NO. 10. 



THE FARMEKS CABINET. 



153 



fore not to be wondered at if he sunk under 

 the unaccustomed hanishijjs to which he was 

 exposed. The black-faced sheep would pro- 

 bably have yielded if exposed to similar 

 trials. The cases, however, are exceedingly 

 few in which the Cheviots have failed to 

 maintain their ground, especially those who 

 have been imported from their native hills ; 

 for with them it was a change of locality, 

 but not of habit, or of food, or of climate. 

 Lord Napier, in his evidence before the 

 House of Lords, says, unequivocally of the 

 forest of Ettrick, and of the whole of Sel- 

 kirkshire, that "the black-faced sheep have 

 been all driven out of that part of the coun- 

 try, and substituted by the Cheviots." And 

 even in the northern part of Scotland, in 

 Sutherland, Mr. Patrick Sellar states, that 

 from the year 1805 to 1820, from a few hun- 

 dred Cheviot sheep, which the county then 

 contained, their number has so increased 

 that 100,000 Cheviot fleeces were annually 

 sent into Sutherland to the manufacturer, and 

 20,000 ewes and wethers to the grazier ; and 

 he adds, this annual extraction from the Al- 

 pine plants of '30,000 carcasses of mutton and 

 100,000 fleeces of wool is indeed most won- 

 derful. * — Farmer'' s iSeries. 



Silk Culture. 



BY WILLIAM KENRICK. 



"The value of silks imported into the 

 United States, during the year ending Sept. 

 30, 1835, as stated on the authority of the 

 Hon. William Jackson, member of Con- 

 gress from Massachusetts, amounted to 

 $16,497,980, this being the original or first 

 cost in the foreign country. During this 

 period only $486,572 worth of this great 

 amount was exported ; and the actual cost 

 of the above to the American people, or the 

 whole retail cost to the amount of the ac- 

 tual customer, may be fairly estimated at 

 more than $22,000,000 for the year. Most 

 of all this was imported from Italy, Switzer- 

 land, and from France : formerly half our 

 imports were from China. Yet neither the 

 articles of raw silk, nor any of those numer- 

 ous, substantial and elegant fabrics, which 

 «re composed of part silk and part cotton, or 

 of mixtures of silk and worsted are included 

 in the above amount. And the demands for 

 silks which are now so great, is continually 

 increasing. Not half this amount was con- 

 sumed six months ago; and since 1821, and 

 during fifteen years, the annual amount of 

 silks consumed has doubled twice. 



Silk is believed to be eminently adapted 

 to the soil and climate of every division of 

 this great republic ; our serene atmosphere is 



* Farmer's Magazine, Nov. 1820. 



peculiarly favorable to its growth, and the 

 prolonged and vigorous state of vegetation 

 during our summers. The genial climate of 

 silk is ours, and the higiily favored soil of 

 one whole continent of the great western 

 world, by an especial providence, with the 

 exception only of Mexico, has fallen to out 

 share and is ours exclusively. 



Our advantages are indeed very great — to 

 be duly appreciated, they must be estimated 

 singly and individually ; how much greater 

 and more stricking would they appear, if 

 considered collectively — our innumerable 

 rivers and rapid streams, our immense forest8 

 and mines, the exhaustless treasures of fuel 

 and of flame, the combined elements of wa- 

 ter, earth, of fire, and of mighty power, 

 await — offering resources of unknown and 

 immeasurable, and willing aids in abridging 

 the labors of man. 



History will record to endless remem- 

 brance the names of those illustrious indi- 

 viduals who have persevered as the faithful 

 guides and pioneers in the great work — those 

 who by their example or writings have served 

 as lights, to illumine our way, and to cheer us 

 through the the long dark, and dreary night. 



Hope dawns auspicious, the day and its 

 brightness will be ours: endowed as are 

 onr people with fortitude, with energy and 

 with intellectual resources unsurpassed, is 

 there one American who can doubtl 



By those unceasing toils and mighty 

 eflforts, and matchless labors for which our 

 people are so distinguished, the millions 

 thus recovered will not only be their just 

 reward, but will add to the substantial wealth 

 of the nation and to the glory of the whole 

 republic. " 



Fattening Hogs. 



On the first day of December four shoats 

 of the same breed, nearly of a size, and as 

 much alike in every respect as could be se- 

 lected from a herd of ninety odd hogs, were 

 made choice off; each carefully weighed, 

 and placed in a single stye where their food 

 could be exactly regulated. They weighed 

 between 81 pounds and 100. The two whose 

 weights together made 185 pounds, were fed 

 on one gallon of shelled Indian corn weigh- 

 ing seven pounds to each, for every 24 hours 

 and as much water as they wanted. This 

 quantity of food was a plenty for them ; 

 generally they about consumed it. Some 

 five or six different days between the first of 

 December and 4th of January, the time the 

 experiment was going on, they did not eat 

 their whole allowance. 



For the two shoats, whose weights togeth- 

 er made 173 pounds, seven pounds of good 

 Indian corn meal, by measure ten pints, were 



