1838] 



FARMKRS' REGISTER 



493 



hie ncij^hborg thought, to make a bare subsistence I 

 from its projucts. He has devoted himself prin- 

 cipally to vine and multicaulis culture. Some 

 notices of his useful services to agriculture, iti the 

 former department, have been heretofore given in 

 this publication. Of the latter, the principal cir- 

 cumstances are as follows: Five or si.K years 

 ago, being then, and long before, a regular reader 

 of the American Farmer, he was induced by its 

 recommendations (all of which we owe to its for- 

 mer editor, Gideon B. Smith,) to begin the culti- 

 vation of the multicaulis. He bought of J. J. 

 Hitchcock, of Baltimore, a plant of about a foot 

 in height, for which he paid a dollar; and 25 cents 

 more for getting it to his residence. From this 

 email beginning, all his stock, and many other, now 

 large stocks, bought from him, have grown. Mr. 

 Weller's sales of plants, before this season of spe- 

 culation and high prices had commenced, amount- 

 ed to about S2000 ; and, this fall, to ^8000 more, 

 though made at 6 cents the foot, and before the 

 rise to half the present current prices — besides re- 

 serving enough stock to double or treble his crop 

 next year. 



" Let it not be supposed from these or any other 

 statements of enormous profits from raising mul- 

 ticaulis plants, that wc design to have inferred as 

 our opinion, that we expect them to continue. The 

 greater part of the present price of multicaulis is 

 undoubtedly a bubble, blovvn up by speculation ; 

 and that part must burst, sooner or later, (when, 

 we cannot predict ;) but the intrinsic value of the 

 plant will remain; and if silk-culture should be 

 really undertaken by only one farmer in every 

 hundred, and the demand thereby created should 

 maintain, for two seasons, the plants and buds to 

 one-eighth (or perhaps one-sixteenth) part of their 

 present exorbitant prices, the cultivation will still 

 be highly profitable to all who plant even at the 

 present high prices. If there should be nn demand 

 of purchasers, and no design of the cultivator to 

 raise silk-worms, then of course he will lose his 

 whole outlay. Of these, or of better chances, 

 every adventurer must judge for himself. 



We proceed to give extracts from our friend 

 Pleasants' letters. He will not confine his eflbrts 

 to merely raising mulberry plants for sale, but will 

 feed silk-worms the next season, on a considera- 

 ble scale. For this purpose, he has acquired poe- 

 session of the Bellona Arsenal, in Chesterfield, 

 which will be converted from its late warlike name 

 and purpose, to a laboratory for the peaceful and 

 useful labors of silk-culture, under the direction 

 of its present worthy occupant. 



* * # » # 



"On the subject of o?ie-6Md curings of multi- 

 caulis, 1 can give thee my experience this year, 

 which perhaps may be of some value. It is pro- 

 bably known to thee, that with scarcely any ex- 

 ceptions, there was a great failure m gettmg cut- 



tings to start last spring. John Carter is the only 

 cultivator I know who has succetuitHl well. Next 

 to him, I place mysell— but at a cuiifeiderabie dis- 

 lance in the rear. To the norlh, not nio)e than 

 one in 15 or 20 grew. The failure was owi"g to 

 a most peculiar treason, for I nevor saw cuitings 

 start bettor than mine did. An e.xce.^sivo drought, 

 at the time the plants began to root, drit'd them 

 up. In preparing my cuttings, out of some of the 

 strongest and best wood, 1 cut 10,000 or 15,000 

 with one bud. The remainder had two buds. The 

 one-bud cuttings ( planted to themselves in the 

 same sort of ground with the others; and they 

 were all subsequently Ireateil alike. Taking the 

 piece at large, they stand as well as the best spot 

 ol two-bud cuttings, and much better than the 

 greater part of them. They come up with great 

 regularity, and have grown off very evenly. 



"ll'thesiason is propitious, there is no reason 

 why a cutting with one bud should not grow as 

 well as one with two buds. A large one may be 

 stuck deeper in the ground, and in a drought, it 

 may be longer under the influence of moisture. 

 But with early planting, I have no hesitation in 

 relying upon any good one-bud cutting ; and early 

 planting, by the way, is more or less important to 

 the success of every mode. I have never taken 

 up my multicaulis plants so early in the sprin"',, 

 but what I found the buds started, and the littTe 

 rootlets in the act of being thrown out. The 

 growth must therefore be checked by exposure to 

 the air, and transplanting. From my observation, 

 the conditions which I would recommend, (and 

 which I rely on so fully that I intend to practice 

 them,) in order to insure success to one-bude, are 

 as Ibllows; Preserve the plants during winter in a 

 cool place, not exposed to the sun. Let the ground 

 be prepared, so that the planting may be com- 

 menced as early as the seasoH will permit ; if in 

 February the better— at any rate, early in March. 

 The soil should not be so light or sandy as to be- 

 come thirsty very soon. Let the cuttings be pre- 

 pared by separating midway between the joints,, 

 and stick them deep enough for the bud to be 

 covered from an inch to an inch and a half, ac- 

 cording to the texture of the soil. The bottom of 

 the slip will then be about 2^ inches beneath the 

 surface — a depth to which the ground seldom be- 

 comes entirely dry in the early part of the spring — 

 and if there be any choice of ground in the lot, 

 select for single buds that part which lies the low- 

 est, as being likely to retain moisture the longest. 

 With these precautions, and above all,ear/y plant- 

 ing, no failure can, in my opinion, ensue ; but I 

 would advise thee to consult other cultivators on 

 the subject. By a strong cutting, I mean one 

 taken from the larger part of the main stem of a 

 vigorous plant, and those near the base of thrifty 

 lateral branches. Some days ago, I removed the 

 earth from a number of my single-bud plants, for 

 the purpose of examining them carefully. I found 

 some smaller than I intended to plant ; but the 

 trees were as large as those from the largest cut- 

 tings. * # • * # 



"My plants will this year yield per cutting 

 about 40 buds, on the average — perhaps more • 

 and the most of them grow on a thin, shallow soil, 

 that never was manured." **#### 



"It is the opinion of many men of judgment, 

 with whom I have conversed and corresponded, 

 that the present prices will be nearly or quite sus- 

 tained another year. The stock of mulberries 



