NO. 16. 



THE FAnMEKS CABINET. 



251 



and all that is wanting in our own state, to ena- 

 ble our citizens to produce the most beautiful 

 fabrics of silk, and the finest qualities of sugiir 

 from the beet, is proper information, instruction 

 and encouragement. 



The committee, although averse to entering 

 into any details in relation to these subjects, can- 

 not feel that they have performed their whole 

 duty, without embodying herein some of the 

 particular facts necessary to satisfy the legisla- 

 ture and their constituents, that the protection 

 by the committee deemed proper and necessary, 

 would not be useless, but calculated to advance 

 the real interests of the people of the state. 

 They conceive it proper in this connexion, to 

 observe that this report is nothing but a com- 

 pilation from the various periodical and other 

 publications, which the liberality of some of our 

 enlightened capitalists and enterprising coun 

 trymen have disseminated through the land. 



The committee would further state, that in 

 looking at the subjects entrusted to them, they 

 have regarded with pleasure the interests of the 

 farmer thereby so peculiarly and beneficially 

 laflected. While the legislature is properly ex- 

 i tending its guardian care to the manufacturing 

 iand mercantile concerns of the state let it not 

 i withhold its protection from the agricultural in- 

 terests, which constitute the foundation of the 

 general prosperity. 



SILK. 



The cultivation of the mulberry lies at the 

 foundation of the silk business, and although 

 there are many varieties, yet the Italian and 

 Chinese are conceded to be the better. The 

 doubts which have been entertained, whether 

 the latter can be acclimated, have been entirely 

 removed, and experience has confirmed the im- 

 portant truth, that the Chinese mulberry can be 

 cultivated to any extent, with safety in our 

 country. The planting of the trees, the raising 

 and feeding of the worms, the production of the 

 cocoons, and the reeling of silk, arc properly 

 agricultural pursuits. The modes of cultivating 

 the mulberry, managing the worms, and reeling 

 the silk, are so clearly delineated in the various 



(treatises and periodicals on the subject, which 

 have been published, as to render any remarks 

 in relation thereto unnecessasy. Those who 

 feel an interest in the subject, can and will have 

 access to these publications. The culture of 

 silk is not entirely a new business in our country : 

 for it has been, in various places, commenced and 

 11 successfully carried on, and fully proved itself to 

 be as healthful and as pleasing, as it is useful and 

 profitable. What delightful anticipations may 

 not be enjoyed in looking at the introduction 

 j( 3f the silk business, in relation to the saving 

 [o the great amount of money expended in the 

 isii purchase of foreign silks, which now exceeds ten 

 id nillions of dollars annually. 

 ll)i Beautiful specimens of silk, in the form of 

 pfl sewing silk, produced from worms raised and 

 jfl led in New Jersey, 



have been exhibited to, and 



are now in the possession of the committee. 

 Experiments here and elsewhere have clearly 

 demonstiatcd, that there is no delusion in rela- 

 tion to the offer, which the silk business holds 

 out to every class of our citizens, especially the 

 industrious poor, and that it may be prosecuted 

 with great advantage, without any danger of 

 failure. 



The idea generally entertained, that new en- 

 terprises are not to be undertaken without large 

 cajiitals, is wholly inapplicable to this business. 



No more capital is required than can be ob- 

 tained by any person of common honesty and 

 industry," and although, for the first two or 

 three years very little profit can be reasonably 

 anticipated, if commenced in a small way, yet 

 the committee hesitate not to declare their belief, 

 that any industrious citizen would in a few 

 years in this business, not only realize a com- 

 petency, but wealth and aflluence. The truth 

 of which may be clearly perceived by an ex- 

 amination of the accompanying documents, 

 marked numbers one and two ; prepared with 

 great care by those who are well acquainted 

 with the subject. 



The cultivation of this beautiful article of 

 luxury and comfort, need not materially interfere 

 with the general productions of the agriculturist. 

 The substitution of mulberry hedges, for the 

 usually rude division fences of farms, would be 

 equally economical, useful, and ornamental, and 

 in this way alone furnish a considerable amount 

 of food for worms. The particular management 

 of the worms, is required at a season of the year 

 when the usual labors of the farm are not the 

 greatest, and may well be performed by females 

 and by those too young and too old to engage 

 in othsr more laborious pursuits. The reeling 

 of the cocoons may be postponed as a suitable 

 employment for the long evenings of winter, 

 now comparatively without employment, add to 

 the cheerfulness of the domestic circle, and 

 constitute a profitable, as well as an agreeable 

 occupation. 



SUGAR. 



The eminent success which has attended the 

 manufacture of sugar from the beet in France, 

 and the peculiar adaptation of some parts of the 

 State of jVew.-Jersey, to the cultivation of this 

 vegetable, render this subject one of like deep 

 interest to our fellow citizens. It is not to be 

 expected or desired by the committee, that our 

 farmers shorld turn their whole attention to the 

 making of sugar; but, if it can be shown, that 

 the manufacture of sugar, from the beet, can be 

 profitably pursued among us, it will not be de- 

 nied, that its protection and encouragement will 

 serve to create a ready home market for a new 

 agricultural production, at least as advantageous 

 for the farmer as any other of the products of 

 our! lands. The committee would here remark, 

 that the proper species of the sugar beet, is the 

 white or Silesian and the rose colored, the seed 

 of which, it is understood, can be obtained of 



