232 



THE FARMEns' CABINET. 



VOL. 7. 



suitable for market, than to raise apples only 

 suitable for distilling. Very often apples are 

 worth one dollar per bushel, and then the 

 loss is immense by turning them into brandy. 

 I am told that in Mobile apples sell now tor 

 ten dollars a barrel! 



0. Engrafting and budding will change the 

 character of an orchard, and more than com- 

 pensate for the time and amount lost in pro- 

 ducing the change, in ten years. 



7. Apples make most excellent food for 

 horses. Several physicians of extensive prac- 

 tice, in Connecticut and Massachusetts, feed 

 their horses on apples and hay. I have never 

 seen fatter horses, more sleek and spirited. 

 The hair is much more lively, and requires 

 less grooming than that of horses fed on grain. 

 Mr. Norton, of Farmington, Connecticut, has 

 about the finest pair of horses I have seen. 

 They are fed mainly on apples and hay 

 They travel very fast, and seem to have boih 

 wind and bottom. It is proper, however, to 

 remark, that not as much grain is given to 

 horses at the north as is customary at the 

 south. One thing is worth noticing — horses 

 fed on apples, do not eat as much hay as 

 when they are fed on grain. Very sour raw 

 apples injure the teeth of horses ; but when 

 boiled they do not. The rule of feeding is to 

 commence with a small quantity, and gradu- 

 ally increase to a bushel a day for one horse. 



8. Apples are most excellent food for 

 beeves. The fattest beef I have seen was 

 made so on sweet apples. 



9. Nothing will fatten mutton quicker than 

 apples. It is necessary, or best, to cut up the 

 apples when fed to sheep. 



10. Hogs care nothing for corn if they can 

 get apples ; if sweet, the apples may be given 

 without boiling; if sour, they must be boiled. 

 Mixed with corn meal the flesh is firmer. 



11. Apples increase the quantity and qual- 

 ■ ity of milk. At first there was a prejudice 



against giving apples to milch cows, because 

 it was thought they diminished or dried up 

 the milk. It is true, that a gorge of apples, 

 or any other green food, will cause a fever 

 and dry up the milk ; but given in proper 

 quantities, the effect is quite different. 



12. Cattle and hogs are purchased and fat- 

 tened on apples, and sold at a fine profit, 

 when to fatten them on corn would ensure a 

 loss. 



13. Sweet apples and good eating apples 

 are to be preferred as food for horses, sheep 

 and cows, also for hogs, although some re- 

 commend a mixture of sour and sweet for 

 hogs. 



If these remarks shall induce any one to 

 test their correctness, by making a fair ex- 

 periment, the object of my writing them will 

 be fully answered. 



Thomas P. IJuijt. 



Cnltnrc of Silk. 



The culture and manufacture of silk, will, 

 we think, be prosecuted with considerable zeal 

 in Pennsylvania. In view of the manufacture 

 of the article, a large meeting was held 

 lately in Philadelphia, and the establishment 

 of a company was resolved on. The com- 

 missioners to receive subscriptions are some 

 of the most eminent and wealthy persons of 

 the city. They are authorized, when 1000 

 shares are subscribed, to purchase at once the 

 machinery and establishment of Messrs. Up- 

 ton & Jackson. The preamble to the report 

 contains much valuable matter. In reference 

 to the advantages and facility of the culture 

 in this country, it says: 



" The muFberry tree flourishes best in cul- 

 tivated fields; and one of the most approved 

 methods of obtaining the leaves for the food 

 of the silk worm, is from mulberry hedges, 

 which may be made, and securely used Ibi 

 the divisions of a farm into fields, instead o! 

 the usual fences, much more costly, and al 

 ways exposed to injury and decay. 



" The periods of the year in which the sill 

 worm IS fed, and when only the attention ol 

 the farmer and his family is required for theii 

 care and management, are those in which th( 

 usual labors of a farm are, for a great portior 

 of those periods, not very great; and a large 

 amount of the attention and industry which 

 are required by silk worms when feedinnr 

 and making the cocoon, are most properFj 

 furnished hy females, and by children from 

 twelve to sixteen years of age. In tiie win' 

 ter season, the family fireside of the farmer 

 now comparatively without employment, ma) 

 be engaged in reeling the silk from the co 

 coons, a most agreeable and profitable occu 

 pation for that part of the year." 



A large amount of free labor will b( 

 brought into employ, and the domestic sill 

 trade of the north will one day rival that o: 

 cotton, rice and tobacco at the south. 



In Pennsylvania, there are already manj 

 hundreds of acres planted with the mulberry 

 These plantations will be increased when i 

 shall be known that a certain market exist 

 for the cocoons, and for reeled silk, at a fai 

 price. Small lots of cocoons are ofiercd daily 

 and the committee entertain the belief tha 

 in 1837 one-fourth of the supply for a manu 

 factory of a moderate extent, can be obtaine< 

 from American cocoons. In three or fou 

 years, a manufactory with machinery am 

 buildings, requiring a capital of $100,000 

 may be supplied with American Silk. 



Three hundred and ten good cocoons maki 

 one pound, and eight pounds of cocoons wil 

 give one pound of reeled silk. At that rate 

 the reeling being done at the manufactory 

 the cost of the silk will be about $3 pe 

 pound. When cocoons are produced in abun 



