58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPT. a, 1835. 



[From the Silk Cullurist.] 



Suffield, June 15th, 1835. 



Mr Editor : — Having been often requested, by 

 tieveral gentlemen engaged in the silk business, to 

 (iiinish some information for your valuable paper, 

 on the best method of increasing the Morus Mul- 

 ticaulis, 1 send the following communication, and 

 if you tliink it worthy of a place in the " Cullu- 

 rist," you are at liberty to publish it. 



I think that to commence by inoculating is cal- 

 culated to multiply the Morus Multicaulis the most 

 rapidly, as it affords facilities for increasing them 

 many other ways afterwards. Inoculated trees 

 are more abundant in sprouts than grafted ones 

 which will make gifod layers, and besides furnish 

 abundant cuttings for another year. They are 

 also tnore forward. I have three thousand which 

 were inoculated last August, the most of which 

 have already grown more than a foot, whilst those 

 grafted the present season are just putting out. 



Trees intended to be inoculated the present 

 year, should be trimmed inunediately and kept 

 clean from sprouts from the ground a foot up- 

 wards, and should stand at such distance from 

 each other as to make it convenient to work 

 around them. Success depends much on the con- 

 dition of the trees. 



Select for the buds the small size of ripe twigs 

 of the present year's growth, and cutoff the leaves 

 near the buds ; select a smooth place in the stock 

 and make a perpendicular slit downwards in the 

 bark, about half an inch, cross this by another slit 

 at the top, taking care not to cut the wood, then 

 take off the bud, (this should be done with expe- 

 dition, as the influence of the sun and air injure it 

 if exposed,) this is done by entering the knife half 

 an inch above the bud, taking it out with a slight 

 scollop to a quarter of an inch below, turn the bud 

 over and pick out the wood, leaving in the roots, 

 then with the knife raise the corners of the bark 

 and enter the bud, then place the thumb nail on 

 the leaf stock, and push it down to the bottom of 

 the slit, then with a drawing stroke of the knife 

 cut off the top of the inoculation exactly corres- 

 ponding with the cross cut, and bind down the 

 bark with woollen yarn, taking particular care in 

 the whole o|)eration not to mar the inside of the 

 bark or the wood of the stock. 



A' knife much used in New Jersey for budding 

 peach trees, which is perfectly simple, I think best 

 adapted to this purpose ; the blade is made by a 

 common blacksmith, one inch and a quarter long 

 and three eighths wide, with a shank to drive into 

 the handle, which is made of wood, the point of 

 the blade is rounded back, having the edge con- 

 vex. 



In addition to the above described knife, I placed 

 in the opposite end of the handle of mine a small 

 piece of ivory, into which I filed a notch of suita- 

 ble size to stride the bud, with this I press down 

 the bud, after it is entered, which is preferable to 

 using the thumb nail. 



Inoculations seldom adhere to the stock, only 

 around the edges, therefore the smaller the piece 

 of bark the better, provided the organs of the bud 

 are preserved, and also for the benefit of the trees, 

 as the smaller the wound the quicker it will heal, 

 and besides, if the f>iece of bark be large, it leaves 

 a hollow place under the bud which often causes 

 it to wither. 



I have recommended tying with woollen yarn, 

 because it is more elastic and convenient than 

 loose matting. These strings may remain fifteen 



or twenty days, regard however being had to the 

 rapidity with which the trees grovv. 



I have further noticed that of those buds insert- 

 ed without taking out the wood a much larger 

 proportion die than those having the wood re- 

 moved. I have not therefore recommended it, 

 although it is more expeditious. 



The best time for inoculating, is from the middle 

 of July until the 1st of September, but the original 

 stock should not be taken off until the following 

 S|)ring. Thomas J. Bestor. 



[From tlie Genesee Farmer.] 

 HYBRID S<iUASHES. 



It has been made a question whether the effects 

 of hybridism are perceptible in the fruit which en- 

 closes those seeds that produce hybrids ? That is 

 whether a melon which has undergone cross-fer- 

 tilization frotn an inferior variety, viill, when it 

 ripens, be of inferior flavor, in consequence of 

 such process ? According to the principles of 

 Vegetable Physiology no such deterioration can 

 happen. The inference for practical gardeners 

 therefore is, that they may plant all the different 

 varieties of melons, cucumbers, squashes, and 

 pumpkins in the same quarter, without any api)re- 

 hension that the fruit oCihat season will be injured 

 in the least ; and if no seeds are to be saved for 

 planting, then no damage whatever will accrue. 

 In other words, the Jlrst appearance of intermix- 

 ture would be in the fruit which is derived from 

 such seeds. 



We give the following statement in proof of this 

 doctrine, — premising that the two kinds of sum- 

 mer squashes which we cultivate, are, ]. The 

 Bush, or Pattypan Squash, Cucurbila melopepo, 

 and 2. The long running Squash, Gucurbita sub- 

 verrucosa. The principal points in the character 

 of the_^r«( species, to which we invite the reader's 

 attention, are, the stem or vine, which, according 

 to Loudon, is only three feet long; and the fruit, 

 which is "depressed, umbonate, and tumid at the 

 edge." From this the second species differs by a 

 vine twelve feet in length, with " fruit clavate, 

 (club-shaped,) elliptical and somewhat warted." 



Last spring we were very particular to take the 

 seeds of these two kinds from the squashes, (which 

 were fine specimens,) and plant them with our 

 own hands. The following anomalies have oc- 

 curred: — From a seed of the Bush Squash, we 

 have a vine five feet in length, which nourishes a 

 round yellow field pumpkin, now nearly ripe. 

 From several seeds of the Running Squash, we 

 have short steins not exceeding three feet in length, 

 bearing long squashes, in the same crowded man- 

 ner as the Bush Squash bears its fruit. From 

 one of the latter sort of seeds, however, we have 

 a vine six feet in length, which produces fruit in- 

 termediate bet\yeen the Long Squash and the 

 Pumpkin, having a thick straight neck, but in oth- 

 er respects resembling the outline of the winter 

 squash. All of them are unquestionably hybrids. 



[From Kenrick's New American Orcliardist.l 

 ISUMEROUS SUCCESSIVE CROPS OP COCOOXS. 



From the present encouraging appearances, we 

 are induced to believe, that instead of one single 

 and solitary crop of silk in a year, we may yet be 

 enabled, in our climate, and with our prolonged 

 summers, to raise not merely two crops of silk a 

 year, with a void interval of time between thenj, 

 but numerous crops of different ages at the same 

 time and in rapid succession for a season. With 



the complete establishment of such a system, a 

 new era with us will commence. There are mul- 

 berries which will renew their foliage snddenly, 

 and for numerous successive limes in a season. 

 Where a regular succession of crops can thus be 

 obtained, with a diminished proportion of labor, 

 of land, of cultivation, of habitations and of fur- 

 niture, for the successive generations of insects, 

 how greatly augmented must be the profit. 



Some, I am aware, might object, on the suppo- 

 sition that the plan has been before tried an hun- 

 dred times in Italy, in France, and other countries. 

 Not a doubt exists hut it has been tried. But we 

 have no evidence whatever that in a suitable cli- 

 mate, it has ever been tried fairly aid aright, and 

 failed. It seems important, that in this case, only 

 the eggs of the former year should be used, as 

 these by age, are found to hatch more promptly 

 and simultaneously, and all these may be saved 

 from the cocoons of the first crop produced, 

 which would prevent the possibility of a degene- 

 racy. These are to be preserved dry at a suitable 

 temperature, and to be transferred to an ice house 

 if necessary, till the season they are wanted. Dr 

 Millington, however, is persuaded that it might be 

 advantageous to have different races of different 

 ages. 



In Tuscany, so fine is their climate, that two 

 crops of silk are annually produced. The same 

 has been effected by Jlrs Pnrmentier, at Brooklyn, 

 on Long Island. The first crop being fed from 

 the leaves of the Morus 7nulticaulis, Morus albOj 

 and other mulberries promiscuously, were of dif- 

 ferent colors, some white, and some of an orange 

 color. But a second crop of worms from the 

 same cocoons, being fed exclusively on tlie leaves 

 of the Morus Multicaulis, finished their labors in 

 the short space of twentysix days from the com- 

 mencement, which was about the 30th of July. 

 This last circumstance might be, in part, owing to 

 the warmth of the season. The cocoons thus 

 produced were not only of larger size than those 

 of the first crqp, but what is still more important, 

 they were beautiful and shining, and of the white- 

 ness of si\ow. 



At the Fair of the American Institute of New 

 York, in 1833, cocoons were produced of two 

 successive crops of silk. Tlie first crop were 

 hatched 11th of May. The second crop the 8th 

 of July, and a third crop might have been pro- 

 duced. All being fed on the Morus multicaulis. 

 they were of a snowy whiteness. In the same 

 year Mr E. Stanley, of Ogden, N. Y., produced 

 two successive crops : the second were hatched 

 by accident, and the cocoons were fine. In Brat- 

 lleboro', Vt., in the same year, two successive 

 crops were produced from the common white 

 mulberry. And in 1835, as Dr Holmes has re- 

 corded, tivo crops of cocoons, both of them large 

 and ])erfect, were produced in Winthrop, Maine. 

 See his account in the IMaiuc Farmer, vol. iii. Feb. 

 20, 1835, published at Winthrop. 



In all these cases, the second crop of silk 

 worms was produced from the eggs ll-om the 

 cocoons of the first crop. 



Dr Millington, however slates that this practice 

 is wrong. In his valuable communication in the 

 .Vmcrican Farmer, for January, 1829, he has stated 

 that the eggs of the same year hatch but partially, 

 or do not hatch so regular as those of the former 

 year. He notes the date and the day the eggs arc 

 produced, on the ])a]icrs on which the_v are depos- 

 ited ; and those ecgs of a similar age are brought 



