1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



689 



be possible that so small a loan will be denied to 

 us, the tillers of the earth? What, let me asl<, litis 

 ever been done for us? Yet we have paid ninety- 

 nine hundredths of the whole amount expended 

 in the erection of the University, and whatever 

 has been paid into the Literary Fund. We do not 

 object that ample provision has been made lor 

 other sciences. No, we rejoice in it — but we do 

 complain that this most important of all has 

 been entirely neglected — yes, the most important, 

 and of unusual concern. It* in any country agri- 

 culture languishes, the effects are felt through the 

 whole social body. It is the infallible barometer 

 by which to test the prosperity of ever)' state. In 

 asking therefore for a share of the public patron- 

 age, we ask not lor ourselves only, but equally for 

 the whole community. If therefore these neces- 

 sary measures required fresh burdens, who could 

 object, if we the payers require it. But fortunate- 

 ly, these are unnecessary. A lar^e annual sur- 

 plus in the Literary Fund, exceeding $20,000, ; s 

 known to exist, and daily increasing. There 

 seems then to be a peculiar fitness now in giving 

 us the tillers of the earth, a portion of this surplus, 

 to be expended in establishments full of so many 

 advantages to husbandry. 



I (ear I have fatigued you by appropfiatinrr so 

 large a portion of your time, and more than conies 

 to my share. I will conclude, therefore, by saying 

 that we are here from no political sect or party, 

 and that our whole and sole object is to aid in ar- 

 resting, if possible, great and growing mischiefs. 

 We have met together to exi I 

 Among those who, unseduced by the spirit of fo- 

 reign adventure, have determined to abide by 'lie 

 fate of Virginia — be it good, or be it bad — having 

 for our motto, "Don't give up the ship." W"e 

 have come together to endeavor to rouse the 

 sleeping energies of the commonwealth — and 

 more especially would we invoke our young men 

 to be up and a doing — to whom we would recall 

 the recollection of what Virginia once was — when 

 her star was culminating to the zenith — led by the 

 pure glory of a Henry, and a Washington, anil a 

 long list of illustrious names, occupying the fairest 

 pages of history. What though that star may 

 now be on the wane- — her honors humbled in the 

 "dust, and none so poor as to do her reverence — 

 yet let them not despair. A country once so fruit- 

 ful, must have the faculty of reproduction. And, 

 finally, we have come to invoke the legislature to 

 suspend for a moment, the fury of party warfare, 

 to remember their country, and to fulfil the 

 high trust to which they have been called, bv 

 adopting a wise and beneficent legislature, which 

 will make the crooked way straight, and the une- 

 ven smooth — to encourage, the developement of 

 the vast resources of the commonwealth, among 

 which Ave place high on the list, its agricultural 

 capacities, and to receive as their reward, the gra- 

 titude of all coming time. 





From Roberts' Silk Manual. 

 ON THE CHINESE MULBERRY. 



Sir. — Having seen many statements and surjr- 



festions in the public prints, that the Chinese 

 lulberry, Morns multicaulis, was not as hardy 

 as the white mulberry; that it would not bear the 

 extreme cold of our winters, &c, I deem it proper 



Vol. Ill— 87 



my own observations on the subject. I 

 was the first person south of New York, who had 

 the Mnrus multicaulis. It was sent to me by my 

 old friends, Wm. Prince & Sons, in 1S28, in a 

 collection of seven other varieties of mulberry. 

 It was not then known by its present name, but 

 was called the Phillipine Island mulberry, and I 

 believe was received by the Messrs. Prince di- 

 rect from those Islands. " About a year after I re- 

 ceived it, accounts were received lrom France of 

 the receipt of the Morus multicaulis, and of its 

 great value lor feeding worms. On examining 

 tay trees, I at once found that my Phillipine Is- 

 land mulberry was the. iMuiticaulis, and immedi- 

 ately commenced feeding my silk worms with it; 

 and from experiment ascertained the truth of all 

 the French had said about it. From that time to 

 th;s I have continued to urge upon all the propri- 

 ety of cultivating this, in preference to the white 

 mulberry. Its advanrages are— it is fully as hardy 

 as the white; one pound of iis leaves contain as 

 much nutritive matter as a pound and a half of 

 the white; the silk made from it is of a finer texture 

 and more lustrous; its leaves are so large that a 

 pound can be gathered at hall" the expense and trou- 

 ble that a pound of white mulberry leaves require; 

 it can be cultivated with infinitely more despatch 

 than any other kind. These are all great advan- 

 tages, and I am so well convinced of' the correct- 

 ness of this statement, that I do not hesitate to 

 say, that within ten years no other mulberry will 

 be cultivated for feeding silk worms; simpty be- 

 cause those who feed silk worms upon white mul- 

 berry leaves will not be enabled to compete with 

 those who feed on Morus multicaulis, and they 

 will be either compelled to abandon the silk busi- 

 ness, or adopt the Multicaulis for feeding. In re- 

 lation to Ihe hardiness of the Morus multicaulis, I 

 have to remark, that I have cultivated it for seven 

 years; never protected it in any manner whatever, 

 and never lost a tree by the cold of winter or any 

 other way. I had fifty young trees in my garden 

 last winter, and not even a bud on the extremity 

 oi" the branches was injured. It is true, about 50 

 yards distant, my dwelling house stood; there is 

 a grove of oak trees, and on the north, 50 

 yards west from where the young trees stood; 

 and the garden has an exposure to the south with 

 a gentle declination. But my residence in the 

 winter of lo21 — 2, was very different. It was on 

 a farm four miles in the country, in a north-east 

 direction; the situation at an elevation of 300 or 

 400 feet above tide water. There my Morus mul- 

 ticaulis had an open exposure to the north-west 

 wind; yet none were injured. During the whole 

 time I have had the white mulberry of various va- 

 rieties, and have observed that they were all 

 equally hardy — none more so than the Multicau- 



I lis. I have seen the young unripened wood of all 

 the varieties destroyed by the winter, and was 

 very early led to adopt measures to guard against 



j it, and now I never lose a bud. 



None but the young trees are ever injured by 

 winter, and all we have to do is to give them such 

 a start, as to enable them to ripen their wood pre- 

 - to the approach of very cold weather. I 

 raisi all my trees from cuttings in a hot bed. 

 About the 1st of March I make an ordinary hot 

 Wed like those used for raising cabbage plants; 

 then I take the young wood of last year's growth, 

 and cut it into pieces about two inches long, merely 



