73G 



FARxMERS' REGISTE'R. 



[No. 12 



circulation in their columns. Those editors who 

 are anxious to publish correct inlbrmation on the 

 subjeci, liave a paper now that cannoL (ail to an- 

 swer iheir purpose. It contains the result oi'actual 

 practlce,\iy a gentleman whose i^realesi liiult,if fjult 

 It be, consists rather in under-ratinn; than in over- 

 estimaiini^ the profits ol' the business. We ho|)e 

 that this paptT will be read by every man and wo- 

 man in the United Slates, and that it will receive 

 the full confidence of all — to which it is richly en- 

 titled. — ^l\. Jour. S. S.] 



To the Executive Committee of the American Silk 

 Society. 



During the past (bur years I have watched with 

 deep interest the progress of the silk culture in 

 our couniry ; and actuated, 1 trust, by a sincere 

 desire to awaken an interest in the cornmnnily in 

 regard lo a branch of business, by which 1 verily 

 believe thousands in our land might acquire an 

 honorable and comlurtable subsistence, I have 

 labored to test both the practicability atid profit of 

 the culture of silk. Laat year my experiment went 

 no farther than the production of the cocoons — 

 and thougli the results were highly encouraging, 

 they were not fully satisfactory to my own mnul.* 

 This year I determined lo go a step firther, and 

 produce the reeled silk, ready fur market. The 

 offer of premiums by your noble society, was un- 

 doubtedly a wise measure. This will induce more 

 accurate experiments— and experiments in differ- 

 ent parts of our country, and under ditlerent cir- 

 cumstances, the result oi which will enable the 

 committee to diffuse valuable information, on 

 which the community may rely. You will please 

 to consider me a competitor I'uc the premiums for 

 the greatest quantity of merchantable raw silk 

 produced from the (juarter of an acre. 



The weight of the silk in the case which accom- 

 panies this paper, is twelve pounds, sixteen ounces 



to the pound, and is the product of one quarter of I so'nmch disappointment has been experienced in 

 an acre. ^ reijard to eggs. Other modes equally good may 



The soil on which my trees were grown is a douptless be adopted (or retarding the eggs; the 

 heavy clay — three or loo r^ years ago, the land j above [)lan, however, succeeded \vith me to admi- 

 ration ; the last hatching the 'iTth of August, was 



therefore, 1 was obliged to include eleven feet and 

 eiiiht inches in width (rom ihe layeis ; so that the 

 dimensions of the lot was 28S leet in length, and 

 37 feet 8 inches in width. 



I regretted that I had not roots for the whole 

 quarter of an acre, as the roots adbcded much 

 more leaves than the layers. Owing to close 

 planting and the nature of the soil, the trees pro- 

 duced were smail — say an average of three and a 

 half leet. The present trrowth on the quarter of 

 an acre does not exceed 5,500, all counted, large 

 and small. 



iVIy cocoonery is 36 by 18 feet, 2 stories high, 

 I fed almost entirely in the second story. There 

 are two tiers of shelves, three feet wide by twenty- 

 tour feet long — the shelves rise one above another 

 — one foot apart, seven shelves in each tier. The 

 second story contains 13 glass windows, with 

 Venitian blinds. My eggs were of my own pro- 

 ducing the previous season. They were saved 

 with great care from my best cocoons, on muslin, 

 the pieces of muslin rolled up in the iiill, or soon 

 after the etrgs were laid, and placed in a common 

 firm hag, and this was hung to abeam in the cel- 

 lar. In March the muslins were (bided up and 

 laid one on top i)f ano'her in a small tea chest lined 

 with lead, this was placed in another of ihe same 

 kind, but a little larger ; and the space between 

 the two was filled with pulverized charcoal. Then 

 a (i?w thicknesses of old fiaunel was l.iid loosely 

 over the top of the smaller chest, and a loose board 

 laid over the larger. Then the whole was set in 

 a still larger rough box, with a loose board on the 

 top, and this was put down in the ice house, so 

 that the ice surrounded the sides of the box. Ux 

 the inner tea chesi was a thermometer — the box 

 was examined every week, and the thermometer 

 was not allowed to rise above 45° Faiirenheit. I 

 am thus particular as to the mode of preserving 

 eggs which has succeeded so well with me, because 



would not have produced 20 bushels of corn to the 

 acre. The two previous seasons, the lot on which 

 my experiment was made had been very mode- 

 rately manured — the present season it was covered 

 wit h what might be considered a good coat of marl 

 and barn-vard manure mixed. 



The 20i"h to the 23d of April last, I planted a 

 half acre lot with morns mullicaulis roots, cuttings, 

 and layers. The roots were of the previous sea- 

 son's growth, taken (iom trees thai did not exceed 

 2| feet. The top was cut of within two inches of 

 the root, and the roots were laid horizontally in the 

 row, about ten inches apart. The cuttinirs were 

 from the tops of these trees, with one bud to each, 

 and were planted six inches apart in the rows. 

 The layers were small trees, six to eighteen inches 

 long, and were laid continuously in the row — the 

 root of one touching the top of another. The rows 

 were 2.^ feet apart. The length of the lot, as 

 planted in trees, is 2SS leet, and ih(^ width 75 (eef. 

 I ex[)ected to have had roots sufficient to plant 

 half of this lot, or a quarter of an acre ; they plan- 

 ted, however, only 2d Itjet in width, and 288 in 

 lengtli. In making out my quarter of an acre, 



*• See the report of this experiment at page 85 vol. 

 vu. Far, Reg. 



as perfect as the first. This year I saved my eggs 

 with even greater care than last, and am preser- 

 ving them in the same way ; and I cannot but re- 

 commend others to preserve them as above, unles.? 

 they have actually tried some other mode which 

 has proved equally good. 



July 18th, { hatched some two or three thousand 

 mammoth white. July 26, five or six thousand 

 sulphur. July 31, two or three thousand sulphur. 

 Auirust 19ih, over 20,000 sulphur — and August 

 27ih, hatched the last, say 5 to 8,000, sulphur. The 

 mammoth white worms wound in 24 to 28 days — ■ 

 the sulphur 28 to 33 days. A lew lingered to 36 

 or 40 days. 



Green oak bushes were used fijr the worms to 

 wind in. Last year I had plasterers' lath fiistened 

 under the shelves, one and a-half inches a part. 

 I (bund difiiculty, however, in getting the worms to 

 ascend well. 'I'his season I used straw at first, 

 tied up in small bundles and set on the shelves, 

 but tins did not answer as well as I had been led 

 to expect. At len.qth 1 threw every thing aside 

 and look the oak bushes. These have succeeded 

 with me better than any other contrivance. They 

 seem natural to the worms, and I have never seen 

 them mount any thing so readily as green bushes, 



