1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



879 



commencing at the lowest part; but in collecting 

 the cocoons, never press them together where 

 they may be crushed; and if they are not yet fin- 

 ished, do not mix them, and thus injure the 

 others. 



Of the ivorms destined to make seed. 



It is proper to give some instructions respecting 

 the seed to be collected for the following year, as 

 it is very useful to provide the seed at home with 

 due care rather than purchase it; and it is an erro- 

 neous supposition that it should be changed, un- 

 less, owing to bad management or other circum- 

 stances, the worms remaining weak have formed 

 bad cocoons. If it is .wished to make a similar 

 quantity of seed to that used (5 ounces,) a six- 

 teenth part of the cocoons collected is required. 

 The cocoons to be selected for this purpose should 

 be of pale straw color, of fine silk, and hard, par- 

 ticularly at the extremities, and a contracted circle 

 in the middle. The largest should not be chosen. 

 The male cocoons are not easily distinguished 

 from the female, but it is generally observed that 

 the former are more pointed and smaller, those of 

 the females rounder and larger; although these 

 signs cannot be entirely relied upon, it is proper, 

 according to them, to separate the two sexes. 

 Let the cocoons thus selected be kept in a dry 

 room, at a heat of 66 to 72.V degrees, spread on 

 gratings covered with blotting paper, in layers not 

 more than three fingers deep. 



At the expiration of 15 days, the grubs com- 

 mence corning forth, and a farther space of 15 

 days will elapse before all are produced. The 

 warmer the room, the sooner will they come forth. 

 This room should be darkened, or have but little 

 light. Soon after they have left the room, the dif- 

 ferent sexes meet and copulate; and this they 

 they soon do, if the males are carried near the fe- 

 males, which is effected by taking them gently by 

 the wings. As soon as this is finished, they must 

 be placed on a linen cloth stretched on a "frame 

 prepared for this purpose. 



They should be kept as much as possible in the 

 dark, for in the light the moths weaken themselves 

 by constant flapping of the wings. The cocoon 

 from which the grub has issued must be removed, 

 that it may not be in the way of those that have 

 yet to come forth. If more of one sex come out 

 than of the other, those that are over should be 

 put in a box, and kept in the dark, to be copulated 

 as soon as there are others to be put with them. 

 If the number of males exceeds that of females, 

 the excess may be thrown away; if the females 

 exceed, they should be kept to be joined with 

 males which have been connected with another. 

 The male and female should not be left in connec- 

 tion more than six hours. They may be separa- 

 ted by taking both by the wings; or even by the 

 bodies. The males should be kept in a box, to 

 be used if there should be an excess of females. 

 The females are then to be carried into a well 

 ventilated room, but almost dark, and placed upon 

 linnen cloth stretched upon the floor. A square 

 yard of cloth can contain six or seven ounces of 

 seed; as much as is generally produced from three 

 pounds of cocoons. The grubs should be kept, 

 separate, so that one may not interfere with an- 

 other. The lemales may be left upon the cloth 

 36 or 40 hours. All the pieces of cloth where the 



eggs have been deposited should be well dried, 

 cool and loosely roiled up, and put in a dry 

 place, where the heat should not be more than 65 

 degrees, and where in winter it does not freeze. 

 It may be well to place them on a frame attached 

 to the roof, to avoid mice, and to protect them from 

 insects which may destroy them. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 OBSERVATIONS OJT THE LOW WAGES OF FE- 

 MALE LABORERS. — No. 2 



Since sending to the press the first part of these 

 observations, there has been published a commu- 

 nication to the New York Farmer, on the same 

 general subject, the greater part of which I shall 

 here quote. From the initial letters signed to the 

 piece, it appears to have been written by the Rev. 

 Henry Column of Massachusetts' — and is there- 

 fore entitled to respect on account of its source, no 

 less than its matter. The title of the piece is the 

 "Value of female labor, 1 ' and its general purport 

 would seem to be, at first view, directly opposed 

 to my opinions. But if fully considered, it will 

 be seen that there is no opposition of views — and 

 that the facts stated below only prove th&. great 

 gain to female laborers and to the public, from open- 

 ing to them many new employments. 



"One of the most remarkable features in the present 

 condition of this country is the high value of fe- 

 male labor. In foreign countries this labor has been 

 comparatively very poorly paid; and in some it has 

 been, and continues to be, of a servile and degraded 



character." "In our cities, heretofore, women 



employed as seamstresses have been poorly paid, and 

 have many times been so severely oppressed and 

 abused by their extortionate employers, that they have 

 been driven to desperation, and yielded to temptations 

 which have ended in infamy and ruin. But women 

 now, who are capable, and industrious, have their full 

 share in the prosperity of the times. 



In the country, in family service, where indeed a 

 woman can be found willing to enter it, a capable, 

 honest, and good domestic, may command almost any 

 things he will demand — from one to two dollars per 

 week. In cotton and woollen factories those who are dili- 

 gent and capable earn, besides their board, from three to 

 four, and in some extraordinary cases even five, dol- 

 lars a week. The braiding of palm leaf hats is now 

 carried on most extensively in several parts of the 

 country, and many young women, living under their 

 parent's roof, find no difficulty in earning two and three 

 dollars per week. Great numbers of young women 

 are employed as seamstresses in our large clothing es- 

 tablishments; as binders in our hat and shoe manufac- 

 tories; as makers of shoe pegs in those establishments; 

 as folders in our book-binderies; as compositors in our 

 printing offices; as attendants upon the press in those 

 offices where the printing is carried on either by wa- 

 ter or steam; as bottomers or weavers in our chair 

 manufactories; in various operations in our comb-ma- 

 king establishments; in our twine factories, as spinners; 

 in some of our steel factories, as grinders and polishers; 

 in our segar establishments, as rollers of tobacco; and in 

 such a variety of other manufactures that it is quite 

 impossible to enumerate them. In all these cases their 

 compensation is liberal and ample. 



This is altogeter a new spectacle in the condition of 

 society; and one which the benevolent mind will con- 

 template with pleasure. It must be allowed that many 

 of these occupations are pursued at the expense of 

 that household education, which is indispensable to 

 qualify them to preside with skill and propriety over 

 our domestic establishments, as wives and mothers; and 

 we are not without serious apprehensions, in respect 



