156 



Speculation in Morus Miilticaiilis. 



III. 



thousand ; he must dig these up and bury 

 them for three successive autumns, and re- 

 plant iheni for three successive springs, be- 

 fore they will bear the rigor of our winter. 

 This operation would be, I imagine, a large 

 item in the list of expenses. But we are 

 told that a tree, yes, one multicaulis tree, in 

 the garden of D. Maupay has not been in- 

 jured by the severities of the three last very 

 severe winters, although unprotected. The 

 principal part of that garden has, I believe, 

 a remarkably warm southern exposure ; and 

 if the tree stands in that part, I am not sur- 

 prised to hear it has survived. Even if it 

 does not stand in a favorable situation, the 

 circumstance of " Multicaulis" adducing the 

 instance of a single tree to prove the hardy 

 character of the variety, when, if it had 

 really been proved hardy, he might have 

 mentioned millions, conveys to my mind 

 the idea that the millions are not hardy, and 

 the one is a remarkable exception. 



Notwithstanding the "offset" then, I still 

 assert that " it is well known that the whole 

 of the tree that is above the ground is fre- 

 quently if not generally killed in this lati' 

 tude by the frost," and that " it is a uni 

 versal practice amongst those who cultivate 

 the multicaulis for sale, to dig them up in 

 the autumn, and secure them snug and warm 

 in cellars or other places." 



Although 1 consider the culture of silk as 

 a desirable and important object, I am not so 

 mulberry mad as to think that it will be so 

 vastly lucrative as to bestow great riches on 

 all who engage in it. I believe that as far 

 as it may be engaged in, or if it should be 

 come extensively and firmly established, the 

 profits, as in every other branch of industry, 

 will be only a fair remuneration for time, 

 labor, and attention. As to the business 

 being sustained by premiums very long, 

 that is out of the question. " Multicaulis" 

 says "heavy duties would be burdensome 

 to the public," and I ask him from whence 

 is the money derived that is paid in premi- 

 ums, if not from the pockets of the public 1 



He tells us that our people "must have 

 time to learn the nature and habits of the 

 worm ; must be made acquainted, by actual 

 observation, with the best system of rearing 

 and feeding; must have time to erect their 

 cocooneries, and to be informed of the best fix- 

 tures for feedingand spinning upon," and then 

 states that " upon these subjects we are yet 

 very much in the dark." Is it not very 

 strange, and may we not be " surprised" that 

 an " intelligent people should, under these 

 disadvantages, and in the dark too, with a 

 capital necessarily twenty-five or thirty 

 times greater than is required to conduct tlic 

 business in other countries, presume to enter 

 Into competition with them 1 I say a capitvil 



so much greater would be required in this 

 country, if the plan which "Multicaulis," 

 as I understand him, recommends, were 

 adopted ; that is, that every silk-grower 

 should buy all the trees he wants to use, for 

 he evidently repudiates the plan I recom- 

 mended, of every one raising his own trees 

 from a small number. As long, however, 

 as the raising of mulberry trees is incom- 

 parably more profitable than raising the silk- 

 worm, "Multicaulis'" plan will not be 

 adopted, and the latter employment will 

 continue to be used merely as an adjunct to 

 the grand speculation. 



7Yme will determine the question whether 

 the present price of the multicaulis is or is 

 not owing to a spirit of speculation and 

 gambling, and I shall await its decision in 

 full confidence that it will confirm my senti- 

 ments. Already I perceive indications of 

 a rapid fall in their " intrinsic value," or as 

 I would call it, their gambling price. I 

 have heard a person offer to enter into con- 

 tracts to furnish the multicaulis trees next au- 

 tumn for ten cents each ; and it is said a 

 southern cultivator ofi'ers to furnish' them 

 at that time for five cents each. There are 

 advertisements in our city newspapers, one 

 headed, " a rare chance for Speculators" — 

 oflTering to cultivate them next season for 

 two cents each. Now if a farmer can raise 

 these trees for two cents each and be well 

 paid for his land and labor, of which there 

 cannot be a doubt, how in the name of com- 

 mon sense, can their "present intrinsic 

 value" be one dollar and twenty -five cents, 

 or even one dollar 1 



I hope our farmers will coolly and pa- 

 tiently examine the subject before they ven- 

 ture their honestly-earned money in this 

 wild and hazardous speculation, a specula- 

 tion which "seduces industry tVom its regu- 

 lar and salutary occupations, by tiie hope of 

 abundance without labor." I predict that 

 within two years they will find what I said 

 in my former communication, viz : " that 

 the niorus multicaulis are so easily and 

 rapidly propagated, that if no speculation 

 existed, and the demand was confined, as it 

 ought to be, to the silk-grower, they could 

 be purchased at one-fifiieth of their present 

 prices " to be the 



Truth. 



Diet. 



Premature debility and old age speedily 

 overtake all who indulge in the luxuries of 

 the table. Water is the beverage which na- 

 ture intended for our use, or in other words 

 which it is most healthful to use, for every 

 unnecessary stimulus abridges life. 



