266 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MjVRCH G, 1S33. 



We caniiol doubt but that such simple cliaiiges 

 may be iM-oihiced by the chemical powers of veg- 

 etation, when others are eftecteil far more difficult 

 for us to comprehend. The most tender and fee- 

 ble organs, and the mildest juices, aided by the 

 power of animal or vegetable life, are able to pro- 

 duce decompositions and combinations, which the 

 chemist cannot explain, and which he would in 

 vain attempt to imitate. 



"This inn-redicnt of soils which nourishes acid 

 plants also poisons cultivated crops. Plants have 

 not the power of rejecting noxious fluids, hut take 

 jip by their roots every thing presented in a solu- 

 ble form. This acid also enters the sap-vessels 

 of cultivated plants, stunts their growth, and 

 makes it impossible for them to attain that size 

 and perfection, which their proper food would en- 

 sure, if it was presented to them without its pois- 

 onous accompaniments."* 



Acid is always produced in one of the stages of 

 fermentation, previous to the putrid or destructive 

 stage, which terminates in the decomposition of 

 the fermenting substance. Animal, as well as veg- 

 etable substances, generally, become sour before 

 they become putrid, and it is only during or after 

 the last stage that they can become food for plants. 

 Lime in suitable quantities promotes the destruc- 

 tive fermentation by neutralizing the acid, vvhicli 

 retards or prevents such fermentation. Besides 

 there are acids in vegetables existing previous to 

 fermentation such as the gallic acid in oak leaves, 

 taijners-bark, &c. the malic acid in pomace, &c. 

 which poison a soil unless lime is used with them 

 as an antidote. — Ei. 



For Hie Nea Englafid Farmer. 



Mr. Fessenden, — Sir. I have a valuable Horse 

 which is afflicted with a bone spavin. If you or 

 any of your correspondents, can give any informa- 

 tion through the medium of your useful paper how 

 it can be cured {if there is any cure) you will 

 greatly oblige a Young Farmer. 



Franklin, Marrh lal, 1833. 



Fiom I ii? Boston Courier. 

 CUIiTURE OP SILK. 



Since the cojumoncejucnt of the present session 

 of our Legislature, numerous petitions have been 

 received fromditFerent parts of the Commonwealth, 

 praying encouragement for the cullivatiim ol 

 tlie white mulberry, and the raising of silk-worms. 

 These petitions were referred to the couimittee on 

 Agriculture, and it is some weeks since that com- 

 mittee made a re|)ortiu favour of legislative ai<l, ac- 

 companied by a l)ill proposing some sn)all premi- 

 ums by way of encouragement. After a short dis- 

 cussion on Friday last, the bill was recommitted, 

 for the purpose of being amended and remodelled. 

 An auginentiUion of premiums was also suggested, 

 and the consideration of the connnittee called to 

 that sul>ject. Another suggestion was also niaile 

 to the committee during the debate — that it might 

 he well to e.vtend the premiums projjosed in the 

 bill to the cultivation of other varieties of the mul- 

 berry, an(l especially to that by the name o^Mogus 

 yiulticaulis. 



The MoTus Mutticaulis, or Chinese Mulberry, 

 according to Kenrick's "New American Orchar- 

 dist," (a book which is invaluable for the variety 

 and accuracy of information it contains, and which 

 should be in the possession of every person who 

 owns a rood of ground) is a native of China, and 

 is represented as possessing such decided superiori- 

 ty over all other species of the mulberry, for the 

 nourishment of the silk-worm, as to render it prob- 

 able that it will speedily be substituted for them in 

 every region of the globe. It is not known that 

 any of these plants have yet borne fruit in our coim- 

 try. It was unknown as afruil tree in France till 

 the year 1830, in which year it produced its fruit 

 in great abundance. The fruit is long, black, and 

 having an intermediate taste between the red 

 and black mulberry. The leaves are large, ordina- 

 rily six inches in breadth and eight in length, and 

 in some rich soils they have been more than ten 

 inches in length. They are curled or convex on 

 their upper surface, of a deep, shining green, and 

 extremely beautiful. 



The history of the introduction of this plant in- 

 to Europe and America is somewhat singular and 

 interesting. Perrottet, a member of the Linnwan 

 Society of Paris employed by the government as a 

 traveling botanist, found it growing in the garden of 

 a Chinese cultivator at Manilla, the capital of the 

 Philippine Islands, to which place ithad been trans- 

 planted from Canton. Perrottet introduced it in- 

 to the Isle of Bourbon, and thence into Cayenne 

 and France, about the year 1824. Subsequent- 

 ly it was sent from France to Martinique anil 

 (Jaudaloupe, and other places. — We presume 

 it is in greater perfection at Madame Purmen- 

 tiers's Horticultural establishment on Long Island, 

 than in any other [)art of the United States. Mr. 

 Kenrick introduced it into Massachusetts from 

 (hat establishment, and from the garden of Messrs. 

 Prince, on Long Island, in the spring of 1831, and 

 has also received some of the i)lants from France. 

 It has multiplied beyond all calculation. The lui- 

 mernus plants which are now disseminated in the 

 diverse climates of Africa, Europe and America, 

 have all been produced from the two individuals 

 procured by Perrottet at Manilla. It grows most 

 luxuriantly in light, rich and humid soil, but will 

 j:row wherever there is depth of earth to make a 

 covering for the root.s. M. Perrottet left it flourish- 

 ing in Cayenne in dry and barren soils. It also 

 braves the most rigorous winter. It is easily pro- 

 pagated, either by layers, by cuttings, or by a single 

 iye, placed beneath the surface, and sha<led from 

 (he noou-daysun. We do not learn from Mr. Ken- 

 rick how or when it was transplanted to the United 

 States, but it was probably very soon after its in- 

 troduction into France. He states that, at Mail- 

 une Parmenticr's garden it had withstood the rig- 

 )rs of the last six winters uninjured and unprotec- 



second crop were of a much larger size than those 

 of the first crop, were of the whiteness of snow, 

 and had a most beatitiful shining appearance. Mr. 

 Kenrick saw the silk-worms feeding with avidity 

 on the leaves of this species of mulberry, and 

 was informed that they had left eleven other spe- 

 cies to feed on that. 



We annex an extract froin the remarks of M. 

 Perrottet, published in the Annales de Fromont. 



Among the number of mulberries, now cultiva- 

 ted by the Chinese, for the education of silk worms 

 the .Morus MulticauUs appears to be the most es- 

 teemed of all, not only for the facility with which 

 it is propagated and grows, but still more tor the 

 essentially luitritive pro])erty which the leaves pos- 

 sess. We have been enabled to verify this impor- 

 tant fact iluring the five years which we passed in 

 Seueg.il. The characters which essentially distin- 

 guish this mulberry from the other varieties, are 

 those which result, l.st, from the remarkable prop- 

 erty which the roots jwssess of throwing up nimier- 

 ous small flexible stalks, without forming a princi- 

 pal inmk; 2d, from the gi-eat length which these 

 stalks assume in a very short time ; 3d, fron) the 

 remarkable developement which the thin, tender, 

 and soft loaves speedily acquire, and the prompti- 

 tude with which they are renewed; and 4th and 

 lastly, from the extraordinary facility with whicli 

 the stalks and branches strike root, as cuttings, with- 

 out particular care, even before they have acquired 

 a ligneous consistence. 



Besides the advantages which have been already 

 nami'd, we may still add, that they are admirably 

 calculated for forming regular plantations; it not 

 being natural to grow tall or form any trunk prop- 

 erly so called, they can be placed very near 

 without an injurious effect; and by heading down 

 the stalks amuially near the ground, a rich vcgeta- 

 tation is produced with a compleK! developement of 

 vigorous branches and leaves; ami finally it is easy 

 to multiply them by thousan<ls from the roots in 

 the course of a year, and to form vast and regular 

 |)lantations of tliein the second. But a few years 

 then are sufficient to obtain considerable fields 

 of them in full vigor, suflicient to support an im- 

 mense quantity of silk-worms, and that with the 

 greatest facility, as they are reproduced in a man- 

 ner almost indefinite. Regular plantations of it 

 can be found without difliculty, by planting the 

 shrubs at a distance of six or eight feet from 

 each other, a space sufficient for the extension of 

 the branches, to facilitate the culture and for col- 

 lecting the leaves. This last operation is so facil- 

 itated by the flexibility of the stalks, that a child 

 is sufficient for furnishing the food of a large es- 

 tablishment of silk wcinus. 



* Ruliin's Essay on Calcareous Manures. 



In the establishment last mentioned two crops 

 iif silk were produced in the summer of 1832. — 

 The fir.st were fed promiscuously on the Morus 

 Multicaulis and other mulberries. The cocoons 

 thus produced were about two-thirds white, and 

 I he remainder of an orange color. A suitable por- 

 cion of these cocoons were collected for seed, with- 

 out regard to color, which, being subjected to the 

 batching process, produced a second crop on the 

 30th of July. These last were fed exclusively on the 

 Morus Multicaidis, and passed through the differ 



TO PRJBSEHVK EGOS. 



Apply with a brush, a solution of Gum Arabic 

 to the shells, or immerse the Eggs therein, let them 

 dry, and pack them in dry charcoal dust. This 

 prevents their being affected by any alteration of 

 temperature. 



Or, mix together in a tub one bushel of quick 

 lime, two pounds of .salt, half a pound of cream of 

 tdrter, with as nmch water as will reduce the com- 

 |iosition to a sufficient consistence to float an egg. 

 l*ut the eggs in this composition and let them re- 

 main till wanted for use. They will keep perfectly 

 sound for at hast two years. 



An itinerant preacher, who rambled in his ser- 

 nt stages of their larva existence in the short space I mons, when requested to stick to his text, replied, 

 of twenty-six days. The cocoons obtained from this I "that scattering shot would hit the most birds," 



