1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



735 



but, by reason of other engagements, I have been 

 obliged to delay answering them until the present 

 time. In replying to your questions, it will be 

 necessary for me briefly to recapitulate them. 

 " Question 1. Have you been long engaged in 

 cultivating the mulberry? 2. What species oC 

 morus do you deem preferable, and what kind of 

 soil suits it best"? 3. What is the best mode of 

 propagating, planting, and managing it? 4. 

 What is the value, expense, and profit on an acre 

 of mulberries for the first five years inclusive 1 5. 

 What kind of worm do you consider the most 

 valuable? 6. What help does it require to raise 

 one hundred pounds of silk ? 7. What buildings, 

 fixtures, &c., are necessary in this latitude to raise 

 one hundred pounds of silk? 8. What bounty or 

 bounties does the legislature of your state ofl'er to 

 encourage the growth of silk ? 9. Is there a ready 

 market lor cocoons and reeled silk? Any other 

 information you may be pleased to communieate 

 in accordance with the foregoing questions, will 

 be thankfully received and duly appreciated." I 

 Avill endeavor to give each of these questions, in 

 their order, a fair investigation. 



First. " Have you been long engaged in culti- 

 vating the mulberry ?" I am one of the number 

 who first commenced the silk-business in this vi- 

 cinity, and have devoted the two last years with 

 close application, practically, to the culture of the 

 morus multicaulis, and rearing the silk-worm. 



Second. " What species of morus do you deem 

 preferable, and what kind of soil suits it best ?" 

 I have taken much interest during the last lew 

 years, in comparing the relative qualities of the 

 diffierent mulberries ; and at present I know of 

 none I deem preferable to the morus multicaulis 

 for this and the more southern latitudes, for the 

 eilk-business. The Alpine, the Canton, and the 

 Brussa, are excellent species, and may be well 

 adapted to the more northern latitudes ; but they 

 are slower of growth, and less productive of foli- 

 age. Most of the different species [ have seen, 

 which are fourteen or fifteen varieties, require four 

 or five years' growth before having much foliage 

 to part with ; but the multicaulis will yield a large 

 <juantity the first year's growth without injury to 

 the tree, and is eaten with great avidity by the 

 silk-worm. The mulberry that is most productive 

 of fruit, is less productive of foliage. The multi- 

 caulis produces very little fruit, and is not ofien 

 grown from the seed. It will flourish well on all 

 soils where the peach tree does. To select a loca- 

 tion on which to .plant a field lor the silk-business. 

 I would prefer undulating grounds, having a deep 

 •mellow loam, and mixed vvith sand and gravel 

 sufficient to prevent the soil from bakingorcrusting. 



Third. " What is the best mode of propagating, 

 ^planting, and managing it?" After having the 

 ground made mellow, lay out the field in rows 

 about four feet apart, and the surest mode, by 

 taking one season with another, is to lay the trees 

 down full length and cover deep enough to keep 

 moist. The time for planting in this latitude, 

 I think, will be during the first and second 

 weeks in April, in common seasons. By planting 

 a field of mulberries in this mode they must be 

 1aken up in the autumn, as they will stand too 

 near each other to remain in the ground. But to 

 plant a field of mulberries not to be taken up in 

 the fall, my views are, to lay out the rows about 

 iive feet apart, and plant, in the rows, roots or 



cuttings two feet apart, and in the autumn take 

 up every other tree in the rows, leaving them 

 standing fotir feet apart ; the remainder to have 

 the tops cut o{\ near the ground in the fall. The 

 following sprinjT, many shoots from each stump 

 will start up vvith vigor, and produce abundance of 

 foliage, and easy to be gathered. Where the field 

 is large, I think every fifth row may be omitted 

 and not planted, but used as a passage for a cart 

 or wagon, in which to transport the foliage to the 

 cocoonery. Our experiments, made this season, 

 have proved the feasibility, that mulberries treated 

 in the above manner, will fulfil the most sanguine 

 anticipations. 



Fourth. " What is the value, expense and 

 profit, on an acre of mulberries for the first five 

 years inclusive?" To answer this, it will require 

 some philosophical speculations, as the feeding of 

 silk- worms from an acre of multicaulis of four or 

 five years' growth, has not been done by me, or 

 under mv observation. At the rate of fifty pounds 

 reeled silk to the acre has been produced from the 

 first year's growth of trees. But from an acre 

 planted in the manner I have described, thirty 

 pounds the first year will be a fair production, and 

 by leaving the roots in the ground and pruning the 

 tops in the autumn, I deem it not extravagant to 

 estimate one hundred pounds reeled silk yearly on 

 an average, the four succeeding years after the 

 first year's growth of trees. Afler the cocooneries 

 and fixtures for feeding are prepared, we can feed 

 the silk- worms and reel the silk at an expense not 

 over two dollars and fifty cents per pound, and it 

 is then worth from four dollars and fifty cents to 

 six dollars a pound to the manufacturer. 



Fifth. " What kind of worm do you consider 

 the most valuable ?" At present, I know of none 

 I prefer to the white mammoth worm, so called ; 

 but we have a kind that spins a large yellow co- 

 coon, and is a very good kind. The silk of the 

 white is worth most. We have a kind called the 

 two-crop kind, as it can be re-produced the same 

 year, but thev spin a small cocoon. 



Sixth. " What help does it require to raise one 

 hundred pounds of silk?" It requires a person 

 having experience to take charge of the feeding, 

 who can manage during the first week alone after 

 the worms hatch, and the second week a boy or 

 girl will be wanted to pick leaves, and after that 

 another person, equal to a full hand, will be all 

 that will be required to finish the crop, which will 

 be about three hundred thousand in number. By 

 this calculation I expect the cocoonery to be con- 

 venient to the mulberry field. It requires two 

 hands to change the worms dexterously, but they 

 can aitend to that in the morning, when the dew 

 will be upon the leaves, and to gathering the foli- 

 age after the dew shall disappear. A stock of 

 leaves will always be wanted before hand, lest 

 there should be rainy weather, when they cannot 

 gather them. 



Seventh. " What buildings, fixtures, &c., are 

 necessary in this latitude to raise one hundred 

 pounds of silk ?" Common rough made build- 

 ings will answer well to leed in. I have seen a 

 common barn used as a cocoonery, and the silk- 

 worms do exceedingly well. They like a gentle 

 current of ft-esh air to keep them heailhfiji. The 

 fixtures, &c., such as we have adopted in this 

 place for feedin<r, I described to you in a former 

 letter. [See Farmers' Cabinet, Vol. II, p. 331.] 



