85 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



ry leaves ; the worms unKbrmly preferred the mul- 

 ticaulis, or, as it was then called, the Phiilippine 

 island mulberry. 



From the Journal of the American Silk Society. 

 STATEMENT OF PKODUCT OF SILK, MADE BY 

 THE REV. WM. MC LEAN, OF NEW JERSEY. 



Much doubt having been entertained by our 

 farmers and others, whether the production of silk 

 could be made profitable in this country, the Mon- 

 mouth County Silk Manufacturing Company, of 

 New Jersey, last spring, offered a premium of 

 eighty dollars to the person who would produce 

 the greatest number of pounds of cocoons from 

 the sixteenth of an acre. 



In order in some measure to test the matter of 

 profit, with reference to this premium, and anx- 

 ious myself to see what could be done the first 

 season, even by the most inexperienced, I mea- 

 sured and planted vvitli the morus raulticaulis the 

 sixteenth of an acre. 



The ground was laid of in a parallelogram form, 

 about thirty by ninety feet. The soil was not rich 

 and not more than two ordinary loads of manure, 

 worth one dollar each, was put on the lot. I 

 planted roots tlie growth of the previous season, 

 in an upright form in rows eighteen inches apart, 

 and the trees about ten inches apart in the rows — 

 twenty-three hundred and twenty roots in all. 

 The ground was by no means suitable for trees, 

 being a cold heavy clay, they were accordingly 

 email — not having attained an average of more 

 than three feet the whole season. The roots 

 were planted the twentieth of April. In order 

 to have the full advantage of the growth of the 

 leaves, I intended to feed but a few worms at a 

 time, and have successive crops. 



On the nineteenth of June, when my trees were 

 about eighteen inches high, my first eggs hatch- 

 ed, the next hatched June twenty-sixth, sooner 

 than I expected or intended. Fearing I might 

 get no more eggs to hatch, I fed about twelve 

 thousand worms on the sixteenth. Tiie trees 

 being small and the season exceedingly dry, 

 the leaves grew very slow. About a week be- 

 fore the worms spun, I took from the worms I 

 was feeding on the leaves produced on the six- 

 teenth of an acre, about five thousand, and bor- 

 rowed and weighed the leaves to carry these 

 through. To do this, required one Jiundred and 

 forty-three pounds of leaves. The worms thus 

 fed, together with a few hundred of the two-crop 

 variety, fed late in the season, produced thirty - 

 eight pounds and eleven ounces ot'cocuons. After 

 deducting the proper amount for leaves borrowed, 

 which, according to Count Dondola, is twenty-one 

 pounds of leaves for each pound of cocoons — six 

 pounds and thirteen ounces being deducted, I had 

 from the sixteenth of an acre thirty-one pounds 

 and fourteen ounces of cocoons. About nine 

 pounds of these cocoons were the mammoth 

 white, tfie balance were the common sulphur, 

 except about two pounds of the two-crop variety. 

 1 was entirely ignorant of the process of fi-eding 

 when I commenced, and indeed of the necessary 

 fixtures and accommodations lor leedingto advan- 

 tage. I fed them as much as they would cat, 

 kept the hurdles clean, and the room well venlila- 

 tecl. The weather was exceedingly warm during 



the whole time of feeding; but the worms were 

 remarkably healthy, and all wound in about thirty 

 to ihirty-ibur days. 



Now as the matter of profit, if thirty-one pounds 

 fourteen ounces is produced from the sixteenth of 

 an acre, then five hundred and ten pounds is pro- 

 duced from the acre. 



From tlie Journal of ilie American Silk Society. 

 ESTIMATE OF THE VALUE OF MULBERRY 

 AND SILK CULTURE, STATED BY DR. WM. 

 GIBBONS OF DELAWARE, IN THE SILK CON- 

 VENTION. 



In the following estimate of the intrinsic value 

 of the morus multicaulis, in the culture of silk, I 

 present nothing, but what any one, with a litlle 

 knowledge of the subject may arrive at for him- 

 self^. The circumstances alone through which it 

 was elicited, gave it a peculiar interest. 1 had 

 heard it repeated ii-om various quarters, and read 

 it in the papers of the day, that the price given 

 for the morus multicaulis was an absurd extrava- 

 gance, that the traffic in it was a wild and ruinous 

 speculation, a humbug, &c. From this cause I 

 was induced to sit down soberly at my desk, and 

 descending to the root of the matter, calculate 

 what the tree was worth, /or the production of 

 silk alone ; discarding all speculation on the pro- 

 fits of raising the trees for sale. And in doing 

 this, to bring my opponents to ground that could 

 not be disputed, by taking known and established 

 data for this calculation, to wit : 



1. That one tree of the morus multicaulis, with 

 its side branches, costing sixty cents, with allow- 

 ance for failures, will make at least sixteen trees, 

 by cuttings. 



2. That one cutting, in good ground and with 

 good culture, will produce, the first summer after 

 planting, from eight to ten ounces of leaves. 



3. That 3,000 good cocoons will produce one 

 pound of silk. 



4. That 12,000 cuttings will grow, for one year, 

 on an acre. 



5. That three-quarters of an ounce of leaves 

 will feed a worm. 



Wiih these data, the following results must be 

 manifest. 



1. 7.50 trees, including the roots, plant an acre 

 of 12,000. 



2. 12,000 trees from these cuttings, yield 100,- 

 000 ounces of leaves. 



3. 100,000 ounces of leaves, will feed 130,000 

 worms. 



4. That an allowance of 10,000 in 130,000 for 

 death of worms, and bad cocoons is a sufficient 

 allowance, and 



5. That, therefore 130,000 worms, will yield 

 120,000 good cocoons, yielding when reeled, forty 

 pounds of raw silk, and 



Lastly, that forty pounds of raw silk, well reel- 

 ed, will bring g200. 



The expense may be estimated as follows : 

 Rent, ^10 



Planting and culture of the trees, 30 

 Raising the worms, 30 



Reeling ihe silk, 20 



90 



Profit per acre. 



$110 



