166 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOV. as, 1840. 



A>I) HORTICULTUKAL REGISTER. 



BoaTOS, Wednebdav, Nov. 25, 1840. 



SILK CULTURE. 

 We have been favored by several gentlemen wiih re- 

 turns and accounts ofiheir success tbe past year in the 

 culture ofsilk, whicli we shall have much pleasure in 

 laying befure our readers, as soon as we gel the floor 

 clear oi'some other niattiirs which now occupy it. Ev- 

 ery observing inind, familiar willi the history of man- 

 kind, knows that what we call the public is an animal, 

 we will not say diseaseil, but peculiar in his constitu- 

 tion; subject, in common parlance, to fits and starts; 

 the creature of impulse ; spasmodic in almost all his 

 motions ; and passing contitiually by a sort of pendu- 

 lous movement Irom one extreme to another. Today 

 be is all passion ; tomorrow he will be in the same mat- 

 ter all apathy. Today his credulity knows no bounds; 

 tomorrow he will be found as faithless, though the evi- 

 dence in the case is the same without addition ur alte- 

 ration. He sets up Ilia idol this week and hurls his 

 anatlieinas against every one, who refuses to join in his 

 homage- Next wpek the idol is despised ; his altars 

 overthrown, and the worshippers, wiiom he himself had 

 dragged to the shrine, are now the victims of his relent- 

 less peisi cution. Thi.s applies to the community as a 

 community ; and to individuals likewise, for individuals 

 in truth make up the mass. 



This capriciousness is seen, likewise, in almost all 

 the concerns of life, so that u blic ojiinion , public ap- 

 probation or public censure are very imperfect tests of 

 the merit or demerit of men or things. Tlic tide which 

 ia now at its flood will soon go down to its ebb ; but 

 then it will no sooner have reached that point than it 

 will begin again to swell until it reaches its full height. 

 Every person, who has much to do with mankind, 

 must make his calculations with reference to this ca- 

 price and fickleness. He is sure to meet with it, be- 

 cause it is a fixed clement in the human constitution. 

 Let him frame his judgments accordingly. He need 

 not condemn because the public condemn ; nor approve 

 because they approve. He need not deem it necessary 

 to desert any tibject of pursuit, simply because they de- 

 sert it ; nor lo take it up because it happens to be popu- 

 lar. Let him ask, in any case of inquiry or experiment, 

 fur the evidence, the actual results, the facts, and be de 

 termined as they shall preponderate cm the one side or 

 the other. 



All these observations especially a()ply to the subject 

 which we have placed at the head of this article. The 

 eilk culture has had several seasons of flood and as. many 

 of ebb. It is now withdrawn as matter cf popular ex- 

 citement and is to he judged of by its actual results. 

 These results will be what wp have all along predicted, 

 in a high dewroe encouraginij. Wo have never joined 

 with those who maint.-iined that the silk culture was tn 

 be the great and almost exclusive business of the coun- 

 try ; and that almost every other branr.h of huKbanrlry 

 was to give way to it. Our views, however, on the 

 subjer-t Inive been so fully ^'iven to the piiblir in the 

 Third Report of ihe Agriculture of iVlassachusetts, that 

 we do not deem it necessary to go farther into it. 



Every position, however, taken in th.it report, will be 

 fully confirhed ; and the result is much more likely to 

 surpass than to fall short of our calculations. A great 

 many persons \vh(i entered the business as mere speru- 

 latiirs in mulberry trees, having burnt the ends of their 

 fingers off by their folly, now cry out against the whole 



business as, in vulgar parlance, a humbug. This deter- 

 mines nothing. A great many persons, who have un- 

 dertaken the culture and produetioa of silk, have almost 

 wholly or totally failed. Their worms were hatched 

 before their foliage was ready or the number of the 

 worms was wholly disproportionate to the amount of 

 teed prepareil for them. Or their eggs were not pre- 

 served properly : many of ihern were perhaps put into 

 the ice house after half of them h.id begun to come out; 

 or they were brought by too sudden a removal from the 

 ice Iiou.se into the warm air or sunshine. In many ca- 

 ses, through want of ventilation (;r too much crowding, 

 the health of the worms has been destroyed ; and they 

 have perished by thousands and thousand*, just as the 

 cultivator was expecting to realize his golden harvest. 

 All these and fifty other of what we call accidents, have 

 happened and disappointed Ihe hopes of many. A 

 large portion of these persons stand ready to cry out 

 against the silk culture as a delusion and to renounce it 

 in disgust. This does not determine the case. What 

 men in general call .accident, is commonly the result of 

 negligence or inexperience, or ignorance. It is very 

 convenient to charge it to accident, a matter which, 

 properly speaking, lias no existence in human affaii's, 

 but serves very conveniently as a scape-goat for (he sins 

 of these who presume to think that they can control in- 

 stead of being willing to submit lo the fi.xed laws of na- 

 ture. 



We have had no sympathy with those persons (and 

 there are many such, who have acted under the appre- 

 hension or presumption that the silk culture differed 

 from all other of the concerns of life, and could be man- 

 aged without any particular care or knowledge ; and 

 was sure to succeed with the most imperfect or even 

 with no attention. Nothing valuable in life can be so 

 accomplished, and it is utterly idle to expect it. Labor, 

 intelligence, skill, care, discretion, perseverance, are the 

 invariable price of all that is truly worth having, in 

 business, learning, and morals. 



Our letters and communications will show that the 

 silk culture the past year has succeeded as fully as we 

 had a right to expect ; that many discouragements have 

 occurred, which more experience will eiruble us to guard 

 against ; that it is destined to prove a source of ample 

 profit to those who pursue it under ordinarily favorable 

 circumstances, and with ordinary diligence and knowl- 

 edge and care : that we may look upon its introduction 

 into the country as a distinguished blessing; and that 

 the certain and wide extension of its culture, is one of 

 the brightest spots in the prospects of New England 

 husbandry. 



We have a good deal more to say on the subject, but 

 sh.ill leave it until we present at large the communica- 

 tions which we have received. H. 1-. 



Such offices of kindness cannot be too much practised. 

 They cost little, compared with the benefits they confer 

 and the pleasure they impart ; and often most beautiful- 

 ly illustrate the aphorism of scripture, that " it is more 

 blessed to give than to receive." H. C. 



AN ENGLISH BEE. 



" It is a laudable custom in some parts of England 

 when a person enters upon a farm, for the occupiers a. 

 round to send their teams and plough a portion of land 

 for him, especially his wheat land towards iVIichaelmas. 

 Mr Glover, of Bradwell Grove, Eng., having taken 

 Down's farm, several of the neighboring farmers sent 

 their teams on Thursday 17th Sept., and ploughed a 24 

 acre field of two years seeds in about four hours, with a 

 meritorious consideration of the interests of agriculture. 

 There were thirty ploughs in the field." 



This is what in this country we should call a Ree. It 

 is often done in various places in cases of erecting a 

 house, removal, getting a year's wood, husking, iVc, 

 and especially in various .services of ploughing, planting, 

 managing and gathering crops, when a neighbor is sick. 



THE ELECTION. 



We congratulate our (riends upon the termination of 

 the political campaign. We do not mean upon the re- 

 sult, because we are not allowed here to say what we 

 think on that subject : the New England Farmer has 

 no polities, though New England farmers aie pretty 

 strongly impregnated in this matter; but we eonirratu- 

 late the whole country that the storm is over, and the 

 ship likely now to get quietly into port. We have had 

 a pretty heavy sea going and there was some little risk 

 of foundering ; but a kind Providence has enabled us lo 

 weather the gale. 



Wo are soiui to ship a new master, and new ofiicers 

 we suppose, of course. There is no changing the crew, 

 excepting as they die off and are tiirown overboard. 

 Heaven grant us a prosperous voyage; no "bazincr" 

 the sailois ; no knocking oS" their " duff ' on Sundays 

 and no purloining their perquisites on the part of the 

 otHcers. 



It would be idle to suppose that we shall always have 

 smooth sailing or prosperous gales. This is not the 

 course of human aH'airs ; but Heaven grant wisdom and 

 a good look out to the man at the helm ; a deep sense of 

 his own responsibility and the value of the interests com- 

 mitted to his charge ; and may the ship of state be kept 

 clear of the quicksands and the rocks; and after the 

 next four years voyage, come into port with her hull 

 sound, not a treenail out nor a plank started ; every 

 sail filled, a broad pennant flying at her royal-mast head, 

 her stars and stripes glittering at her peak ; and officers 

 and crew equally happy in each other and in the prospe- 

 rous issue of the cruise. B.C. 



Genponical. — Joseph Kingman of West- Bridgwater 

 has sent lo I\Ir. Breck of the New England Farmer a 

 barrel of seedling apples. Mr. Breck acknou ledges 

 the receipt of the apples, and finds them " about mid- 

 dling." We should be middling glad to receive a sim- 

 ilar present. — Boston Courier. 



Our friend of the Courier is always disposed to make 

 himself merry with his friends ; and he is a lueky fellow, , 

 who escapes the snapper of his whip. Wo be to his l 

 enemies, who receive the full weight of his lash. In 

 the case above referred to he mistook the amount of the 

 douceur. The apples were sent and a barrel was sent; 

 but in was not a barrel of apples; but some apples sent 

 by a Mr. Barrel. If he wislies this barrel forwarded, 

 we will do our bes , to send it along, when it next makes 

 its appearance, if he will pay the truckage. 



The term '• about middling" is, wo admit, a Vankee- 

 ism of rather a vague signification. An old man in 

 Conneclieut lo the inquiry how he did, pulling his hand 

 upon his slomach always answered " about middling." 

 Hjs complaint went under tin? name of the •' mid- 

 dlings." This docs not exaitly meet our position;' 

 but if the editor of the Cwurier chooses, he may 

 understand the apples to have been pretty good for the 

 slomach ; and our wish that any that may be sent to 

 him may be of a superior quality. 



lJj=We have lo thank Mr A. .\. Lawrence for his po- 

 liteness in presenting us with a small parcel of Tuscany i 

 clover seed, represented as remarkable for its luxuri- 

 ance and prcdueliveness. We shall lake care to place 

 it where its gooil qualities may be fairly tested ; and 

 should it prove a valuable acquisition, it shall be freely 

 distributed. U 



