260 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 5 



immediate iiciiphliorhood. During the period 

 nicnlioned (say yince 1825) I have never seen a 

 Irost on tiiis island. I liave around my dwelling 

 near twenty mulberry trees, which iiave grown to 

 a large size. I have also several young trees ol" 

 the niorits muUlcaulis, which appear so little al- 

 tected by the winter that tliey do not even cast 

 their leaves. 1 liavo on the main, immediately 

 opposite this place, a farm on which I have col- 

 lected a number of tropical fruit trees. There are 

 now on it 1000 banana and about 500 plantain 

 trees in hill bearing; and with the excei)tion of the 

 winter of 1834, they have never been aiiected by 

 the cold. At this place the morns muUicaulis has 

 been planted, and thrives well; and I will venture 

 to assert that their growth has been flir more rapid 

 than it would have been in a more northern situa- 

 tion. As a proof of this, allow me to stale, that on 

 the 23d of December last, I cut off si.K small 

 limbs or twigs, from a tree of the mvlticaulisj they 

 were stuck into the ground, and were not agam 

 seen by any one, until last week. I then found, 

 notwithstanding the lateness of the season, that 

 they had taken root, and had become thriving lit- 

 tle shrubs and full of leaves. 



I have thought it necessary to enter into these 

 details for the purpose of bringing the question 

 fairly before you, and by this means submitting it 

 to the consideration of those men at the north, 

 who are disposed to enter into the manufacture of 

 silk, whether it cannot be attempted with more 

 certainty of success at Cape Florida than in any 

 other part of the United States. I am myself dis- 

 posed to enter into the business, and would wil- 

 lingly join any gentleman possessed of a small 

 capital. My lands and fences are now in a situ- 

 ation to receive the trees for planting. 1 have on- 

 ly one doubt on the subject, and I will candidly 

 state it. I have never been able to obtain any oi 

 the ecgs of the silkworm, and therefore cannot de- 

 termine myself whether the moschetocs, which 

 swarm here from the first of May to the first of 

 November, will or will not kill the worms. Our 

 trees and shrubs during the summer are covered 

 Avith small worms : on these the moscheto has no 

 effect; and I am disposed to believe that sufficient 

 precautions could be used for their preservation. 

 It will afibrd me pleasure to give all the informa- 

 tion in my power to any one feeling an interest in 

 the subject. — Letters directed as below will be at- 

 tended to. 



In conclusion, allow me to enquire, if the citi- 

 7:ens of the north can with any prospect of suc- 

 cess embark in the manuflicture of silk, and in a 

 country where the worms cannot live or be propa- 

 gated for more tlian lour months, how much more 

 profitable would it be at Cape Florida, where the 

 winters are sufliciently mild to allow the trees to 

 retain their leaves through the year, and when the 

 worms would be raised every month in the year. 

 If you can do it I should be glad if you would 

 send me a few of the eggs as a trial. 

 Very respectfully, sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



JOHN UUBOSE. 



rice IS quite swelled out; you may add a tea- 

 spoonful or two of sugar, but it will do well with- 

 out. Feed them three times a daj', in common 

 pans, giving thrm only as much as will quite fill 

 them at once. When you boil fresh, let ihe j.aiis be 

 set in water, that no sourness may he convoyed to 

 the fowls, as that prevents theinfi'om liutening. 

 Give them clean water, or the milk of rice, to 

 drink; but the less wet the latter is when perfectly 

 soaked the better. By this method the flesh will 

 have a clear whiteness which no other food gives; 

 and when it is considered how far a pound of rice 

 will go, and how much time is saved by this mode, 

 it will be found to be cheap. 



From tlie New England Farmer. 

 TO FATTEN FOWLS OU CIIICKEKS IN FOUR OK 

 FIVE DAYS. 



Set rice over the fire with skimmed milk, only 

 as much as will serve one day. Let it boil till the 



THE BEE iMAUTIN AND HAWKS. 



Extract from the Genesee Farmer. 



There is another class of birds, such as the 

 Martin and Kingbird, which have been generally 

 placed among the depredators, and warred upon 

 accordingly. The complaint against these is not 

 that they destroy the corn, or infest the grain fields 

 or fruit orchards of the fiirmer, but that they des- 

 troy the honey bee. It has been the opinion of 

 some writers on natural history, that this was not 

 the fact; they have believed that the kingbird, [bee 

 martin] for instance, fed only on the drone; but 

 since the subject was agitated in the Farmer a 

 year or two since by Thomas and Allen, we have 

 shot some for the |)urpose of examination, and 

 found that, though the contents of the stomach 

 mostl)' consisted of the large ox and horse fly, and 

 the drone, there was now and then a real working 

 bee that had fallen a prey like the others. This 

 fiict however has not satisfied us that he should be 

 proscribed; on the contrary, we think these birds 

 do fiir moie good than hurt, and are worthy of pro- 

 tection. So far as we are concerned, they are wel- 

 come to now and then a working bee, so long as 

 they will make such havoc among the drones and 

 the ox or horse fly; and we are always glad when 

 we see the kingbird constructing his nest on the 

 premises, considering it a proof that no hawk will 

 be allowed to forage around the barn-yard with im- 

 punity. 



Although as a farmer we have placed a black 

 mark on the hawk family, we consider the scale 

 of good and evil nearly balanced in their case; and 

 think that the loss of a stragling chicken now and 

 then is nearly or quite compensated by the slaugh- 

 ter of some scores of weazels, snakes, and mice, 

 in the course of the year. We accordingly treat 

 the hawk on the let-us alone principle, rarely put- 

 ting ourselves much out of the way to kill them, 

 so long as they pursue their legitimate Avaj' of get- 

 ting a living, and do not become intrusive. 



IMPROVEMENT OF WORN LAND. 



To Uie Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



I submitted some reflections on the improvement 

 of worn land some time since, with the determina- 

 tion that 1 would persevere in the attempt to im- 

 prove n;y own farm, one of the first settled in my 

 county. 



I have advanced, as I said F would, step by step. 

 The thin land, such as would produce not more 

 than a barrel of corn to the thousand hills, I have 

 been manuring for tobacco, and last year made a 



