150 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



of the advantage of its monopol.v by-Zone, could 

 scarcely be perceivetl or csiiniatecl. 



Tlie first known plant of lliis variely, was 

 brouifht to France iVoni the Philippine islands, by 

 Pero\tet, a Frenrh botanist. It has since been 

 called the Chinese mulberry; and seme of those 

 who have attributed to il every possible virtue, 

 and falsely as often as truly, have asserted that 

 this is the kind in jreneral use in China; and to 

 this circumstance, thev liave ascribed the superi- 

 ority ol" Chinese silk and silk-culture. But there 

 can'be no sroinul for this supposition ; and it may 

 well be douliled whether there is a single plant of 

 this kint, in the vast empire of China. It is a 

 seedling variety, different from its own parent 

 slock, and incapable of reproducing its own kind 

 by its seeds. This beiuir ilip, case, its origin may 

 as well be recent as ancient, and the plant which 

 Perottet brought fl-omthe Pifilippines, and which, 

 by its peculiar appearance, attracted his notice, 

 without his reporting or probably suspecting its 

 value, possibly, might have been the only indi- 

 vidual then existing in the world. Ilj as has been 

 asserted, this was the kind o!" mulberry :ree in 

 general use in China, it is impossible that its pecu- 

 liar appearance, so ditiijrcnt from any known in 

 Europe, should not have attracted the attention 

 of some missionary, or some other ol'the few, but 

 intelligent and observant travellers who have had 

 opportunities of passing through that great coun- 

 try, and who have published their observations. 

 In addition, the compilation of extracts from Chi- 

 nese works, before referred to, though describing 

 several kinds of mulberry trees, does not speak of 

 one which can be confounded with the morus 

 mullicaulis. 



To conclude. If the ficls, which have been 

 stated, and the arguments founded on them, are 

 both correct, then there can be but little ground 

 for doubt or question of this important general de- 

 duction — that the combined advantages for silk- 

 culture now possessed by Virginia, are superior to 

 those of most of the successful silk-growing coun- 

 tries in the world, and inferior to few, if indeed to 

 any. 



ON THE CAUSES OF FAILURE OF THE CROP 

 OF COCOOXS, 13V 1S34, IN THE DEPARTaiEIST 

 OF GARD.* 



Translated for the Farmers' Register from t!ie Annalcs i!e I'Ag- 

 riculture Franciiisc. 



The cocoons have generally failed this year in 

 the anondisscment of Alais, (in Gard,) which 

 furnishesa large quantity, and of the best quality ; 

 they have succeeded no better in the other parts 

 of our department, and in the neighboring coun- 

 try. The deficiency of this crop is so much the 

 more severely lelt, in as much as it may be said to 

 be the only one that brintrs us in anv monc}'. 



The silk-culturists of Cevennes have great rep- 

 utation, which they deserve by the labors they 

 perform, and their attentions and watchfulness. 

 But the greater number of them are opposed to 

 any change of their routine ; they all continue to 



* The department of Gard is one among the most 

 southern in the olive, or the best silk region of Frajice. 

 It extends to the Mediterranean, at the western mouth 

 of the Rhone.— Ed. F. R. 



do what they have always done, or seen done, al- 

 though they are in different localities, and al- 

 though the iemperaiure varies from year to year. 

 Thus the most skilful cuhurisis fail sometimes. 

 Either a laboratory badly situated, badly venti- 

 lated, the conlinuance of rain when leaves have 

 not been provided in advance, or other causes, oc- 

 casion diseases of the silk-worms, and may cause 

 the failure of a particular stock. Eat this year, 

 the evil has been general, and of course there 

 must have been a common cause. 



The grasscrie. ^gras] or yelluws, prevailed ge- 

 nerally in this re^rion. Very lew proprietors liave 

 been spare I by this plague, which has occasioned 

 enormous losses. Those culturists who have had 

 half a crop of cocoons considered themselves, for- 

 tunate. 



Some persons attribute this disease to the [late] 

 white frosts, which destroyed the leaves of the 

 mulberry trees. They say that the second puttinor 

 forth of leaves, called aftermath, is less suitable 

 lor the food of silk worms. I cannot admit this 

 explanation. 



When the mulberry trees, stripped of their 

 leaves in May and June, and the branches pruned 



I or lopped the following months, shoot out a second 

 time, it may well be supposed that this kind of af- 



I termath is of inferior quality; that the tree ex- 



: hausts itself b}^ the leafing process, so forced by 



j our industry ; and that the sap is less elaborated, 

 and \n great part has exuded from the numerous 



I wounds of the branches made by both the gaiher- 



' ers and pruners. 



But when, at the commencement of spring, the 



[ frost aflects the young buds, often it is but their 

 outer envelopes which are blasted ; and even if 



I entirely killed, when the weather becomes mild, 

 other buds come out in a few days. If other Irosis 

 still follow, as in this j'ear, it is certainly a great 

 evil ; but il is more easy to nature, I believe, and 

 costs less of vegstative force, to produce a new 

 shoot at this season, than to again cover the tree 

 with leaves after it has been stripped and pruned. 

 It is certain thai after late fl'osts, the trees fur- 

 nish fewer and smaller leaves, and thai the total 

 weight of those produced by a tree may be less 

 by a third, or even by a half But their constitu- 

 ent principles are the same with those spared by 

 the frost. The water, the gum or resinous princi- 

 ple, die green fecula, the fibrous residue, are in 

 the same proportions, in either case, if" the trees 

 are of the same kintl. and in the same soil and ex- 

 posure. The insoluble residue only is in smaller 

 proportion in the young leaves, 



I will add. to sustain my opinion, that some 

 rearinas of silk-worms upon the leaves called af- 

 termath have succeeded, while some others made 

 on leaves which had escaped the frosts, have fail- 

 ed. Every one has observed this, as well as 

 myself 



It is my opinion that the ill success of the silk- 

 worms was owing to the wintering of the eggs, 

 and to the variations of the temperature during the 

 hatchinii. 1 do not yet pronounce as to the sole 

 cause of the disease (the yellows;) I propose to 

 make, next year, some experiments to determine 

 the point. 



The yellows docs not manifest itself hut little 

 until the thira moulting; but the gros, which ap- 

 pears to have the principle of the other, appears 

 from the begining of the feeding. And since, 



