590 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



ofeuch trees as have been planted out in the field, 

 but reserve the leaves of your oldest trees for the 

 fourih age, as these last leaves are reckoned the 

 best for the worms when come to their maturity. 

 Be attentive lo cleaning away the litter as be- 

 fore directed, which, during the third age, should 

 be done at least li^ur or five times ; and take care 

 to clear away, from lime to time, all dead worms 

 the moment you observe them : and to throw 

 aside also regularly all such worms as appear to 

 be diseased, to prevent them Irom infecting the 1 

 rest, which will happen if this article is not pursued I 

 with the strictest attention. All the worms which 

 you observe to grow of a yellow color, and to have 

 their skin shining, are strongly diseased, and must [ 

 be immediately thrown away, for fear of infecting i 

 the sound ones. These diseased worms sometimes 

 void a yellow liquid at the tail, anJ it often also j 

 bursts out at other places of their bodies. These i 

 must always be attentively removed the moment, 

 they are observed ; but it becomes more esseniially | 

 necessary before the worms enter into iheir third ! 

 sickness, because at this time they become most j 

 dangerous, by voiding the yellow liquid above 

 mentioned, which is poisonous to the worms, and 

 exceedingly contagious ; insomuch, that every 

 worm that happens to touch this liquid is sure to 

 be infected with the same distemper, which has 

 hitherto been Ibund to be incurable. 



* # * # « 



Upon the article of hatching the worms, it has 

 been recommended to save the production of the 

 first lour days, as I observed this lo be the general 

 practice in France : but I must mention, that hav- 

 inx met with a French gentleman at Montauban, 

 who I understood had dedicated much of his at- 

 tention to the culture of silk, and in which I was 

 assured he had been particularly successful, I took 

 the liberty, with a view lo gain information, to re- 

 quest of him to favor me with an account of his 

 method of management, with which he politely 

 complied. By the account I received from him, I 

 found the material ddference betwixt this gentle- 

 man's management and the general practice con- 

 sisted in the iollowing particulars. He told me, 

 that having long observed that the worms which 

 were first hatched turned out always to be more 

 healthy and vigorous than those which were later 

 in coming out, he had lor this reason adopted the 

 (bllowing plan, which he had then followed (or se- 

 veral years, and to which, in a great measure, he 

 attributed his success. 



If his intention was to raise a quantity of worms 

 equal to two ounces of eijgs, his practice was to 

 put two ounces and a half of eggs lo germinate, 

 and to save no more than the production of the 

 three first days; throwing away all the rest. He 

 likewise made it a rule upon their passing through 

 their difierent maladies, to take only the (orward 

 worms, throwing away regularly all those which 

 remain long in gelling over their maladies, and he 

 gave the following reason for his continuing to 

 Ibllow this plan; namely, that from many years' 

 experience, he said he had found, that those 

 worms which are hatched after the third day al- 

 ways turn out to be weakly, and are tedious in all 

 their operations. For the same reason he rejected 

 all those wonns which linger in gelling over their 

 maladies, which he said was owing to iheir weak- 

 ness, or to Iheir being infected in some measure 

 with some disease, which generally carried ihtm 



off belbre they could make their cocoons ; or if 

 they did get the length to make their cocoons, 

 these last he maintained were so light, that they 

 were not equal in value to the expense of the 

 leaves which these worms will eat during their 

 grande fraize. At getting over their different 

 maladies, he saved only such as came away the 

 first two days, throwing away all that were not 

 ready at the close of the second day. From what 

 observations I had myself made upon the silk- 

 worm I ihought this gentleman had a great deal 

 of reason upon his sitle ; but as, in every thing in 

 relation to this culture, I unilbrmly made it a rule 

 to saiisfy my mind fully by ex|ieriment, I firmly 

 resolved to submit his plan to that test. 1 was, 

 however, disappointed in fulfilling my intention in 

 that respect, by my having been obliged to return 

 to Britain upon business belbre the next season 

 of the silk culiure came round. At the same time 

 as I still continue to regard this article as a mailer 

 of great importance lo that culture, I would humbly 

 advise that it should be fully canvassed by expe- 

 riment. 



* «• # « » 



In taking the cocoons off the brush-wood, pick 

 them off carefully, especially if there are any dead 

 worms amongst them, which presemly corrupt ; 

 because such of the cocoons as touch these dead 

 worms are spoiled by them, as they contract by 

 ihat touch gluiness from the dead worms, which 

 hinders the silk from winding off properly from 

 the cocoon. The best manner to know the good 

 from the bad cocoons, is lo press them at the two 

 ends wiih your fingers. If they resist well that 

 pressure, and appear hard and firm betwixt your 

 finarers, the cocoons are certainly good. 



Thouffh they appear firm upon pressing their 



sides with your fingers, they may still not be en- 



\ tirely good ; the pressure at the two ends being of 



all others the best manner of knowing the good 



ones. 



ON DIGGING POTATOES. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 



Potatoes should be suffered to lie in the ground 

 until they are fully ripe. There is nearly as much 

 difierence between a ripe potato and an unripe one 

 as between a ripe apple and an unripe one. Unripe 

 potatoes are uniformly watery, and are some of 

 the most indigestible maierials that we meet with. 

 This is so much the case that the stomach has 

 been often known to reject this article while it re- 

 tained all the other materials admitted at the same 

 time. 



When we have not too much work for the 

 month of October, it is more prudent to let our 

 late potatoes lie until that time than to dig them 

 earlier — and when we dig them if they are not 

 wet we should never let them lie in the sun or in 

 the air. Any loam reasonably moist may be al- 

 lowed to a.ihere to them while they lie in the cel- 

 lar, and we need not fear they will heat or rot as 

 turnips will when put in a great heap where the 

 air cannot have access to them. Turnips are of 

 a nature different fi'om potatoes, they grow princi- 

 pally above ground, while all potatoes that are 

 worth saving grow wholly under ground. We 



