it, excepting in 

 a few low places. 



STEAM CULTURE IN LOUISIANA. 



Wasliington, D. C.—l left Washington City the 21st of May for a trip 

 southward, and found the cotton crop coming up, and both it and the 

 corn crop looking well. Knowing the great interest you feel in steam 

 cultivation, on my arrival at New Orleans I determined to visit Magno- 

 lia sugar plantation, owned by Mr. Lawrence, the pioneer of steam plow- 

 ing in the United States. His crop of cane and corn, about 1,000 acres 

 in one field, had been planted on land plowed and cultivated wholly 

 with the steam plow. Not one drop of rain had ftillen for more than six 

 weeks, and the crops on the various plantations passed, though green, 

 were quite small, from excessive drought. I was surprised when I got to 

 Magnolia to find the cane and corn looking dark and exceedingly thrifty, 

 and I am free to say it is the most splendid-looking crop of cane and 

 corn I saw in the State. The dry weather had not affected the growth 

 of the crops, which were in a forward and flourishing condition. The 

 crop was nearly all laid by, and it had been worked by about half of the 

 usual number of hands. I was shown a few acres of three-year-old rat- 

 toon canes that had been deeply sub-soiled with the steam plow, appar- 

 ently as good as any cane in the field. Mr. L. is very sanguine that 

 the cane crop can be made, with steam cultivation, with one-third less 

 mules, one-third less laborers, and will give one-third more yield per 

 acre than under the old system. 



OSAGE ORANGE FOR THE SILK-WORM. 



Utah County, Utah. — Having been engaged in silk culture for three 

 years past, I take the liberty of submitting to you a report of what I 

 have done. 



In 1867 the Hon. Albert K. Thurber, of this place, on his return from 

 a visit to London, England, presented me with a few silk-worm eggs of 

 the old French variety. They made sixteen cocoons, producing three 

 female moths. The following year I raised five hundred worms, but not 

 having sufficient mulberry leaves to feed them, I fed part of them on 

 Osage orange; they ate it with avidity, all did well, and made cocoons 

 of good size and color. Last season (1869) I fed five thousand worms 

 on Osage orange, and they made five thousand cocoons. This season 1 

 am feeding ten thousand worms on Osage orange and they are doing 

 well. I would here remark that I have never found a diseased worm 

 since I commenced raising silk. 



I have fed a portion of my worms each season on mulberry and a por- 

 tion on Osage orange, and those fed on tlie latter have thrived and done 

 as well as those fed on the former. I do not suppose Osage orange is 

 preferable to mulberry to feed silk- worms, but it may be of importance 

 to some to know that they will do well upon it. I have fed worms on 

 the two kinds of feed in close proximity, and have known them to leave 

 the mulberry and go to the Osage orange. The dryness of our climate^ 

 and the absence of thunder-storms during the feeding season render 

 Utah particularly adapted to the raising of silk, and perhaps may b© 

 more favorable for feeding Osage orange than a moist climate. 



Not having sufiicient knowledge of the quality of silk to test it, I sent 

 some cocoons to Mr. Muller, of Nevada City, Csdifornia, to be reeled and 



