294 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



the cherry tree particularly, and many other 

 trees which are equally as hardy, and espe- 

 cially during all the period of their young-er 

 years, arc, as 1 am assured, extremely liable 

 to suffer death during winter, from the same 

 destructive climate and causes. 



The proper soils for the mulberry tree are 

 " dry sandy, or stony." And trees growing 

 on dry, sandy, or stony soils, and situated on 

 the open plains, and on hills the most exposed 

 to cold winds, will be found to suffer least of 

 all from the destructive frosts of autumn and 

 of winter. With all authors I must agree in 

 recommending a soil least of all a cold, moist, 

 and heavy soil on a clay foundation, or even 

 a very rich soil ; a dry soil on a friable sub- 

 Boil, on gentle elevations or declivities, being 

 the most suitable of all for the mulberry from 

 China. — Kenrick. 



Chinese Mulberry, Morns Multicaulis* 



The immense quantities of this tree, now 

 disseminated through every part of the Union, 

 from the different nurseries, will undoubtedly 

 serve to test thoroughly its good or bad quali- 

 ties. Its hardihood will also be fairly proved 

 by the present winter, which so far at least, 

 may be considered a season of the ordinary 

 severity. For ourselves, we have no doubt 

 that the Morus Multicaulis will become per- 

 fectly naturalized in every part of the Union 

 Boutli of forty-two degrees latitude, and that 

 the facility of silk-rearing would be wonder- 

 fully increased by it. The leaves being of 

 very large size, the trouble of gathering a 

 given weight is greatly diminished, and there 

 is every reason to believe that two crops of 

 silk may be reared upon them in a single 

 season. The French silk growers now plant 

 the Morus Multicaulis entirely in rows or 

 hedges to be kept dvi'arf by cutting tliem 

 down to within one, two or three feet of the 

 ground, annually. The advantages of this 

 method are — perfect hardihood of the plants — 

 facility in gathering — and enormous weight 

 of fdiage from a small surface. In addition 

 to this, a crop of silk worms may be fed on 

 the leaves from the cuttings of the Chinese 

 Mulberry of a single season's growth, instead, 

 as in the ease of the old Italian variety, of 

 waiting until the tree attained considerable 

 size before plucking the toYiage.-^Boslon 

 Magazine of Horticulture. 



Value of Corn Stalks as Froveudcra 



No one who may not have essayed an ex- 

 periment to that effect, can form any idea 

 of the vast amount which may be saved by 

 the practice of a system of enlightened econo- 

 my on a farm. Nor can he form any just es- 

 timate of the valuable purposes to which 

 inany things which are cast away as almost 



entirely useless, may be applied. We were 

 very forcibly struck with the truth of these 

 propositions a few days since, on seeing the 

 tine condition of a Devon cow, that we pur- 

 chased for a gentleman in South Carolina, and 

 which had been subsisted during the whole oi 

 the past winter on corn stalks and ruta ba^a. 

 Ninety out of a hundred farmers, throw theii 

 corn stalks into their barn yards, to be trod- 

 den under foot by their cattle, and the cus- 

 tom has become so universal that any one 

 who should deviate from the rule would, ir 

 many neighborhoods, be looked upon as ar 

 innovator, who had sinned beyond the saving 

 influence of repentance. When an indivi' 

 dual, however, is found possessing the mora: 

 courage to rise superior to those prejudices 

 which have been hallowed by time, they de 

 serve not only the full fruition of the profits 

 and advantages of their improvements, bui 

 are entitled to the thanks of the community 

 The cow in question, we bought of Mr. Bich 

 ard Caton, and on inquiry as to her keep 

 through the winter, learned that she, toge 

 ther with some 60 or 70 others, of which hii 

 beautiful herd of Devons consists, had beer 

 exclusively fed on the articles we have befon 

 named. Heretofore they have, each winter 

 been generously served with timothy, or clo- 

 ver hay, and Swedish Turneps; but with t 

 view of testing the value of the corn stalki 

 as a provender for cattle, and of being thereby 

 enabled to sell his hay, he cut his stalks, th( 

 which, together with turneps, he submittet 

 to the action of steam, and has had the grati 

 tication to find his most sanguine expectation: 

 more than realized. His stock has not onlj 

 eaten their new fare with avidity, but hav< 

 thriven well, having come through the win 

 ter in high health and condition, and are now 

 in as good order as the majority of beef cat 

 tie. The Devons it is true are a thrifty race 

 easily kept, and will maintain flesh upon lesi 

 feed than almost any other breed ; but it i; 

 equally true, that the process of steaming re 

 stores so much of the saccharine matter t( 

 the stalks, renders them so easy of digestion 

 as to make them at once as palatable as the} 

 are nutritious. Hence there can benodoub 

 of the great economy in this disposition o 

 them, because, besides returning to the eartl 

 an equal portion of manure, they serve th« 

 two fold purpose of substituting other anc 

 more saleable provender, and of sustaining 

 stock fully as well, if not better than tin 

 best hay, be the kind whatever it may. 

 Let us see how far an acre of stalks wil 

 If this quantity of ground in corn wil 



ffo 



yield one ion of fodder and tops, we set i 

 down as a demonstrable fact, that it will giv< 

 Itvu tons of stalks; so that any given quanti 

 ty of land will furnish a liundred per cent 

 more of the latter than the former. 



