FARMERS' REGISTER. 



117 



road to vvealtli," for it will yield considerable profits 

 almost willioLit labor. You have to ploiigli (he 

 •rround well in January, February March, (ihe 

 earlier, ihe belter) and immediately check oil' 4^- 

 jeet each way, and propping one artichoke in each 

 check, cover them with the plouifh. About the 

 time ihey come up plough them like Irish potatoes, 

 and then again cross plough them about one loot 

 high and you are done cultivating ttiem for ever. 

 The first year they will make Irom 400 to 700 

 bushels per acre, and afterwards they will improve 

 lor two or three years, till they will yield about 

 double the product of the first year. [ now speak 

 from experience. The hogs being allowed to root 

 them all the vvinler, is an advantage to them, be- 

 cause they root up and soften ilie soil to a great 

 depth and the artichokes will fill the soil as far 

 down as it is pulverised. Thus ih^y improve lor 

 several years, enough always being left by the 

 hogs to set the ground completely. And lest 

 some one should object, that they might freeze if 

 planted in the winter I remark that this artichoke 

 will freeze and thaw all the winter and still be as 

 good in the spring as if it had been in a cellar. 

 The only way in which it may be injured 

 is by exposure to the air long enough to let it get 

 dry, when it withers up to a hard slick. Hence, in 

 transporting them, we have to keep them moist, in 

 Older to preserve them. 



A^our hogs should not go on them until about the 

 fir-tof Novenjber; when the trouble of feeding 

 is over till spring, for each hog " roots lor his liv- 



. i'lg-" 

 «*^ Sows with suckling pigs should not go on them, 

 lor the artichokes injure the qualities of the milk, 

 so as to make the pigs dwindle. But as soon as 

 pigs are weaned, they will do finely by rooting 

 ibr their living. 



Heretofore, I have given artichokes to all who 

 desire them, and still give to my neighbors who will 

 dig then); but being ofien called on by persons at 

 a distance, 1 propose to accommodate them, in a 

 raannerthat will take care of numberone. Wher- 

 ever persons will unite and take a wagon load I 

 will send a load. I can deliver them at Gallatin, 

 Nashville, Franklin, Columbia. JVIurfreesborough, 

 or McMiimvilie Ibr !$2 per bushel, 5 bushels being 

 enough to plant an acre. 



I am decidedly of the of)inion that this arti- 

 choke will form a valuable accession to the hus- 

 bandry of the western country; because every 

 liarmer may keep his hogs through the winter 

 without labor, by devoting rugged parts of his 

 farm, or some thin woodlands to artichokes. 



Francis H. Gordon. 



SUGGESTIONS TO PERSONS ABOUT TO COM- 

 MENCE SILK-CULTURE. REQUISITES FOR 

 EXPERIMENTS. THE NECESSITY FOR EGGS 

 FROM HEALTHY STOCK, AND THE MEANS 

 OF OBTAINING THEM. 



Deeming that the establishment of silk-culture 

 as a regular branch of agricultural empIoyn)ent 

 will be of great importance to the interests and 

 prosperity of the United States in general, and es- 

 pecially of Virginia — and that this is the most 

 favorable juncture that ever has or may ever again 



occur for the commencement of many and exten- 

 sive experimental operations in this new business — 

 we hope to be excused lor repeatedly attempting 

 to enforce the importance of the subject, and to in- 

 duce as many as possible now to prepare for a 

 first experiment, and with such means, and such 

 care, as will make their success almost cer'^ain. 

 If our advice can have any such effect, it can not 

 be later than this time ; for perhaps before another 

 monthly publication shall issue, it will be too late 

 for persons then desiring it to commence prepara- 

 tions, and especially to secure the possession of 

 good eggs, without which requisite (or success, 

 the results of the experiment, (whether as to in- 

 formation or product,) will surely be failure and 

 loss, disappointment and disgust. 



One very important and widely extended means 

 for beginning silk-culture this year, never has be- 

 fore existed, and perhaps never will again. This 

 is the great superabundance of morus multicaulis 

 trees of which not only the leaves, but the trees 

 themselves, can now be obtained for almost noth- 

 ing. This state of worthless superfluity, caused by 

 the madness, and after prostration of the specula- 

 tion in trees, cannot continue ; for, if worthless 

 for sale, the plants will not be preserved by any 

 but those who will use them for feeding, and who 

 will therefore know their value. They will not be 

 permitted to occupy valuable land, and others will 

 generally perish by neglect, or be destroyed by 

 grazing catile, and, whether silk-culture be esta- 

 blished or not, there will not long remain any su- 

 perabundance of these trees. 



Owing to this and other existing circumstances,, 

 almost every person in the country who has a 

 spare room, or can put up a log-house (which would 

 not cost ^20 to build,) can this year make an ex- 

 periment cheaply. And if the first trial is as suc- 

 cessful as can be reasonably expected, considering 

 the necessary imperfections of every first trial, 

 then the experimenter will be prepared, both in 

 experience and other means, for a larger and pro- 

 perly conducted business, the following year. 



We are gratified to hear every week of more 

 and more extension of operations in feeding de- 

 signed in lower Virginia this year ; and we are 

 already satisfied that, even in this year, silk-cul- 

 ture will be a business of some importance, as to 

 the number and extent of operations. Siill this 

 approaching to the end desired, makes us but the 

 more anxious (because inspired with more confi- 

 dence) in urging on others to follow the example, 

 in small and carefully conducted experiments, and 

 thus to plant the seeds which will furnish a har- 

 vest of a hundred-fold increase of operations the 

 succeeding season. 



It is essential to success and to the satielacfion 



