612 



F A R M E R S ' R E G I S T E R 



[No. 10 



escc Farmer, on fattening hogs with apples, I 

 was induce I this year to make a (rial of it, and i 

 now take pleasure in communicating the result to 

 the society. In Jane last, my hogs were poor and 

 diseased. I put thorn into my orchard to let them 

 get the benefit of the apples, and to my agreeable 

 surprise, in a few w ieks, my hoi> - s in the orchard 

 were much fiitter than those which had been led 

 on corn, and confirmed to thrive until they were 

 entirely fat, not having had one grain of corn — 

 and I would venture at this time, to challenge a 

 comparison with any lot of hogs that can be pro- 

 duced. 



I sincerely hope that others may he induced, 

 from this experiment, to turn their apples into 

 pork, instead of permitting them to full and rot 

 upon the ground. 



I conclude my humble contributions to the so- 

 ciety, by offering to you, gentlemen members, my 

 unfeigned thanks for the honor you have, confer- 

 red upon me. 



JOHX H. CEAVE3T. 



From the Silk Culturist. 



PItOFIT OF A HliMP CROP COMPARED WITH 

 SILK CULTURE. 



We are indented to the politeness of Samuel 

 Chew, Esq., of Lexington, Kentucky, for an esti- 

 mate of the cost and profit of a crop of hemp, 

 coupled with a request, that we will compare it 

 with a silk crop in New England. We cheerfully 

 comply with the request, prefacing, however, the 

 remark that from the rich bottoms of Kentucky, 

 a much larger crop of silk' may be expected than 

 from the ordinary land of New England. With 

 respect to the labor necessary lor a hemp crop, 

 Mr. Chew says: "I wish very much for a far 

 comparison between the silk and our staple, which 

 is hemp. I will give you the cost of an acre of 

 hemp. As it takes the best land, the renl is 

 worth, - $4 00 



The land must be ploughed at least twice; 

 the best farmers plough three times and 

 harrow twice, which will take a learn 

 two days, at $1 a day, is 

 It takes one and a half bushels of seed, at 



$1 a bushel, ... 



Cutting the hemp will take two days, at -;1 



per day, - 



Tying it in bundles and stacking, one and 



a half days, - 



Spreading it down to rot, one day, 

 Breaking is always done by the short hun- 

 dred, as we call it, of 100 lbs, 



817 60 

 Five hundred pounds, of 112 lbs. to the 

 hundred, which we sell by, is a good 

 average crop to the acre, and $5 a 

 hundred, may be called the average 

 price for the last ten years, with the ex- 

 ception of the last, will give $25 as the 

 product of an acre well cultivated, $25 00 



the work done, which is nearly impossible, as it 

 is very dirty, and so laborious that scarcely any 

 white man will workat itjofcourseit is entirely done 

 by slave labor. A stout, man will make nine or 

 ten acres, when well managed; and as it does not 

 interfere widi a corn, or scarcely any other crop, 

 may make something besides. Thus you see, a 

 stout man will make from two hundred and fifty to 

 three hundred dollars. Negro women cannot la- 

 bor at hemp at all, and are scarcely worth any 

 tiling. Although our crop docs not appear so 

 visionary as your silk crop does per acre, from your 

 least calculations of from one hundred and forty, 

 to five hundred dollars; yet as a whole, will it be 

 as good as hemp to slave holders? If' near it, I 

 assure you, I for one, will quit hemp. I wish a 

 fair comparison, and if it cannot be obtained 

 through the medium of your paper, how am 1 

 to obtain it? 



We have long been of the opinion that the 

 culture of silk is peculiarly adapted to slave labor, 

 especially females, infirm male adults, and chil- 

 dren of both sexes. .Little muscular strength is 

 required, and no more judgement and skill than 

 ordinary negroes may exercise under the care and 

 direction of a judicious and attentive overseer. 

 With respect to the comparative profit, we would 

 refer Mr. Chew to the communication of Messrs. 

 Cheney in the last No. of the Culturist. According 

 to their estimate, 14,000 Chinese plants of two 

 years giowth to the acre, would furnish 35,000 lbs. 

 of foliage, which would be sufficient to make at least 

 350 lbs. of silk, worth, after deducting the ex- 

 pense of reeling $1050. The labor necessary to 

 attend a family of worms sufficient to make that 

 quantity of silk could not exceed 230 days, which 

 being estimated at a dollar a day, and deducted 

 from the gross amount would leave, a nett profit 

 of §820. The experiment of those gentlemen has 

 not been completely tried, yet we have little doubt 

 of the capacity of the lands and climate, of Ken- 

 tucky, to produce it. 



We see no difficulty in the way of a successful 

 prosecution of the culture of silk in connexion 

 with the culture of hemp, on the Kentucky plan- 

 tations. The silk crop is not. commenced until 

 some time after the time of cowing hemp is passed, 

 and it is finished before the hemp crop is ready lor 

 harvest. Help also which would be worthless on 

 the hemp crop may be profitably employed on the 

 silk crop, and the nett income of the plantation is 

 thereby astonishingly increased. 



Nett profit, $7 40 



Seventy-five pounds being a man's task to 

 break in a day, will leave us the above sum of $25 

 for fourteen days work; or $7 40, if we could hire 



From the Silk Culturist. 

 LABOR REQUIRED FOR SILK CULTURE. 



It is difficult to make accurate estimates of the 

 labor required in feeding and attending a fam- 

 ily of silk worms of a given number; as there 

 are several circumstances which tend to increase 

 or diminish it materially — such as the distance the 

 foliage is from the cocoonery — the size of the 

 trees and the quantity of their leaves — the variety 

 of the tree, whether Chinese or Italian, &c. &c. 



The following estimate, however, has been 

 made, by a correspondent of the New York Farm- 

 er, which may be regarded by ihe culturist as ac- 

 curate as any thing he can find on the subject, short 

 of actual experiment. "The labor required to at- 

 tend 1,000,000 worms would be, the first week, 



