134 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



ny, Mr. Colt, the present director of the establish- 

 ment, is willing to instruct every one who ofiers, 

 not only gratuitously, but will pay them a reason- 

 able compensation for their services, to the number 

 of two hundred, at least. It is understood that 

 all applicants shall bring evidence of fair moral 

 character, and that their ages shall not be under 

 15, nor over 40 years. 



As the process of reeling the silk from the co- 

 coons is performed only during the summer, those 

 who apply for instruction in this part of the man- 

 ufacture only, must of course come at that season 

 of the year. But those who remain through the 

 winter will also be instructed in the art of weav- 

 ing Tuscan straw, and a variety of other liincy ar- 

 ticles. 



With respect to the time and labor required to 

 learn the various arts carried on in the establish- 

 ment, the Committee saw two young ladies who 

 had been only a day or two at work, and were 

 surprised at- the facility with which tliey produced 

 the finest fabrics. 



The prices paid per yard for the fibrics, depend 

 upon the ease, or difficulty, with which they are 

 produced, so that with equal industry there is but 

 little dilference in their earnings. On inspecting 

 the day book, the Committee found that 50 cents 

 per day is nearly the average sum paid those 

 who had been in the factory for a i'cw weeks. 



It is the wish and desire of the Silk Company 

 that the farmers should raise the silk, their daugh- 

 ters reel it, and sell it in the raw state to the man- 

 iifiicturer. After the art of reeling has been ac- 

 quired, the Committee see no difficulty in this ar- 

 rangement, since the reel is a very simple and 

 cheap instrument, and may be had of the compa- 

 ny at five dollars each, and requires no more room 

 or skill to keep it in order than the common house- 

 hold reel, so universally in use. 



The Committee would therefore recommend 

 that every farmer who raises only a few bushels 

 of cocoons should have them reeled in his own 

 house. This will be found by far the most profita- 

 ble method, since the difference of price between 

 the cocoons and the reeled silk will much more 

 than pay for the reeling. Tliis difference is so 

 considerable, that even when the farmer raises 

 only a iew pounds of silk, the expenses of a reel 

 would every year be saved by having the reeling 

 done in his family. 



The chief business of the Silk Company at the 

 present time is the manufacture of Tuscan straw 

 into fabrics for hats and bonnets; and the Com- 

 mittee were particularly interested in some esti- 

 mates which the president of the company had 

 made on this manuliicture in a national point of 

 view. If we suppose there are three millions of 

 females in the United Ststes, who purchase each a 

 Tuscan hat annually, at the price of two dollars, 

 then the cost of this single article to the country 

 will amount to 6 millions per year. Taking the 

 last three or four years as examples, it is thought 

 that this estimate is not far from the truth, for it is 

 known that there are upwards of 6 millions of fe- 

 males in our country, and we think that common 

 observation is sufficient to show,that, in the Atlan- 

 tic States at least, one-half of them have worn 

 Tuscan hats within the last year or two; and judg- 

 ing from the known contagious nature of limiale 

 fashions, we may fiiirly conclude that a similar es- 

 timate may be made with respect to the interior 



states. But since it takes two or three years for a 

 fashion to pass from one end of our country to the 

 other, it may be objected that our estimate is too 

 high, as not all the females who wear Tuscan hats 

 purchase them in the same year. But it must be 

 remembered that two dollars is probably behind 

 the average price of the article in question, and 

 that the more common price has been from five to 

 ten dollars. It must also be remembered that our 

 estimate with respect to the number of females 

 who wear Tuscan hats is probably much below 

 the truth, so that we beUeve our estimate cannot 

 be far out of the way. 



Now taking for data certain facts presented by 

 the Silk Company, the Committee are Avarranted in 

 believing that the three millions of dollars, ex- 

 pended for the article in question, may all be earned 

 by the females in this country. 



In behalf of the Committee, 



J. L. COMSTOCK. 



EXPLANATORY REMARKS ON THE ACTION OF 

 CHEJIISTRY ON AGRICULTURE. 



By James Renwick, LL. D. Professor of Nat. Exp. 

 Philosophy and Chemistry m Columbia College, N. Y. 



[A pubHc-spirited agriculturist, in the western part of 

 the State of New York, who is ready to devote a por- 

 tion of his wealth, as well as the energies of his mind' 

 for his country's improvement, some months ago asked 

 our leave to have re-published, for distribution in New 

 York, the translation of Puvis' Essay on the use of 

 Lime as Manure, which was prepared for, and first 

 appeared in this journal. Of course, the permission 

 was most readily accorded. Professor Renwick con- 

 sented to carry the plan into effect: and this second 

 edition of the translation has recently been published 

 in a neat octavo pamphlet, and is preceded by the in- 

 troduction, which will be inserted below. This piece 

 is especially valuable as applying chemical science to 

 agriculture, in popular and perspicuous language, ac- 

 cording to its author's design, and suitable to the ob- 

 ject of the publication, and the class of readers it was 

 particularly intended to benefit; a most desirable and 

 important matter, which is too generally neglected, if 

 not contemned, by other men of science. But though 

 a proper "introduction" to the work of Puvis, this is 

 also a distinct, substantive essay, entirely fit to be pre- 

 sented alone, as it will be given here, and to furnish 

 instruction to all who need it, on the elements of agri- 

 cultural chemistry.] 



The chemical facts and principles which are ap- 

 plicable to agriculture are neither numerous nor 

 complex. They are, however, to be Ibund only 

 in works on general chemistry, in which they are 

 intimately associated with laws and phenomena 

 of" a more abstruse description, and in connexion 

 with which they constitute a science of which the 

 most learned are still students, and to attain which 

 in its existing form, may require years of close and 

 attentive study. The language, too, of chemistry, 

 which, to those who study it in a regular course, 

 serves as an artificial memory, and single words 

 of which call up long trains of thought and exper- 

 iment, presents to the uninitiated all the difficulties 

 of a foreign tongue. 



