84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AUGUST 12, 183 



ity — gciitlity, if you f lease — than a tanner, a gold- 

 smilh, a painter, or a builder. It is the fault 

 of llie riiechanic, if he takes the place not assigned 

 to him by the government and institutions of his 

 country. He is of the lower orders, only when 

 he is self-degraded by the ignorance and coarse 

 manners, which are associated with manual labor 

 in countries where society is divided into castes, 

 and have therefore come to be considered insepa- 

 rable from it. Rely upon it, it is not so. The 

 old barriers are down. The time has come when 

 ' being mechanic?,' we may appear on ' laboring 

 days' as well as holidays, without the 'sign of our 

 profession.' Talent and worth are the only 

 eternal grounds of distinction. To these the Al- 

 mighty has affixed his everlasting patent of nobil- 

 ity, and these it is which make bright ' the 

 immortal names ' to which our children may as- 

 pire as well as others. It will be our own fault, 

 Anthon, if, in our land, society as well as govern- 

 ment is not organized upon a new foundation. 

 But we must secure by our own efforts, the 

 elevations that are now accessible to all. 



NEW EKGIiAND PARMER'S ALMANAC. 



We are happy to learn that Rlr Fessenden, so 

 well known as the Editor of the New England 

 Farmer, and numerous works on the Science of 

 Agriculture, intends issuing a number of his pop- 

 ular Farmer's Almanac the coming year. We 

 shall greet it as an old and valued acquaintance. 

 Its agricultural maxims, economical reci))es, and 

 humorous rhymes, were familiar to our ears long 

 bafore we knew Mr F. in any other way than as 

 " author of the New England Farmer's Alma- 

 nac." Our Agricultural friends will now have an 

 opportunity of continuing this valuable work, 

 which by this time amounts to a very good Far- 

 mer's Library; and coming as it does from one 

 %vho has devoted nearly his whole life to their 

 favorite pursuit, both in theory and in practice, it 

 must be a valuable work for reference in their va- 

 rious occupations for the passing months. No 

 agricultural information can be purchased chea[)er, 

 as there are generally from twenty to thirty pages 

 devoted to this subject, beside the usual astronom- 

 ical and other information peculiar to almanacs. 

 We like Mr Fessenden's plan of leaving out the 

 " weatherwise" predictions, which all who are 

 in the secret of the business well know, are as 

 often made by the compositor, to suit the space he 

 may wish to fill, as in another way. A large 

 edition of this work has been heretofore printed, 

 which shows the great estimation in which it is 

 held by our farming conununity generally. — Bos- 

 ton Mirror. 



[From Ilie Balliinoie Farmer.) 

 6IBBES' IMPROVED CORN. 



We publish below, from the Yorkvilh (S. C.) 

 Patriot, a brief though pithy corres[iondence be- 

 tween two practical farmers on a subject of great 

 moment to the agricultural interests. It was very 

 happily said by Dean Swift, that '< whoever could 

 make two ear.s of corn to grow upon a spot of 

 ground where only one grew before, would de- 

 serve better of mankind, and do more essential 

 service to his country, than the whole race of pol- 

 iticians put together," and we believe we may 

 accord to each of those gentlemen the full measure 

 of that meed of praise, without subjecting ourself 

 to the imputation of being a flatterer. 



The method of selecting Ijis seed corn, as fol 



lowed by Mr Gibbes, is judicious, and we trust 

 every agriculturist who raises a corn crop, will 

 take counsel from the result of his experience, 

 and pursue the same course. Indeed, were plan- 

 ters OfiA farmers generally, to adopt this plan, with 

 respect to the saving of their seed from the whole 

 range of their several crops, we have no doubt but 

 that the happiest effects would be the result of 

 their labors, in their melioration and improvement. 

 Domestic animals in Europe and particularly in 

 England, have been brought to their present per- 

 fection by selecting exclusively for breeding, those 

 combining the best points, for the respective uses 

 for which they were wanted ; and we see no 

 reason why the same law which regulates the 

 economy of the animal kingdom, may not, with 

 equal success, be applied to the vegetable. The 

 experiments of Mr Gibbes, and those of every 

 other gentleman who has made the trial, go to 

 confirm the belief, that such would be the case. 

 We therefore, are impelled to the belief, that by 

 exercising due vigilance and proper care, in se- 

 lecting seed corn from none but such stalks as 

 are vigorous and large in their growth, fruitful in 

 their yield, and which may have borne two ears or 

 more of good grain ; and, by being equally careful 

 in the culture, that in a few years, our planters 

 would be able to banish from their corn fields, 

 those unsightly dwarf stalks, which yield nothing 

 hut nubbins, and reward the husbandman so in- 

 differently well for bis toils and his outlay. 



Sept. 17, 1834. 



Friend — Two years last spring I obtained some 

 of your seed Twin Corn. I send in return one 

 stalk with five good ears on it, and if you improve 

 said corn for the space of two years and return 

 me a stalk with six ears, raised on the pleasant 

 fields of Oakley farm, I will try to be able in two 

 years after to return you a stalk raised on the fer- 

 tile fields of Busrow farm with seven ears. With 

 due respect and esteem, I am yours, &c. 



W. S. Gibbes. OLD COL. GILL. 



Oakley F.irm, Sept. 18, 1634. 



Old Friend — 1 have to thank you for your 

 note and stalk of corn with five good ears upon it 

 and must acknowledge that you can beat me with 

 my own seed, and that I can shew nothing like 

 it ; nor could I hope on my poor ridge of land to 

 compete with your excellent farming on your flat 

 bottoms. 'Tis now about 18 years since I first 

 began to improve my corn, by selecting my seed 

 from those stalks only which bore two ears ; and 

 the first year had difiiculty to find as many stalks 

 with two ears, as would give me seed ; but now in 

 a tolerable season, it is difficult to find a few stalks 

 even with less than two, and from that to three 

 and four good ears. The peculiar quality of my 

 seed has shown itself particularly this year when 

 my whole crop has suffered so severely with 

 drought, yet you see two ears or a struggle for it 

 wherever my seed was sown ; but two fields sown 

 each with different seed that had been highly re- 

 commended to me, there is scarcely a double eared 

 stalk to be found in either — the few there are 1 

 shall carefully preserve and endeavor to improve, 

 as 1 like the kind of grain rather better than that 

 I am now cultivating. I shall preserve your five 

 ears, carefully also — plant them separately — and 

 next year, Deo volente, let you know the result — 

 though I can hardly expect my land can support 

 and bring to maturity such prolific offspring. 



Believe me as ever, with regard, vours, &c., 



Oi.i> Col. Gill. W. S. GIBBES. 



[From the Practical Farmer.] 

 FACTS AMD OBSERVATIONS RELiATIVE TO 

 THE CULTURE OP SILK. 



SILK MANUFACTURERS. 



The fir.st steps in the manufacture of silk are 

 within the farmer's immediate department, viz. to 

 sow the mulberry seed, and rear the young trees ; 

 and after two years of attendance, the raising of 

 silk may commence in good earnest, and will be- 

 come a pleasant and healthy business for children 

 and young women. This rich crop will require 

 but two months' care to secure it, and when the 

 business shall flourish on a large scale, which we 

 hope will ere long take place, the raising of the 

 mulberry trees, feeding the silk worms, and the 

 manufacturing of the cocoons will be considered 

 as much a part of good husbandry, as the rearing 

 of neat cattle, sheep, &c. Silk worms will be- 

 come a part of a farmer's stock, and cocoons his 

 produce as commonly sent to market as butter, 

 cheese, &c. The windin.^ and reeling of cocoons 

 may or may not be performed in the family and 

 by the fireside, as the cultivator's help or circum- 

 stances may admit ; but the cocoons will be as 

 much cash articles as beef, corn or cotton. 



Great advantages will accrue to the younger 

 members of farmer's families from silk culture. 

 Farmers' daughters in limited circumstances, but 

 of respectable standing and connexions may find 

 a profitable and pleasant employment at home, in- 

 stead of being compelled by penury to seek an 

 asylum from Avant in cotton factories, or the 

 kitchens of their more wealthy neighbors. Poor 

 people may find profitable employment, rich 

 people innocent and pleasant amusement in the 

 different branches of the same occupation. Some 

 of the processes necessary for converting mul- 

 berry leaves into the multifarious manufactures in 

 which silk forms the whole or an important part, 

 may be performed by a child or an idiot. Other 

 manipulations connected with the same business re- 

 quire consummate skill, and long practice to insure 

 their proper performance. Ignorance of an art 

 can be no apology for idleness when knowledge is 

 not necessary for its prosecution ; and every 

 human being of every grade of intellect, or 

 strength, mental or corporeal power, if not an in- 

 fant, insane or bed-ridden, may find something 

 connected with silk culture adapted to his or her 

 faculties, and calculated to furnish useful employ, 

 ment. 



The mechanical jwrt of reeling silk in France 

 and Italy is |)erformed entirely by women. There 

 are in those countries what are called great and 

 small filatures. The former are large establish- 

 ments, in which from 50 to 500 reels are at work ; 

 the women employed there are under the 

 superintendence of a director, who is thor- 

 oughly acquainted with the mechanical as well as 

 the mercantile part of the business. These di- 

 rectors are brought up to the profession. The 

 women employed in these large filatures are well 

 paid, and generally remain there till the end of 

 their days. The small, or as we should call them 

 domestic filatures, are carried on in families by 

 the farmers' wives and daughters, who work from 

 one to five reels, with cocoons of their own rais- 

 ing, or those they purchase of their neighbors, by 

 which they make a handsome income at the end 

 of the year. Those women in general have pre- 

 served the art in the families from generation to 

 generation. The silk from domestic reels is not 

 as perfect as that which comes from the large fila- 



