1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



465 



sufficient to prevent ils crystal ization, or conver- 

 sion by nature into sugar. The following table pre- 

 pared from the statements of Borzelius, Raspail 

 and Dumas, by Dr. Prout, shows in a curious and 

 interesting light, by what mere shades ol' differ- 

 ence in their constituent atoms, substances, which 

 to the sense appear as far apart as the zenith from 

 the nadir, are separated. Water is composed ol' 

 definite and well ascertained proportions of oxy- 

 gen and hydrogen, and in the formation of sugar, 

 starch, acetic acid, and lignin, or the pure woody 

 fibre of trees and plants, these two materials are 

 found united in the same proportions as in water; 

 the only ingredient added for their completion be- 

 ing carbon. These substances, sugar, acetic 

 acid, starch, and lignin, may therefore be consi- 

 dered as composed of carbon and water in the 

 proportions here given. 



Sugar. — 100 parts of sugar from 



starch contains 36,20 63,80 

 From honey 36,36 63,64 

 From East India moist 40,88 59,12 

 From beet root and ma- 

 ple 42,10 57,90 

 From English refined 42,05 53,05 

 From sugar candy pure 42,85 57,15 



Acetic acid 47,05 52,95 



Starch. — Arrow root in its ordi- 

 nary state 36,04 63,06 

 From wheat in its ordi- 

 nary state 37,50 62,50 

 From wheat dried 212° 42,80 57.20 



-In its ordinary state of 



dryness 42,70 57,30 



From willow dried 212° 49,80 50,20 



From box do. 50,00 50,00 



Dr. Prout, in his Bridgewater Treatise, remarks 

 "that both starch and wood can by different arti- 

 ficial processes be converted into sugar or vinegar. 

 But we are unable to reverse the process, and 

 convert, vinegar into sugar, or starch into wood." 

 The chemist Braconnet has ascertained that a 

 pound of linen rags yields rather more than a 

 pound of sugar. The finest crystals of sugar I 

 have ever seen were from that of the maple. 

 They were a quarter of an inch in length, and an 

 eighth in breadth, flattened six sided prisms, ter- 

 minated by similar sided summits. These crys- 

 tals were as clear as flint glass, very hard and 

 brittle, and not easily soluble. 



W. GAYLORD. 



Lignin.- 



each, receiving therefore the very handsome profit 

 of $12, and having one hundred and fifty-lour re- 

 maining on hand. 



From the Silk Culturist. 



ANSWER TO THE SOUTH ON THE PROFITS OF 



RAISING THE MULBERRY. 



In our last number we promised to give our 

 friends in the south a fair and impartial opinion 

 respecting the aggregate amount of net profit 

 which may be reasonably expected from an acre 

 in mulberry; and expressed a hope that it would be 

 sufficiently encouraging to induce the young men 

 of Virginia to remain on the plantations of their 

 ancestors,and give their attention to the culture of 

 silk. We are aware of the various estimates 

 which have been made by practical culturists, and 

 are fully satisfied that most of them are erroneous 

 in their results. By this we do not mean that the, 

 gentlemen who have made them have intentional- 

 ly misled the public; but that they have misjudged 

 with respect to a fair average crop. Some of 

 these estimates are manifestly extravagantly high; 

 while others are as manifestly below the truth. 

 Were we to take the medium between the two 

 extremes, we are inclined to believe it would be as 

 near an approximation to the truth as the present 

 state of the business will admit. Taking this then 

 as our data we should be brought to the conclu- 

 sion that from $125 to $150 net profit, may be 

 expected from an acre of full grown irees, or co- 

 vered with full grown hedges. It was also 

 our intention to have accompanied the expres- 

 sion of our opinion with a comparative state- 

 ment of a silk, with other crops. Farther re- 

 flection, however, on the subject has convinced us 

 that this can be better done by detached articles 

 on distinct, crops, than in a long article, embracing 

 the whole. We have therefore decided on this 

 course, and in another column will be found a 

 communication from an intelligent gentleman in 

 the state of New York, on the profit of a dairy, 

 and an editorial article on the profit of a wool crop, 

 from an authentic source. The profits of other 

 crops will be given hereafter. 



From the Silk Culturist. 



EXTRAORDINARY INCREASE. 



Nurserymen, unacquainted with the cultiva- 

 tion of the Chinese mulberry, are probably not 

 aware of the extent to which they may be multi- 

 plied, in a single season. In order to show the 

 number that may be produced from a single tree, 

 we will state the result of an experiment by Mr. 

 Besfor, of Suffield, the present year. He laid 

 down the branches of two trees, and thereby pro- 

 duced two hundred and two in addition to the ori- 

 ginal stocks. From the product of one tree he 

 has already sold forty-eight, at twenty-five cents 



Vol. Ill— 59 



From the Silk Culturist. 



POOR AND DRY SOILS BEST FOR MULBEBRY 

 CULTURE. CHINESE MULBERRY. 



The soil best for the production of good silk is 

 another view of the subject of which I shall now 

 say but little. The warmer and sweeter the soil, 

 wherever found, the richer the foliage, and the 

 better the silk will be of course. The hottest 

 sand soil that trees ever grew on will produce the 

 best silk; all fruits and vegetable productions being 

 more or less nut ritious and high favored as heat, pre- 

 vails in the soil in which they grow. The pravalence 

 of moisture, as in the night and wet days, by 

 causing an abundant flow of sap, relaxes, expands 

 and increases the growth of plants — the heat, that 

 prevails in the day and in droughts dries away the 

 watery pans, sweetens and matures the growth 

 as it is acquired — then, as moisture expands and 

 heat condenses, moist soils may produce the great- 

 est quantity of foliage, and hot the best in quality. 

 Those persons, who pronounce this or that mulber- 

 ry superior for the production of the finest silk, 



