168 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



tentive inspection, to become masters of the more 

 minute branches of the economy of an estate. 



It appeared to me, that there was an attempt to 

 crowd too much instruction into too short a com- 

 pass; for many of tlie pupils spend but one year 

 in the Institution; and thus only the foundation, 

 and that a very slight one, can be laid in so short 

 a space ot time. It is however to be presumed, 

 that the young men come here prepared vviih con- 

 siderable previous knowledge, as they are mostly 

 between the ages of twenty and twenty-lour, and 

 some lew appeared to be still older. 



The sum paid by each pupil is four hundred rix- 

 dollars nnnually; besides which, they provide their 

 own beds and breakfasts. In this country, such 

 an expense precludes the admission ot all but 

 youths of good ibrtune. Each has a separate 

 apartment. They are very well behaved young 

 men; and their conduct to each other, and to the 

 professors, was polite even to punctilio. 



As I have not had an opportunity of visiting 

 Ilofwy], and have met with no account of that 

 Institution written by any person who is well ac- 

 quainted with many details on the subject of its 

 agriculture, I caiuiot make a comparison between 

 that widely-blazoned establishment, and the unos- 

 tentatious Institution of Moegelin. I wag indeed 

 told that the plan and effects were far inferior; but, 

 as my informants were Prussians, I make Some 

 allowance fjr the national vanity, which felt itself 

 piqued that the establishment in Switzerland 

 should be praised most highly, and their Royal 

 Foundation be unknown beyond the boundaries 

 of the kingdom to which it belongs. 



From the Silli Culturist. 



FEMALE INDUSTRY APPLIED TO SILK CUL- 

 TURE. 



The following facts are not only creditable to 

 the female industry of the country, but conclusiv^e- 

 ly prove that female labor, when judiciously ap- 

 plied, receives its full reward. Last summer a 

 venerable matron of Franklin county, Pa. seven- 

 ty-six years of age, with the aid of a girl, in five 

 weeks made and sold silk to the amount of $60, 

 besides attending to the ordinary duties of her 

 household. Two young ladies in the same coun- 

 ty, in about six weeks, made silk, sufficient for 

 4000 skeins of sewing silk, which at five cents a 

 skein, amounted to ,f 200. There are growing in 

 the town of Hebron in this state, eight white 

 mulberry trees fi'om ten to twelve years old, ii-om 

 which silk was made the last summer by two 

 young ladies of Mansfield. They spent five or 

 six weeks in Hebron, and, after paying all expen- 

 ses of board, &c. carried home .'jJGO. Another 

 young lady in Mansfield made silk the last sum- 

 mer at the halves. (She made and reeled in nine 

 weeks twenty pounds, worth at least .^4.50 a 

 pound. By this it will be seen that her share a- 

 niounted to $4:5, and that she received $5 a week 

 for her labor. 



We might go on and state facts of this kind, ad 

 infimhim: but these are sufiicient to prove that fe- 

 male labor, when a|)plied to profitable objects, re- 

 ceives a liberal remuneration. Philanthropists 

 have expatiated at great leiigtb, and with much 

 good feeling, on the deplorable condition of fe- 

 males on account of the de[)resscd price of their 



labor — they express, and no doubt feel, a tender 

 sympathy for females dependent on their labor tor 

 support; but, like most others who make less pre- 

 tentions to S3'nipathetic benevolence, are prone to 

 suffer their commiseration to evaporate in prayers 

 and good wishes lor an amelioration of iheircondi- 

 tion, instead of prompting thern to laborious exer- 

 tions in devising and maturing plans lor their re- 

 lief. It is true, female labor, when compared 

 with male, receives a small compensation; but at 

 the same time it must be admitted that it will al- 

 ways command an equivalent lor the value of the 

 services rendered. This disproportion in price 

 grows out of the nature and profits of the object 

 on which labor is bestowed, rather than the a- 

 mount of skill or jihysical power rendered; The 

 value of skill and strength is materially diminish- 

 ed by its being inappropriately applied. The skill 

 of a miniature painter would be worth but little if 

 applied to the tarring of fruit treps to prevent the 

 ascent of insects, or the strength of a Hercules, if 

 devoted to embroidery or other needle work, re- 

 quiring mere dexterity and skill. The only way 

 in which females can increase the value of their la- 

 bor, is by seeking out objects, on which to bestow 

 it, which yield to themselves and their employers 

 greater returns of profit. Among these, the cul- 

 ture and manufacture of silk, is a prominent onCi 

 The services of a healthy female in rearing the 

 silk worm and reeling silk, are worth as much, .and 

 will command as high a compensation as those of 

 the most athletic male; but their labor would com- 

 mand but a small price if applied to bullJing stone 

 wall in New England, or clearing the forests of 

 the West, — and for the best of all reasons, it 

 would be misapplied and consequently worthless. 

 The secret of rendering male or female labor val- 

 uable and ensuring it an adequate and equitable re- 

 ward, consists in applying it to objects, not only 

 valuable in themselves, but which are capable of 

 being made the means of accumulatinji wealth; 



From tlie Silli Culturist. 



ENCOURAGEMEXT OF SILK CULTURE AND MA- 

 NUFACTURES IN THE NORTHERN STATES, 

 RY LEGISLATIVE BOUNTIES; 



The act lately passed by the legislature of Mas- 

 sachusetts, giving a bounty of jB2 on every pound 

 of raw silk grown and reeled within the common- 

 wealth, is one of those master pieces of state po- 

 licy for wliich her legislators have long been dis- 

 tinguished. Though it is highly creditable to the 

 intelligence of the members, and the amount dis- 

 bursed under its provisions will bring forth its 

 "hundred ll)ld; " yet there are probably some, ma- 

 king high pretensions to a thorough knowledge of 

 political economy, who will consider it a profuse, if 

 not a wanton and wasteful, expenditure of public 

 treasure, and be disposed to censure them for a 

 reckless disregard of" the public interest. A narrow 

 and shortsighted policy would doubtless condemn 

 the law, and all appropriations made under it, as 

 a profligate expenditure of the people's money- 

 while at the same time the poliiuuil economist, 

 who takes an enlarged and enlightened view of 

 the conse(|ueuces which must inevitably result 

 li'om it, will pronounce it the perft^ction of politi- 

 cal wisdom. A detail of the circumstances under 

 which the law was passed, and its elliicts upon the 



