15 



periments have been successful, and the voices of our intelligent 

 and enterprising Farmers and Horticulturists proclaim : ' The 

 vine will flourish in our country, in various latitudes ; and it 

 yields to us an agreeable and valuable product.'* Yes ! and 

 native wines derived from it, and from the fruits of our orchards! 

 and our gardens, may be hailed by the philanthropist as the har- 

 bingers of a new era. The epocha may not be distant, when 

 the draughts that are inebriating and destroying thousands of our 

 population, shall be superseded by the use of milder and of sal- 

 utary beverages. 



A second object, that may be called national, is the cultivation 

 of the mulberry. Distinguished among trees, as that from which 

 the serick insect draws its nourishment, the mulberry deserves in- 

 deed particular attention. The American Institute of the City of 

 New- York, anticipating the results to be derived from this in- 

 valuable plant, have received the aid and counsel of the learned 

 President of the Linnean Society, and have entered upon a 

 large and liberal plan of operation. We congratulate them, and 

 sincerely trust, their labours may be remunerated by a rich abun- 

 dance of the golden fleece.J As an article of manufacture, 

 silk has claimed the notice of our general government. Its ' 

 House of Representatives have ordered, that the Secretary of 

 the Treasury " cause to be prepared" a Manual on the subject, 



* See the Appendix, C. 



t In the Appendix to Dr. Hosack's Inaugural Discourse, is an interesting 

 letter on this subject, by Dr. S. L- Mitchill. 



\ A Volume on the culture of silk, by Dr. Pascalis, is now ready for the 

 press. It is accompanied with a Preliminary Dissertation by Professor An- 

 ihon of Columbia College, who argues that the product of the silk worm is to 

 TJC understood by the golden fleece of antiquity. See Appendix, D. 



