151 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Dec. 



•J. 



13-jS, 



would derive much merit from the adoption of a | sumption, and at the time when they need to be j readers are oecupied "'_ t''eJ»l'ors «f "'<;, I'io';?' 



u„ 



similar system of management of their orchards. 

 His prescriptions on sowing, planting-, watering, 

 tilling, grafting, and pruning, are all of them ex- 

 cellctit ; and, tiiough not wholly unknown here, 

 are generally unused or neglected by our farmers. 

 The rules which he enforces are the result of long 

 observation and successful practice, and prove 

 that in agricidture, as well as in every other art, 

 profit can be derived only from labor and science. 



In tlie second part, the author treats scientifi- 

 cally of the silk worm, from its birth to the chry- 

 salis ; of the supply and of the preservation of the 

 seed for the next year's brood ; and of that essen- 

 tial point in the production of good silk, the wind- 

 ing of the libres from the cocoons. 



For the more perfect illustration of this work, 

 and to make it more worthy of pnbhc acceptance, 

 four plates, with the necessary letters of reference 

 have been engraved by a skilful artist. 



VARIETIES OF THE MILBERRY TREE. 



There are two species of mulberry trees ; — 

 the white and the black. The white mulberry 

 puts forth light green leaves, smaller and thinner 

 than those of the bl.ick mulberry. They are be- 

 sides longer than they are broad, and the green of 

 the underside of the leaf differs from that of the 

 upper side, only by being less glossy. The leaves 

 of the black mulberry are wider than they are 

 long ; they are thick and covered underneatli 

 with a sort of white down. The white mulberry 

 gives shoots thicker and shorter, and it vegetates 

 more slowly. The barks as well as the fruits of 

 the two sorts of trees are very different. The 

 white mulberry has a yellow bark, and its fruit is 

 wliite and insipid ; but the black is clothed with a 

 bark of a much darker hue, and gives excellent 

 mulberries, which we cat witli pleasure, and which 

 are regarded as a salutary fruit. 



There are four kinds of the white mulberry ; — 

 the wild mulbery, the grafted mulberry, the rose 

 mulberry, and the Spanish mulberry. The wild 

 mulberry is generally produced from the seed of 

 the grafted mulberry; its leaves arc small, thin, 

 indented, and of a deep yellowish green. The 

 grafted mulberry tree produces a beautiful, well 

 spread leaf, and of peculiar excellence for silk 

 worms in the last stages of their growth. The 

 rose colored niulberry is nearly as good, but its 

 loaves are thinner and of a more beautiful green 

 than those of the ingtal'ted mulberry. The Span- 

 ish mulberry gives a wide, thick leaf, full of juice, 

 a id hears a grey colored fruit much larger than 

 that which i: 



tilled with substantial nourishment. • | a"d derive their subsistence Iroin the cuhuutioi. 



The leaf of the wild mulberry being very small i of the soil. For the advantage or miprovemem 

 and very thin, it nourishes little when it is gathered , of these a part of your journals ought weekly an.l 

 upon meagre or sandy land. It would be noces- 1 regularly to he devoted ; and as so many agricul- 

 sary to have a large plantation of this sort of tree ' tural and periodical reviews are published both n. 

 in order to secure a good income to the cultivator; America and the mother country, contauung all 

 but if these mulberry trees were planted in a rich, the modern discoveries connected with the sci- 

 soil the result would be different.* We lose ourj ence, 1 do not think it woul.l impose a duty ot 

 silk worms, in the low Languedoc, only through ; any great hardship to select from these such arti- 

 the want of this sort of wild mulberry upon our , cles as are appropriate to our situation and cir- 

 good lands; ahhough it be absolutely necessary cumstances. These woud naturally form the 

 to have grafted mulberry trees upon our bad lands, subject of conversation and discussion among our 

 That neglect, and the great heats which we some- larmers, new light 



would be struck out to en- 



times experience in the month of May, both in lighten their practice, and the march of improve- 

 Provence an.l Languedoc, are the two causes of j uient would go on at a more steady and rapi.l 

 the failure of the crops of silk, which are other- pace. 



wise so lucrative. I" '^^ measures which tend to the improve- 



The leaf of the grafted white mulberry is pre- ' >"ent of agriculture, I place the formation of good 

 ferable to all others for the nourishment of silk 



worms. Its leaf is more tender, and the worms 

 eat it more greedily. This early mulberry puts 

 forth its leaves fifteen days sooner than the black 

 and the Spanish mulberry. It grows faster— 

 adopts itself to all sorts of soils, and its leaves 



roads in the first rank. From the unprecedented 

 zeal which our late Governor, Sir James Kempt, 

 directed to this branch of the public service, vast 

 advantages have already been derived ; and to 

 myself individually, as well as to many thousands 

 in the Province, it must be a subject of the most 



, . I !■. c iincpre rpirrpt that His Kxcellencv has been call- 



augment the quantity, and improve the quality ot.si'K^erc regret, mac iiis l-a , 



" 1 J' 1 ed from us ere the many improvements which he-, 



the silk. 



Every thing is useful in the mulberry tree 



Its 



had projected, both on the Eastern and Western 



The good already 



first leaves are valuable in the silk which they Post Roads were completed 



achieved, althousrh ot such incalculable utility, I 



produce, by nourishing the silk worms — its second 

 loaves fatten our cattle — its fruit is excellent for 

 poultry and sheep, and the wood is useful lor 

 joiners, and makes good fuel. The mulberry tree 

 may also serve as an ornament for our gardens. 

 Very different from the hornbeam, which never 

 attains a good height ; from the elm, which is of- 

 ten devoured by caterpillars ; from the ash, which 

 makes no shade, the niiilbei-ry tree joins to its pe- 

 cuniary benefits every other advantage that you 

 may desire. It makes a refreshing shade — it co- 

 vers itself with a magnificent foliage — it grows to 

 the height that you may wish — it takes any form 

 that you please to give it, and as this ti-ee is al- 

 ways handsome and tisofid, the Author of nature 

 has been ])lcased to add cleanness, for we rarely 

 if ever see upon it caterpillars, lizards, spiders or 

 any other sort of vermin. 



( To be continued.) 



have ever regarded as the precursor only of what 

 was to follow ; and although His Excellency had 

 already accomplished so much, for the fame pf 

 his administration, he had still marked out for 

 himself a wide field of enterprise, from which to 

 gather a richer chaplet of civic laurels. By im- 

 pioving the internal communication the market is 

 rendered of easier access to the farmer, and tho 

 expense of the carriage is reduced. The cost oC 

 production is thus lessened, and he can aflford to 

 sell the a«icle at a more moderate price to the 

 consumer. Public improvements minister thus to 

 the advantage of the whole community ; and there 

 is no doctrine in the whole range of political sci- 

 lence more clear than this — that those improve- 

 jments which tend to benefit the farmer, to in- 

 crease the faciHties of production, and lessen the 

 price of tho necessaries of life, come to afTect and 

 to benefit every other branch of the national in- 

 dustry. In addition to the plans already pursued, 

 the ratio of our agricultural advancement woul* 

 he larcelv increased, were the Legislature to ap- 



AGRICULTURE IN NOVA SCOTIA. 



{Conrluderi from page \4Q.) 



To the Press of the Province I think some blame .. . ..,,m;,. f„i„l* f,,r the onen- 



xuijcii.^ ^^^1 -ppjlpropriate a i)art of the public, tun. Is lur tne open- 



' ' ing of new roads througli the wilderness lands. — 



Agriculture is 



1 thus 



tulti- 

 lio 



serve for the nourishment of the silk worm ; hut it 

 is not a matter of indilFci-ence to make use of the 

 one or the other sort. On the contrary the suc- 

 ces.^ of raising silk worms, the quantity of silk 

 which they give, as well as its intriu.-ic beauty de- 

 pend m.ich on the choice of their food. 



The hl.ick mulberry is the least advantageous 

 for silk worms, because it produces a coarse silk, 

 and for that reason it is not used as a foo.l for 

 them. The S|)anisli mulberry would have the 

 same effect if the silk worms were nourished a 

 long time with its thick fat leaf. But those wiio 

 are skilled in the care of silk worms do not touch 

 its leaf before the moment of the greatest con- 



hed in the metropolis, and the community m 

 which you move is chiefly conversant with coin- 

 Miercial subjects, still you ought to bear ia mind 

 that a large, perhaps the greater portion, of your 



*The propiiolnrs ofilie soil in the foimer provinces of Soulh- 

 ern France which befure the inwlern division into Heparim.Mits 

 wiTC "^o well linown by the names of Provence and Laneiicd.K 

 cullivale Ihe wh.le mulberv as an o!j«cl ol reveinie. Vnic ol 

 ilie rich, an.l perhaps few of Ihe middling classes ot land-holders 

 undertake to raise sill; worms. This care is generally confined 

 to Ihc small proprietors and lo the peasantry, whose agricultural 

 labors are generallv bestowed ou articles of subsisli-nce ; and 

 ihev purchase the Vnulherry leaves of those land-holders, who 

 can convenieiulv appropiiale a part of Iheir estates to ihe culti- 

 vation of Ihe White mulberry. From the leaves of this tree, 

 which sell from five lo six livres the quimal^ they d«rive a gogd 

 iucomc. 



been attended with the most flattering 

 mating success. 



I have no wish, Mr Editor, to rush hea.Mong 

 into literary warfare, or to run a tilt with existing 

 prejudices ; but in a new country like this, when 

 we pursue any scheme, in whi.-h older countries 

 have attained "an acknowledged superiority, it is 

 surely the work of wisdom to review the steps of 

 their progress, and to guide our eftbrts by the 

 lights which their experience has set up on the 

 way. Now, Sir, whether we turn to the finer 

 farming Districts in Europe or in America, we 

 will find, that none of these have reached any very 



