1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



483 



ter so unparalleled and unheard of as this last has 

 been, throughout the country, time will soon de- 

 cide; and how this mulberry and all other produc- 

 tions have fared from north to south. This mul- 

 berry braves the most rigorous winters of France, 

 even to the extreme north as far as Havre. Of 

 this important fact, we have been assured from 

 the first rate sources; from MM. Perrottet, Bodin, 

 Poiteau, also from M. Eyries of Havre, who has 

 there cultivated them from their first introduction 

 to that country. 



The prediction of the late Dr. Pascalis in 1830 

 that, "after the discovery of this plant, a doubt no 

 longer exists, that two crops of silk may be produced 

 in a single season;" this prediction has since been 

 accomplished — its truth fulfilled by experiment. 

 The soil and cultivation — the habitations for the 

 successive generations of insects being yet the 

 same, all thus converted to double use — and the 

 production of a double harvest — it will be obvious, 

 that the actual profit thus augmented, must be 

 manifold. 



It appears from the deliberations of the French 

 Royal Society of Horticulture, (as noted in the 

 Farmers' Register) that the Chinese mulberry or 

 Morus Multicaulis is not a distinct species, and 

 that as a new and invaluable variety, it can only 

 be preserved by multiplying it from grafts, layers, 

 and cuttings; and that by these means exclusively, 

 have the Chinese cultivators reared the tree from 

 time immemorial. Seeds sown near Venice, have, 

 it is stated, produced varieties, but none like the 

 true Morns Multicaulis. I have myself exam- 

 ined about forty trees, raised in 1834 from seed 

 sent from China, but they appeared to differ from 

 the true kind. Their leaves were indeed hand- 

 some, but I saw none with the curled or con- 

 vex leaf. 



From Kenrick's New American Orchardist, (2nd edit. 1835.) 

 NUMEROUS SUCCESSIVE CROPS OF COCOONS. 



From the. present encouraging appearances, we 

 are induced to believe, that instead of one single 

 and solitary crop of silk in a year, we may yet be 

 enabled, in our climate, and with our prolonged 

 summers, to raise not merely two crops of silk a 

 year, with a void interval of time between them, 

 but numerous crops of different ages at the same 

 time and in rapid succession for a season. With 

 the complete establishment of such a system, a 

 new era with us will commence. There are mul- 

 berries which will renew their foliage suddenly, 

 and for numerous successive times in a season. 

 Where a regular succession of crops can thus be 

 obtained, with a diminished proportion of labor, of 

 land, of cultivation, of habitations and of furni- 

 ture, for the successive generations of insects, how 

 greatly augmented must be the profit. 



Some, I am aware, might object, on the suppo- 

 sition that the plan has been before tried an hun- 

 dred times in Italy, in France, and other countries. 

 Not a doubt exists but it has been tried. But we 

 have no evidence whatever that in a suitable cli- 

 mate, it has ever been tried fairly and aright, and 

 failed. It seems important, that in this case, only 

 the eggs of the former year should be used, as 

 these by age, are found to hatch more promptly 

 and simultaneously, and all these may be saved 

 from the cocoons of the first crop produced, which 

 would prevent the possibility of a degeneracy. 



These are to be preserved dry at a suitable tem- 

 perature, and to be transferred to an ice house if 

 necessary, till the season they are wanted. Dr. 

 Millington, however, is persuaded that it might 

 be advantageous to have different races of differ- 

 ent ages. 



In Tuscany, so fine is their climate, that two 

 crops of silk are annually produced. The same 

 has been effected by Mrs. Parmentier at Brook- 

 lyn, on Long Island. The first crop being fed 

 from the leaves of the Morus Multicaulis^ Morus 

 alba, and other mulberries promiscuously, were of 

 different colors, some white, and some of an 

 orange color. But a second crop of worms from 

 the same cocoons, being fed exclusively on the 

 leaves of the Morus Multicaulis, finished their 

 labors in the short space of twenty-six days from 

 the commencement, which was about the 30th of 

 July. This last circumstance might be, in part, 

 owing to the warmth of the season. The cocoons 

 thus produced were not only of larger size than 

 those of the first crop, but what is still more im- 

 portant, they were beautiful and shining, and of 

 the ivhiteness of snow. 



At the Fair of the American Institute of New 

 York in 1833, cocoons were produced of two suc- 

 cessive crops of silk. The first crop were hatch- 

 ed 11th of May. The second crop the 8th of 

 July, and a third crop might have been produced. 

 All being fed on the Morus Multicaulis, they 

 were of a snowy whiteness. In the same year 

 Mr. E. Stanley of Ogden, N. Y., produced two 

 successive crops, the second were hatched by ac- 

 cident, and the cocoons were fine. In Brattlebo- 

 rough, Vt. in the same year two successive crops 

 were produced from the common white mulberry. 

 And in 1834, as Dr. Holmes has recorded, two 

 crops of cocoons, both of" them large and perfect, 

 were produced in Winthrop, Maine. See his ac- 

 count in the Maine Farmer, vol. iii. Feb. 20, 

 1835, published at Winthrop. 



In all these cases, the second crop of silkworms 

 was produced from the eggs from the cocoons of 

 the first crop. 



Dr. Millington however, states that this prac- 

 tice is wrong. In his valuable communication in 

 the American Farmer for January, 1829, he has 

 stated that the eggs of the same year hatch but 

 partially, or do not hatch so regular as those of 

 the former year. He notes the date and the day 

 the eggs are produced, on the papers on which 

 they are deposited; and those egn;s of a similar 

 age are brought forward to hatch at the same 

 time, and then they usually are all ready to spin 

 together. These are carefully rolled up and pre- 

 served in dry boxes, and kept in a dry cool cellar, 

 and in June or July of the following year, and 

 when the heat of the climate or season requires it, 

 they are transferred to a dry ice house. 



Among the great advantages of having silk- 

 worms of different ages in the same apartment, 

 Dr. Millington states, "that the same room and 

 shelves will hold abundantly more worms at the 

 same time, without being crowded; and a room 

 and shelves which will but barely accommodate 

 100,000 full grown worms, will better accommo- 

 date 250,000 consisting of four or five different 

 ages, provided each age or parcel are about equal 

 in number, and are hatched at about seven or 

 eight days apart. Another advantage is, the 

 same number of' hands, with the same quantity of 



