vot,. w I. iHio.ao. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



235 



a little smoother tli.in the former; one of the 

 ;s att.iiii m1 to tlie liei<;ht of six feet or more, 

 ^ly fiiejul l)i-foi-o mentioiieil, set out last sprtnj: 



roots or stumps of 300 trees, the product ol 

 il piirc'haseil of Mr Whitmarsh, the year before. 

 .!>t' roots have thrown up a» average of 5 to 6 

 i(ty shoots each, and have a very heavy weiijht 

 'oliage. The leaves from one of these weighed 

 : pound 3 ounces, and I tliiuk they averaged 3-4 

 itiore. From a co^rinari'^dn of these trees with 

 lie lot of genuine mullicaiijis growing in a 

 gliboring liejd, I tliiidc they yieliled on an av- 

 I'e an equal weight of foliage with the mauii- 

 lis. 'I'heir leaves, as to size, were about inid- 

 ^ between the Italian and mu.tic.anlis, but much 

 vier than the latter ii proportion to the size, 

 wing close together upon the stalks. 



wish to engage in the culture of rearing silk, 



consider it a matter of the first importance to 

 e the best kind of mulberry trees. This is tliere- 

 ', iriy apology for troubling you with the follow- 



enqiiiries in relation to the trees produced 

 n tlie seed (lurchased of Sir I). S. Porter, 

 ich he informed me yon had procured in Chi- 



s't. Are they of the same species referred to in 



r letter aildressed to the lion. A. T. Judson, 



ich you denominated Canton Mortis mullicaii- 



that those who have tried the experiments, 



e found that a leaf of the Canton of the same 



I weighs double to that of the Manilla multi- 



lis. 



;d. Are they the same kind referred to in an 



cle from the Northampton Courier, published 



he October number of the Silk Culturist — 



It the difTerenee between cocoons fed exclii- 



■ly on the white mullierry, and those fed 



jlly on the Canton mulberry, was very njipar- 



to the naked eye, the latter bciog of a more 



liaiit than the former ?" 



d. Do you consider them on the whole as val- 



le for feeding worms as any other species, es- 



ially the genuine nmlticaulis, produced from 



.iiigs or layers ? 



•ti. Is the silk produced by tlie worms fed 



h the foliage of these trees of as good quality 



!rom any other .' 



th. I ba\e heard it asserted, that the glossy 



ace of leaves causes the woruis to reject them. 



s your experieni^e in feeding worms from these 



s corroborate this assertion ? 



th. Are these trees probably of the same spe- 



with those produced from the seed imported 

 Mr Whit marsh? 



th. What is tlieir value in market compared 

 1 the genuine multicnulis? 

 lease reply to this immediately, if convenient, 



if you are willing, through the columns of the 



Culturist or the Northampton Courier ; if you 

 y through the latter, please send me one or 



copies of the number containing your reply, 

 oblige your obt. servant, 



M. E. Edwards, Jr. 

 Daniel Stebbins, ) 

 orthampton. Mass. ) 



REPLY. 



r Charles J. Hosman, going West, took with 

 several papers of ftlulberry seed, wh.ch to 

 tigiii.sh from others, I called the Asiatic. Al 

 gh labelled Canton, the seed did not come to 

 rom tlie missionaries. Mr Hosman wrote me i 



he had left some of the seeil with Mr D. S. Por- 

 ter, (if Cincinnati, and i.s probably the same seed 



abou,t wl ich you make the foregoing eiiquiries 



III reply to your Isr and 2d question, the trees 

 from the seed referreil to are not the Canton iiiiil- 

 ticaiilis mentioned in my letter to the Committee 

 <if Congress, nor are they the mulberry iiunt.iiui- 

 eil in your second enquiry, but are known by the 

 name of Asiatic, to distinguish theiii from other 

 seedlings, as the Chinese, so cnlied, sold by .Mr 

 Whitmarsh in 1S36, and the Aiulticaiilis seed sold 

 in 1337 ; also, fioin the Broosa and Smyrna ; all 

 of these liave a great similarity in the shape of the 

 leaf, and may prove a great acquisition to the niul- 

 berry feed. 



But as you inquire particularly in your third 

 question about the trees you have from the Asiat- 

 ic seed — the leaves, although of less size than the 

 Manilla multicaulis, yet they are more thickly set 

 upon the stalk ; each tree will probably furnish 

 as much foliage of as good quality as the .Multi- 

 caulis, and be found more hardy. 



4th. ] have no evidence of worms having been 

 fed wholly on these leaves (the Asiatic.) I used 

 them, however, for trial, and found the worms as 

 foiid of them as o! the iManilla multicaulis, and 

 have no doubt of its furnishing as good silk. 



5tli. I have had no [lersonal experience in feed- 

 ing worms with foliage having a glossy surface, 

 except between the Black and Ked mulberry, one 

 of which is smoother than ttie other, and 

 the worms did not like it so well. But an 

 experienced gentleman vvho has tried such as you 

 describe, confirms what you have heard. The 

 leaves he referred to, however, were not only very 

 smooth and glossy, but very thick like an oak leaf. 

 In reply to your 



6th question, I would not undertake to say your 

 trees are of the same species, yet the foliage is 

 very similar to ttiose of the roots which yourfiiend 

 set out last spring, and will, I trust, ]irove a very 

 hardy tree, as has been well attested the first year, 

 — unscathed by our early severe frosts. As to 

 every good quality in the iiiiilberry, ! consider the 

 Canton standing_y?r«( on the scale; and if any re- 

 liance can lie placed on the first year's develop- 

 iiieiit of qualit/, I think'the Asiatic will be noth- 

 ing less than the second, unless the product of seed 

 just received from the Chinese mission shall prove 

 equal to the Canton, which [ imported in 1834, 

 from the same source. The last supply I had re 

 quested to be gathered in the high districts of 

 Cfiina. There is some mistake in relation to the 

 seed you had which ought to be corrected. Not 

 having been forwarded by the mission, but through 

 another channel, I therefore called it the Asiatic. 

 The seed I liavt, recently received and tested, I 

 consider the real Canton, and hope it may prove 

 .'^o. Great pains have been taken to procure it, 

 and I should regret a disappointment. I can tell 

 yon more about it next autumn. 



7tli. Respecting the market value of the trees, 

 (Asiatic) how much they may improve another 

 year, 1 know not ; but from the developcment of 

 this the first year, it promises to be worth as7nuch 

 as the multicaulis. My seed was sown very late 

 and very MicA, therefore excluded in part from the 

 benefit of sun and air, they could not, nor do I think 

 they ever can attain here, such height as in your 

 favored climate. A few tree.s, however, sown 

 earlier in a shady part of my garden under the 

 fence, without being soaked, did not come up un- 

 til the expiration ol eight long weeks. Yet froio 



this forlorn hope, some leaves have attained the 

 size of 5 1-2 by 4 1-2, and none of the trees were 

 over 2 to 2 1-2 feet. 



Thr Cultivation of Sugar Beets i."* Ohio.— 

 When the maple forests bow to the axe of the 

 woodiniiu, as they must in the tide of emigration 

 riordingllie west, Ohio mi]>t look to the Beet if 

 she wislies a domestic substitute for sugar, and 

 cannot get return cargoes of the article cheap 

 enough for the produce she ships to Louisiana. A 

 Mr Pugh, .-iccording to the Cincinnati Gazette, 

 has already anticipated this ciiltiire on his farm, a 

 i'fw miles north of that city, lie bad raised this 

 year, sugar lieets 30 inches in circumference, and 

 weighing twenty pounds, from seed procured in 

 France, and mangel wurtzel of nearly the same 

 dimensions, also from French seed. Mr Pugh 

 thinks it as easy to raise fifty tons of these beets 

 from an acre, as fifty bushels of corn. They are 

 capital for cattle and stock bogs, ar.d young suck- 

 ing calves prefer them to milk when properly pre- 

 pared with milk. Among the 56 head of his 

 Durham breeds, those that had fed on beets could 

 readily be distinguished by their fat and sleek ap- 

 pearance. The beets are infinitely better when 

 boiled. 



The apparatus and fixtures tised by Mr Pugh, 

 for boiling, or rather steaming food for 300, and 

 40 or 50 cows with other stock, cost about $150, 

 and coiiisumes a quarter of a cord of wood per 

 day. 



Among the Durham cattle on the farm of Mr 

 Pugli, was observed some very fine young males, 

 and among them Lebanon, an animal of superior 

 growth and figure. 



Mr P. has not attempted to make sugar from 

 his beets, but if its manufacture is profitable any- 

 where from this article, it would certainly be so 

 here, for no soil can produce a better growth. — 

 Two hands can prepare the ground, plant and cul- 

 tivate five acres of beets in a season, and the pro- 

 duct would doubtless y^ld many tons of ^ccha- 

 rine matter N". Y. Star. 



The New York Commercial Advertiser says — 

 " The number of hogs slaughtered last season. In 

 the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, amounted, 

 ac(!ording to Lynford's Western Address Direc- 

 tory, to five hundred thousand ! averaging two 

 hundred jioiinds each bog, the total aniouiU be- 

 ing one hundred millions oj pounds .' which was in 

 the market. The cost of the article varied. Up 

 the Missouri river, the miniuinrn price Vvas $3,50; 

 in other parts of Missouri State, $5 per hundred 

 pounds. In Illinois and Indiana, the prices va- 

 ried from S4,50 to $6 ; and in Ohio, and along 

 (he Ohio river, eastwarvlly from Cincinnati, the 

 average price was $7 per hundred pounds; total 

 average cost about $6,000,000 for pork and ba- 

 con, for sale in the western markets." 



A drop of the spirits of turpentine put into the 

 mouth of a chicken, from the point of a feather, 

 or otherwise, will cure the gapes; and by mixing 

 salt with their food will prevent their taking the 

 gapes. 



Glauber's Salts, Sulpl,a'.« of Soila, an ounce 

 dissolved in about one ;,uart of water, and sprink- 

 led on vines, is recommended as a preventive 

 against insects, 



