510 



FARIVrERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



roots, those h\uh, together with several sprouts or 

 suckers, whii-h spranij up from the roots, some at 

 the distance of two or tiiree inches from the main 

 stalk, grew rapidly and have attained to the aver- 

 age height ol' five ieet ten inches, and one measu- 

 ring six (eet six inches, clothed with the most 

 baautihil foiiage I ever saw, of a deep green, and 

 ol" a beautiful glossy silky appearance, some of 

 the leaves measuring 14^ inches in length and 10 

 in breadth. I intend', if 1 can preserve these 

 ten trees entire the coming winter, to increase my 

 number to one thousand from cuttings. 



I also obtained a tew silkworm egirs last spring, 

 which came'ont on the 12th andlSth of May. and 

 fed them on the native mulberry, as a school of 

 experiment. 'Vhey grew well and wound their co- 

 coons in 35 days from the date of their hatching. 

 The moth came out in a lew days and laid their 

 eggs, and as it has been shown that two crops in 

 a year have been raised in theUnited States, and 

 to use a trite adage, "what has been done, may 

 be done again," in order to test the experiment 

 satisfactorily, I allowed a second crop to hatch: 

 they came out on 13fh of July, and were fed from 

 the limbs which I cut ii'om my seedling trees, un- 

 til the fourth age, and the balance of ihe season on 

 the ntitive mulberr3'. The worms grew as rapid- 

 ly and appeared equally as healthy and vigorous 

 as the former crop, and came to maturity five days 

 sooner, and commenced spinning their cocoons in 

 tliirty days from tlie date of their hatching, and 

 the cocoons were about the same weight. 



The foregoing exposition will prove bevond the 

 shadow of a doubt, the practicability of rearing 

 two crops of worms in a season in our climate, and 

 also the adaptation of our climate and soil to the 

 succesful culture of the mulberry, for in turning 

 over the pages of iiorlicullure, there is no where 

 recorded, so luxuriant a growth as in the above in- 

 stance. 



A. P. WESTBROOK. 



AVir^LlAM AND HIAUY COI.LEGE. 



In a journal devoted to such objects as this, and hav- 

 ing especial rep;ard to all the public improvements of 

 Virginia, it will not be deemed outof place to mention 

 the improvement of condition, and prospects of success 

 and of increased public utility, of the venerable College 

 of William and Mary. In a very recent official visit, 

 we were gratified to find that the list of students had 

 increased beyond our previous sanguine anticipations — 

 the number in the scientific classes then amounting to 

 93, besi<les the pupils of the classical school. There 

 is little doubt of the number being still increased so as 

 considerably to exceed the greatest number of any 

 previous year, even when William and Mary was al- 

 most the sole college of reputation in the south. To 

 every true and devoted uiend of this institution, and of 

 lower Virginia, this state of things is subject of much 

 gratification — and still more to those persons who 

 know the causes of the former decline, which reached 

 its lowest state of depression only three years ago, and 

 know also the causes of the rajiid and progressive re- 

 suscitation, and of the safe grounds which Jiow exist 

 for confidently counting on a continuance and increase 

 of prosperity, The Visitors now neither fail in meet- 



ing, or in doing other duties. All the professorships are 

 filled — and taken altogether, the men who fill them 

 exhibit a mass of talent and fitness for their duties, 

 and especially for educating souihern gentlemen and 

 statesmen, inferior to no other institution in the United 

 States : and lastly, the present augmentation of the pu- 

 pils, and consequent emolument to the professors, will 

 insure the retaining of their talents for the College 

 which has been the first to give them reputation and 

 value. The loss of her best professors, from the insuf- 

 ficiency oftheir remuneration, was before a continually 

 impending danger — for the greater the talent and repu- 

 tation of any jirofessor, the more likely he was to be 

 tempted to leave the institution for a richer one. But 

 now that fear is nearly removed — and it will be entire- 

 ly so, if lower Vifginia alone, will give its support to 

 this institution rather than to others, and especially in 

 preference to northern institutions. 



Within the last three years, some important and 

 much needed regulations have been enacted by the 

 Board of Visitors, and which have already had most 

 salutary effects, and have conduced, with other cir- 

 cumstances, to produce the present state of prosperity 

 of the College. It is believed that a change equally 

 beneficial has taken place in the execution of the 

 statutes by the Faculty, The discipline is sufficient- 

 ly strict, yet parental. In addition, the proper and ne- 

 cessary expenses of the statutes are at least as low, and 

 it is believed lower, than any southern college of equal 

 grade and reputation. Etfectual measures are used to 

 prevent the possibility of students incurring debts — • 

 the greatest danger to which they usually are exposed — 

 and if their expenses in any other manner are exces- 

 sive, it will be owing solely to the improper indulgence 

 oftheir parents. 



JOHN CARTEll S GRAPES AND WINE. 



A grafted grape vine in the vineyard of Mr. John 

 Carter, near Richmond, of onty two years old, on a 

 stock of 4 years (or 2 years when grafted on,) this sea- 

 son produced 40 lbs. of grapes. At the distance 

 which it stands from the surrounding vines, COO such 

 might grow on the acre. The graft was from a seed- 

 ling, of excellent quality for wine. 



A quarter cask of Mr. Carter's wine from the Ca- 

 tawba Grape, at two years old, (which was two years 

 before he thought it would be at perfection, or had de- 

 signed to sell it,) was recently bought by a good judge 

 of wine, at ^^3 the gallon. It is such (tiiough of a dif- 

 ferent vintage) as was described in the first volume of 

 this work. Mr. Carter thinks that 250 gallons of such 

 wine may be safely counted on from the acre. 



APPEAL TO ALL WHO HAVE BERN, AND TO 

 THOSE WHO OUGHT TO BE COK r RIB UTORS, 

 TO THE PAGES OF THE FARiMEUt,' REGIS- 

 TER. 



It may be as impolitic as it is unusual, for the editor 

 of a journal to complain that the work is losing any 



