252 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



l-cb. 27, 1820. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



CLIMATE AND SILK. 



MrPessenden — It is a curious faet,tliat ancient 

 impressions are often transmitted on the minds of 

 successive generations, long after the original 

 cause has ceased ; it is so with us in respect to 

 our climate : the rigors of the winter season in 

 former days, and extreme variahlencss with sud- 

 den transitions in si>ring and summer, have long 

 since gradually softened away ; their primitive 

 harshness is gone, and no more to be found, than 

 puritan intolerance and roughness are to be traced 

 in the mild and enlightened spirit of the age. — 

 Yet the impression formed in old times, that our 

 climate is unpropitious for the |)urpose of rich cul- 

 tivation, seems to remain yet, hovering occasion- 

 ally, about the thoughts of some of the best friends 

 to agriculture. It is to be regretted, inasmuch as 

 it leaves doubts, where there is no foundation for 

 any, and may create a hesitation and timidity un- 

 favorable to a successful issue. 



This is particularly applicable to the introduc- 

 tion of the culture of Silk, which being the pro- 

 duct chiefly of mild countries, doubts are some- 

 times expressed as to the propitiousness of our 

 own. Upon a careful investigation we inay, how- 

 ever, be fully satisfied that our circumstances, 

 taken together, are perfectly favorable, and equal 

 to those of any silk country whatever in Europe. 

 The first object to consider, is the food requisite 

 to procure that rich crop, and there we find our 

 case perfectly secured. The White Mulberry 

 grows freely on our warm light lands, and their 

 growth is rapid ; their prosperity is not impaired 

 in the least by the cold of winter, nor the variable- 

 ness of spring; no insects attack the leaves, nor 

 the bark of the trees, and the climate and soil ap- 

 pear to be as congenial to them, as they are to 

 the White Oak and other natives of the forest. — 

 They are very tenacious of life, for, after being 

 cut down close to the ground, the stumps will fur- 

 nish many suckers around, and on their being torn 

 off, will send forth others for years in succession. 

 These hardy trees are to sujiport the dehcate in- 

 sects from whose labors the rich crop is to be ob- 

 tained. We may, therefore, assure ourselves that 

 by using common care and diligence, we can 

 make certain of the greatest abundance of food for 

 them. Their introduction to existence may be 

 regulated in some measure by o\u' will, and as the 

 period of their life does not exceed two months, 

 there is every chance to secure for them that 

 warm and even tem))Rrature which is needful. — 

 In fact the seed should be kept in a cool place 

 until the young leaves of the mulberry begin to 

 appear, it should be then set to batching, 

 which would be some time in the early part of 

 June, and in about two months from that period, 

 the crop would be secured, which would be in 

 general before the 20tli of August. 



From the lOth of June to the 20th of August 

 our climate is subject to no variation of tempera- 

 ture, but what common care with common accom- 

 modations would render perfectly harmless. I 

 doubt much whether the silk districts of France 

 and Italy, or any of them, offer in that respect any 

 advantages superior to oiu-s. In France silk is 

 raised chiefly in the departments bordering on the 

 Mediterranean, and at times, dull humid weather 

 proceeds from thence, with an obscure, relaxing 

 atmosphere, to such an extreme, that in Montpe- 



lier the moisture gathering on the walls of the 

 stair cases in the interior of the houses, will run 

 down on the steps. As soon as such turns come 

 on, the doors and windows of the apartments al- 

 lotted to the silk worms are to be closed carefully, 

 the leaves to be gathered before hand, or dried 

 for them. We have nothing in New England to 

 guard against, of so unfavorable a nature. Our 

 sea turns along the shore offer no dangers equal 

 to it. As to the nuddle and lower parts of Italy 

 they are often visited with a hot wind from the 

 coast of Africa, which raising a strong evapora- 

 tion from the Mediterranean, blows it to the Ital- 

 ian shores. This wind, called the Sirocco, is ex- 

 tremely damp, relaxing, and dull, and against it 

 they must prepare in order to preserve their silk 

 crop. Another serious evil which they must 

 guard against, is the great frequency of thunder 

 storms during the silk season ; which in that 

 climate will cause a great destruction among the 

 worms, unless the doors and windows are imme- 

 diately closed. Wo may say, therefore, that from 

 the u])per i)arts of the Mediterranean, to the low- 



under the superintendence of a good master, to sup. 

 port comfortably the aged htmntes, and exact from the 

 idle, at least, the cost of their thoughtless existence, 

 and relieve the eommunit;/ from the burden of these 

 establishments ; the widow's little place should 

 have white Mulberry trees all around ; poverty, 

 dejection, neglect of virtue, intemperance, might 

 in many cases be redeemed, vanish, and be re- 

 ]ilaced by liopc and industry, where the encour- 

 agement, and the means, should be pointed out, 

 and of so easy an attainment. 



The land once stocked with extensive planta- 

 tions, and regular crops of cocoons obtained, 

 wealthy individuals would soon raise filatures and 

 mills, to prepare the rich article on a large scale 

 for the use of silk weavers ; the manufactories of 

 London and Lyons often have times of inactivity, 

 when the weavers being out of employ and dis- 

 tressed, would joyfiilly transfer to our shores their 

 art and their industry. Create first the food, an 

 abundance of the raw materials will be the neces- 

 sary conseipience, and then the hands to nianu- 

 ture it will quickly abound. It regards every farm- 



er parts of Italy, the whole of that chosen silk i «•'« individual interest, to exert himself to secure a 



country is under the necessity to provide substan- 

 tial stone buildings to raise the worms, with doors 

 and windows, which are continually needful to 

 preserve them from destruction. After all their 

 precautions and care, their crop will at times suf- 

 fer greatly, and once perhaj)S in a generation, an 

 almost total failure. Such a calamity took place 

 about the year 17S4, when the silk crop in Italy 

 was so nearly destroyed, that they did not make 

 sufficient raw silk to enable them to set in motion 

 their warp and organzine mills, and the apprehen- 

 sion that a total stillness for a whole scason,might 

 spoil the machinery, prompted them to get from 

 London several hundred bales of Bengal raw silks, 

 with the assistance of which, they saved their 

 machinery from destruction, and their people from 

 starving. 



So far as natural advantages can assist, it is dif- 

 ficult to conceive in what particulars we could be 

 more favored, and we might as well doubt of the 

 ability of a rich grazing country to raise a compe- 

 tent stock of neat cattle, as to hesitate to proclaim 

 New England, a country chosen, and fit, for the 

 rearing of silk ; where the food for the worms 

 may be procured in the greatest abundance, and 

 with as little labor as anywhere in the world. — 

 Our pure and vivifying atmosphere, our soft and 

 quick waters, will insure .silk of the firmest stajjle, 

 and of the first quality for beauty and usefulness. 



If we are frieudly to our own prosperity, the 

 seed of the white Mulberry shoxdd be sown generally 

 and extensively, in all our towns,this coming spring. 

 No farm should be without a plantation of these 

 hardy trees, both in hedges and iiv orchards near 

 the dwellings ; no laborers cottage should be with- 

 out a small plantation of them ; no i)oor house 

 without a good and sufficient lot of ground laid 

 out for that valuable pnr[)Ose. The introduction 

 of this culture would benefit all ; no farmer's fam- 

 ily but the daughters and children would pleasant- 

 ly exert their industry to raise a crop as sterling 

 as gohl, which would substantially contribute to 

 their prosperity by furnishing them the means to 

 pay for good clothing, and have left besides abun- 

 dant pocket money ; no laborer but might greatly 

 increase his earnings and means of support ; no 

 large family of children but might, under proper 

 directions, be made to secure a rich return from 

 their industry ; no poor house but might be made, 



share in the culture of silk, of which no other crop 

 we have, can be compared to it for richness 

 and excellence. But in a sense of pubhc duty to 

 the powerful community of which we are mem- 

 bers, the exertions ought to be great, as it would 

 make a vast addition to our general resources. — 

 The cotton manufactures are dependent on the 

 South for their raw materials ; silk would be our 

 own, and nations, as individuals, cannot be too 

 careful to secure within themselves means for their 

 prosperity and greatness. 



/( seems to be a special duty for towns, to see that 

 proper measures should be taken in their respective 

 poor houses lo raise without delay, nurseries of young 

 Mulberries, not only for their own jilantations, but 

 also for the inhabitants to be supplied with, at a 

 moderate price. The poor houses should be fore- 

 most, that they may secure a sale for their trees, 

 and afterwards for the seed to raise the worms. — 

 If these establishments, or some of them, should 

 take the lead, it would not only subserve their in- 

 terests greatly, but they might become, in time, 

 the head quarters for information, and for the in- 

 troduction of gradual improvements and perfec- 

 tion. Such well regulated Houses of Industry as 

 those of the city of Boston, and Salem, might dif- 

 fuse benefits in this new undertaking, far and wide 

 over the land. There can be no doubt but indi- 

 viduals who have connexions in Europe, would 

 delight to procure Mulberry seed from the best 

 sill< countries, and also seed of the diflorent kinds 

 ot silk worms, and models of the machines used 

 fof winding and reeling, if they knew before band, 

 where they could consign them, for results of pub- 

 lic diffusiou and usefulness. 



With great respect, 



I am your friend and serv't, 

 Ti G. Fessenden, Esq., ? , J. M. G. 



Edilor of the N. E. Farmer. ) 



Weston, Ms. Feb. 19, 1S29. 



FOR THE KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PEAR AND PLUM TREES. 



Mr Fessenden — You will receive with this 

 cotnmunication, an extract from a letter, received 

 lagt month, from J. Buel, Esq., of Albany, con- 

 taiiing an interesting history of the disease in the 

 Pettr and Plum, which he has witnessed in his 

 part of the country. Comparing the date, when 



