350 



F A Jl iAl E R S ' REGISTER. 



given to strangers who visit tiie establishment. 



The directors have been surprised to observe that 

 so small a (]uantily oi' cocoons has been oHijred lor 

 sale, thoiitjii they have taken so much pains to 

 apprise the public of their readiness to buy for 

 cash. The new crop, however, may soon t>e ex- 

 pected to come in, as laro;e quantities ol' worms are 

 already haiched out in ihis vicinity, and il' ordina- 

 ry success attend the growers, some very heavy 

 crops will be realized, besides many smaller ones. 

 Wtien good cocoons come in, our operations may 

 be expected to go on much more to our satisfac- 

 tion than at present. 



We believe the business of buying cocoons and 

 reeling the silU lor immediate sale in its raw slate, 

 to be a profiiable business of itsellj whether car- 

 ried on by companies or individuals. By the lat- 

 ter, no doubt, a greater profit will be secured, as 

 all individual enterprises are carried on with more 

 economy, tact, and skill, than those of a compa- 

 ny. Cocoons of good quality can be reeled for 

 about seveniy-five cents per bushel, affording one 

 pound of silk worth ^6. ilence, if ^4 be paid 

 lor them, there will be a clear profit of SI 25 per 

 bushel ; and as a girl (with a child at ^1 weekly, 

 to turn the reel,) can reel a bushel daily, ten such 

 girls, il constantly employed on good cocoons, 

 would realize to tlie proprietor of a filature of ten 

 reels, a gain of ^12 50 daily, from which the 

 slight chartjes of rent and fuel, are to be deducted. 

 A capital of i^300 would start such a filature, as 

 the silk can be sold lor cat:h daily or weekly, ac- 

 cording to the wants of the proprietor. As so 

 small a capital is sufficient lo secure so important 

 an aid to thesilk business, the triends of the cause 

 should assemble and establish small filatures in 

 New York, Baltimore, Richmond, Norlblk, Pins- 

 burg, Lancaster, Cincinnatii, Wilmington, Bur- 

 lington and other principal towns, lor the imme- 

 diate purchase of the new crop of cocoons. We 

 are satisfied no measure could possibly be adopted, 

 which would so certamly place the whole business 

 on a solid Ibundation, and strengthen the confi- 

 dence of those now hall-way inclined to under- 

 take it. 



Care must be taken in purchasing cocoons. 

 Some are rendered utterly unfit lor reeling by being 

 scorched in curmg ihem. Others are made equal- 

 ly worthless by sulfei ing fijrmenlalion to take place 

 in then), from not drying them sufficiently afier 

 curing, if cured by steatning. A little praciice 

 will enable a girl to detect imperli^ctions of this 

 kind in cocoons offered lor sale — but, perhaps, in 

 estimating expenses, some allowance should be 

 made lor loss in buying bad cocoons. There has 

 been quite a demand in this city during the spring, 

 i'oT females who understand rearing wornis and 

 reeling cocoons, and a suificient number could 

 not be found to su|)ply it. 



Among the reels at the model filature, is one 

 im[)orted direct I'rom Piedmont a few years since. 

 Though built in an apparemly clumsy and lum- 

 bering style, both as regards the timber and the 

 workmanshq), yet when the silk ree ed upon it is 

 compared wiih that produced on those American 

 rei'ls which are called improoements on ilie Pied- 

 mont machine, the diflerence in liivor of the for- 

 fner is so manliest as to place iis superioriiy lieyond 

 all question. The silk is certainly possessed ol 

 ijreaier lustre ; it is more readily cleared of knots 

 and burrs, and it is laid on the aspel in a different 



sized skein. The great strength of the aspel 

 maintains a unilbrm tension in the skein as it ia 

 drying, and to this we doubt not the superior lus- 

 tre is owing. The shrinking of a half day's reel- 

 ing, broke two asfieis of an American reel, show- 

 ing how necessary it is lijr the aspel to be strong 

 enough to maintain ihe silk oC uniform tension un- 

 til perlecily dry. This reel will be used as a mo- 

 del lor all others intended lor the use of this fila- 

 lure, and variations in the oihers now on liand, 

 will be changed so as loconlorm to that Irom Pied- 

 mont. We think the possession of iho real Pied- 

 montese reel, almost indispensable to all producers 

 of raw silk. Tbe art ol' reeling is not by any 

 means so difficult as Ibreign writers assert. A 

 girl who has any real desire to learn, can reel half 

 a pound daily after a month's practice, and a 

 whole pound at the end of another month. Fe- 

 males will f>e received al the model filature, and 

 instructed in the art of reeling, without any other 

 charge than the simple obligation lo remain three 

 months at the esiablishmeni ; at tlie end of which 

 time, if Ibund competent, a certificate of their pro- 

 ficiency will be given to them by the directors. 



Further particulars of our operations will be for- 

 warded to you fi'om time to time, il' you consider 

 the inlbrmaiion desirable lor your readers. JVl. 



Philadelphia, iMay 4, i840. 



DIFFBRENT SOILS IN KENTUCKY, AND THE 

 CONJECTrREK FORMATION OF THE RICH 

 LANDS AROUND LEXINGTON. 



From tlie Franklin Farmer. 



The success of the agriculturist depends not 

 only on industry, judicious rotation of crops, ma- 

 nuring, and the adaplaiion of the mode of culti- 

 vation lo the nature of vegetables and their modes 

 of growth, but on the nature of the soil and its 

 consequent peculiar fitness tor crops of one kind 

 rather ihan of anoiher. Hence, some knowledge 

 of chemistry, mineralogy and geology, enables 

 the tiller of the soil to derive greater resources 

 Irom his capital and to avoid great disappoinimenl; 

 in the investment of capital and in the cultivation 

 of crops not suitable to ihe soil. 



Some stock raisers of Bourbon and Clarke, 

 raised on the calcareous lands of these counties, 

 so finely adapted to grasses, (endogenous gluma- 

 ceous [ilanis, of which the poa Iribe, including the 

 greensward or blue gmss is so valuable, and not 

 the exogenous, leguminous plants, incluiling the 

 trifulium pratense repens, &c., red and white clo- 

 ver, which latter grow very well on silicious soils 

 if rich,) who have bought lands in the sandstone 

 region w nil llie expeclalion of having fine grasa 

 jiaslures, will be greatly disappointed. They will 

 find that the silicious soil, although rendered black 

 and apparently Hs rich as the Bourbon land, by the 

 decay of vegetable matier mingling with the iron 

 washed down Irom the hills, is not adapted to 

 greensward pasturage. They will succeed better 

 with corn and clover, and still better with the 

 nmlberrics for silk and the grape vines lor wine. 

 But for these branches of national industry they 

 are not prepared. They would do well therelbre 

 to fix themselves on calcareous lands, and leave 

 the sandstone lands to others. Until the mulberry 

 and Ihe vine shall become parts of our agricultural 



