1839] 



FARMERS* REGISTER, 



855 



whole monopoly oP the wrecking business on lliis 

 reei^ and as an additional port of entry would at 

 the least divide (he monopoly) the fact that n:ie- 

 morials have been presented to confrrese in favor 

 ol Indian Key, and that it is at least very near the 

 central position, or wrecking rendezvous, where 

 the new port of entry must necessarily be made, 

 furnish sufficietit explanations of the hostilities 

 of the proprietors and officers of Key West, not 

 only to Itidian Key itself" but also to every site 

 and enterprise in its vicinity, which may not be 

 directly prejudiciai to the prosperity of Indian 

 Key. Hence you perceive that the evils of the 

 public vessels cruising on these coasts; for while 

 Lieut. Shubrick of tlie U. S. Sloop Panther be- 

 came the temporary partizan of Indian Key, 

 Lieut. Coste oC the Revenue Schooner Campbell, 

 has become the permanent partizan of Key West. 

 The result of the whole to the nursery will be: 

 1st. As all regular mails are suspended, it will be 

 impossible to procure any plants from the green 

 houses of tile stales, or of Europe. 2nd. As the 

 instructions of the Secretary of VVar will continue 

 to be perverted, there will not be obtained any 

 plants Irom even the vicinity of Cape Florida. 

 3rd. That as even the express instructions of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury would as likely be per- 

 verted, we shall not be able to obtain trom the ste- 

 ril Bahama island those valuable plants which 

 will be equally valuable to these steril Florida 

 Keys, as the collecter at Key West can easily 

 avoid the employment of the waste time of a re- 

 venue culler in that service to the public, and can 

 as easily prevent a private vessel h-om being char- 

 tered for that purpose, bj^ refusing her permission 

 to transport the living plants direct into the nur- 

 sery at the only ptoper season, the beginning of 

 the rains in June next. 4. That hence for a 

 whole year we shall have no plants to mutiply in 

 the nursery, except those planted in boxes in 1837, 

 in this islet, which have survived exposure to the 

 gale; and that it will continue efjually isolated from 

 all faciliiies of commuiiicalion and transportation 

 for many years, unless public opinion shall com- 

 pel the restoration of a regular mail, the establish- 

 ment of a new port of entry, or the direct employ- 

 ment of public vessels in the importation of plants 

 under the treasury and navy circular of Sept. C:h, 

 1837. Henry Peukink. 



re3iarks by the kditor. com paiii.soiv of 

 estimates. 



Fearing that our readers had been surfeited 

 with articles on the niorus muliicaulis, and espe- 

 cially those who had not been affected by the 

 "mulberry fever," we had latterly endeavored to 

 avoid subject. But the little zeal that now exists 

 among agriculturists seems to have all taken this 

 direction : and they either think and write about 

 silk-culture and morus multicaulis, or not at all, at 

 least for the benefit of the public. But the fore- 

 going communication is from one in the singular 

 attitude of afl opponent ; and therefore his views 

 ought to be welcome to all among our readers 

 who may disbelieve in the fitness of our country 

 for silk-culture ; and those of the contrary opinion 

 may well agree that an opponent shall have 



full scope for his argumetit, and a respectful hearing. 

 Dr. Perrine has not mistaken our. views, when 

 he supposes that we concur, in the main, in the gen- 

 eral propositions which he states, and which place 

 the products and profits of silk-culture upon a 

 footing of something like equality with those of 

 other and ordinary agricultural pursuits ; and we 

 even more fully concur with him in withholding 

 all confidence from, and awarding nothing but con- 

 tempt to, the extravagant estimates of prospective 

 profits, which have been published either through 

 ignorance, or the desire to mislead and delude the 

 credulous public. But, it must also be admitted, 

 even if writers have the strongest desire to learn 

 and to state the truth, that it is very difficult to 

 prepare estimates of the cost and profits of a chI- 

 ture so new, and oi' which so little is known any 

 where, without there being considerable errors 

 made, and great discordance between the same 

 items, as set down by different calculators. There- 

 lore we are distrustful of all estimates, not founded 

 on practical results ; and no less so of our own 

 ability to correct what we may consider as erro- 

 neous premises. For this reason, although believ- 

 ing Dr. Perrine's estimetes of products and pro- 

 fits to be generally too low, we shall ofTer 

 corrections with the diffidence which ought to 

 attend ignorance ; and shall not presimie to sub- 

 stitute any arithmetical statements as absolutely 

 correct, and entirely unimpeachable. With this 

 salvo, then, afforded by the confessed wantofpracti- 

 cal knowledge, and of full and correct information 

 in regard to silk-culture — and after having admit- 

 ted our concurrence in our correspondent's general 

 propositions— we shall proceed to state our dissent 

 from some particular items and premises, from 

 which he deduces his objections. 



Dr. Perrine supposes that 200 lbs. of leaves will 

 be required to produce 1 lb. of cocoons. But 

 Dandolo, whose authoriiy is beyond question in 

 all points which, like this, could be tested strictly 

 by experiment, allows 1609 lbs. of leaves, "as 

 gathered from the tree," to produce 120 lb. of co- 

 coons, and which ought to be obtained from 1 oz. 

 of eggs. This would give 15 lb. of cocoons instead 

 of 10 lb. fiom 200 lb. of leaves — a difference of 50 

 per cent, in gross product, in this our item alone, 

 and which might be equal to a difference of 200 

 per cent, in the net profit ofthe two rates of product. 



Dr. Perrine's estimate ofthe quantity of cocoons 

 required to produce 1 lb. of silk, is 10 lb. But 

 Young states of several places in Italy that 8 lb. of 

 cocoons made 1 lb. of silk ; and this was the usual 

 rate at Padua, where the general management 

 must have been very bad, as 30 lb. of cocoons only 

 were obtained from 1 oz. of eggs. (See Far. 

 Reg. p. 275. vol vii.) In the more full and par- 



