154 



Speculation in Maims Midticaulis. 



Vol. hi. 



advantages of his rich agricultural wisdom 

 and experience, imbibed his ardor, and who, 

 upon farms of their own, are now carryiii<r 

 out his excellent principles of culture, and 

 promisinor fair to perpetuate and extend the 

 influence of his system. 



Strictly upright in his dealings, Mr. 

 Walker was especially noted for the great 

 reserve of his manners. He was not quick 

 to seek the friendship of others ; to give or 

 demand confidence. But this peculiarity 

 was owing to no native moroseness of tem- 

 per. It had unfortunately been his lot to 

 have his confidence in men severely tried, 

 at that period of life when the heart is open 

 to the strongest impressions. At the time 

 when all England was agitated by the revo- 

 lutionary proceedings of France, the father 

 of Mr. Walker, a highly respectable mer- 

 chant and very distinguished man, in Man- 

 chester, was put on trial for his life, charged 

 with seditious and treasonable practices, 

 upon the testimony of a miserable creature, 

 the probable tool of others, whose falsehood 

 was made so glaringly manifest in open 

 court, that coincidently with the honorable 

 acquittal of the accused, the judge commit- 

 ted the solitary witness against him for per- 

 jury. This treatment of a beloved parent, 

 made an ineffaceable impression upon the 

 mind of the son, and alienated his affections, 

 if not altogether from his native country, at 

 least from the government, which could 

 permit such gross practices against the 

 peace and honor of an upright and honora- 

 ble citizen. It brought him to this country ; 

 it chilled his confidence in his fellow-men ; 

 but the kind affections, which refused to 

 diffuse themselves widely, were not dried 

 up, nor did they fail to flow out in acts of 

 kindness towards those whose worth he had 

 the opportunity of learning. At his own 

 fireside, in the domestic circle, in the com- 

 pany of good books, which he loved to share 

 with his family by reading aloud, he found 

 not only relaxation, but his greatest earthly 

 happiness. There the loss of an affection- 

 ate and devoted friend will long be severely 

 felt. 



To Preserve Eggs. 

 Eggs have often been preserved sound 

 a,nd good for months by putting them up with 

 common wood ashes, in a box or cask, so as 

 to exclude the air. It is said they do best 

 when placed on end. 



The hasty divulgers of news generally 

 bring on themselves the trouble of contra- 

 dicting it. 



Fur the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Speculation in Morus Multicaulis. 



I should be sorry to occupy, unprofitably 

 to its readers, a single page of the Farmers' 

 Cabinet — a work which increases in interest 

 monthly — but as the subject is one really 

 important and interesting to the community 

 at large, and to the agriculturist particu- 

 larly, and as some parts of the reply of 

 "Multicaulis" to my former communication 

 seem to require further notice, I will offer 

 a few observations as briefly as possible. 



He must have read my remarks through 

 (Ustortin^ spectacles, or he would not have 

 supposed that they were directed aa:aiiist ike 

 ciiliure and mnnufaclure of silk in this couU' 

 try. They were intended to check, if pos- 

 sible, that wild speculation which the writer 

 believes may eventually injure seriously the 

 progress and establishment of the silk busi- 

 ness, as well as many of those who engage 

 in the speculation. In respect then to the 

 importance of " silk culture," your corres- 

 pondents do not materially differ in opinion; 

 but on some other points we are far from 

 agreeing. 



In regard to what properly constitutes 

 speculation, what its tendency is, the na- 

 ture of its eflfects on individuals and the 

 public interest, and the consequences which 

 result from it to any particular branch of 

 industry in which it may have prevailed, I 

 will not, at present, make any further re- 

 marks. But as " Multicaulis" asserts that 

 I am in error, and that "the present value 

 of the trees does not arise so much from a 

 spirit of speculation or gambling in the pur- 

 chaser, as from a fair estimate of their pre- 

 sent intrinsic value ;" and that according to 

 his " cyphering" " the multicaulis will pro- 

 bably maintain its present, if not a higher 

 value, until it is generally distributed 

 throughout the country ;" a period in his 

 apprehension, somewhat remote, I wish to 

 state a few facts, and to " cypher" a little 

 more, that our readers may be the better 

 qualified to decide who is in error. 



I have been informed by a gentleman in 

 this city, who has disposed of many thousands 

 of the morns multicaulis, that the present 

 price is twenty-five cents per foot, and that 

 they generally sell from iPl.OO togil.aOeach, 

 although some have been sold for more than 

 $■2.00. Taking five feet as the average 

 height to which the tree will grow in one 

 summer, in a good soil, say wheat land, the 

 average price is $1.25 per tree. On an acre 

 of such land about ;^0,000 trees may be 

 raised in a season, having the rows four feet 

 apart, and the trees four inches apart in the 

 rows. I have been told by an experienced 

 cultivator, that from one tree he can raise 



