1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



389- 



steamboat has chosen to go to Inverary, they Iiave 

 also thoutrhl fit io prefer Loch Fyne, to all tlie 

 western bays. Bui theories hko this have at least 

 the merit of antiquity. Lnnif belbre the days of 

 gunpowder, the ancient Highlanders thought that 

 the fish deserted tiiose coasts where blood had 

 been shed; so that the trnn hypothesis is only an 

 old one revived, with the necessary modifica- 

 tions." 



Assuming that the herring approaches our shores 

 from the deep surrounding eeas, and does not mi- 

 grate from the polar seas alone, there are three 

 diderent circumstances which may occasion its 

 movements: 1. For the purpose of spawning. 2. 

 In pursuit of food. 3. To escape from enemies 

 which prey upon them. 



The herring spawns towards the end of Octo- 

 ber or the beginning of November; and for the 

 purpose of vivification it is necessary that it should 

 be deposited in shallow water, where it may re- 

 ceive the heat of the sun. This instinctive move- 

 ment is felt in the middle of July, and they are 

 thus brought within the reach of man when they 

 are in the highest perfection. They are worth- 

 less as lood after having deposited their spawn, 

 and the fishing season of course terminates. Mr. 

 Yarrell is of opinion, from repeated examination, 

 that the herringsile, or young herrings, do not ma- 

 ture any roe during their first year; and hence 

 they are not impelled to retire to the deep sea, but 

 haunt the coasts. The weight of spawn in the 

 herring is 4S0 grains, and the number of eggs be- 

 tween 3,000 and 4,000. This spawn has been 

 thrown ashore in Orkney, found around the Isle 

 of Man and all along the western shores of Scot- 

 land, and in the western lochs. A greater de- 

 gree of observation would most probably prove 

 that it is deposited around the British coasts ge- 

 nerally, particularly the coast of Scotland. 



Fishermen have remarked that the herring was 

 most abundant where the medusa?, and other ma- 

 rine animals which give the sea a luminous ap- 

 pearance, were to be found. The movements of 

 herrings are doubtless frequently determined by 

 the time and place where food is abundant. If it 

 is not to be lound in one spot it must be sought 

 for in another; and the apparent caprice which 

 they show in frequenting places at irregular times 

 and irregular intervals, is determined by a provi- 

 dent regard to the abundance of food with which 

 those places are supplied. 



Lastly, in endeavoring to escape from whales, 

 grampuses, sharks, and other enemies, the move- 

 ments of the herring are the result of necessity; 

 and nothing seems more unlikely than that they 

 should, under such circumstances, display an in- 

 stinctive attachment to particular places. 



DESULTORY REMARKS ON THE SILK CULTURE 

 OF THE UNITED STATES. 



It has now been several years since sundry compa- 

 nies were chartered, in the northern states, with large 

 capitals, (nominal or real,) for the purpose of prosecut- 

 ing the culture and manufacture of silk. Many more 

 such companies have since been formed, and have 

 commenced operations; and, latterly, some have been 

 established even in the lethargic south, and in the cli- 



mate by far more proper and suitable for tliis business 

 than that enjoyed by our industrious northern country- 

 men. The operations of these large joint-stock cor- 

 porations are in addition to those of hundreds of indi- 

 vidual advonturers, who have commenced, on their 

 separate account, what is called the "silk-business." 

 The tirst object of ail efforts to cultivate silk, is, ne- 

 cessarily, to raise mulberry trees, to furnish food for 

 the worms; and the kind planted has been principally 

 the Chinese mulberry, or tnorus mullicaulis. Tlie fa- 

 cility of propagating this variety, by cuttings, is so 

 great, its growth so rapid, the annual multiplication of 

 plants so enormous, and the maturity of each (to the 

 point of supposed fitness for feeding,) so early, that 

 two years' time would suffice to raise a very large 

 supply, from a commencement with a few hundred 

 young trees; and, in three years, the number might be 

 made equal to almost any demand of a single silk es- 

 tablishment, of no older standing. There are also 

 powerful incentives to use these facilities, in the libe- 

 ral legislative bounties offered for the production of 

 silk, by at least six of the northern and middle states. 

 In Maine, the bounties paid from the treasury for this 

 object, are 5 cents a pound upon all cocoons grown, 

 and 50 cents on each pound of silk reeled. In Ver- 

 mont, a bounty of 10 cents is offered for every pound 

 of cocoons. In Massachusetts, $2 the pound is paid, 

 as bounty, on all silk grown, reeled, and "throwcd" 

 in the state, "which bounty alone is considered by 

 silk-growers to be sufficient to defray all expenses at- 

 tending its growing, reeling and throwing." (Mr. 

 Adams' Report to Congress. See Far. Reg. Vol. V, p. 

 65,). In Connecticut, (where silk has been grown 

 50 or 60 years, without legislative fostering,) the trea- 

 sury pays a bounty of $1 on every 100 Italian or Chi- 

 nese mulberry trees of five years old, and 50 cents a 

 pound on all silk reeled on an improved reel. All 

 these bounties were in operation as early as 1836. 

 We do not know the rate of bounty paid by Pennsyl- 

 vania and New Jersey; but they are so high, (as 

 stated in a previous selected article on page 355 of this 

 Vol.) as to " have been found sufficient to pay all the 

 expense of producing the cocoons and reeling the 

 silk, making the whole produce clear profit." 



With such facihties and such inducements for the 

 production of silk, it is very remarkable that so lit- 

 tle has yet been accomplished, by all, or by any, of 

 the numerous companies and individuals who have 

 undertaken the business. Wonderful reports are made, 

 and published with great parade in the newspapers, of 

 the prospects, and intended operations of almost every 

 newly established silk company ; but little, if any 

 thing, is afterwards heard of what they have actually 

 produced. It is not to be supposed that reports of 

 successful operations would not be published if there 

 were sufficient grounds on which to place them ; and 

 therefore, though the testimony is negative, it is still 

 satisfactory to establish our inference, that but little 

 has yet been done in producing silk; and that silk-cul- 

 ture on a large scale, and as a profitable branch of ag- 

 riculture, is yet to be commenced in this country. 

 Judging from the various prefatoiy reports of silk 



