FARMERS' REGISTER 



187 



nessee in adaptation for the silk culture. The 

 multicaiilis jfruws as well witli us as corn ; and 

 the sil'K-worni is so healthy that I do not think we 

 Jose 2 percent. Every consideration appears to 

 show tliat nature points to this as the silk region 

 of the United Slates ;;ar excellence. We have no 

 conflicting staple. We have a very dense poor 

 white population — saying, "give us employment" 

 • — ingenious, not ashamed to work, and remarkably 

 docile — more manageahle than the northern popu- 

 lation ol' like grade! The girls and men in my 

 cotton factory are better hands, and more manage- 

 able, tl)ati at any factory in JNlaryland, and equal 

 to those in Massachusetts. And any number what- 

 ever can be obtained for extremely low wages. 

 Provisions, abundant and cheap. Again— the mer- 

 chants (and that class is very numerous and influ- 

 ential in E, T.) iiavc a deep interest in this busi- 

 ness. For our currency is always at a great 

 discount, and we are so li^r from market, that our 

 heavy agricultural productions cannot sustain the 

 transportation. Silk will be better lor us than 

 mines of gold and gems; and more than supply 

 our want, long to be experienced, of rail roads, ca- 

 nals, and navigable rivers. If I could, I would 

 make every man in this region ilream of silk until 

 the vision became reality. If I fully succeed this 

 year the business is established. A good many 

 are entering into it, and the present season will be 

 the crisis of the disurderP « * * * 



* * * " Every publication which can be 

 relied on respecting the silk culture will he valua- 

 ble to the country ; for although I do not believe 

 that it is a cidlure Vv'hich will ever admit of profit 

 on a large investment, yet I am satisfied, ttiat it' 

 establishments were formed in each neighborhond 

 Jbr the purpose of buying cocoons and reeling the 

 silk, the tending the worms would be found to 

 engage advantageously the women and children 

 every where, who are now mere consumers. In 

 the part of liie country in which 1 reside, Haber- 

 sham county, in Georgia, many persons were en- 

 gaged in a small way, in tending and liieding the 

 worms on the native mulberry of the country, and 

 the result was a conviction that no climate could 

 be more favorable. The winters are steadily cold 

 I'rom November to March both inclusive, the tlier- 

 mometer varying durinir that time, in a northern 

 shaded exposure, between twelve and forty ; some- 

 times at midday going as high as fifty, and per- 

 haps once during a winter going to zero. So that 

 the climate is cold enough to preserve the eggs 

 (irom hatching until late. Our summer heat very 

 rarely goes above 87°, and it has been found by 

 our experience, that no trouble need be taken to 

 keep the atmosphere in an ordinary room in a suf- 

 ficiently equable state. No trouble indeed is ne- 

 cessary except to keep the worms clean and well 

 fed. The atmosphere is so dry, that there is but 

 Httle snow, and I have never seen moisture even 

 on the plaster walls of stone, where the plaster 

 was put on the wall without the intervention of 

 "furring." You will I think then admit that in 

 my section of the country, at least the women 

 and children may raise tlie cocoons successfully 

 in a domestic way." ***** 



lis, taken from plants that came from cuttings 

 planted on 15th February, 1839. Any quantity of 

 worms can be fed here at this time, as the leaves 

 will nicrease in quantity, and faster than the 

 worms would increase in the consum|)iion of them. 



JMy object in sending you this inlbrmation is to 

 show you, and others, that silk can be raised in 

 Georgia, and more than one crop in a year. My 

 silk-vvorms' eggs commenced hatching on the 2d 

 inst., and will soon all be out. 



The peach blossoms made their first appearance 

 on t!ie 17th Feliruary, and are now falling ; they 

 were fullest on the 25ih. 



The largest ol" the leaves enclosed are 3 by 4 



I n f Ii p K '^ ^ ^ ^ 



■5lh February, 1840. 



Sparta, Ga., March 4th, 1840. 

 "To show you how forward the season is here, 

 1 enclose you a few leaves of the morus multicau- 



# * « <( Permit me to express to you the 

 gratification I experienced in the evident superi- 

 ority of the concluding numbers of the last volume. 

 (Not having been at home for the last four months 

 I have not of cou.'^se seen the numbers of the pre- 

 sent volume, for which I am now sending my sub- 

 scription.) I was particularly pleased, and hope 

 instruct(^d, by your essays on improving lands by 

 the ploughing in of green crops, and hope that you 

 will keep a watchful look-oiit lor any thing which 

 may throw farther lis;ht on that subject. 



A lew years ago there was much written on 

 the subject of the Italian rye grass, as a vastly 

 productive and very easily cultivated grass. The 

 lamented J. Buel thought most highly of it as a 

 productive and quick growing grass, and said that 

 he was satisfied it would answer very v/ell south of 

 Pennsylvania. As it came i'rom so warm a cli- 

 mate as Italy, I thouglit we might reasonably cal- 

 culate that It would bear our hot dry summers 

 much better than most of the foreign grasses. 

 Induced by his representations, a friend of mine 

 united with me in sending for some of the seed, 

 which came up beaulillilly, but proved to be no- 

 thing but the English perennial rye-grass, a small 

 dwarfish plant, exceedingly impatient of heat and 

 drought, and of very little value. If you can give 

 us any inlbrmation on the subject ol' this Italian 

 rye-grass, I have no doubt it will be acceptable to 

 my brother farmers as well as myself, li" only 

 half of what is said of it is true, it must be far more 

 productive than any we are acquainted with, and 

 then its culture is so easy, requiring only 15 or 20 

 lbs. of seed to the acre, and lasting lor many years. 

 A lew years ago there was a great deal written 

 in your paper about the Gama-grass, and no doubt 

 some of your readers gave it a fair experiment. I 

 should be very glad to learn whether it was really 

 valuable, or a mere humbug ; and should be obliged 

 for the same inlbrmation in reference to the Guinea 

 grass, and more especially if the latter can be made 

 use of as a grazing grass in this country. I have 

 a few of the plants, but they are in a garden, where 

 of course there is little opportunity of testing their 

 value. They stand our winters well, and produce 

 a great quantity of vegetable matter, which horses, 

 constantly stabled, eat with great avidity. But it 

 certainly does not grow with any thing like the 

 luxuriance with which it is said to do in Jamaica, 

 and does not eeem to recover quickly from the bite 

 of animals. 



I hope you will excuse this liberty, as I have 

 been a subscriber to your valuable paper from its 



