452 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



Without intendinfT to make any invidious com- 

 parisons, and pretnising tliat there were many 

 places where the eilic culture was said to be 

 thrivinfT, which 1 did not visit, 1 have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that there was more doing at Rur- 

 lington, New Jersey, considering how recently 

 the business has been started the^re, than at any 

 other place wliich came under my observation. 

 A considerable number o(^ persons were engaged 

 in feeding worms as well as in raising trees. A 

 few extensive cocooneries had been erected, one 

 of which was large enough to accommodate about 

 a million of worms; and several others from one 

 to two or three liundred thousand. The soil in the 

 vicinity ofBurlington, is light and sandy, and well 

 adapted to the growth of the muhicaulis. Indeed 

 the greater part of New Jersey is admirably suit- 

 ed to the purpose; and the business is so rapidly 

 spreading, that in a few years, that state will pro- 

 bably be much in advance of any other. Within 

 a few years the improvements in the construction 

 of cocooneries, have contributed ffreally to the fa- 

 cility of feeding worms. The plan of those at 

 Burlington, struck me as being rather superior to 

 any I saw elsewhere. The necessity of handlinfr 

 the worms is entirely dispensed with by the use of 

 hurdles of net-work ; at the same time that the 

 cleansing of the shelves and the removal ofthe litter 

 are more easily effected. When it is time to change 

 them, another hurdle is laid on the one containing 

 the worms, and fresh leaves are sprinkled over it, 

 which are always cut up by running them throusrh 

 a cylindrical cutting box. In a few hours, the 

 worms attracted by the fresh leaves, get on the 

 upper hurdle, when the lower one, containing the 

 litter, is removed. In this manner, a large number 

 of worms may be cleansed in a day, by providing 

 extra hurdles. A better fixture for the accommo"^- 

 dation ofthe worms in spinning, has been latterly 

 introduced. On the lower side of the shelf imme- 

 diately above, which is not more than twelve or 

 fourteen inches distant, strips or laths, about two 

 inches wide and three inches from each other, are 

 fastened at right angles to the range of shelves, to 

 which the worms mount by very "simple ladders, 

 and spin their balls along the junction ofthe strips 

 and floor. This mode adds greatly to the conve- 

 nience of gathering the cocoons, and the floss is 

 removed from them free ofthe litter which attends 

 the use of brush or dried leaves. A room thirty 

 feet wide will admit of four ranges of shelves, three 

 feet wide, leaving an aisle between each range, 

 and also between the outer ranfjes and the walls, 

 of three and a half feet. The number of shelves 

 in each range will be in proportion to the pitch of 

 the room ; say six shelves lor a room, nine or ten 

 feet high. Each hurdle is three by four feet, and 

 will accommodate a thousand full-grown worms. 

 On this plan, a room of a hundredliiet in length 

 by thirty feet in width, wiih a pitch of nine or ten 

 feet, will accommodate, without crowdinjr, about 

 half a million of worms at a time. Rut m a co- 

 coonery, near Franklbrd, in Pennsylvania, which 

 was not ofmuch more than half these dimensions, 

 six or seven hundred thousand worms were fed in 

 June last, which spun well. They were, however, 

 evidently too much crowded, as was -shown by the 

 small size of the cocoons ; and had not the season 

 been of the most favorable character, the whole 

 brood would have been in danger of jjeing swept 

 off by an ej)ideinic. In a small rooiu at New 



Haven, in a house occupied by a Frenchman, 

 which did not exceed ten feet square, he had suc- 

 cessfully fed forty thousand worms, without the 

 appearance of any disease amongst them. I saw 

 a number of the cocoons, which were large and 

 firm. 



Many persons have amused themselves, and 

 the public too, by making crdculations of thecrreat 

 profits of the silk culture. It may be no difficult 

 matter to state with tolerable certainty how many 

 good cocoons will yield a pound of silk; but I think 

 an error has been frequently committed by esti- 

 mating the product pe7- acre. Of mulberry leaves, 

 as well as every thing else, the crop will be very 

 variable, and depend on the quality of the land. 

 If worms can be preserved exempt from disease, 

 and good cocoons can be obtained from them, the 

 number that an acre of ground will support, at the 

 usual prices of land in our country, is a matter ol 

 very subordinate interest. It is only important 

 when land is worth from one hundred to three 

 hundred dollars per acre. When the value does 

 not exceed five or ten dollars, as is the case with 

 most of our lands, it is better to estimate the pro- 

 fits of the culture by the number of worms that 

 may be fed, than by the quantity of land that it 

 will require to supply them. 



While so much is doing in some of the states 

 to the north of us, for the advancement of the 

 silk-culture, scarcely any thing has yet been at- 

 tempted in Virginia. The attention, however, of 

 some individuals, has been directed to the subject^ 

 and an interesting experiment in feeding worms 

 has recently been detailed in the 'Farmers' Regis- 

 ter,' by a gentleman of Brunswick. A very large 

 cocoonery has been fitted up at Fredericksburg, 

 which will probably be filled with worms next 

 year. Other gentlemen are making arrangements 

 to enter upon the culture. During the ensuing 

 season, it is hoped that interestinjj results may be 

 established by various persons. But, unfortunate- 

 ly, almost every tree grown in Virginia and North 

 Carolina, with the exception of those retained to 

 propagate fi-om another year, has been bought up, 

 and will be taken to Pennsylvania or New Jensey. 

 The Virginia and Carolina frees have a decided 

 superiority in the northern markets, and are sought 

 after with avidity; a fact of which the cultivators 

 here are perhaps ignorant. Southern trees are 

 mostly produced from cuttings, while those of 

 northern growth are raised from what are called 

 larjers — that is to say, a whole plant, both root 

 and stem, is laid horizontally in a furrow, and co- 

 vered over with earth. The young shoots sprout 

 up so thickly that they make a spindling growth. 

 Plants from cuttings, on the contrary, having more 

 distance, throw out a number of side branches, 

 and furnish a much greater supply of wood, which, 

 besides that it is better matured by our southern 

 sun, adds considerably to the market value. It 

 would be desirable to know what number of trees 

 have been grown in these two states during the 

 present season. It will probably not fall much 

 short of half a million; and next year, the number 

 will no doubt be two or three times as many. But 

 as long as we send them abroad, we are doing no- 

 thing towards the advancement of the silk-culture 

 in our own state. And if there be any state in 

 the union that would be more benefited by the in- 

 troduction of this culture, allowing it to be, as is 

 contended, both practicable and profitable, or 



