VOL. XIV. NO. 3. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



11 



ting aiicstablisluncnt for the growth luul iiianu- 

 rturc of Silk, I was icccutly struck with the 

 aiity of a small farm of SO acres near the Col- 

 gc riaiii, at tlio junction of the bountls of Mar- 

 chcail, Salem ami Lynn, and commonly known 

 i the Li'ggs Hill Farm. It has a good soil, on 

 ry variety of hill and dale ; an almndant sup- 

 Iv of fresh water, a beautiful fish pond ; and is 

 iren reached by the tide-water of Forest River, 

 umlerstaud this wliole establishment includ- 

 ra good dwelling-house, barn and orchard, with 

 11 the improvements can be bought for about 

 50 an acre. I liave no other interest in this 

 ticerii than that which is common to the public ; 

 ml although there ai'e many places in our vicin- 

 of great attraction for the prosecution of this 

 usiness, I will venture to assert that, taken togeth- 

 ■, this has no superior. And then too there is 

 juietliing pleasing its location, standing as it does 

 n the soil of what may be called three of the 

 lire towns of old Essex, and so well calculated, 

 3 such an establishment would be, to continue 

 nd strengtheii the already strong bonds which 

 ind these towns in mutual frieneship and frater- 

 al regard. 



Upon the whole, Messrs Editors, as there have 

 ecn strong suggestions of getting up a Mulberry 

 'lantafion and Silk establishment, I shall be 

 eartily glad to see the example of some of our 

 ister counties followed, and a good and efficient 

 ompany established — and that, too, whether its 

 7orks should be located on this charming spot, or 

 iiiy other which their wisdom mi^ht select. 



Marblehead. 



CCIiTlVATIOBT OP SIIiK. 



It is little more than fifty years ago, that an 

 imeiicau vessel was seized at Liverpool for hav- 

 ng on board eight bales of cotton, it not being 

 elieved that the article could be produced in 

 his country. At present about 600,000 bales are 

 'arried to the same port. To the culture of this 

 rticle the country owes a great part of its wealth 

 nd prosperity. Where fifty years ago eight bales of 

 if cotton were produced, one million two Imndred 

 housand are now produced. If fifty years ago 

 . man had ventured to predict that the article of 

 totton would Become the grand staple of the 

 •ountry and add millions upon millions to its 

 vealth, he would have been laughed at as a 

 nadman. It has lately been predicted that be- 

 bre many years are passed, the production of 

 iilk in this country will equal the production of 

 ■oiton, and we see no reason to question the jus- 

 :ice of the calculation. 



The cultivation of this article has been com- 

 menced by the enterprising men of the east. 

 The soil and climate of New England are 

 admirably adapted to its cultivation. Those who 

 have thus far engaged in it, have reaped good 

 profits, and have every reason to persevere. It 

 has been commenced in a part of the country 

 where thrift and industry have never failed to 

 succeed. It has been commenced under far 

 e favorable circumstances than those which 

 attended the first cultivation of cotton. It re- 

 quires but little labor and the principal part 

 of the labor required may be performed by fe- 

 males and children. The experiment has thus 

 far proved successful and it has been attended 

 with a trifling degree of expense. 



Would it not be worth the attention of our 



Long Island farmers? From 'all that we have 

 been enabled to learn, the soil of the island is 

 admirably adapted for the cultivation of the mul- 

 berry. There arc certain parts of the island 

 where mulberry trees have existed for a long 

 number of years, and the luxuriance of their 

 growth has been surpassed by that of any other 

 tree. The subject is one worthy of their atten- 

 tion. We know that in certain parts of the 

 island, silk has been cultivated — more indeed for 

 the sake of amusement and curiosity than of 

 profit, but with com])lctc success. — J^sw York 

 Times. 



I From the New York Farmer. J 

 RUTA BAGA. 



Mr Editor: — .\s H have been in the habit of 

 cultivating the ruta baga for several years past, 

 formerly with but poor success, but latterly unus- 

 ually good, and believing it to be one of the most 

 valuable crops that the grower of wool or the 

 keeper of cattle can cultivate, I beg the liberty of 

 comtnunicating to the public through your paper 

 the result of my experiments. 



I formerly have been in the practice of sowing 

 my seed in the latter part of June, and of having 

 the plants to grow too thick on the ground ; in 

 consequence of which, I seldom obtained at the 

 rate of five himdred bushels per acre ; the roots 

 being but small, and the tops quite too large. 



My late practice has been to sow my seed in 

 some of the last days of May,_with Robbins' pa- 

 tent ]ilantiug machine ; rows as near twentyeight 

 inches between as possible, planting the seed once 

 in three or four inches ; taking care, after the 

 plants get sufiiciently large, to thin them so that 

 they may stand twelve or fourteen inches apart. 

 In this mode of planting I have obtained from one 

 half acre of land 700 bushels of roots, the ground 

 being a turf, turned under a few days previous to 

 sowing the seed ; soil, sandy loam ; sowed on, 

 soon after the seed came up, one bushel of plaster 

 broadcast. 



The last season, I raised from four acres of 



land four thousand bushels of ruta bagas, the 



account of which stands as follows : 



Dr. 



To use of ground, - - - $16 00 



4 days' ploughing and harrowing, 8 00 



40 loads barn manure, - - 20 00 



4 bushels plaster, - - - 2 00 



Seed, - - - 2 00 



1 day's labor, planting, - - 7.5 



32 do. hoeing and thinning, - 24 00 



20 do. pulling and gathering, - 15 00 



$87 75 



Cr. 



4 acres of tops, 



In the foregoing estimate I have called the 

 roots worth ten cents per bushel, a price I consid- 

 er them worth to fatten cattle and sheep, and the 

 tops six dollars per acre ; a price below what I 

 should feel willing to take for them. My custom 

 has been, for some seasons past, to take rny lambs 



from the ewes sotm- time in the mnntli of Septem- 

 ber, and put them into my ruta baga field to \\\uu. 

 'J he lambs trim the tojjs from the roots, which 

 causes them to thrive as fust or faster than while 

 taking the mi'k from the ewes, and prepares 

 them for the winter better by far than any other 

 feed that I have been in the habit of trying ; and 

 they eat the tops from the roots so clean, that it 

 supercedes the necessity of cutting with an edged 

 tool. 



When the tops are sufficiently eaten off, the 

 roots should be pulled out of tb(! ground and per- 

 mitted to lie in the sun until the dirt is sufficiently 

 di-y to rattle off by handling. No dirt should he 

 l)ermitted logo with the roots, if it can be avoided, 

 for the dirt fi.ls up the crevices and prevents the 

 circulation of air, and causes the roots to heat 

 and spoil. Two or three thousand bushels of 

 roots may be thrown into a cellar together, if dry 

 and clear from dirt, and preserved well; while 

 one hundred bushels thrown in, in a moist state, 

 together with dirt snfficiejit to prevent the circula- 

 tion of air, will heat and spoil in a short time. 



In raising seed, care should be taken that no 

 cabbage, round turniji, or any other root partaking 

 its natin'e, should be permitted to blossom with or 

 near the ruta baga, lest the different plants sliould 

 amalgamate and injure the seed. D. T. Buck. 



Lawville, .dpril 13, 1835. 



Look to the sources of inforsiatio.n. — The 

 success of the silk enterprise in this country de- 

 pends mainly U|)on correct information in the 

 outset. A wrong start is almost sure to be fol- 

 lowed with discouragement and loss, if not total 

 abandonment of the object. Hence it is advisa- 

 ble to he cautious about following the directions 

 given in loose newspaper paragra|>hs some of 

 which are hastily wi-itten by editors unacquainted 

 with the business, and others copied or i-ather 

 garbled from the writings of practical culturists. 

 An instance of thiskiuil will be sufficient to illus- 

 trate the uncertainty of this kind of information. 

 Some time since Judge vSponccr of Albany, pub- 

 lished a valuable letter on t'.ie su'iject of the cul- 

 ture of silk, in which he staled that an ounce of 

 seed produces about 5000 plants. The editor of 

 a New Bedford , aper in remarking upon it, has 

 made the judge to say 50,000, which is probably 

 amltiplying in a ratio which the juilge would be 

 unwilling to adopt. Should the next copyist add 

 another cyber, the product would be tiidy astmi- 

 ishing. 



While on this subject we will say that from 

 actual computation we have fiund an ounce of 

 mulberry seed to contain 18000 kernels — what 

 part will vegetate depends uji!>n the qiialily of (he 

 seed and the manner of sowing it. — Silk CuUurist. 



Soak tour seed. — ''he suggestion of a |irac- 

 tical gentleman in corroboration of our own e.fpe- 

 rience on the sidiject, has satisfi.d ns llijit mul- 

 berry seed ought never to be sown until' it has 

 been soaked in water b nod w.u-in for at least 

 thirtysix hours. It will vegetate qui<-ker, grow 

 more vigorously and ensiu-e a itmcli greater 

 number of plants. — 76. 



By united effort, |he theorist and the practi- 

 cal man may accom^ lisli r>iucli which nekher 

 could effect alone. 



