THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ed Ion soon, but it was too late when I pot ilienn 

 to retard that process. For the (irsi lew dajs, or 

 duriMir the firsi a^'e, I Ibund Ibod enough (or my 

 worms, by tratlierinii every leal' almosi as eoon as 

 it expuiuied. This however left iliem a'nintft des- 

 lilute as they grew larger, so thai 1 was lorced to 

 resort to our native trees, which are more lorward 

 in iheir Ibiiage. I have no means ol ascenaining 

 iiow many worms I had. The eugf! were not 

 weighed, but. bougiil l:)y the lump. I have a large 

 garret room, in which I made my ex|)enment, I 

 su['pose some 30 feet square. It had no fiieplace 

 in II, and a part of ii is unplaslered. I had no 

 means of warmini^ it. In the very cool season, 

 wluth occurred the first oT May, the dampness 

 peneiiated every part of the room, in that long 

 wei s'>ason. and Irequendy the rain would drive 

 in. The thermometer sometimes was as low as 

 50°, and on orieoi i wo occasions the worms seem- 

 ed to be almost benumbed. In addition to this, 

 their Ibod became very scarce, every leaf was 

 stripped so soon as it appeared on the multicaulis 

 and all the wdd mulberry trees in the neighbor- 

 liood were reduced to the same condition. Alier 

 my worms reached the third age, I divided them 

 and put a part in a spare bed-room, which I had 

 leil exclusively on the multicaidis, JVly object was 

 to ascertain if there would be any difference in the 

 silk. Tliose that I led on the native tree were 

 colored, with very liew exceptions, (I mean the 

 cocoons,) three shades of yellow, some straw 

 color, some bright, some almost nankin color. 

 They were fed on the white Italian, the red, and 

 the common black mulberry, all of whicfi we 

 have in our woods; the latter they would never 

 eat if they could help it. I have seen them devour 

 the stems of the white mulberry in preference to 

 a fresli leaf of black.* In the room where I fed 

 exclusively on multicaulis there were only three 

 yellovv cocoons out of 6 bushels. In the garret 

 room, I think there was one peck of white cocoons 

 ou' oi"seven bushels ; 13 bushels was the first crop 

 1 made. Those who saw them and were judges, 

 said they were beautiful cocoons, a great many 

 ol" them were as large as some of the mammoth 

 white, which I saw afterwards in Mr. C. Carter's 

 cocoonery near Richmond. I was comjjelled to 

 feed on wet leaves, fiom the scarcity of Ibod, and 

 sometimes my worms actually suflered for want ol 

 them. None of my worms were diseased; and I 

 do not believe, I had a dead worm among them, 

 I was carefid in keeping them clean, and had 

 plenty of room and liesh air. 



I raised a second crop of six bushels ; out of all 

 tliese 19 bushels I saved but one barrel of co- 

 coons, owing to the moth cutiing out in spite of 

 all I could do. I followed the directions of Clarke, 

 end the ' American Silk-Grower' in endeavoring 

 to cure my cocoons in the sun. The weather 

 proved rainy ; and after the moths commenced 

 coming out, nothing would slop them. Tfiey 

 would come out while in the oven, and bake to 



* The tree here (as usually) called the "black 

 mulberry," is properly the red [morus rubra) of bo- 

 tanists. That which our coiresi)on(lent speaks of as 

 the " red," is probably a variety of the white mulber- 

 ry {morus alba) which, though originally introduced 

 from Italy, has become perfectly naturalized in Vir- 

 ginia, and exhibits numerous varieties of leaf and of 

 fruit in the seedling progeny, — Ed. 



.death. I wish tn know which is the most ap- 

 proved mode of killing the mollis; for I find tl'e 

 sun entirely loo uncertain, and alier ihey reach a 

 certain degree of maturity, nothing will have much 

 effect, for I tried both baking j\nd steaming. I 

 intend, the next year, to repeat my experiments, 

 and am convinced ilie business may be made pro- 

 fitable. I think it is an enqilojment that suits 

 our sex, and should my leeble end.iavors be 

 crowned wiih succe^•s, a silk fJictory or cocoonery 

 lor poor widows nml children, established in my 

 own county, where they are so numerous, would 

 he an object of my highest aiybiiion. These 

 remarks are penned in trreat linste, if they can in 

 any way be made useliil, you can use your own 

 pleasure as to their fiublicaiion. 



I think there is great injusiice done the kind 

 of worm called two-crop white. They are a very 

 hardy, healthy worm, as I think my experiment 

 will show. We can get two crops Irom them wiih- 

 oul the risk of retarding, and they piodvice beauii- 

 (ul silk. Please stale in your paper the price of 

 the eggs, and where the pea-nut variety can be 

 procured. If yon publish this, let ihe signature !e 



E. A. T.* 



PROGNOSTICATIONS OF COLD WEATHER 

 FROM BIRDS. 



From tlie Western I'anncr and Gardener. 



We think a linv remarks, under this heading, in 

 each number of the " Farmer," will not be unin- 

 teresting. It is a favorite study uiili us, and one 

 on which we might be apt lo dwell at too great 

 length, did we not bear in nund the intention of 

 our work. We shall try to Ibllow up these inten- 

 tions by only speaking of birds, as friends or 

 enemies of the fiirmer and gardener — of their 

 migrations, as a lest of the climate of different 

 sections of country — and of such insects and 

 plants as are (amiliar to all. Our object is to 

 induce a habit of observation in our renders, each 

 of whom may be the means of recording matters 

 that may be of importance. Even those confined 

 by their occupations lo large cities, have opportu- 

 nities for studying the great book of nature, which 

 ought not to be neglected. 



An old farmer, remarked to me, some weeks 

 ago, that the approaching winter would be a very 

 severe one. lie said that, for fifty years, he had 

 observed that whenever the chaff of wheat and 

 other small grain iind the corn shucks were un- 

 commonly abundant, thick and heavy, the fullovv- 



* We are much pleased to be enabled to present 

 fo the public this interesting experiment ; but would 

 have been better pleased if the lady who wrote the 

 communication had not withdrawn the permission to 

 give her proper signature in full. 



We have found the heat of tha sun sufficient to kill 

 the chrysalis in the cocoon ; and as a single day of 

 full exposure to hot sunshine is sufficient, it rarely 

 happens that one such day does not offer, before it is 

 time for the moths to come out. Whatever may be 

 the mode used for killing the worm, it should be tried 

 sufficiently early, or it will be but partially effectual. 



For the prices of pea-nut, and other eggs, we refer 

 our correspondent to the advertisement of T. S. Plea- 

 sants on several of the covers of late numbers of the 

 Farmers' Register, and of G. B. Smith on the Journal 

 of the Silk Society.— Ed. 



