588 



F A R M E U S ' REGIS 1' E R 



Here it ie proper to remarlc, that the second crop 

 of leaves which come out upon ihe mulberry trees 

 afier having been slripped of their first leaves for 

 the use of the silk- worm, are not allowed to liiU ol 

 themselves \a autumn. They are gaiheied Ibr 

 the seconti time with care, a liitle belbra the time 

 they would Tall naturally, and are given for Ibod 

 to their shec p, and eaten by ihem with greediness, 

 and by that means turn out to gocd account to the 

 farmer. Belbre the culture oCsilk was introduced 

 into (hat part of L inguedoc which is near to the 

 mountains of Cevennes; the peasantry over all 

 that neighborhood were miserably poor, as their 

 soil, which is mostly gravel and sand, was incapa- 

 ble of carrying crops ol' any kind ofgrain whatever. 

 .But as it was Ibuiid, upon trial, to answer re- 

 markably well for the mulberry tree, the people 

 entered with great alacrity iiito the culture of silk; 

 r.nd they have succeeded so well in that lucrative 

 branch, that from having been amongst the poorest 

 they are now more at their case than most of the 

 j)easanlry of (hat kingdom. 



When I happened to be at Gange, which is j 

 within the district above mentioned, and which j 

 is remarkable for the manulacture of silk stock- 

 ings, I was carried to see some mulberry trees, 

 belonging to a farmer in the neighborhood of the 

 village, which were the first that, had been intro- 

 duced into that part of the country. The trees 

 were remarkably large and fine, and little inferior 

 in point of size to our elm trees of the middling 

 sort. The people who obligingly attended me to 

 ehow me these favorite trees, assured me that a 

 good many of the largest of then) brought a return 

 to the farmer's family of a Louis d'or each of tliem 



yearly. 



# # * * * 



From the extension of the culture of silk over 

 all the southern pans of France, there is a great 

 increasing demand yearly Ibr the mulberry leaves; 

 6o that they are now become as much an article 

 of commerce as any other vegetaide production ; 

 the peasants with eagerness buying them up an- 

 nually with ready money at the proper season Ibr 

 the use of the silk-worms. 



This last circun'islance has given great encour- 

 agement tu gentlemen of property to raise exten- 

 sive plantations of mulberry trees upon their 

 estates; as they bring in a certain and steady 

 revenue, with little trouble or expense to the pro- 

 f)rietor, after the trees have once passed the risk 

 (if being hurt by cattle. And this improvement is 

 of the more consequence because the grounds that 

 are found to be the fittest lor production of the 

 mulberry trees, which afford the best Ibod Ibr the 

 silk worms, being gravel or sand, cannot be em- 

 ployed with any advantage in the raising of corn, 

 more especially where the manures lie at a distance 

 Irom them. 



Grounds of the above description had Ibrmerly 

 been in use to be planted with vines ; but the re- 

 turns from these were far Irom being equal to 

 what is obtained from grounds of the same (piality 

 when planted with mulberry trees. — As an in- 

 Etance of this, I shall f;\ke the liberty of mentioning 

 the Ibllowing particulars, which I had Irom a gen- 

 tleman, on whose veracity I am certain I could 

 fuliv depend. 



He told me there was a gentleman, a surgeon 

 of Nismes, in Languedoc, who had a tract of very 

 poor ground in that neighborhood left to him by 



his father; which, when it came into his posses- 

 sion, yielded him a rent of three hundred livres, 

 which amounts in our money to twelve guineas 

 and a half. As this gentleman observed that the 

 culture of silk was extending itself rajjidly over 

 that part of the couniry, he planted the wtiule of 

 his little property with white mulberry trees, the 

 leaves of which, as his plantations advanced, he 

 found he could regularly sell annually Ibr ready 

 money to the people in the town of Nismes and in 

 the neighborliooii, who employed themselves in 

 the culture of silk; and my friend inlbrmed me, 

 that these very grounds, after having been only 

 sixteen years planted, gave a return to the pro- 

 prietor of twelve hundred livres yearly; amounting 

 to fifty guineas of our money. This improvement 

 having been carried on under the eyeof the neigh- 

 boring heiilors, several of them pursued the same 

 plan with equal success ; and some of them who 

 had grounds of the same quality which had been 

 long planted with vines, actually grubbed up their 

 vineyards, and planted (heir grounds with the 

 white mulberry ; and here let n\e add, that tho 

 mulberry tree is long lived, there being many 

 instances where they have stood periectly good for 

 above one hundred years. 



Here then I must observe, that the greatest care 

 ought to be taken to procure healthy good seed or 

 eggs, because it has been ascertained from repeat- 

 ed experience that the eggs from those houses 

 where the worms were infected with bad air, car- 

 ries along with it to the worms produced there- 

 li'om, the same distempers tn which the worms of 

 the preceding year were sut jecl. 



The eggs, in order to be properly preserved, 

 should be kept in some dry place, with a free air, 

 not too hot ; and that you should avoid keeping 

 them in any vault or cellar underground ; because 

 any kind of damp is found to be destructive to 

 them. 



The eggs ofthe silk-worm ha^e been found to 

 degenerate in the space of five years; hence a 

 change from lime to time isjudged to be necessary 

 taking care to have the eggs brought from a 

 warmer to a colilor, climate. This, however, 

 must be done by degrees, and not carried at once 

 from one extreme to another. For example, egga 

 brought from the Levant, the isle of Cyprus, or 

 from other countries of the same latitude, ought 

 not to be brought at once into such a cold climate 

 as that of Flanders, or the north of France; but 

 should be first brought into such a climate as that 

 of Provence or Languedoc, Irom whence, after 

 having remained there Ibr two years, it can be 

 brought with safely into the colder countries. 



The first year that the eggs are brouo-ht from a 

 warm to a cold climate, you must not expect great 

 success from ihem ; on the contrary, you will find, 

 though the utmost care and attention arc given to 

 them, that the greatest part of the worms will die. 

 But still you will be able to save enough to stocic 

 yourself sufficiently with eggs, which every suc- 

 ceeding year will be found to answer better as the 

 worms become naturalized to the climate, which 

 can only be brought about gradually ; and, indeed, 

 more nme will be requisite fbr this purpose in Bri- 

 tain than in France, as the climate upon the con- 

 tinent is more fixed and steady than with us in 

 England. 



In transporting the eggs fiora one co'jntry to 



