VOL. XIV. NO. 17. 



AND GARDENER'S .lOURNAL 



133 



[Frjn th? Da' iware Stito Jotirnal.J 

 SILK. 

 The silk biisiiioss is bocomiiij an objpct of earn- 

 est attention in tliis country. We question wlietli- 

 er any portion of it, is better lulapteii to tUe busi- 

 ness than our own State. We mean that part of 

 the business wliich relates to the production of 

 the raw material — the cultivalion of the nuilherry 

 tree and the raisin;? of cocoons. The soil and 

 temperature of Kent and Susse.\ counties are l)e- 

 lieved to be admirably adapted to it. It is a busi- 

 ness whicii requires scarcely any capital but the 

 soil itself. The raising of cocoons is but a simple 

 process, whicli any housewife, nay, young boys 

 and girls who do nothing else, may ejisiiy manage. 

 The spinning and reeling would be an agreeable 

 employment for the elder girls. Mulberry trees 

 can be easily obtained, and when two or three 

 rears old, furnish abundant food for worms. The 

 employment combines the recommendations of 

 being healthful, agreeable and lucrative. The silk 

 manufacture will undoubtedly become a great 

 business in our country, and our farmers' wives 

 and daughters will, in a short time, find as ready 

 a sale for their cocoons, as the farmer does for his 

 wheat and corn. A farmer, with competent 

 means, who would introduce the mulberry tree 

 in Kent or Sussex county, and, by his example 

 and influence, induce others to engage in the busi- 

 ness, would be a benefactor to his neighborhood. 

 He might be the instrument of superinducing a 

 most lucrative and valuable employment, which 

 would interfere with no other occupation, and the 

 profits of which would be clear gain to tiie State. 

 It would interfere with no other business, because 

 the trees, when once planted, require little further 

 attention, and need occupy no ground which 

 would be otherwise appropriated ; and because 

 also, the plucking of the leaves and feeding of the 

 cocoons could be all performed by young boys 

 and girls, who have nothing else to do. In a 

 moral and intellectual point of view, if the busi- 

 ness should become general, it would be of inesti- 

 mable advantage to the rising generation, byteach- 

 iug them habits of industry at that early period of 

 life, which, in the country, is too often wasted in 

 listlessness and ignorance ; and that too by fur- 

 nishing them an agreeable, healthful and useful 

 employment, suited to their capacity and years, 

 under their parents' eye, and enjoying the com- 

 fort and shelter of the [jarentai roof In short, 

 we know of no experiment, if that maybe deemed 

 an experiment which has been a source of wealth 

 wherever it has been undertaken — which more 

 strongly recommends itself to our farmers in Kent 

 and Sussex than this; — we speak of them partic- 

 ularly, because, having all the natural advantages 

 of soil and temperature — and without manufac- 

 tures or foreign commerce — it would admirably 

 amalgamate with, aud agreeably and profitably di- 

 versify the monotonous routine and uncertain pro- 

 fits of corn ami wheat crops. Let some farmer 

 begin the [jlanting of mulberry trees — plant them 

 about his house, or along his fence, or make hedges 

 of them. They take up no ground which is 

 wanted, and they are growing while ho is sleep- 

 ing. Let him give shoots to his netghhors, until 

 the tree becomes as universal as any of our forest 

 trees. Let him follow it up by raising the cocoon 

 and preparing the silk until it becomes, as it may 

 easily become, a general and lucrative business. 

 Such a man would earn a monument more endur- 

 ing than brass or marble. 



[Krraii the .Miiiiit- tariunr | 

 PHKSERVlJVG POTATOFS. 



Injurious KffiTl)! of their Tops. 



Every body (except ('obbett, and he 's dead,) 

 loves potatoes, that is, if, in the first J):are, they 

 are ripe, in the second place well preserved, and 

 in the third place they arc well cooked. Without 

 stopping to doubt the abilities of the good-wives 

 of our land in this departnieiit of household econ- 

 omy, we will proceed to read iheir husbands a 

 homily upon the " waysanil means" of preserving 

 potatoes as they ought to bo. We will suppose, 

 then, that they are ripe, that is, have obtained a 

 fair size, and are mealy and farinaceous when 

 properly cooked. When digging, don't let each 

 boy, or hand, have a pile of liis owu, where he 

 empties his basket, spreading them out as much as 

 |iossible upon the ground, ia order that each pota- 

 to may feel the full an<l direct influence of the sun 

 and air. And furthernuue, don't let them dig 

 more than can be got in at night, and therefore 

 allowed to be out 12 or 24 hours, with nothing 

 over them but a few straggling tops, as a sort of 

 an apology for a covering. But, if we may be 

 allowed to advise in the premises — and we have 

 followed plans, and by some spoiled as good ])ota- 

 toes as ever were grown, by our ignorance or 

 carelessness, or both — we would reconjmend a 

 cart covered on the top tightly with boards, or by 

 an old coverlid, so th.it the potatoes, when put in, 

 shall not be exposed at all to the light, and as lit-- 

 tie as possible to the air, and carried into the cel- 

 lar or bins as soon after they are taken from the 

 hills as they can conveniently. The bins should 

 also be so constructed that potatoes can be exclu- 

 ded from air and light, in short so as to keep them 

 in a similar state to that which they are in previ- 

 ously to their being dug — that is, secure from 

 the light and air — with a little moisture, and a 

 temperature sufiiciently low to keep them from 

 vegetating. 



The plan laid down by Mr Barnum, and pub- 

 lished in our paper last summer, we think is a 

 good one, viz., to make a bin, put some sand or 

 turf at the bottom, cut some sods and line up the 

 sides and ends with them, and when Uie potatoes 

 are put in cover them over with sods, and beat 

 them down solid — this keejiSthem moist and cool, 

 and we doubt not is an excellent plan. 



The light has a peculiar action on some pota- 

 toes, making them heavy and watery or waxy, 

 and strong or rancid to the taste. It is, jierhaps, 

 not always possible to prevent this, when they 

 have suffered from some disease of their tops, or 

 have been disturbed while growing, or have not 

 a suitable soil. As it regards the tops, it is genor- 

 aJly the custom to throw them down and take no 

 further trouble aboyt them. A correspondent in 

 a late number of the Farmer, recommends pre- 

 serving them when they are green, for fodder — 

 and another correspondent cautions us against 

 leaving them on the ground, because they form a 

 harbor and breeding place for insects which will 

 injure the next crop, especially if it be wheat. 

 We know not whether this invariably follows, but 

 we have seen, during the past summer^ several 

 crops of wheat that succeeded a potato crop, all of 

 which were injured by some worm or insect. One 

 in particular, we recollect, in the neighborhood of 

 our office, a part of which was much injured ami 

 very thin, while at another end of the same field, 

 and on soil of the same texture, but which had not 

 been preceded by potatoes, it was very stout and 



prolific. It is better, therefore, undoubtedly, 

 either to gnlher them up and burn them, or throw 

 ihem into the hog yard, for their shoatsliips to- 

 manufacture into manure. 



A.NKCDOTKS OF THE F.Ei,. — Ecls wheu kept in. 

 fresh water ponds grow very large, and are very 

 vorai-iotis ; they are known to swallow frogs and 

 lizards whole, which have been found on opening 

 large ones. A gentleman in Twickenham, Eng. 

 had a large pond, on wliich he bred a number of 

 (lurks and geese. He was much astonished by 

 the disappearance of large uumbers of goslings 

 and ducklings, as soon as they took to the water. 

 Having occasion, about this, time, to draw his 

 pond, he found a nmnber of eels, and on opening 

 them, the undigested remains of many of the lost 

 birds were found. Eels have been caught in 

 fre^h water ponds, weighing eighteen or twenty 

 pounds. 



They are supposed to be more imiversally 

 S]!read over the globe than any other tribe of ani- 

 mals, with the exception of man. It is said that 

 none are seen above the Falls of Niagara, or in 

 Lake Erie. Some one supposes that all the eels 

 in the interior visit the sea, annually, and then 

 return from their pilgrimage to the old s])ot ; and 

 it is moreover asserted, but certainly on doubtful 

 authority, if an eel remain habitually in fresh wa- 

 ter, it becomes barren. We do not credit a word 

 of this ; there is some want of accuracy in the 

 examination. 



Though they have been repeatedly seen fifty or 

 sixty feet high on the rocks of the cataract, wend- 

 ing their way up, they have never yet succeeded 

 in the enterprise. Mr Clinton supposes the reason 

 why eels do not exist in Lake Erie, if any were 

 left thei-e on the subsiding of the waters of the 

 flood, is because their communication was cut oflT 

 from the ocean. And in illustration of his theory, 

 relates that the Passaic siver formed of the union 

 of three considerable streams, Rockaway, Long 

 Pond and Ramapough creeks ; until a canal, some 

 years ago, was cut around the great falls at Peter- 

 son, no eel was ever seen in the waters above. 

 Since that work was com);leted, the water abounds 

 with them, distinguished for size and quality. 



The farmer It does one's heart good to see 



a merry round-faced farmer. So independent, 

 and yet so free from vanities and pride. So rich, 

 and yet so industrious : so patient and persevering 

 in his calling, and yet so kind, social and obliging. 

 There are a thousand noble traits about him which 

 light up his character. He is generally hospitable 

 — eat and drink with him, and he won't set a 

 mark on you, and sweat it out of you with double 

 compound interest, as some I have known will : 

 you are welcome. He will do you a kindness 

 without expecting a return by way of compensa- 

 tion : it is not so with every body. He is gener- 

 ally more honest and sincere — less disposed to 

 deal in a low and underhand cunning, than many 

 I could name. He gives to society its best sup- 

 port ; is the firmest pillar that supports the edifice 

 of Government ; he is the lord of nature. Look 

 at him in his homespun and gray back — gentle- 

 men, laugh if you will — but, believe me, he can 

 laugh back if he pleases. 



The safest means of becoming known to many, 

 is by assisting many that are unknown. 



