FARMERS' REGISTER. 



547 



our country durintj this summer. Eggs that ought 

 to have been hatched in May, were protracted per- 

 haps till July, and eggs that ought to have been 

 hatched in July were attempted to be hatched in 

 May, and both were killed or badly injured ; for 

 it must be borne in mind that protraction ol' the 

 hatching of eggs is not alone the cause oC failure. 

 Many persons have failed from an opposite course. 

 Eggs that were produced by worms hatcfied in 

 August, were attempted to be hatched in May and 

 June. They were exposed in the ordinary way, 

 a few scattering worms came out, as is always tlie 

 case even the first season, and no more hatched. 

 The temperature was raised, but no effect was 

 produced, other than perhaps destroying the eggs, 

 and they were finally given up as bad eggs that 

 would not hatch at all. The (act was, the eggs 

 had not passed the lime required for their maturity, 

 and therefore, would not of course hatch until late 

 in July or August. We hope to be able to illus- 

 trate this part of our new theory before this paper 

 goes to press, with the statement of a most inter- 

 esting fact in point. 



The instance of retarding eggs from 1837 to 

 1839, by the Messrs. Carson, of Lancaster, Pa., 

 and on which nearly the whole practice of protract- 

 ing by means of ice-houses has been founded, is 

 certainly the most powerful argument that can be 

 brought against our present position. We do not, 

 however, consider one instance of success as con- 

 clusive, against so many as have been adduced 

 this season of an opposite character. It cannot 

 now be known at what time in the summer of 1837 

 the worms were hatched that produced the box of 

 eggs in question. In answer to our inquiry on 

 that point the Messrs. Carson say, 'they were 

 hatched about the middle of the season, we cannot 

 speak positively, as to the time. Brother Thomas, 

 since deceased, attended to the silk business entire- 

 ly at that time.' The eggs may have been pro- 

 duced late in the season of 1837, and having been 

 placed in the icehouse and remaining there stea- 

 dily they would not of course hatch till very late 

 in the season of 1838, or until the common tempe- 

 rature of the atmosphere was too low to hatch 

 them, and thus they passed over the entire year 

 of 1838, and hatched in 1839. We have entire 

 confidence in any statement made by the Messrs. 

 Carson ; but may we not he permitted to eugirest 

 the possibility of a mistake having been made in 

 supposing the box of eg^s found in the ice-house 

 to contain eggs of the produce of 1837, when in 

 fact they were the product of 1838 ? In their let- 

 ter giving an account of the atfair they say the 

 eggs 'were deposited in the ice-house in the fail of 

 1837 with the intention of feeding them in the 

 summer of 1838, but were overlooked, and our at- 

 tention was not drawn to them until it became 

 necessary to fill the ice-house again when the box 

 was found with about 30,000 mammoth white silk 

 worm egge.' Now as these esse had esca[)ed 

 their recollection from the fall of 1837 to the winter 

 of 1838, may it not have been possible that they 

 were in fact the produce of 1838 ? At all events, 

 except that of the Messrs. Carson, every attempt 

 that we have heard of, and they amount to hun- 

 dreds, to keep eggs from hatching later than a 

 month or so after the natural time of hatching, has 

 proved a failure. 



The Rev. Mr. MoLean in his statement in the 

 November number ol 1839, does not state at what 



time in 1838 he produced his eggs. If he pro- 

 duced them from worms hatched as late as the 

 middle of July, 1838, then his statement will be 

 corroborative of our theory ; if the worms were 

 hatched earlier than July, it is evidence against 

 it. It will be recollected that his worms in 1839 

 were hatched on the 31st July, August 19th, and 

 August 27ih, his eggs of the previous year having 

 been kept in ice till the time of hatching. 



The above are our views on this momentous 

 subject. It will be seen that they are in direct 

 conflict with views even recently entertained by us. 

 They are, however, perfectly coincident with our 

 opmion formerly and for the first ten years of our 

 experience, when we most carefiilly examined in- 

 to the whole affair. It is in the recollection of all 

 our friends, that until the accidental experiment 

 of the Messrs. Carson, and that of Mr. McLean, 

 we had no confidence in our ability to produce 

 successive broods of silk worms during the entire 

 season, and that we were induced by those expe- 

 riments and some others to change our opinion. 

 (We always objected to 'two-crop worms,' and it 

 must be remembered that they have not been 

 taken into view at ail in any of these remarks.) 

 We now believe we were right in our old opinion, 

 so far at least as is stated in the preceding pages. 



It is to be understood that the failures treated of 

 in the above paper, are those only in which the 

 worms had been properly treated, and in which 

 the original stock oieggs was unquestionably good. 

 It is not to be inferred that success in retarding 

 the eggs will of itself ensure success in the result 

 of the crop. The worms must have, besides per- 

 fection in the eggs at the time of hatching, all 

 proper management, such as proper food, plenty 

 of shelf room, cleanliness, and above all, free and 

 pure air. 



In conclusion — we shall watch this most inte- 

 resting subject closely ; shall collect all the infor- 

 mation possible ; and shall lay the result before 

 our readers, in the course of the present year. 



We must be permitted to make one more eug- 

 gesiion, which seems to be called for by the above 

 theory, and that is, that all persons in purchasing 

 eggs should be informed precisely of the time when 

 the worms were hatched that produced them. It 

 will readily be perceived that, if our views as above 

 expressed be correct, this information is absolute- 

 ly necessary. For example: we want eggs next 

 year to hatch in July, we shall of course purchase 

 those produced this year from worms hatched in 

 July. All who produce their own eggs can of 

 course mark them for themselves ; and those who 

 sell them should also do so. The well known ne- 

 cessity of good health in the original stock will of 

 course not be overlooked. G. B. S. 



CIiEANlJCG CLOVKR SEED. 



From the New Genesee Farmer. 

 Messrs. Editors. — In your paper for this month, 

 1 read an inquiry fiom a Canadian correspondent, 

 (S.) as to the method of cleaning clover seed. — 

 Now, to pen an accurate description of a clover 

 machine would require tco much mom, as well as 

 a much abler pen than mine. Never'heles?, I 

 wili use my best elfor;=* for ihe benefit of your 

 readers, it being a request li'om you to j'our corre- 

 spondents generally.j 



