236 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Feb. 17, 



From the Massackustlts Agricultural Repository. 



THE SILK WORM AND ITS NATURAL 

 FOOD THE MULBERRY. 



In llie present slate of our country, and while 

 it is a uebaleable question, whether it would he 

 expedient to introduce tlie silk worm, and its 

 favourite food, the mulberry, into geneiai culti- 

 vation, it would be inexpedient to insert the 

 great mass of information whicii lias been col- 

 lected on this subject by European writers. 



In favour of the Jntroiluction of this depart- 

 ment of industry may be urged, the great de- 

 mand for manufactures of silk, for which we 

 now pay to otiier nations seven millions of dol- 

 lars — the advantage derived from the domestic 

 employment of females, who, until the introduc- 

 tion of cotton manufactories, were in our coun- 

 try less employed than in any other — and the 

 opportunities which it ivould afford of making 

 even the young children of both sexes uselul, 

 before the ages at which they would be filled 

 for any sort of labour in husbandry. These arc 

 considerations of great importance. 



We should indeed regret to see our females 

 nnd young children employed, as in most Euro- 

 pean countries they are compelled to be, in la- 

 bour, unsuited to their condition and constitu- 

 tions. Such employment would soon change 

 their moral and physical character, upon which 

 the happiness of our population, and the stabil- 

 ity of our republican institutions principally re- 

 pose. 



Yet employment, occupation, not inconsistent 

 with the cultivation of the mind, or the strenglh- 

 eniog and developement of the bodily [lowers, 

 is of great value and of the highest iniporlance. 

 There can be no doubi that mucii time is unne- 

 cessarily lost in all our cities and in the country 

 (luring the years of childhood, which might be 

 profitably employed by occupations which would 

 strengthen both the body and the mind. The 

 instruction of the young is principally given in 

 the winter season, and in the summer the chil- 

 dren are loo often left without any useful em- 

 ployment. 



The care of the silk worm — the collection of 

 leaves for its food, could be entirely managed 

 by children from 5 to 12 years of age, under 

 the eye of a mother or an elder sister. 



As the quanliltj of land required for the culti- 

 vation of the mulberry plants, (for we must not 

 call them trees, since they are not permitted to 

 grow beyond the size of shrubs.) may be con- 

 sidered literally as of no value in the estimate ; 

 and as all the gain which the farmer would de- 

 rive from the sale of his silk would be merely 

 the result of labour, which is no-.v wholly un- 

 productive, it seems to be a very clear case that 

 we should encourage this culture. 



It can scarcely be necessary to reply to an 

 objection which is sometimes urged, that silk 

 manufactures are a luxury which our republican 

 iimplicily ought to reject, which are not a ne- 

 cess.uy of life. The fact that we do pay for 

 them an amount equal to one-tenth part of all 

 our exports i* a sufficient reply. No sumptuary 

 laws can check ihis luxury, if if be one. There 

 is no intermediate point at whicii you can slop, 

 between the clothing with furs prepared from 

 the wild beasts, and the going nearly naked in 

 (be warm season, as do on; native Indians, and 

 Iho present state of our comforts and delicacies. 

 M,iniif.ictures of silk are admirably adapted for 



our warmer seasons, by their strength, their 

 lightness, their pliability, their susceptibility of 

 every variation of colour. They arc a neces- 

 sary of life, and will be used, as they have been, 

 by millions in this country, unless a dark age ot 

 disaster and poverty, a degradation such as Eu- 

 rope has at least once experienced, should be 

 our portion. With these views we shall insert 

 some short observations on the cultivation of 

 silk from the British Encjclopcdia. 



If the culture should succeed, or be adopted 

 with spirit, we shall, from year to year, insert 

 from the French and Italian writers more mi- 

 nute directions for the management of the silk 

 worm, and of its curious productions. 



" Though the silk worm be a native of China, 

 there is no doubt but it might easily be propa- 

 gated perhaps in most of the temperate zones. 

 The eggs of this insect indeed, require a con- 

 siderable degree of warmth to hatch them, but 

 I hey also can endure a severe frost. No less 

 than 5,400 pounds of silk was raised in no9 in 

 the cold sandy leiritories of Prussia. In the 

 province of Pekin, in China, where great quan- 

 tities of silk are fabricated, the winter is much 

 colder than even in Scollatid. From the infor- 

 mation ot some Russians, who were sent thither 

 to learn the Chinese language, we find that 

 Reaumur's therraomoler was tbund from 10 to 

 15 degrees below the freezing point. Nor is 

 it difficult to rear the food of the silk worm in 

 a temperate climate. The mulberry tree is a 

 hardy vegetable, which bears, without injury, 

 the winters of Sweden, nnd even of Siberia. — 

 Of the seven species of mullierry, four of ihem 

 (to wit the white, red. black, and Tarlatian.) it 

 is believed could be reared in Critain and Ire- 

 land. I'he xviiile grows in Sweden, the red is 

 abundant round Quebec — the black dclighis in 

 bleak situations, exposed to winds on the sea 

 shore — and the Tartarian is represented as 

 growing in the chilly regions of Siberia." 



" As to the superior qualities of the different 

 species, probably there is very litlle lo bo point- 

 ed out amongst the lour just mentioned with re- 

 gard to nourisliment, except what may be drawn 

 from the following fact : tliat if the three first 

 mentioned are laid down together, the silk worm 

 will oat, first, the white, then the red, and next 

 the black in the order of the tenderness of the 

 leaves; but all must yield to tiic white which 

 seems to he its ticitiiruihod."' 



" In Calabria (Naples) the red mull)crry is 

 used; in Valencia (Spain) the while; and in 

 Granada, where excellent silk is produced, the 

 mulberries are all Idack. The while seems to 

 llnurish very well in a moist stiff' soil. The 

 black agrees very well with a dry, sandy, and 

 gravelly soil, and is most luxuriant in a rich 

 moist loam." 



[A'ote. — There «eems to be some neglia-ence 

 in this remark. 'Fhe white mulberry is said to 

 prosper very well in a moist s'iff" soil, and yet 

 it is said to be most luxuriant in a ricli moist 

 loam. The experience «liich we have had in- 

 duces us to believe, that the white mulberry 

 flourishes best in a rich garden loam, not moist, 

 and we think those who cultivate this plant, 

 shoulil prefer for its culture their best soils. — 

 It is however encouraging to learn, that the 

 best silk is produced from the black mulberry, 

 which in our country will grow in all soiN, Iho' 

 we doubt, nay, our own experience enables us 



lo doubt, the assertion, that it agrees well with 

 a sandy and gravelly soil. It will f.Tis( in such 

 a soil, but ils growth is feeble, and from long 

 experience we are enabled lo say, that in our 

 hot and dry climate it is not expedient to plant 

 the black mulberry in warm, dry, and shallow 

 soils. Yet it is important to us to know, that 

 excellent silk may be produced from the black 

 mulberry. — Editors.] 



" It may justly be asserted," say the Editors 

 oi the Encyclopedia, "that Britain possesses 

 some advantages in the raising of raw silk which 

 are not enjoyed by warmer countries. Even in 

 the south of France, Arthur Young informs us 

 the mulberry leaves are often nip|)ed by frost 

 in the biid, but this is scarcehj ever the case in 

 r.iitain." 



[During 30 years' experience we have never 

 known the mulberry to be affected either bv 

 winter or spring frosts in this country. It is the 

 latest tree to put forth its leaves, and il is not 

 I affected by our latest frosts. — Ed. 

 I " It is well known that thunder and lighlnin" 

 are hurtful to the silk worm. Now our climate 

 (Great Britain) can boast that it is almost whol- 

 ly exempted from those dreadtul stoiins of thun- 

 der and lightning which prevail so much in hot 

 climates." [This remark wants confirmation.] 



" Nature," say the English writers," has then 

 furnished us with every thing requisite for tlie 

 silk m.inufaclure ; it remains only for us lo im- 

 prove the advantage which we possess. Let 

 mulberry trees be planted by proprietors of 

 land, and let a (ew persons of skill and attention 

 devote themselves to the raising of silk worms. 

 This is an employment which will not interfere 

 with any manufacture already estabiislied ; — on 

 the contrary, it would afford a re^pectabfe, a lu- 

 rrativp, and agreeable employment to ladies 

 who have at prei^ent ton I'evv professions, to 

 which they can apply." [If these remarks were 

 applicable to Great Britain, how much more 

 forcible are they to our countiy. Il is well 

 known that the females of Great Britain, and 

 still more those of France, contribute essential- 

 ly to the siijiport of their famiiies, and the pro- 

 ductive labour of their respective nations. With 

 us, the female sex are by our usages almost ex- 

 cluded from the sphere of productive industry. 



Editors.] 



"The following method of raising mulberry 

 trees from seed is practised in the south of 

 France, and has been repealed liy Dr Anderson 

 of Madra.ss: — Take the ripe berries when they 

 are full of juice and of seeds, next take a horse- 

 hair line or rope, and with a good handliill of 

 ripe mulberries run your hand along the line 

 bruising Ihe berries, and mashing them as much 

 as possible as you pass your hand along, so that 

 Ihe puli) and seeds of the berries may adhere 

 in great abundance lo the rope or Ihe hair line; 

 then dig a trench in the ground ivhere you pro- 

 pose to plant ; cut the rope or line into parts 

 equal in length to the proposed trenches, and 

 then bury Ihe rope in them, always taking care 

 to water Ihem well, vvhich is essential to suc- 

 cess. The seeds of Ihe berries, thus sown, will 

 grow, and send up young suckers, the leaves of 

 which are the best food for the silk worm. — 

 The facility and rapidity with which young 

 leaves may by this means be produced, is evi- 

 dent, for as many rows of trenches may thus be 

 filled as cau be wished, and it can never be ne- 



