272 



FARxMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 5 



well spun silk. The price of prrain 12 liv. the oz. 

 when very scarce, but. in common 30.s. ; that of 

 leaves 7 or 8s. per ruhbio. Cocoons 21 llv. per 

 rubbio. When I asked the price of thesill-;, tlie an- 

 swer was, Oh ! f()r that ! it is the price the En- 

 glish choose to pay ibr it. The common price of 

 organzine, 16 to 20 I'w. first, quality ; raw, \2liv. 

 For gatherintj the leaves, %;. per rabbio is given. 

 Of the different sorts ot mulberry, the wild is the 

 best, in point of quality of silk. A tree of twenty 

 years, will fjive 24 or 25 riihbii of leaves ; some to 

 Sbrubbii. The trees are grafted in the nursery, 

 and planted out at four years, at the beginning of 

 April ; price, 20s. to choose out of many; and in 

 four years alter, begin to gather. When planted 

 in watered meadows, the gathering damages the 

 hay almost to the value of the leaves, yet many 

 are so planted; and many peasants think they 

 lose in corn by the shade of the trees, as much as 

 they get by them. From the 22d to the 26th of 

 April, is the season for hatching ; never by fire ; 

 nor have they any method of retarding the hatch 

 ing, in ease of a want of leaves. Endive, let- 

 tuce, and elm leaves, have been often tried as a 

 succedaneum, but always killed the worms; such 

 things must never be depended on. The peasants 

 generally sell the cocoons, not one a in hundred 

 spinning. A chamber of twenty feet by twelve 

 feet is necessary for 3 oz. of grain ; and six tables, 

 one trebucco long and two-thirds wide. 



Novara. — Passed this place towards Milan, 

 which is a great tract of mulberries for several 

 miles. 



Milanese. — Buffalora to Manunia. — Many 

 mulberry hedges, but they are bad and ragged ; 

 some new planted in the quincunx position. For 

 several miles, the county is all planted in rows of 

 vines, at tweleve, sixteen, and twenty feet, and 

 fruit trees among them, Ibr their support ; among 

 which, are many mulberries, and the vmes run- 

 ning up them. This must be a most profitable 

 husbandry indeed, to have silk and wine not only 

 from the same ground but in a manner from the 

 same tree. Between the rows, the ground is cul- 

 tivated ; millet, maiz (cut'), holcus sorguni, the 

 great millet, lupines, with dung amongst them, to 

 be ploughed in Ibr wheat, with young maiz, sown 

 thick, as if lor Ibdder. 



Cltricho. — A beautiful mulberry hedge, and in 

 good order ; six to eight inches from plant to plant, 

 and cropt at sixteen or eighteen from the ground. 

 It is clear therefore, that the plant will do, with 

 care, Ibr a good hedge. Towards Milan, mulber- 

 ries decline, oak and other pollards being found 

 in their stead. 



Mozzala. — The cultuie of mulberries and ma- 

 king silk, being here much attended to were prin- 

 cipal objects in my inquiries. The li'uit is well 

 washed, the end of June, to make the seed sink; 

 it is then sown in rows, in a bed of earth well ma- 

 nured, and finely laboured, in the rich nurseries 

 near Milan ; covered very lightly and the surface 

 lightly flattened ; straw is spread to delend it from 

 the sun, and, much water given. When the young 

 plants appear they are weeded by hand. The se- 

 cond year, they grow to two or three feet high, and 

 hoed and thinned. The third year, they are cut to 

 the ground above the buds that are to push, and 

 transplanted from those nurseries, in the vicinity of 

 the city, to others that are scattered all over the 

 country, in ground well dug and manured, and at 



two feet square; here they are kept clean by hoeing. 

 The fifth year, in the spring, they are cut again to 

 the ground; they then shoot very powerlijlly, and 

 attention must be given to keep but one good shoot, 

 and the ground is dug or hoed deeper than com- 

 mon, and also dunged. The sixth yenr, those 

 that are high enough, are grafted; and the rest, 

 the year Ibllowing. Those that took the sixth 

 year, ought to rest in the nursery three years, in- 

 cluding the year of gral'ting that is, the seventh 

 and eighth year. They do not like to plant large 

 trees, and have a proverb, 



Se vuoi far torto al tuo vicinto, 

 Pianta il more groffo e il fico piccolino, 



As to plant small fig trees is as bad as large mul- 

 berries. 



The holes are made in winter for receiving them 

 where they are to remain; these are nine ieet 

 square and two feet deep, and have at the botioin 

 a bed of broom, bark of trees, or other rubbish ; 

 then the best earth that can be had. and on that 

 dung, one load of sixteen feet to fbur trees; this 

 is covered with more good earth, and this levels 

 the hole with the rest of the field ; then prune the 

 roots and plant, setting a pole by the young tree 

 to the north, and a spur post on the other side, to 

 guard it from the plough. Twine no straw the 

 first year, because of the insect forficula auricu- 

 laria,L.; but in November bind straw around 

 them against the cold, or, as straw is dear, the poa 

 rubra, which abounds. Never, or very rarely, 

 water. JNluch atiention to remove all budo not 

 tending in the right direction. 



The fourth spring after planting, their heads are 

 pollarded, in March, leaving the shoots nine in- 

 ches long of new wood, and seeking to give them 

 the hollow form of a cup, and that the new buds 

 may afterwards divide iryto two or three branches, 

 but not more. The next year, they begin to pluck 

 the leaves. They are attentive in pruning, 

 which is done every second year, to preserve as 

 much as they can the cup form, as the leaves are 

 gathered more easily. Thusit is about fourteen 

 years from the seed before the return begins. 



After gathering the leaves, a man examines and 

 cuts away all wounded shoots: and if hail damage 

 them, they are cut, let it be at what time of the 

 year it may. Old trees are pruned after gathering, 

 but young ones in March, In autumn, the leaves 

 are never taken lor cattle before the llth of No- 

 vember, as the trees after that time do not suffer. 

 The third year after planting young trees, they 

 sow about a hat-ful of lupines around the stem, 

 and when about ten inches high, dig them in for 

 manure. The opinion here is, that the mulberry 

 does very little harm to rye or wheat, except that 

 when cut the falling of branches and trampling 

 are somewhat injurious. Maiz, millet, and pan- 

 ic are much more hurt. A tree, five years after 

 transplanting, gives 10 lb. of leaves, each 28 oz. 

 At ten years, IS lb. At fifteen years, 25 lb. At 

 twenty years, 30 lb. At thirty years, 50 lb. At 

 fifty to seventy years, 70 lb. There are trees that 

 give 80 lb. and even 100 lb. The price of leaves 

 is commonly 4 liv. per 100 lb. (28 oz.). P'or one 

 ounce of grain 500 lb. of leaves are necessary, 

 and yield 17 lb, of cocoons : but among the raisings 

 in the mountain of Brianza, 25 lb. To make a 

 pound of silk, of 12 oz. 5 lb. or 6 lb. of cocoons, ol 

 28 oz. are required. Pr.ce in the low watered 



