702 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 11 



whole subject than M. Bonafous; but still it would be 

 desirable to have his experimants repeated m this 

 country. We would especially request this of a gen- 

 tleman in Goochland who has the Osage orange grow- 

 ing, and to whom we were indebted for the account of 

 it, published at p. 543 of this volume — and to whom, 

 we regret to say, this journal has been indebted for no 

 other original matter, although we have frequently, and 

 with pleasure, copied his communications to other and 

 distant papers. Of such preference, however, we 

 have no right to complain.] 



The production of silk has become so fertile n 

 source of riches, that the frosts of spring cannot 

 cause injury to the young leaves of the mulberry, 

 without affecting seriously the interests of agricul- 

 ture, and of industry in general. 



To preserve this tree from the frosts, which so 

 often occur unexpectedly even at the moment 

 when the silk worms are about to come out of the 

 eggs, has induced cultivators to adopt various 

 measures— as planting in the best exposures, 

 heaping earth around the lower part of the trunk 

 in autumn, covering with straw, and throwing ma- 

 nure over the roots, &c. But ihese precautions 

 are commonly useless, if the frost occurs after the 

 sap of the mulberry is rising. 



Researches have also been made to find some 

 plant that could supply the place of mulberry, 

 when late frosts suspend its vegetation. The wild 

 bramble, the rose, the elm, Vepinevinette, the ma- 

 ple of Tartary, the Spanish scorzonera, and lastly, 

 the cameline, have been proposed as substitutes;* 

 and if experience proves that some of these plants 

 may feed the silk worm, it also proves that they 

 cannot make it produce the glutinous [resmeuse] 

 matter, considered necessary to the formation ol 

 the cocoon. 



I was thence induced to believe that it would be 

 difficult to discover a substance both suitable to 

 take the place of the mulberry, and able to resist 

 frosts. However, being at Montpelier, in April 

 1834, when the cold of four degrees (of Reaumur) 

 below zero,t injured a great number of mulberry 

 trees, I was curious to study the effects of the 

 cold upon a multitude of plants cultivated in the 

 Jardlii de V£cole-de- Medicine; aad having ob- 

 served that a tree of the family of the urticces, 

 (which botanists do not distinguish from the mul- 

 berry except by its flower having a single style,) 

 had resisted this lowering of temperature, while 

 the white mulberry, the black, that of the Philip- 

 pines [or Chinese~\ and the mulberry of Constan- 

 tinople, had not been able to support it, I thought 

 it useful to ascertain whether this tree, recently in- 

 troduced into Europe under the name of the Ma- 



*Recherches sur les moyens de remplacer la feuille 

 du murier par une autre substance propre au ver a 

 soie; par M. Bonafous. — Memmres de la Soeiete royale 

 et centrale a" 1 agriculture, annee, 1826. 



See also an article on Scorzonera as food for silk 

 worms, p. 471, Vol. III. Farm. Reg. 



fEqual to 22 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, 

 or 10 degrees below the freezing point. Ed. 



dura vluranliaca,* could be successfully employed 

 lor the nourishment of silk worms. 



For this purpose, I had batched the eggs of a 

 Syrian variety of silk worms, which I had receiv- 

 ed, and scarcely had the worms left the eggs, 

 when I formed of them two divisions, which f ted 

 in the same locality, the one with the leaves of 

 the Madura, and the other with ihose of the 

 white mulberry. The worms fed with the maclu- 

 ra had a more rapid growth dining the two first 

 ages: hut afterwards, the worms fed with mulber- 

 ry leaves, in their turn, took the superiority over 

 the others, and maintained the superiority up 1o 

 the time of their climbing. The worms ted with 

 the maclura acquired a greenish tint, which made 

 them easily distinguishable from the others; and, 

 although at a laier time, by seven or eight days, 

 they formed cocoons of a regular structure, and of 

 as firm a texture, as those of the worms fed hy 

 mulberry leaves: such were the cocoons of M. 

 Fared, correspondent of the Sr.ciete Rayale ei Cen- 

 trale d'y/gricullure, sent me from Montpelier, as 

 soon as he had completed (under the eyes of the 

 agricultural society of Herault,) the comparative 

 rearing of the two kinds, which my leaving the 

 department had not permitted me to conduct my- 

 self, to i;s termination. f 



It follows then, from this fact, that the maclura 

 aurantiacu, without offering all the qualities which 

 render the mulberry so well suited ibr feeding 

 silk worms, presents still a most important advan- 

 tage, that, of not being injured by a degree of cold 

 which the mulherry cannot endure, and of being 

 able to supply its place, until the mulberry shall 

 have put out a second growth of leaves. It is 

 true that I cannot mark the limit at which the 

 maclura ceases to vegetate in Europe: however, 

 I can affirm that it has never yet been injured by 

 Ireezingin the Botanic Gardens of Paris, ol'Stras- 

 burg, of Geneva, &c. nor in that [of Turin] which 

 is under my direction, where I introduced this tree 

 five or six years ago. 



In calling the attention of agriculturists to this 

 first experiment^ I would wish to induce those 

 who are engaged in silk culture to plant some 

 stocks of maclura, to supply nourishment to their 

 worms, when the leaves of the mulberry are nip- 

 ped by frost. A maclura of 12 to 15 feet in height, 

 such as that of Montpelier which served lor my I 

 experiment, will suffice for the feedino;, during the 

 two first ages, as many worms as will be produced 

 from two to three ounces of eggs. 



Originally from North America, where it grows 

 on the banks of the Missouri, and in the country 

 of Natchez, the maclura auraniiaca rises to 30 

 feet., with a diameter of 6 to 8 inches. Its trunk 

 is milk-yielding, and covered with bark that is 

 readily divided into threads, and the branches are 

 flexible, and armed with thorns which disappear 

 nt adult age, as I have observed on the tree at 

 Montpelier. The roots yield a lively yellow tint. 

 The leaves are alternate, on foot-stalks entire, 5 

 to 6 inches long, and 2 to 3 wide, oval and acu- 

 minate, glossy on the upper surface, and slightly 



*Nuttall — Genera of North American Plants, p. 233 

 —II. 



t Bulletin de la Soeiete d'agriculture du department 

 de l'Herault, Octobre 1834. 



