752 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



pounds at ^4, which gives $720, the gross ave- 

 rage of an acre. 



We vvili now state an account current, by which 

 the net profit of an acre will be clearly demon- 

 strated, and we beg leave to make this explana- 

 tion, that with a view of providing against ail 

 possible contingencies, we have taxed 540,000 

 worms, with the expense of the labor of one mil- 

 lion, which will more than cover all drawbacks 

 arising from mortality among the worms or any 

 other unforeseen casualties. 



Expense of silk culture. 

 To interest on one acre land, valued at 



twenty dollars . _ . . 1 20 



To interest on laboratory valued 8500 30 00 



To hire two men five weeks at $6 per 



month 15 00 



To their board one and a half weeks 15 00 



To hire two women four weeks at $3 



per month - - - 6 00 



To board two Avomen at ^\ 50 per 



week - - - _ - 12 00 



To hire four women three weeks $3 



per week - - - 9 00 



To their board gl 50 per week - 18 00 



To hire 12 children from 7 to 14 years 



old, two weeks, at 8 1 per week - 24 00 



To their board at $1 per week - 24 00 



Gross product of five acres 

 Cost of culture 



Net profit 

 Gross product of 10 acres 

 Cost of culture 



3,960 00 

 425 69 



3,534 50 



7,920 00 



851 00 



Net profit - - - - 565 80 

 As the above product of ^720 gross is the work 

 of five weeks only with two men, six women and 

 twelve children, three crops of silk can be made 

 in one year, if the culturist has 3 acres in morus 

 multicaulis and supplies of eggs, kept in an ice- 

 house, or some low temperature in order to pre- 

 vent them from hatching until wanted. 

 To expense of three acres 154 20 per 



acre .... 462 60 



Yield of 3 acres, at 180 lbs. per acre 

 is 540 lbs. at $4 per lb. - - 2160 00 



Deduct cost of culture - - 462 60 



Net profit - - - 1697 40 



A table showing the actual profits of the mul- 

 berry culture, upon one, five and ten acres of 

 ground according to the estimate of Mr. John D. 

 Homergue. 



Gross product of one acre - - 972 00 

 Cost of culture of one acre - - 111 94 



Net profit 

 Gross product of five acres 

 Cost of culture 



Net profit 

 Gross product of 10 acres 

 Cost of culture 



860 06 



4,860 00 



559 70 



4,300 30 

 9.712 00 

 1,119 40 



Net profit - - - 8,592 60 



Estimate according to Count Dandolo, ihe Ita- 

 lian silk culturist. 



Gross product of one acre - - 792 00 



Cost of culture - - - 85 10 



Net profit 



706 90 



Net profit. - - - 7,069 00 



In a letter of the Hon. Ambrose Spencer of Al- 

 bany to S. M. Hopkins, Esq., dated 7th April, 

 1835, he states, on the authority of the Burlington 

 Free Press, that raw sdk was produced in the 

 town of Mansfield, Connecticut, to the amount of 

 over 860,000 in 1834, and that the county of 

 Windham produced silk annually valued at 

 500,000, and if reeled would be worth double that 

 sum. This statement the judge believes to be sub- 

 stantially true. 



" Near Boston, 420 pounds of silk, worth $3 SO' 

 per pound amounting to 81470 was raised by four 

 girls, whose attention to this culture required but 

 a small portion of the year. So says S. Blyden- 

 burg of Albany, New York. This (act contains 

 one of the most powerful arguments in favor of 

 the culture which we have yet seen. We find 

 four girls — farmers' daughters, or helps, as hired 

 persons are called to the eastward — successful!}' 

 attending to four acres of mulberry trees, gather- 

 ing the leaves, feeding the worms and performing 

 all the labor incident to the business, and what is 

 the result? Why at the depressed price of -83 50 

 per pound they made silk enough to bring 81470 

 or 8367 50 to each hand ; now if the present 

 price which prevails in Massachusetts, 84 per 

 pound from the purchaser, and 50 cents from the 

 state, had then prevailed, each of these females 

 would have averaged 8472 25, or the whole have 

 made, in the aggregate, 81)890, and independent 

 of the state bounty, the 420 lbs. of silk would 

 have brought 81680 or 8420 to each of the fe- 

 males engaged in the feeding of the worms. And 

 as on an average 3,000 worms completing their 

 cocoons, will make a pound of silk, there were 

 but 1,260,000 worms — thus it is evident, that Ihe 

 produce here recorded is lar from being a large 

 one, for had the orchard been planted to the ex- 

 tent of the capacity of the ground, 720 lbs. oi silk 

 might just as readily have been raised as the 420 

 lbs." But it may be said .8420 to the hand is a 

 high estimate, be it so, let us take half, which wdl 

 give 8210, if this is too much divide again and 

 we have 8105 to the hand, this is belter than the 

 culture of tobacco, more particularly wiien we 

 consider that our worn lands are daily improving. 

 A crop of silk is made in 5 weeks and will not in- 

 terfere much with the regular business of a larm. 

 In the silk culture all tlie members of a family 

 may be employed, the young, the old, the maim- 

 ed, the halt, the blind, all can gather mulberry 

 leaves. Our tobacco barns throughout eastern 

 Virginia will make the best laboratories or co- 

 cooneries, and nothing is wanting to prevent us 

 from going heart and hand in the silk cullure, hut 

 a few thousand mulberry trees (morus mullicaulis) 

 which may be propagated from cuttings in two 

 years. The climate of Virginia is more favora- 

 ble to the culture of silk than that of Europe, in- 

 deed it is as favorable as that of China, and the 

 immense wealth of that country, by this cullure 

 is sufficient to convince every intelligent individu- 

 al of the propriety of going into the silk culture iii 



i< 



