VOT,. XII. NO. 38. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



251 



factoring purposes, any further than the produc- 

 tion of sewing silk and twist, and this almost ex- 

 elusively confined to the labor of the family, upon 

 the domestic spinuing-wheel. But one thing lins 

 Iieon abundantly demonstrated ; that is, that the 

 white mulberry is easily cultivated, and that the 

 rearing of the silk-worm, and the production of 

 silk, notwithstanding all the particularity, minute- 

 ness, ami mystery, with which the subject has 

 been treated, and invested, may be profitably pur- 

 sued, with but little more knowledge or care than 

 is requisite for the successful rearing of pigs, or 

 poultry. Shelter them from cold, storms and 

 wind, and feed them when hungry, whether it be 

 in a corn-house, barn, cider-mill house, or labora- 

 tory, built on purpose for the business, a profitable 

 crop of silk may he produced. I would not by 

 this remark lie thought to undervalue enterprise 

 and improvement, or to treat lightly particular at- 

 tention to convenience and neatness in everv 

 branch of agriculture. I highly value all the as- 

 sociations anil societies of the present day, formed 

 for the advancement and improvement in knowl- 

 edge of the mechanic, anil agriculturist; hut de- 

 scribe to a person entirely unacquainted with the 

 manner in which wopl is produced, the animal 

 which produces it, and inform him how this ani- 

 mal must be reared, fed, housed, and treated, ac- 

 cording to the practice of some of our most 

 wealthy and scientific fanners, its peculiar habits, 

 and liability to disease in case of neglect, and he 

 would be. very apt to conclude, that, being unable 

 to sustain the necessary expense, he might as well 

 not attempt to rear an animal that required so 

 much care and labor. So with regard to the rear- 

 ing of the silk-worm, there is reason to feaj tli.it 

 the minute particularity and delicate ar.entit . to 

 temperature, food, cleanliness, &c. &c. with which 

 the subject has been treated by most writers, may 

 have deterred many from engaging in it ; but let 

 them he told, and truly too, that without thermom- 

 eter, hot-house, stove-room, or laboratory, the silk- 

 worm may be, at the proper season, hatched by 

 the ustnl warmth of the kitchen ; and that with a 

 rough board to lie on, and a corn-house or barn 

 to shelter them from wind and wet, guarded also 

 from the depredations of rats, mice, and fouls, 

 and well supplied with the white mulberry leaf, 

 will produce a profitable crop of silk, they may he 

 induced to try; and having once engaged in the 

 business and found it practicable, may then a:"nd 

 to all the improvements which experience .-.rid 

 sound wisdom may dictate. Many persons in this 

 town, who have been for twenty or thirty years 

 successfully engaged in the rearing of silk-worms, 

 should you talk to them about thermometers, hot- 

 houses, and laboratories, would not know what 

 you meant ; yet, I doubt not, a due attention to 

 these may be profitable. 



With regard to the manufacture of silk in this 

 country, much is yet to be learned ; but I consider 

 the experiment as favorably commenced, and noth- 

 ing more is wanting than that some of our enter- 

 prising and ingenious mechanics should give the 

 subject that attention which its importance de- 

 mands; and with such improvements in machine- 

 ry, and the art of manufacturing, as I think the 

 business susceptible, we may soon compete in this, 

 as we do in some of our wool and cotton fabrics, 

 with any portion of the world. I believe it to be 

 a well established fact, that no part of the world 

 now pr6duces a better quality of the raw silk than 

 that which is produced in this country. Since the 



investigation of the subject by a resolution of Con- 

 gress, and the encouragement presented by the 

 Legislature of this State, in a bounty upon the 

 propagation of the white mulberry, and upon raw 

 silk, the business has received a new impulse. 



The Piedmont reel has been introduced, and 

 with some improvement in the application of a 

 stop motion was the last season used to some ex- 

 tent, propelled by water and by horse power, as 

 well as by hand, and our ingenious and industri- 

 ous females find that without any further instruc- 

 tion in ibis branch, they can, with the exercise of 

 a little more patience than the old reel required, 

 produce a much handsomer and more valuable ar- 

 ticle than by the former method. I have now by 

 me a sample of a few ounces, reeled by one of 

 our ladies, which I designed to have presented at 

 the New- York Fair, and which I think in every 

 respect would compete with'the production of any 

 country. Thus far, then, I think we may safely 

 say, we can and do succeed. We have also two 

 small silk manufacturing establishments in this 

 town, propelled by water power, in successful op- 

 eration, at which single thrown silk, organzine, 

 tram, ami every kind of silk, is prepared with ease, 

 by persons bred to the business. The machinery 

 is made in the manner of the most approved En- 

 glish machinery. At these establishments all the 

 silk raised in this vicinity, and reeled on the im- 

 proved reel as before stated, finds a ready market. 

 Some broad goods have been made, but the busi- 

 ness seems not yet to be sufficiently matured to go 

 immediately into the higher branches of manufac- 

 ture, hut must for a time be confined to the smaller 

 anil more common articles of silk fabrics. A great 

 proportion of the silk now prepared at our facto- 

 ries here is made use of in the manufacture of the 

 Tuscany grass bonnets. 



Having extended my remarks to a much greater 

 length than I anticipated, I will mention as an 

 apology, that having seen most of the publications 

 on the subject which have been circulated in this 

 country in answer to the call of Congress for in- 

 formation, and being well acquainted with the 

 perfectly simple manner in which the business has 

 ever been conducted here, I felt that a plain state- 

 ment of facts, similar to those I have here gi\en, 

 was necessary, to counteract in some measure the 

 influence of that scientific minuteness with which 

 the subject was treated in those publications, and 

 might be of public utility. Should it appear to 

 you that I am correct in this opinion, you are at 

 liberty to make such use of this communication 

 as you may think proper. 



Another subject of your inquiry is, whether 

 silk-worm eggs can be procured here ; in reply to 

 which, all 1 can say is, I have heretofore, when 

 applied to, found no difficulty in obtaining them, 

 to any extent called for, and presume there would 

 he none now. — The price, from 6 to 8 cents per 

 thousand ; and as they are attached to papers, 

 those papers may be folded and packed in small 

 boxes and sent safely to any part of the country 

 by stage or otherwise. 



When at New-York, last spring, I purchased a 

 small lot of the Morns Miihicaulis, for the purpose 

 of introducing them into this silk-growing region. 

 They flourished finely last summer, and if our 

 winter climate does not prove too severe for them, 

 hid fair to be an important acquisition to our silk 

 growers. As I am frequently applied to from a 

 distance for information with regard to the value 



of cocoons, and of the raw silk, 1 will here state 

 that we have not as yet any extensive reeling es- 

 tablishments, but from the. success which attended 

 the trial of the Piedmont reel the last season, I 

 think there is encouragement to enter extensively 

 into the business, and that probably, by another 

 season, such preparation will lie made as to afford 

 a ready sale for cocoons, at a fair price, which is 

 now estimated by the bushel — say $2 50 per 

 bushel, for fair, to $3 00 for best. The worth 

 of the raw silk depends much on its being reeled 

 clean, level, and fine. For the former I have paid 

 the above prices for several lots which I purchased 

 the last season, and for the raw silk have paid 

 mostly from £3 75 to $4 00. 

 Respectfully, 



your obedient servant, 



Zalmon Storrs. 



From the BraltUboro' Inquirer. 

 SILK WORMS. 



Mr. Editor. — I am induced to believe from the 

 increasing attention to the culture of silk that the 

 following experiment may be interesting to some 

 of your readers. If you think so, do with it as 

 you see fit. 



Doubts have been expressed whether in our cli- 

 mate it were practicable to raise two crops, that is, 

 two generations, of the silk worm in the same 

 summer, and one of the peculiar merits attributed 

 to the Morns inultieaulis, or Chinese mulberry, 

 has been, that it enabled the cultivator to effect 

 this object in the climate of Long Island. 



With the view of ascertaining what could be 

 done with the common white mulberry, I took in 

 July last, soon after they had wound, a few co- 

 v if four different colors — pure white white 

 tinged with greenish buff", buff, and orange. The 

 pure white were small, compact and pointed, as 

 those wound first generally are ; the millers which 

 they produced were all of one sex, and no eggs 

 were procured. Eggs were obtained from each 

 of the other three varieties, but those from the or- 

 ange did not hatch into worms sufficiently early 

 and were laid away for next spring. Those al- 

 most white, and the buff, produced in succession, 

 eggs, worms, and cocoons, and though fed entire- 

 ly on white mulberry, and though the season has 

 been unusually wet and cold, have produced a 

 crop of cocoons in all respects equal to those of 

 their parents. It is observable, however, that 

 those descendejj from buff cocoons were almost all 

 buff, while those which came from the balls almost 

 white, were of all the four colors. The fact as- 

 certained, however, which I think of most impor- 

 tance is that two crops may be raised in one season 

 from the common white mulberry. J. D. B. 



Brattleboro', Sept. 21, 1833. 



EXERCISER AJVD DIET. 



The late eccentric Dr. Danforth, of Boston, 

 gained great celebrity in curing dyspepsia. His 

 practice was to send his patients out of town, and 

 he directed them to walk in, in the morning, and 

 out at night ; and moreover never to eat a mouth- 

 ful after dinner, till the next morning. There are 

 three advantages derived from this course, viz. a 

 change of air, exercise, and abstemious habits ; 

 and this is, undoubtedly, the only philosophical 

 course for those to pursue who suffer from dys- 

 pepsia, from causes which we have suggested, as 

 connected with sedentary habits. 



