SILK. 271 



difficult to attain, at once, the nicety which a long practice 

 has introduced in the old countiies. What we have l.o do 

 for the present, is, to sow mulberry-seed, raise the young 

 plants as in a nursery, reject those whereon thorns appear, 

 as being the wildest, and bearing the smallest leaves ; also 

 those that have thick, coarse, hairy leaves. Save those 

 that have the largest and handsomest smooth leaves ; the 

 worms eat them more readily, and experience has shown 

 that they thrive best upon them, make more silk, and of a 

 better quality. The best plants for earliness and superiori- 

 ty of leaves, should be set out and noted ; as they may 

 hereafter furnish scions for grafting. Upon a dry soil, the 

 mulberry-trees do not grow much taller than our largest 

 peach-trees ; but they are stouter and thicker set. Their 

 roots, which are of a remarkably bright gold colour, (that 

 of silk,) extend to a considerable distance ; and they ought 

 not to be planted, on that account, nearer than thirty feet 

 from tree to tree. 



As the gathering of leaves too soon would injure the 

 growth and constitution of the trees, we would recommend 

 that no leaves should be gathered from them until after the 

 fifth year. In the mean time plantations may be made for 

 immediate use, by sowing the seed in drills, at a conveni- 

 ent distance : planting beans or potatoes between, to keep 

 the ground clear of weeds. The second year after sow- 

 ing, these seedlings might be cut down with a sharp instru- 

 ment, three or four inches from the ground, and would give 

 a second crop the same season. In the silk countries, they 

 raise seedlings in rows for the first feeding of the worms : 

 these young plants, putting out their leaves earlier than 

 the old trees, and being more tender, are better adapted for 

 the worms in the first stage of their existence. They also 

 plant the mulberry-trees, and suffer them to grow accord- 

 ing to unrestrained nature, branching out from the ground. 

 This is for the convenience of gathering the leaves more 

 easily, and making a food stronger than the seedlings. They 

 consider the leaves from trees regularly trained, with a single 

 butt, and of several years' growth, to give the most substan- 

 tial food ; upon which the worms should be kept during the 

 last period of their life, previous to their ascending, in order 

 to obtain an abundant crop of silk of the best quality. At 

 our first entering on this new and profitable business, we 

 shall be under the necessity of trusting wholly to our rows 

 of seedlings, as the only food we can offer to the worms. 

 Pj? when the trees planted out come to maturity, we shall 



