voi,. xrr. xo. s. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



59 



forwiird to liatcli nt tlie same time, and then tlioy 

 usually aro all rivuly to spin togotlier. These arc 

 caiot'iilly rolled up and preserved in dry boxes, 

 aod kept in a dry cool cellar, and in June or July 

 of the following years and when the heat of the 

 climate cr season requires it, they are transferred 

 to a dry ice house. 



Anionji the £;reat advantufjes of having silk 

 worms of different ages in the same apartment, 

 Dr Millington states, "that the same room and 

 shelves will ho!<l abundantly more worms at the 

 same time, without lieing crowded ; and a room 

 and shelves which will hut barely accommodate 

 one luindr d thousand full grown worms, will 

 better accommodate two hunclred and fifty thou- 

 sand consisting of four or five different ages, pro- 

 vided each age or parcel are about equal in number, 

 and are hatched at about seven or eight days 

 apart. Another advantage is, the same number 

 of hands, with the same quantity of labor, will 

 make more silk and do it with less trouble and 

 perplexity, than when the whole crop of worms 

 are of the same age, and all spin at the same time. 

 When silk worms are young, tliey are extremely 

 small, and require but little room, little food, and 

 little attention. All the food they consume, up to 

 tlie time they are sixteen days old, would not 

 make more tban one meal for them when full 

 grown : consequently when the vyhole crop of 

 worms are of the same age, there is at first but 

 little to do ; but for a few of the last days they 

 will eat voi'aciously, and must all be removed and 

 cleaned frequently, and all set to spinning at the 

 same time. So much to do at the same time cre- 

 ates a luirry and perplexity which must eventuate 

 in a loss for want of time to do all that is required. 

 * * * * When the worms are of different ages, 

 the labor required is more equalized. A part of 

 them will constantly be of the age to require 

 i considerable attention. But this parcel will be so 

 small, that the hands will have S])are time to 

 attend to the younger parcels. I have certain 

 shelves allotted to each parcel during a certain 

 age J and other shelves exclusively for them to spin 

 an. I begin with the fresh hatched worms, placed 

 on the shelves allotted to worms of that age. 

 After their first moulting f pass them to the shelf 

 allotted to the next age, and again supply the first 

 shelf with fresh hatched worms. In this manner 

 I continue, through the whole season, to bring 

 young worms on the first shelves, and pass them 

 «m until they reach the spinning shelves, from 

 which the cocoons are removed, to make room 

 for the next succeeding parcel." 



" Last year I had .silk worms constantly in 

 feeding from the 20th of April until after the 20th 

 of October." 



We are assured on first rate authority, on that 

 of Gideon B. Smith, Esq., of Baltimore, that Dr 

 Millington is an eminently practical, scientific 

 agriculturist, and has made silk one of the princi- 

 pal objects of his attention during several years. 

 Mr Smith, from his own experience, "bears testi- 

 mony to all Dr Millington's remarks. And con- 

 siders his as the very best article which had yet 

 appeared." This was in January, 1829. Dr 

 Millington resides at St Charles, in Missouri, about 

 latitude thirtycight degrees. 



1 am perfectly aware, that the excellent Dr 

 Pascalis, at the time he publjshi d his work on 

 ■ilk, at New York, in 1829, endeavored to explode 

 the idea of attempting to raise numereus crops, 

 or even two successive crops of silk in a season. 



lie states some plausible reasons for his objec- 

 tions, particularly the record of the failure of an 

 atteuqit near Lyons, about 1820 — and also the 

 fiiilure of the attempts at the Isle of Jtonrbon, 

 situated beneath a fiery sun, and within the burn- 

 ing /one. In the next year, and in No. 2 of his 

 valuable work, ''The Silk Culturist," for January, 

 1830, Ur Pascalis has recorded the successful in- 

 troduction of the silk culture to the north of France, 

 a thing which had been di:eraed at least, equally 

 as problematical thirty years before. Also that 

 Dr Deslongchamps had even succeeded in rfiising 

 a second crop of cocoons ii-oni the eggs of the 

 first. Dr Deslongchanvps was one of a society of 

 savans at Paris who had performed man}' exper- 

 iments to prove that this branch of industry can 

 be successfully carried on through all the northern 

 departments of France. He al-so had ascertained 

 by experiments at Paris, that the cocoons which 

 were produced by silk worms fed exclusively on 

 the Morus Multicaulis, were even rather heavier 

 than other cocoons. The more complete and 

 effectual conversion of Dr Pascalis to the system, 

 does not ajipear so fully until afterwards, when 

 speaking of the M. Multicaulis which he had re- 

 ceived from France, he says, " after the discovery 

 of this plant, a doubt no longer exists, that two 

 cro])S of silk may be produced in a single season." 



The Marl Pits of New Jersey are among its 

 greatest treasures, producing on her farms the 

 purest vegetable gold. They abound particularly 

 in Monmouth county, but have been found, also, 

 in Sussex, Salem and other counties. Some of the 

 townships in Salem have, as we learn from the 

 Freeman's banner, derived great jlienefi^ from the 

 recent discovery of several pits. At Woolstown, 

 hundreds of loads of marl are taken from the pits 

 daily, and spread over the worn out lands of Piles- 

 grove and Pittsgrove, and the result is, the land is 

 entirely renewed, the crops are doubled and even 

 trebled, and in some instances where the land had 

 been left as not worth cultivation, it is, after the 

 application of this valuable resuscitator, made to 

 hang heavy with bending corn. The land on 

 which the pits are, is sold by the owner for .$10 

 the square rod, for in digging it they penetrate at 

 times to the depth of twenty feet. 



Sowing Mulberry Seed. — A writer in the Silk 

 Culturist, who is an experienced cultivator of the 

 mulberry, says that any time in the montli of Au- 

 gust is a suitable season for sowing the mulberry 

 seed ; that the plants may he protected through 

 the winter by a covering of straw and horse ma- 

 nure, and in the spring they will st.trt early and 

 ^row vigorously, and attain by the fall to nearly 

 as great a height as though thev had been sown 

 the preceding spring. But little straw should be 

 used in covering, otherwise rats and mice may be 

 induced to burrow in it, and destroy the plant. 

 There is one advantage in this l.ate sowing — new 

 seed may be obtained and sown, which is more 

 sure to vegetate. 



To Housewives. — In this day of iniprovements, 

 few have been suggested of more importance, es- 

 pecially to females, than the new mode of wash- 

 ing clothes, which has recently been introduced 

 into this town [Newburyport] through the agency 

 of two benevolent individuals, now residing at a 

 distance from us. It has been tried by quite a 

 number of families with complete success, and 



those who have tried it are desirous of communi- 

 cating it extensively, that others may roup the 

 same benefit which has accrued to them. It is to 

 be used only for white clothes. It does not an- 

 swer the purpose in ease of calicoes and woollens. 



1. Mixture. — Five gallons soft water, add half 

 a gallon of lime water, a pint and a half of soft 

 soaji, or a pound of hard soap, and two ounces of 

 carbonate of soda. 



2. Method of Washing. — Soak the clotiies over 

 night if very dirty, at any rate wet them thorough- 

 ly before putting them into the mixture. When 

 the above mixture is at boiling heat, \ml in the 

 clothes that have been soaked or wet, merely rub- 

 bing such parts with a little soap that are unusu- 

 ally soiled. Boil them one hour. They are then 

 to be taken out and drained, and thoroughly rinsed 

 in warm water, then in the indigo water as usual, 

 and they are fit for drying. The lime water mar 

 be prepared and kept on hand — the soda, sub car- 

 bonate, (be sure to get the right kind) may be pro- 

 cured cheap, by purchasing it in a large quantity. 

 Let all who feel that washing-day is a day of hard 

 work and weariness, cease to complain, until they 

 are willing to try this safe, easy and expeditious 

 mode of lightening their burdens. — Essex JVorth 

 Register. 



Garden Thieves. — We are requested to say 

 that an association has been formed, whoso deter- 

 mined object it is to pursue and ])unish to the law's 

 extent those plunderers, young and old, who are 

 in the habit of conunitting depredations upon va- 

 rious enclosures and garden spots — especially 

 those situated a few miles from town. A watch 

 is set for these skulking pilferers, from whose vi- 

 gilance it will be difficult to escape. 



Teasels. — This at present is one of the most 

 profitable of crops. There is a crop to be gath- 

 ered this fall on three or four acres of what was 

 Mr Cogswell's garden, said, by competent judges, 

 to be worth $3,000. We are told that many far- 

 mers in Hatfield, have gone into the cultivation of 

 it. The scarcity of the article is the inain cause 

 of its present high price. A few years since it 

 was so low as to be hardly worth raising, and the 

 probability is that there will soon be an abundance 

 to supply the market. 



Large Crop of Wheat. — Mr Moses Cowls, of 

 Amherst, harvested from about four and a half 

 acres, 150 shocks of wheat, which will yield, on 

 an average, five pecks the shock, making in the 

 whole, 187 1-2 bushels, or about 42 bushels to the 

 acre. Our informant states that this is supposed 

 to be the largest yield of wheat ever harvested in 

 Hampshire county. — Hampshire Gazette. 



New Wheat. — On Thursday, the 6th inst., new 

 wheat was selling in Rochester, at a dollar a bushel. 

 The Rochester papers say the new wheat is of 

 excellent quality, and that the crop comes in well, 

 as to quantity. 



Simple Remedies. — Cotton wool wet with 

 sweet oil and paregoric relieves the ear ache very 

 soon. 



Honey and milk is very good for woiins; so is 

 strong salt water. 



A poultice of wheat bran or rye bran, very 

 soon takes down the inflammation occasioned by a 

 sprain. 



Low blackberry leaves made into tea is ex- 

 tremely beneficial for a sore mouth occasioned by 

 taking calomel, or from any cause. 



