NEW 



'ARMEM. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. 1URRETT, No. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warkhousk.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 18, 1834. 



NO. 49. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the New England Farm . 

 PIERCE'S IMPROVED PATENT REVOLVING 

 HORSE RAKE. 



For sale at the Agricultural Warehouse, 51 and 

 52 North Market street, the proprietors of this es- 

 tablishment having the right of disposing of these 

 improved rakes, now offer them for sale, and re- 

 commend them to the puhlio as deserving higli 

 estimation among the improvements of the day. 

 They are in very general use in Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey, and are found to rank with the most 

 important lahor saving machines now in vogue 

 One man and horse with this implement will rakt 

 on an average from 10 to 12 acres per day. 



For the New England Farm 

 ON THE CULTURE OF SILK, AND THE MORUS 

 MULTICAULIS, OR NEW CHINESE MUL- 

 BERRY. 



The cultivation of the Mulberry tree, for the 

 purposes of silk, is of high antiquity in China. Its 

 history there extends, to 2700 years before thf 

 Christian era. From China its cultivation extend- 

 ed to Persia, and the Isles of the Archipelago; 

 from thence during the reign of the Emperor Jus- 

 tinian, it extruded to Greece. Its cultivation com- 

 menced in Sicily and Italy in 1540, and from 

 thence, finally, it was introduced to Provence in 

 France. 



Yet in France, although they raise so much 

 silk, they still import annually to the amount of 

 30,000,000 francs of raw silk, or one-third of 

 all they consume, for the supply of their manufac- 

 tures. 



In England, the climate, from its humidity, or 

 other causes, is said to be unsuited to its growth ; 

 yet from the year 1821 to 1828, according to a 

 late and authentic work on the Silk Trade, tliey 

 imported of raw silk, 24,157,568 lbs., worth $120,- 

 787,5S0. Of this amount, $59,881,283, cane 

 from Italy alone. 



In Tuscany, so fine is their climate, that two 

 successive crops of silk are annually producid ; 

 and so extensive is its cultivation throughout la- 

 aly, that according to the Count Dandolo, tvo- 

 thirds of all their exports consist of silk. 



Yet in our own country, so highly favored in 

 all respects by nature, its successful introducton 

 is mainly due to individual exertion. But low 

 much soever has been done and still is doing, I he 

 importations seem increasing. The imported slks 

 left for annual consumption in the United Staes, 



in the year ending 30th September, 1834, amount- 

 ed to ten millions, with a trilling variation, and 

 from the extreme beauty, added to the great use- 

 fulness of this material, the whole quantity con- 

 sumed must very shortly be double this amount. 



Wherever the Mulberry finds a congenial cli- 

 mate and soil, there also the silk worm will flour- 

 ish. Such a climate and soil, and such a country 

 is ours, throughout its whole extent, from its 

 eastern to its western shores. 



The cultivation of the Mulberry, and the raising 

 of silk, may each with advantage be conducted as 

 separate branches of the same department. The 

 avenues of the Mulberry tree, on the plains of 

 Keggio, with the habitations for the insects which 

 are on either side, are the property of wealthy 

 citizens who reside in Reggio ; these furnish to 

 another class the leaves, and every necessary re- 

 quisite, receiving in return two-thirds of the pro- 

 duct. Thus, too, in France, the plantations of the 

 Mulberry constitute there, in many places a part 

 of the real estate of the landed proprietors, the 

 leaves being annually sold on the trees. 



Of all the various mulberries for silk, the Moms 

 Multicavlis or Chinese Mulberry, seems that which 

 is most adapted to our wants. It originated in a 

 country famous from antiquity for its silk, and re- 

 nowned for its industry — a parallel to our own in 

 its climates and divers latitudes — a country, a cli- 

 mate bounded and controlled by an eastern oeean. 

 To the qualities which have been elsewhere stated, 

 and to the very important reduction of labor in 

 gathering the leaves, from their extraordinary size, 

 we have still to add, that they appear to be pre- 

 ferred by the insects to all others ; at the establish- 

 ment of Madame Parmentier, they are stated to 

 have left seven other species of the Mulberry to 

 feed on this. 



The sudden and extraordinary extension of the 

 silk manufactures, both in France and in England, 

 during the last ten years, has been mainly ascribed 

 to the machine invented in Fiance, by M. Jac- 

 quard ; and the powerful impulse thus given, has 

 been assigned to the Jacquard Loom. This loom 

 is stated to perform all those labors, which had 

 heretofore been exclusively confined to the most 

 ■kilful hands, with important economy of time 

 and lahor in the preliminary steps, and is so de- 

 cidedly superior to all other looms, for all the cu- 

 rious varieties of figure-silk weaving, that it has 

 superseded them all, both throughout France and 

 England. 



Those resources, the millions we now annually 

 expend for silks, the productions of foreign indus- 

 try, and of foreign policy, draining our country of 

 its treasures — those vast sums should be preserved 

 to our citizens. This industry and resource of 

 wealth, must not be compromised nor bartered, 

 nor sacrificed to rival and particular interests, or 

 to the interests of rival nations. The cultivation 

 of silk being in no wise exclusive, but a great and 

 general interest, alike adapted to every region of 

 our country, from the north to the extreme south ; 

 from the Atlantic to our territories which are 

 bounded on the Pacific ocean — it demands that 

 equal share of protection which has been bestowed 

 on cotton, on iron, on tobacco, and on the produc- 

 tions of the sugar cane. But the encouragement 



of the cultivation of the Mulberry, and of the 

 growth of silk, in the United States, as a resource 

 of Agriculture seems not to have formed any part 

 whatever of what is called " The American Sys- 

 tem." 



The enterprise, the fertile invention, the noble 

 efforts of individual exertion, have already accom- 

 plished much ; but the field is very broad and of 

 vast extent; much yet remains to be done. That 

 industry which still slumbers; that portion, which 

 unawakened is now lost, being alone more than 

 sufficient to accomplish all, if once aroused and 

 rigbtlj directed — more than sufficient to recover 

 again those very considerable sums, tfce millions 

 so prodigally expended, with interest an hundred 

 fold. 



By those unceasing toils and mighty efforts, and 

 matchless labors, for which our people are so dis- 

 tinguished ; the millions thus recovered, will not 

 only be their just reward, but will add to the sub- 

 stantial wealth of the nation, and to the glory of 

 the whole Republic. 



Of the Moris Multicaulis, or Many-stalked 

 Mulberry. 

 Chinese Mulberry. 

 Perottet Mulberry. 

 By these several titles we have distinguished 

 a highly ornamental tree from China — a fruit tree 

 — a new and most valuable species of Mulberry, 

 for the nourishment of silk worms, a tree which 

 is represented as possessing such decided superior- 

 ity over all others, that it will be speedily substi- 

 tuted for them all, in every region of the globe. 

 . The tree grows vigorous, upright and beautiful ; 

 the leaves in a light, friable, rich, and humid soil, 

 are large and cordate ; but in a dry and arid soil, 

 they are of less size, elliptical, and without the 

 heart-shaped indentation, their breadth being six 

 inches, and their length eight ; but in rich and 

 humid soils, their dimensions are sometimes far 

 greater, extraordinary specimens having some- 

 times measured more than a foot in breadth, and 

 fifteen inches in length. They are curled or con- 

 vex on their upper surfaces, of a deep and beau- 

 tiful shining green. 



These are the main qualities, which alone have 

 been deemed sufficient to render this precious 

 plant an invaluable acquisition to any country. 

 While it was yet unknown even to Europe or 

 America to be also a valuable fruit tree till in 

 1S30, the tree bore fruit for the first time, and 

 abundantly, in France. The fruit is long, black, 

 and of sufficiently beautiful appearance; its flavor 

 good, being intermediate between that of the red 

 and that of the black Mulberry. 



The introduction of this plant from Asia, is due 

 to M. Perottet, Agricultural Botanist, and traveller 

 of the marine and colonies of France. And ac- 

 cording to M. Poiteau, the name of the zealous 

 traveller should in justice be affixed to the pre- 

 cious tree which has given him celebrity, and 

 which will contribute so much to the prosperity 

 of French industry. It was brought by him to 

 France [we believe in 1824] in that vast collec- 

 tion and variety of productions which he had du- 

 ring thirty-four months, procured in the seas of 

 Asia, or gathered on the coast, or in the land of 

 Cayenne. 



