1638] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



497 



arithmetically, the present or prospective amounts, 

 or market prices of their possessions or purchases. 

 It is, therefore, that we have thotiirht that these 

 mulberry statistics, and estimates, trilling and 

 humble as they are, may not be useless. 



On page 592, vol. II, of Farmers' Register, 

 and in the appendix to the ' Essay on Calcareous 

 Manures,' (pp. 103, 104,) there is a table of the 

 number of plants, or rectangular spaces, in an 

 acre, at ever}' distance that can be desired- This 

 tvill be found far more convenient for reference to 

 show the, number o( mulberry plants to an acre, 

 than for the other purposes for which the table 

 was originally designed. 



According to this table, an acre of land planted 

 with cuttings at the distance of three feet bj' one, 

 Would take 14520 plants. This allows abundant 

 space for the first year's growth. At three feet by 

 eleven and a half inches, there would be 15125 

 plants ; and therefore, for round numbers, 15000 

 tnay be taken as the number of cuttings proper 

 for an acre, and which, if not growing unusually 

 large, would not be too thick, even if all were to 

 live. Upon this ground, the cost and returns (and 

 Conjectural profits) will be estimated. 



Cost. 

 15000 single-bud cuttings, bought No- 

 vember, 1838, at 2j cents each, make 

 the cost lor an acre, - _ _ ^375 



Interest on $375 for a year, - - 22 



Keeping cuttings through winter and 



cultivation in 1839, - - - 25 



Rent of land, - - - - 18 



Total cost, - - ^440 



Profit. 



Suppose of 15000 cuttings, 6000 to fail, and only 

 dOOO trees to grow, and these to avertige only 

 thirty good buds each — and these buds to sell in 

 November, 1839, at but half a cent each ; then the 

 product will be, 

 9000 plante, x 30=270,000 buds x h 



cent, - . - - $1350 



9000 roots, at three cents each, - 270 



Gross product. 

 Deduct cost, 



$1620 

 440 



Leaves, upon these data, clear profit. - .^1180 



This profit, or even half as much, ought surely 

 to satisfy the most eager ; and as every expense 

 is charged full high, and the failures allowed are 

 far too many, for an average season, (and even if 

 such unusual loss should occur, the vacant spaces 

 might be filled by summer layers,) there is no- 

 thing wanting to almost insure the full profit, ex- 

 cept this one datum, that buds next fall shall be 

 worth half a cent each. Of this chance, we leave 



Vol. VI.— 63 



each one to judge or conjecture for himself. If, 

 as most persons now believe, the price shaulcl hel 

 much higher than the above-slated, there would 

 be more than a proportional increase of net profit, 

 as no more expense will have to be paid ; and if 

 the present enormous prices of the cuttings and 

 roots should be maintained in the next crop, (say 

 2^ cents the bud, or 1.9 cents the foot,) then the 

 gross product of the acre would rise to the almost 

 incredible amount of ^ - $8100 



And, deducting expenses, - 440 



The net profit would be. 



Enormous as is this statement of profit, it is be- 

 lieved that It has been actually equalled this sea- 

 son in sundry cases. The most remarkable ex- 

 ample, in which it isr believed that these profits 

 have been fully equalled, is in the large nursery near 

 Richmond, cultivated by William Kenrick, a 

 nurseryman of Newton, near Boston; though un- 

 der all the disadvantages of cultivating by agents, 

 and on rented land, so many hundred miles from 

 his residence. 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF 

 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS INTO THE UNI- 

 TED STATES, AND THE DIFFUSION OF THE 

 KNOWLEDGE OF ITS PECULIAR VALUE, AS 

 FOOD FOR SILK-WOKMS. 



In the foi-egoing article, it was stated, that the pro- 

 fits of cultivating the morns multicaulis, (not mean- 

 ing the profits of spsculation,) have generally fallen 

 to individuals who are the most disposed to read, and 

 to pay respect to the information of, books or other 

 pubUcat.'ons on farming ; and vs'ho are the most ready 

 to try the experiments and new improvements therein 

 proposed, or made known. But, to this general rule 

 there is one remarkable exception, which it is our 

 purpose to present, and in the hope that a proper 

 sense of gratitude and justice will prevent this ex- 

 ception remaining much longer in existence. 



To Gideon B. Smith of Baltimore, more than to 

 any and to every otlier individual in this country, are 

 the country at large, and the fortunate individual cul- 

 tivators in particular, indebted for the possession and 

 enjoyment of the value of the moras multicaulis. 

 He was one of the earliest possessors — the very earliest , 

 to investigate, and to learn its value, from foreign 

 publications and from his own experiments ; and while 

 most other persons were either ignorant or careless of 

 the value, or, when better informed, cultivated the 

 plant solely for self-interest, Mr. Smith was, and has 

 continued to this day, without reward, or any hope of 

 remuneration, the zealous and unwearied advocate for 

 the dissemination and use of this tree. He has gained, 

 in pecuniary reward, no more than he expected — that 

 is, nothing ; and it would seem, that eiforts have been 

 made to take from him even the credit of his volun- 

 tary and gratuitous labors, and to assume the merit not 



