536 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



within their reach, to feed upon it the coming sea- 

 son ; and we have no doubt of their producintr 

 silk of a good quality, and in quantities which 

 will afford them a large profit. 



In recommending this course, however, let us 

 not be understood as advising ihem to neglect the 

 cultivation of the white mulberry, and especially 

 the Moras nudticaulis. The tormer, should it not 

 be wanted Jor tuliage, is valuable for timber and 

 fuel, and the latter is, in our opinion, decidedly the 

 best variety lor the silk worm. In order to insure 

 the complete triumph of the silk enterprise, all 

 species and varieties of the midberry should be 

 sought out a. id cultivated, and experience will ulti- 

 mately teach us their respective values. — Ed. 

 S. C. 



PolsUys Mills, Monongalia County, Va. ^ 

 October 11, 1836. ^ 



F. G. Comstock, Esq. 



Sir, — In the course of February last, I read 

 many encouraging accounts of the culture and 

 manufacture of silk in the United States ; and 

 about the 15th of February last, I received a pros- 

 pectus of the Silk Culturist, and the next day I 

 obtained five subscribers, (including myself,) and 

 have since ordered four copies more f^^r my neigh- 

 bors, and are pleased to see many of them taking 

 quite a lively interest in the culture of silk. I sowed 

 one-fourth of a pound of the while Italian mulber- 

 ry seed last April, and three of my neighbors sow- 

 ed the same quantity; but owing to the season 

 being dry, our seed did not vegetate very well, as 

 we did not obtain more than from 5 to 7,000 plants 

 ji-om the one-fourth pound of seed each — and 

 there are many others that have sowed several 

 ounces of seed in this [ilace and vicinity. I have 

 contracted for 200 Chinese cuttings for myself, and 

 550 for my neighbors. 1 intend to adopt Gideon 

 B. Smith's, Esq. plan in cultivating the Chinese 

 mulberry, as may be seen in the Silk Manual, pub- 

 lished by Sinclair & Moore, of Baltimore, the first 

 year, and JNIr. Cheney's plan the second year— by 

 laying down in a furrow the roots and branches as 

 described by him in the last number of the Silk 

 Culturist. I intend to transplant my white mul- 

 berry trees next spring, or fiill, in the hedgerow 

 form, on two acres of land, and in the course of two 

 years time, I am in hopes that I shall be able to 

 stock one acre with Chinese mulberry trees. Next 

 summer I intend to build a cocoonery about 20 b}^ 

 30 feet, two stories high, and feed a few thousand 

 worms the same season, as an experiment, for in- 

 formation, although I have full faith in tl>e culture 

 of silk. I shall cotnmence in a small way, and 

 extend the business as my foliage will admit of. In 

 the adjoining county, (Harri3on,) John and Josiah 

 Wilson, Esqrs. are preparing to engage in the cul- 

 ture of silk. 1 am informed they liave fi-om 10 to 

 15,000 White Italian mulberry trees fi-om two ro 

 four years old, and intend feeding as many worms 

 next summer as their (hiiage will admit of They 

 intend cultivating the Chinese mulberry next spring 

 also. Two gentlemen in this vicinity have about 

 100 Chinese plants on their second years' growth ; 

 and one gentleman has three trees on their third 

 years' growth, which liave been killed to the 

 ground for the two winters past; but they have 

 grown from the root, this season, to the height of 

 7^ feet by the Isl of August, when I last saw tiiem. 



The gentleman says the trees have ripened much 

 better this season, than any season previous. He 

 thinks they may stand the winter, unless it should 

 be uncommonly cold. Allhouirh our climate is usu- 

 ally much milder \\\nu the climate of New England, 

 we sometimes have severe cold weather here. I 

 think we have, in few instances, a week or two at 

 a time, as cold weather here as 1 ever experienced 

 in Massachusetts — being a native of Franklin 

 county, Massachusetts, and a resident in New 

 Enijland about thirty years ago. I have resided 

 in Virginia about sixteen years, and have had an 

 opportunity of knowing the climate of the two sec- 

 tions of country. 



Amos Brooks, Esq. of French Creek, Lewis 

 County, Virginia, has about seventy Chinese trees, 

 on their two or three years' growth, and has been 

 multiplying them as fiist as he could by means of 

 layers, and expects to have from 5 to 6,000 cut- 

 tinufs from them lor sale this fall. Messrs. Francis 

 Pierpont & Sons, have fed 6,000 worms this sea- 

 son, from which they obtained 37^ pounds of co- 

 coons ; and Mrs. Pierpont made several skeins of 

 white sewing silk of an excellent quality ; but the 

 remainder of the cocoons she reeled suitable for 

 stockings. The above worms were of the white 

 kind that commenced spinning at about thirty days . 

 old; the egffs were obtained at iMeadville, Penn- 

 sylvania. The worms were, when at their full 

 growth, three inches long. They made most of 

 their cocoons white, but many of them were yel- 

 low. John S. Barns, Esq. obtained 1,000 eggs 

 from Hartford, Connecticut, last spring, and they 

 were about six weeks old when they commenced 

 spinning; but did not do very well, as many of 

 them died before they commenced spinning, owing, 

 probably, to its being a very cool, rainy time for 

 about ten or twelve davs, commencing about a 

 week before they commenced spinning. What 

 cocoons they made were of a large size. The 

 worms were of the large brown kind. 



Henry Moru-an, Esq. fed afi-MV thousand worms 

 of the same kind, with about the same success 

 that Esquire Barns had, under the same circum- 

 stances, it being at the same time. All of the 

 above gentlemen fed on the native mulberr}^, which 

 is very plenty in this section of the country. 

 Yours respectfully, 



E. NEWCOMB, P. M. 



Extracts from tlie Journal of the Franklin Institute. 



LIST OF PATENTS ISSUED IIV BIAllCH, 1836, 

 FOR IMPROVEMENTS OF MACHINES, &C. TO 

 BE USED IN AGRICULTURE, OR DOiMESTIC 

 ECONOMY. 



With remarks, by the Editor of the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute. 



For Cutting and forming heads of Barrels, fyc; 

 Hiram Andrews, Canaan, Litchfield countj", Con- 

 necticut, March 2. 



V^arious machines are in use for cutting head- 

 ing f()r casks, &c., but that described in the speci- 

 fication of this patent appears to be sufficiently 

 new to justify a claim to invention. The heading 

 is to be cut rounding by means of a concave, cir- 

 cular saw on a revolving shaft, within which saw 

 there is a circular cutter, of somewhat less diameter 

 than the saw, and in contact with it, furnished v.'iih 



