1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



465 



hopes of enoiinoiis profits. The next, and a very be- 

 nelicial effect of this mania, will be to spread the mul- 

 ticaulis plants, or cuttings, to every part of the United 

 States; and so great is the facility, certainty, and rapid- 

 ity of propagation, that wherever a single twig is plant- 

 ed, its increase may, in a few years, serve to feed a great 

 number of silk-worms. The violent fever of excite- 

 ment, produced by this speculation, is also causing the 

 silk business to attract general attention thiough tlie 

 whole country, and of thousands of individual farmers 

 who could not have been "stimulated to attempt a new 

 and untried pursuit, by merely the more moderate, 

 even though sure profits, of silk-culture proper. This 

 will operate as an immense benefit to all the country 

 fit for this business; and especially for Virginia and the 

 adjoining slave-holding states, whose circumstances 

 are such as to offer double tiie profits that can be 

 obtained from rearing silk- worms in the northern states. 

 We do not pretend to estimate, nor even to have 

 any correct idea of, the jjrofits to be derived from mak- 

 ing silk. Those who are willing to trust to such con- 

 jectural estimates, may find them in sundry'publica- 

 tions issued in the states north of Virginia. But with- 

 out discussing the claims of any such estimates to be 

 trusted, and without deciding whether the net profit 

 may be S*3()0 per acre, (which some estimates make 

 out,) or the tenth of that amount, (which might satisfy 

 most cultivators here,) — of this conclusion we are per- 

 fectly sure, THAT WHATEVER MAY BE THE PROFIT 

 OF SILK-CULTURE NORTH OF PHILADELPHIA, MUCH 

 MORE PROFIT MAY BE OBTAINED IN VIRGINIA. 



And the grounds from which this conclusion is deduced 

 are such as will scarcely be denied, or questioned. 

 They have frequently been stated in editorial articles 

 in the Farmers' Register, and therefore will now 

 merely be briefly repeated. 



The first superior advantage possessed by Virginia, 

 is in the warmer climate, which is more suitable to the 

 silk-worms, andvjfar/more suitable to the early, long- 

 continued, and luxuriant growth of the mulberry trees, 

 and especially the multicaulis mulberry, which greatly 

 prefers our southern climate. 



Secondly, millions of acres of land, worn down by 

 tillage, but still very suitable for bearing mulberry 

 trees, (and which would necessarily be improved by 

 the general system of silk-culture,) may be devoted 

 to this growth; which land is worth nothing to the pro- 

 prietors, and would not sell for more than $2 to $A the 

 acre. Yet land, equally poor and unproductive, at 

 first, in New England, if obtained^for this purpose, 

 would scarcely cost less than $20 the acre ; perhaps, a 

 much larger amount. 



Thirdly, the labor required for feeding silkworms, 

 (which is elsewhere one of the most important parts 

 of the expense,) j would cost very little on most farms 

 in Virginia. There are very few farms, on which there 

 are not some slaves who are too young, or too old, or 

 otherwise too infirm, for any common labor, and who, 

 therefore, do nothing, and are a dead expense in their 

 maintenance. These, now worthless and expensive 

 consumers, would be precisely suited, and perfectly 

 competent, to perform all the labors of a silk establish- 

 ment, under the direction of an intelligent and care- 

 Vol. VI.-59 



ful conductor, male or female. Indeed, in many cases, 

 williout any hired supervisor, a farmer's industrious 

 wife, with her before useless slaves, might make a crop 

 of cocoons that would sell for half as much money as 

 her husband's surplus grain crop. 



Either of these three advantages over northern silk- 

 culture is very great; and, all combined, can scarcely 

 be less than equal to the production of a double net 

 profit. But it must not be forgotten, that to insure 

 this (or even any) profit, there must be applied to 

 these superior advantages, the enterprise, industry, 

 watchfulness, and perseverance, which our northern 

 brethren exercise in all their undertakings and employ- 

 ments, and which requisites for success are generally 

 and deplorably wanting in the southern states. 



Entertaining these opinions, we earnestly hope that 

 the now prevailing trading demand for multicaulis 

 mulberry plants, and mania for speculation, may have 

 the good effect of establishing silk-culture, as well as 

 mulberry culture, in the southi"; and that the solid and 

 certain, though moderate profits of the business, may 

 not be scorned and rejected, as soon as the sales of mul- 

 ticaulis plants come down to a lair price, or cease en- 

 tirely for want of buyers. 



In urging the landholders of ^Virginia to commence 

 silk-culture, we do not use, as an inducement, the very 

 general statement of its advocates in this country, that 

 the business " is very simple, easy, and requires very 

 little trouble and no particular system." Such is not 

 our opinion. It is a branch of industry promising 

 large returns for a sufficient outlay of care and labor, 

 as well as expense in arrangement and fixtures; but 

 promising nothing to neglectful, careless, and indolent 

 management. It is important, therefore, to the public 

 interest, as well as to that of the individual adventurers 

 in this new and untried direction of industry in Vir- 

 ginia, that there should be as little risk as possible of 

 disappointment and loss, caused by ignorance, and, con- 

 sequently, the omission of the cares essential to suc- 

 cess. Whosoever may commence this business under 

 the belief that it requires no particular procedure, and 

 not much care or trouble, and shall act accordingly, 

 will probably lose his trouble and expense, as little as 

 they may be. But he who takes the opposite view, 

 that much trouble and ^unremitting attention are ab- 

 solutely necessary, and is resolved to bestow all that is 

 requisite, will probably have less trouble, in the end, 

 than the most careless conductors, and will reap as 

 much profit as the others will find of loss. It is to 

 guard against this very general error, and to direct new 

 beginners to a course of proper and profitable proce- 

 dure, that has induced the translation of the treatise 

 which will follow these introductory remarks. 



In the several treatises on the rearing and manage- 

 ment of silk-worms, which have already been written 

 and published in this country, as well as in the more 

 numerous shorter articles on the same subject, which 

 have appeared in periodical papers, there appears, in 

 one important respect, a general similarity between 

 them, and a marked difference from all known foreign 

 works of high authority. In the latter, the method 

 directed for raising silk-worms, is to preserve, with 

 great tare, certain degrees of temperature, with as 



