538 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



good management has been disregarded. There 

 is then great cause for congralulation, thus far. 

 Eut as the season advanced, success became less 

 certain. For a while the worms would do well 

 until the moment of mounting, when they would 

 nearly all die off. Subsequently they would be- 

 come diseased at an earlier age ; and now, very 

 fliw are found lo survive the second moulting. 



Although the season has been exceedingly un- 

 favorable, it is impossible to ascribe all the disas- 

 ters to it. It only requires a little extra (rouble 

 and care, to obviate all the disadvantages of 

 weather. Being deeply interested in the business, 

 and having observed its progress very closely, I 

 am clearly of opinion that the eggs have gradual- 

 ly become contaminated by the process of retard- 

 ing. The inquiry then naturally arises, whether 

 retarding is necessarily injurious to the good qua- 

 lity of eggs? Is there no mode by which the 

 hatching impulse can be arrested without impart- 

 ing a taint to the constitution of the embryo, 

 which no subsequent treatment can overcome'? 

 It is to the consideration of this inquiry that I 

 wish to direct your attention. You have (hcilities, 

 not only (or diffusing but for collecting inlbrmation, 

 which no other man possesses; and I beg leave 

 to suggest that the debt of gratitude which the 

 community now owes to your public spirit and pa- 

 triotism, would be still further increased, if you 

 would investigate this subject, and make known 

 such plans as have been found to succeed, of pre- 

 serving the eggs for successive crops. 



At the commencement of the present season, I 

 was full ol' expectation and buoyant with hope. 

 My first crop of cocoons were equal in quality to 

 any I have ever seen. I thought I had some rea- 

 son to look forward to continued success ; for 1 

 had a large number of what I estimated the best 

 eggs, carefully deposited on ice in January, per- 

 fectly secure from moisture, and kept at a temper- 

 ature ranging from 37 to 47 degrees. Up to the 

 present lime Iheir vitality is not in the least im- 

 paired ; for they hatch with the greatest uniformi- 

 ty in nine or ten days alter exposure. The worms 

 are active and hearty until the first moulting ; but 

 as ihey approach and emerge from this state, they 

 spread a thick tissue of web over the litter, cover- 

 ing themselves with it, and with some difficulty 

 escaping from it at the commencement of the se- 

 cond age. The appearance of this web I have 

 come to regard as an unerring symptom of debili- 

 ty. From the time of the first moulting, the 

 worms begin to rapidly disappear ; and few or 

 none long survive the third change. 



The disappointment occasioned by these josses 

 has been very grievous ; but believing that there 

 is a remedy, and having undiminished confidence 

 in the practicability of silk culture, 1 intend to per- 

 severe wilh renewed energy. P. 



suspend from the sleepers with the heads down- 

 ward in a cool cellar, and they are ready and fit 

 for use at all times. Cabbages kept in this man- 

 ner retain all their peculiar flavor and sweetness; 

 the whole virtue of the slump and leaves is con- 

 centrated in the part v^hich is used, are handy of 

 access, occupy but little room which would be oc- 

 cupied by oiher purposes, and seldom if ever rot ; 

 the outside leaves wilt and contract, and in time 

 become quite dry, which form a sort of coating 

 that serves to exclude the air from the inside ol the 

 head. 



Another method practised by some, and highly 

 recommended, is to cut the head I'rom the stump, 

 pack close in a sack, taking care to fill up the va- 

 cancies with dry chaff, thereby excluding the air, 

 and keep in a dry cellar. 



CATERPILLAR IN THE COTTOrf. 



From tlie New Orleans Bulletin. 



A letter, dated 12ih August, written by an in- 

 telligent planter at Hope, in the Ked River dis- 

 trict, and received by the Bogue Iloma, which 

 has been handed lo us by a commercial house of 

 the city, says : — 



"We have terrible reports of the caterpillar; 

 that they are sweeping every thing on Bayous, 

 BcRuf and Robert, and on the river. On this Ba- 

 you I hear they are very bad at Dick's, Whillin.rj:- 

 lon'p, Mnnadcr's, Roger's, Davison's, Gordon's 

 and Texada's, below me ; and at Winn & Neall's, 

 Davidson & Hnle's, Bullard & Clauton's, and 

 Gray's, above me. In my own crop, I discover- 

 ed a few; but they sometimes spread so last as 

 to spread over a whole crop in a week ; and cot- 

 ton, in which they are now pretty general, cannot 

 make, under the best of circumstances, more than 

 half a crop. J. Brown told me that a part of his 

 Johnston plantation looked precisely as if it had 

 been burnt. I am told Smith W. Gordon, who 

 you know is a very shrewd man, and who ought 

 in a fair season to make 250 bales, says he will 

 give his crop to any one for 50 bales. 



PRESERVATION OF CABBAGES. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



The following methods of preserving cabbages 

 for winter use are the result of experience. 



The cabbages should be gathered before injury 

 is done them by the severe fiill frosts ; the heavy 

 outside leaves should remain on the stalk. Fix a 

 etring or cord round the stumps near the roots, strips of five or^slx inches, tarred one side of the 



TARRING TREES TO PROTECT THEM FROM 

 THE CANKER WORM. 



From the Yankee Farmer. 



A gentleman, who has had some experience in 

 the business, considers the tarring the cheapest 

 and an effectual remedy against the canker worm. 

 He says that their ravages may in this way be 

 prevented with an expense not exceeding one- 

 fourth or one-half of the interest on the sum ne- 

 cessary to protect trees with troughs. 



This year he had about fifty apple trees on hia 

 place, which he occupied ibr the first season. 

 Last year nothing was done to destroy the worms, 

 and they were very numerous, destroying all the 

 foliage on the trees ; so that he commenced ope- 

 rations under unfavorable circumstances, for with 

 proper care annually their ascent upon the trees 

 would have been prevented, and of course they 

 would have been much less numerous. 



In the spring he cut stout brown paper into 



