Vol.VIlI.— Nn.2. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



11 



arks are on)y made to ensure hereafter acciira- 

 'l ;y of description, for we liave no feelings, but of 

 liberal rivalsliip with tlie cultivators of other 

 ' States. Boston tniist be far below New York, and 

 Philadelphia in all the arts which are subservient 

 * to luxury, and we only aim to follow them with 

 tardy but constant steps. 



By the way, a Yankee, in a remote town of 

 ^New Hampshire, Mr Abell, may challenge the 

 whole world as to his success in improving the 

 Lilium Canadense. Its natural produce in its 

 proper situation is from 2 to 4 flowers. I suc- 

 ceeded this year in producing eleven — but Mr 

 Abeli, counted on one stalk 46 ! This is the 

 greatest triumph of cultivation over nature of 

 which my reading lias given me any knowledge, 

 and the florists will give Mr Abell the credit 

 for his success. The soil, treatment, &c. would 

 be a very acceptable addition to Mr Abell's ac 

 ii| count. 



All this may be deemed trifling to those who 



Ti have no love for nature, and no sense of admira- 



» tion of the power which man, and his mind have 



over its productions ; but there are some persons 



who will not be displeased with the detail of these 



remarks. J. L. 



Roxhury,Juhj 27, 1829. 



(Ill 



orij CULTUUE OF SILK. 



A curious, and it would seem a successful mode 

 of facilitating the operations of silk worms, where- 

 by they are enabled to produce larger and more 

 Vo perfect cocoons, has been discovered by Dr Pasca- 

 ilij lis, of New York, and consisting chiefly in the ap- 

 plication of electricitt/ to these singular insects 

 The Editor of the New York Evening Post say 

 he lias witnessed the experiments, and, " seen the 

 insects subjected to the influence of the electrical 

 fluid, actively at work spinning their silken 

 shrouds; while those which were only partially 

 I electrised were later in their operations, and those 

 to which electricity had not been applied in any 

 degree, were still inactive." 



Could the advantage of this discovery be gen- 

 erally introduced among those who are in the 

 habit of raising silk worms, it would be justly con- 

 sidered an important inijirovement. But there 

 is reason to fear that it will be set down merely 

 as a singular fact in natural history ; and ranked 

 among those revelations which are more curious, 

 as phenomena, for the contemplation of philoso- 

 phers, than useful, as agents capable of practical 

 and profitable application. It is certainiy a very 

 novel and somewhat droll circumstance that even 

 the sluggish worm may be stimulated to industry, 

 \i yea excited to improvement, by the mysterious 

 power of electricity. The Doctor's communica- 

 tion on this subject, copied below, is really very 

 interesting — Eve. Bulletin. 



To the Editors of the Evening Post : — 



Gentlemen — The small nursery of Silk Worms 

 which you and many others have visited, was 

 planned on a new method, with a view of as- 

 certaining by experiments the influence of electric- 

 ity upon this lepidopeirick insect. It is a fact not 

 less true because strange, that to this day, such 

 an inquiry should not have been instituted, al- 

 though hinted at by one or two writers. Yet 

 modern European culturists have tortured their 

 minds with systematic methods and processes, the 

 rationale of which, through infinite care, rules 

 and expensive provisions must ultimately elicit 



that clement from the ambient atmosphere, their 

 very best and successful operations remain never- 

 theless unexplained. 



I have just made three divisions of silk worm 

 seeds, no larger in quantity than we could con- < 

 venicntly feed ; they were left to spontaneous 

 hatching and to ordinary care, they were also ex- 

 posed to the late vicissitudes of temperature, which 

 we never corrected by artificial heat. These were 

 of course a little thinned in their ranks, and al- 

 though they have spun good yellow cocoons they 

 have been in the nursery ten days longer than the 

 following ; concerning these we have nothing to 

 boast of. 



A second division was insulated in litters by 

 means of strong twilled cloth of silk laid over the 

 hurdles, and as the room of the nursery was aired, 

 and confined air frequently renewed, it is evident 

 that the worms were always in a positive state of 

 electricity — they were remarkably vigorous — they 

 mounted to spin a week sooner than the first di- 

 vision, leaving few idlers and few sick : their 

 brushwood not being suflicient in space, they were 

 offered two inclined hurdles made up of split 

 canes, which they admirably filled up with their 

 own white and large cocoons — this portion has 

 therefore been successful in about thirty-six 

 days. 



The third division had been insulated not only 

 by silk but by glass supports, and through a pow- 

 erful jar of a portable machine was electrised as 

 often as the condition of the atmosphere would 

 permit — jierhaps eight or ten times ; they were 

 visibly excited ; they ate voraciously, at least five 

 meals a day ; they rested on the thirtieth day to 

 mount and spin. They were clustered in large 

 bundles on the brushwood, all of white silk, slight- 

 ly tinged with a green hue. These cocoons hav- 

 ing been weighed were found of the first quality 

 — sixteen or seventeen to an ounce. This small 

 diflference was owing to the brushwood not being 

 selected as the most convenient for the spinners. 



Some other details of the above experiment will 

 be furnished in the first number of the Silk Cul- 

 turist, now in press, to be issued the ensuing 

 week. From yours respectfully, 



July 11, 1829. FELIX PASCALIS. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF WHOLESOME WA- 

 TER TO CATTLE. 



" I lately visited Dr Jenner. The Doctor con- 

 descended to converse with me on the diseases of 

 cows ; and informed me, that giving wholesome 

 water to cows, was of more importance than the 

 public is aware of. He told me there was a farm 

 in the neighborhood, where three or four farmers 

 had sustained so much loss from abortions in their 

 cows, from red water, and other diseases, that 

 they were either ruined or obliged to give it up. — 

 The present occupier suspected that the water 

 they drank was the cause of the mischief, and 

 therefore sunk three wells on diflferent parts of his 

 farm, and pumped the water into troughs for the 

 cattle. The ponds were fenced round to prevent 

 them from getting at the water, so that they 

 drank only from the troughs. Since that time the 

 farmer has not had a single abortion, or one case 

 of red water. His cattle have been free also from 

 swollen udders ; and what is of more importance, 

 he makes more cheese, and his cheese is greatly 

 improved in quality. The Doctor wished me to 

 visit the farm, which I did, and another at a short 

 distance. I found that the usual mode of water- 



ing cattle, where there was no brook or running 

 water, was from a pit of stagnant rain, or spring 

 water, to which the cattle had access by means of 

 a sloping path on one side only. It has been ob- 

 served that cattle, immediately after drinking, 

 dung or make water ; and almost always before 

 leaving the sloping path — the dung and urine 

 therefore flow into the pond, or arc washed into it 

 by the rain, and make the water so impure, that it 

 has been found to kill eels, and nothing but nox- 

 ious insects can live in it. The disgust which 

 such water must excite in animals accustomed to 

 drink from brooks, is gradually overcome in a 

 great measure, and they sometimes drink it with- 

 out appearing to suffer ; but the influence it has 

 ujion the animal's health is strikingly shown on 

 this farm. On visiting the other farm, where the 

 cows had been prevented from drinking this pond 

 water only six months, the beneficial effects of 

 drinking wholesome water was sufficiently obvi- 

 ous to demonstrate its utility. Before that time^ 

 they were frequently meeting with red water and 

 swollen quarters ; that is, a swelling of a part of 

 the udder ; but since the cows had drank pure 

 water, not a case of either had occurred." — fVhite's 

 Compendium. 



[This reminds us of a fact that fell under our 

 observation last week — a lady near this city had 

 kept in a glass globe, for some weeks, some beau- 

 tiful gold fish ; they grew finely and were the ad- 

 miration of all who saw them ; subsisting entirely 

 on pump water. Some time since, tor some 

 cause she sent for water to a neighboring pump, 

 very near, and perceiving soon after that the fish 

 became sluggish, she removed the water and they 

 recovered. The other day, the pump at the door, 

 from which her fish was supplied, being muddy, 

 she sent to a neighbor's pump not more than 150 

 yards distant — the water such as is used every 

 day, and apparently very wholesome and clear. — 

 The fish globe was filled with that late in the 

 evening, and the consequence was, the death of 

 all her beautiful gold fish the next day. This 

 proves how much depends on latent qualities of 

 water, which may be often the cause of sickness 

 to man and beast as well as fish. — Ed. Am. Far. 



WOUNDS IN CATTLE. 



"The treatment of wounds in brutes is much 

 the same as that practised in healing those on the 

 human body. The operations of nature are the 

 same in both ; and from these are derived the 

 principles which direct the management of 

 wountls. The cruelties which are practised by 

 ignorant and unskilfid persons, in applying their 

 nostrums, and knives, and pincers, cords,and burn- 

 ing irons, to poor dumb animals, call loudly for 

 the intervention of common .sense and humanity." - 

 Mackenzie. 



Cldoride of Lime. — The Savannah board of 

 health employ chloride of lime to purify places 

 charged with foul air, or abounding with bad 

 smells. The method adopted to correct the air ill 

 sinks is to dilute two pounds of the chemical with 

 five gallons of water. — JV. Y. Courier. 



In the Garden of Hampton Court, England, is a 

 celebrated Vine, allowed, by all foreigners, to sur- 

 pass every other in Europe. It is 72 feet by 20, 

 and has, in one season, produced 2272 bunches of 

 grapes, weighing 18 cwt. It was planted in 1769. 

 The stem is about 13 inches in girth. ^ 



