EXTRACTS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 165 



i'ontinent wherever our favorite Indian corn can be grown." 

 \nother also : " I cannot doubt that the business is destined short- 

 ly to become a great and important branch of national industry, 

 and a vast and inexhaustible source of national wealth." Another 

 still, remarks : " Our experience is, that the silk culture is much 

 the most profitable of any branch of husbandry in this section of 

 country ; and we feel confident that it will, ere long, spread. 

 through the Union, and become second to none except the cotton 

 I owing interest, even if it does not take the lead of that also." 

 • It may be associated with the farming business of the country ; 

 and females and children can attend to it, so that it may be carried 

 oil without interfering with either domestic or agricultural con- 

 cerns ; while they will give at little expense a very considerable 

 added profit." In France, ladies have done much in this enter- 

 prise. It is to be hoped that the whole country will soon be led 

 to awake to the importance of the subject ; and that, instead of 

 silk being found among our list of imports, it will, ere long, occu- 

 py a place among the staples exported to our foreign markets, and 

 producing additional wealth to our extended country. 



[From the last Report of the Comr. of Patents.] 



WATER-ROTTING HEMP. 



The subject of hemp, in all its management, is one of decided 

 interest throughout the west. At present, Russia furnishes most 

 of the hemp for our navy ; not because it grows more luxuriantly, 

 or that the fibre is better than the growth of this country, but be- 

 cause it is better prepared for manufacturing than in this country. 

 It is to the interest of the farmer, manufacturer, and the nation, 

 that we produce at least enough for our own consumption ; and 

 what we lack is mainly in the mode of rotting and cleaning. It 

 is decided, by universal experience, that water-rotted hemp is bet- 

 ter for perhaps every purpose than dew-rotted. The communica- 

 tion from the pen of the Hon. H. Clay, here annexed, contains 

 most valuable information ; and we ask our many readers to give 

 it a careful perusal, and endeavor to put themselves in possession 

 of the advantages afforded. 



Ashland, May 28, 1843. 



Dear Sir — I received your letter, requesting information as to 

 my method of preparing my water-rotted hemp for market. I 

 water-rotted last winter and this spring, eight or ten tons, in vats 

 fifty feet long, twelve feet wnde at the bottom and fourteen at the 

 top, and four and a half feet deep. The hemp is first put in the 

 vats carefully, the water then introduced, and when the hemp is 



