736 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



Our fixtures for spinninff, are common sawed 

 lath placed about three inches apart on the under 

 side of the shelves, and some siinfile means fi.xed 

 /or the worms to mount up on. They spin their 

 cocoons in the corners, where the laih comes in 

 contact with the sheill 



Eighth. " What bounty or bounties does the 

 legislature oC your slate otfer to em-ourajre the 

 growth of silk 'V The legislature of New Jersey 

 at its last session passed a law granting fifteen 

 cents premium, per pound, on cocoons, ihe pro- 

 duction of this stale, and to be in Ibrce five years. 



Ninth. •' Is there a regular market for cocoons 

 and reeled silk V There are regular markets at 

 f!iir prices tor cocoons produced near where tr.anu- 

 facturing silk has now begun. 'J'he transporta- 

 tion of large bodies of cocoons to a distance, is 

 not practicable. The manufacturers are anxious 

 to obiain all the good reeled silk our country can 

 produce at present, and lor some years to come, 

 and pay a much hiiiher price than li)r the best 

 imported. Those who raise silk and wishing to 

 sell it in its raw slate had belter reel it into skeins, 

 and it is then in a merchantable condition. 



Mr. Gamaliel Gay is the inventor of a set of 

 machinery which is now in use in this place, that 

 first spools the silk from the cocoons, and is then 

 doubled and twisted into sewing silk, and is 

 thought will answer a good purpose. 



I have answerec! your interrogatories in a man- 

 ner that appears most feasible to my views, but I 

 do not pretend to lay down any particular modes 

 or systems as applicable to all future generations. 

 Respecifuliy yours, 



CiiAUNCEY Stone. 



Jos. S. Naudain, M. D., Middleton, Del. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 



don't forget to lime. 



A short time since a farmer was inquired of why 

 He didn't use lime as a manure? His reply was, 

 "I can't afford it." 



What, can't afford to make your fields produce 

 twice as much grain and grass as they have here- 

 tofore furnished; I don't understand that kind of 

 logic. 



Well, I don't see how I could well afford to buy 

 lime; it , costs money, you know 



Yes, it costs money, that is true; and what is 

 the use of money but lo lay it out in such way as 

 to make it produce more, in the same way thai 

 we sow wheat and plant corn, in order ihnt we 

 mnv get more wheat and corn in reiuni. 



The true plan of using money is to vc'^t ii so as 

 to make it as productive as possible; and there is 

 no way that \ know of l>y which a f^irmer can 

 make his funds increase faster, than liy so apply- 

 iiiir them as to increase the fertility of his farm. 



That wise old farmer, William We«t, admo- 

 nished his friends and neighbors '•to be kind to the 

 soil;" well knowing from his own experience that 

 the result would be prosperity; but those who go 

 on skinning and impoverishinir it, are acting the 

 part of the old woman who killed the goose that 

 laid the golden egg; they soon arrive at that state 

 when they think — 



"They can't afford to lime." 



There is a class of people in the world, and 



some of them are called farmers, who despise 

 small ihiniTs, and therefore they can never achieve 

 irreat ones; they are loo proud lo thrive, and too 

 Ia5!y to jjrow rich; Pnd because they can't do 

 things on a larire scale, omii lo do them altoge- 

 ther, and these are the people — 



Who can't afford lo lime. 



George Esher, the worthy and successful farm- 

 er and horticulturist, who is referred lo under the 

 heading of "More fruits of indusiry and intelli- 

 gence" in vol. ii. p. 306 of Ihe Cabinet; humble 

 as was the commencement of his career in life, 

 could always afford to buv manure, because he 

 knew that if he enriched his soi!, it would in turn 

 enrich him, and in this way they have been going 

 on flir half a century, conlerrinij reciprocal benefita 

 on each other, and it is now a question not easy to 

 determine which is the richer, George, or his farm, 

 for — 



He never said he couldn't afford to lime. 



Those who think they can't afford to lime 

 much, should lime a little; make a beginning^ for 

 there is nothing like commencing to do right.' A 

 farmer some years since vvsis prevailed upon to 

 buy lime enouirh lo dress about ten acres of hifi 

 ground; this gave him a start, and the increased 

 produce nrained by this trial, has induced him to 

 continue it since, and from that time he began to 

 thrive, and now he thinks — 



He can afford to limp. 

 X. 



poor RICHARD S ALMANAC. 



The Way to Wealth, as dearly shown in the Pre- 

 face of an old Pennsylvania j^lmanac, entiiled, 

 Poor Richard Improved.* 



Courteous Reader. — I have iieard, that nothing 

 gives an author so great pleasure, as to find his 

 works respectfully quoted by others. Judge, then, 

 how much I must have been gratified by an in- 

 cident I am going to relate to yon. i piopfx-d my 

 horse lately, where a great nnnibcr of penp!e\vcre 

 collected, at an auction of mcrcliHnis' goods. The 

 hour of the sale not beinir conic, they were con- 

 versing on the badness ot' the times: and one of 

 the company called to a plain clean old man, with 

 white locks, 'Pray, Father Abraham, what ihink 

 you of the times? Will not these heavy taxes 

 quiie ruin the country? How shall we ever be 

 able to pav them? What would you advise us to?' 

 Fnthnr Abraham stood up, and replied, 'If you 

 Wf)uld have my advice, I will give it to you in short, 

 "for a word to the wise is enough," as PoorRich- 



* For many years Dr. Franklin published an alma- 

 nac, under ihe fictitious name and authorship of 

 Richard Saunders. It was distinguished for its pro- 

 verbs, and old sayings, calculated to teach habits of 

 industry and frugality, and addressed to the taste and 

 feelin;^? of common people. It was much valued, and 

 gained an individuality of character, both for itself 

 and for " Poor Richard," as its author. The following 

 article formed the preface to one of the last numbers ; 

 in which the author, in a manner both amusing and 

 impressive, brings together most of the old proverbs 

 which had been scattered through the earlier numbers 

 of Poor Richard's Almanac. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



