340 Climate— The Mulberrj. 



perhaps appear quite so slow in its advancement as would be naturally 

 inferred. But the time has now come, when information, and such, loo, 

 as is wanted, can be easily acquired, — information which we hope will 

 dispel the opinion which many entertain, that the cultivation of the mul- 

 berry, the rearing of silk-worms, and the manufacture of silk, is vision- 

 ary or problematical. " It is information," said a committee of the 

 Massachusetts legislature, in a report made a few years since, on the 

 expediency of encouraging the growth of the mulberry tree, and the 

 culture of silk, "which is the foundation of agriculture, as well as other 

 arts." 



We have been led to these remarks, which we might extend to pages, 

 though perhaps not immediately connected with the following observa- 

 tions, from the zeal which we feel to diffuse all the knowledge in our 

 power, upon this important subject : if it was in the province of our 

 Magazine to treat upon agriculture, nothing would give us more delight 

 than the thought that we were advancing this very important branch of 

 domestic industry. 



The above communication, by Mr. Kenrick, we hope will call more 

 attention to the much discussed question, — whether the Chinese mul- 

 berry will stand the rigors of our New England winters, so as to 

 warrant its general cultivation. Within the past year, this has been 

 under agitation, among the agricultural and other papers ; but no defi- 

 nite conclusion, as yet, has been arrived at. Every year's experience 

 will add to confirm or vanish the hope, that it may ultimately be exten- 

 sively cultivated. 



The remarks by Mr. Kenrick, we infer, were, in part, called out by a par- 

 agraph in our last (p. 310), stating, that in the vicinity of Hartford, where 

 alarge number of the Chinese mulberry are cultivated, they were mostly 

 destroyed by the severity of the past winter : this information we receiv- 

 ed from gentlemen on whom we could place the most implicit confidence 

 in their statements ; and, as conductors of a work disseminated among a 

 large number of individuals, in nearly every State, we thought it our 

 duty to give publicity to the fact ; not that we would wish, in the least, 

 to discourage the planting of this valuable variety, but that those who 

 were about setting out nmlberry orchards, and more particularly of the 

 Chinese, would look into the subject, that, should their plantations be 

 destroyed, they could not say they were not prepared for such a calam- 

 ity. Far be it from us to retard, in any way, the general cultivation of 

 this kind ; but we would have all interested know what may be pos- 

 sibly expected, and to guard themselves against any loss. 



It would not be possible for us, at this time, to go into an examination 

 of the climate in various parts of our country. The facts bi-ought for- 

 ward by Mr. Kenrick, to prove the hardiness of the Chinese mulberry, 

 have great weight, but not, in our mind, sufficient to change the opinion 

 we have formed, — that this variety cannot be relied upon exclusively, in 

 any of our States, Florida excepted. To substantiate this, without ex- 

 tending our remarks to a great length, we will state a few facts. 



In speaking of the " climate and soil of New England," Judge Corn- 

 stock, the editor of the Silk Culturist, says, " the white mulberry will 

 grow luxuriantly in all parts of the United States, and so far as its foliage 

 is depended upon for the subsistence of the worm, the material advan- 

 tages of all the States are equal. But with respect to the Chinese mul- 

 berry, it cannot be cultivated in the Northern States without much 

 additional labor and expense ;" and further, " at the south, no extra care 

 or precaution is indispensible to its ]u-opagation." This, however, does 

 not agree with the statements of a correspondent in a previous number, 

 dated from Georgia, From this we extract the following : " The Morus 

 dlba, or white mulberry, seems as yet to be the only kind to which we 



