VOIl. XIV. NO. 19. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



149 



PoTATOKs are esteemed a vnlualile crop. Tlie 

 average yield beiiia; from 250 to 400 bushels ; anil 

 many farmers spoke of liax'ing obtained 500 bush- 

 els to the acre. They are not, however, raised 

 so extensively as miglit he expected, and are prin- 

 cipally used for the fettening of swine and stall 

 feeding of beef In the former case they are 

 given in a raw state ; a yoke of oxen consuming 

 two, three, four, and sometimes even five bushels 

 a day. The profit of applying them in this way is 

 doubtful, as may be easily seen upon refleetion. 

 Cattle fed in this way will not require a great 

 amount of hay ; but the calculation in such cases 

 is not very easy, so much depends upon the con- 

 «iition of the cattle and their value when put up, 

 their thrift, and the state of the markets, when 

 they are ready to be disposed of. Beef made 

 from potatoes has a peculiar sweetness, and 'juice- 

 ness,' but it is thought that the animals fall away 

 more in driving to market than those fattened 

 upon meal. This, after all, may be merely con- 

 jecture. The nominal value of potatoes is from 

 13 to 20 cents per bushel ; but they can hardly be 

 considered a remunerating croji, where the yield 

 does not exceed 200 bu^llels. They are a fine 

 preparation for a crop of corn ; and though there 

 are different opinions on this subject, I believe 

 tliey precede wheat to advantage. Tlie most 

 abundant crops in solid measurement are the lonz 

 reds or River of Plate potatoes ; and from the 

 shape of these, and their tender and crisp nature, 

 cattle are not likely to be choked with them ; 

 but there are other kinds of a more farinaceous 

 nature, which, it is thought, will yield an equal 

 amount in weight to the acre. As feed for sheep, 

 either for fatting sheep or ewe sheep in the spring, 

 they are highly valuable. Of their relative value 

 compared with ruta baga, mangel wurtzel, car- 

 rots, parsnips, and beets, I shall reserve an opin- 

 ion until some future occasion. 



Few articles of huinan food are capable of 

 yielding a greater quantity, and, when well pre- 

 pared, few furnish a more agreeable, useful, and 

 universal aliment. The discovery of the Rohan 

 potato promises most extraordinary results. It is 

 announced in the last Quarterly Journal of Agri- 

 culture, in a letter from Prince Charles de Rohan 

 of Switzerland, dated 25th of April, 1834. It is 

 a new variety, and raised from the seed. ' To 

 give you" some idea,' he says, ' of the extraordina- 

 ry produce of this potato, I give three examjiles 

 at random. M. E. Martial, at Alais, gathered last 

 autumn tubers weighing 13 lbs. 7 oz., 11 lbs. 9 

 oz., 9 lbs. 13 oz. M. de Montel, a proprietor near 

 me, asked me for tubers, when I could not give 

 him more than a single small tuber having four 

 eyes. He weighed it for curiosity, and found 

 that it wanted a few grains to make half an oiince. 

 However this small tuber being planted, produced 

 48 1-4 lbs. 'I'he attorney of the Abbey of Auter- 

 ive, canton of Fribourg, to whom I had given two 

 tubers two years ago, and who delighted with his 

 first harvest, after having eaten and given them to 

 his friends, planted the rest, and obtained last 

 autumn six double horse loads and eight scuttles- 

 full.' 



Mr Gruithusen, the well known astronomer of 

 Munich, has declared, that in the short period of 

 1,050,000 years from the present time, our globe 

 will be absorbed by the sun, and thus consumed 

 by solar fire. 



tPromthc PrnvhlonciUoiiinal.l 

 RIIODB ISIiAND SILK COMPANY. 



Having watched with intense interest during 

 the past year the incijjent operations in the growtli 

 and maimfacture of silk in this city, and having 

 at dill'erent periods given descriptions of the ma- 

 chinery connected with its manufacture, which 

 have been extensively copied, we could not have 

 believed, had he not told us so, that any editor in 

 our own neighborhood could have been " in- 

 formed," within the last fortnight, "that several 

 important improvements have been made recently 

 in the looms for weaving silk, and that it is 

 calculated, as soon as a suflicient quantity of 

 cocoons can be obtained, tlje weaving of silk will 

 be prosecuted on a more extensive scale than has 

 been done heretofore in this coimtry." But this 

 is the language of one of the New Bedford papers, 

 the Mercury we believe, while, in the same village 

 where it is printed, the factory of Joseph Rotch, 

 Esq. is turning out goods equal to the best Italian 

 silk. If the editor has any fondness for beautiful 

 machinery, perfect in its operation — if he would 

 behold the manufacture of the most delicate ma- 

 terial brought at once, without experience, to a 

 high degree of perfection by the ingenuity and 

 perseverance of a single mechanic — if he would 

 love to contemplate the brightest prospect of 

 wealth and comfort that has ever dawned upon 

 the people of the United States, we commend him 

 to a view of that establishment. The machinery 

 which he will there find in operation was invented 

 by Gamaliel Gay, whose name our country will 

 ultimately have occasion to record among those 

 of its most distinguished benefactors. 



But we find there are many persons, men of 

 business, among us, who are as unenlightened 

 upon this subject as they were before it had 

 become one of such engrossing interest ; and 

 some, who have expressed surprise on being re- 

 cently informed that there was a Silk Factory in 

 the very midst of om- city. To such persons then, 

 if they will take the trouble to read it, a history 

 of the plans and operations of the « Rhode Island 

 Silk Company," which was late the " Valentine 

 Silk Company," was incorporated at the recent 

 session of our Legislature, with a capital of $100- 

 000. Their factory is situated upon Eddy Street, 

 the next building to the old glass bouse. The 

 machinery, with which it is nearly filled, is pro- 

 pelled by a six horse power steam engine. The 

 steam is generated with the siftings of anthracite 

 coal, at an expense of 33 cents per day. 'J his, 

 till i-eoently, useless and refuse (lortion of the coal, 

 is ignited and rendered about as valuable as any 

 other, l)y the aid of Reynold's patent blowing 

 apparatus. — While preparing their machinery and 

 instructing their 0])eratives in the art, they have 

 manufactured from 16 to 1800 yds of rich, heavy 

 goods. The number of hands has recently been 

 very much increased, and, with the additional 

 power looms about to be put in, the company 

 contemplate making from 300 to 400 yards of 

 goods per week. Of course, as there is no do- 

 mestic supply, they are compelled to manufacture 

 foreign silk. Another year, however, they will 

 probably derive' a considerable amount of the raw 

 material from their own plantation. This plan- 

 tation is on the western border of the city, and 

 consists of thirty six acres of land particularly 

 well adapted to the growth of the mulberry tree, 

 and is already in a high state of cultivation. 

 Upon it there is a large well finished two story 



house, and a barn and granary — a cocoonery 150 

 feet long, built last k| ring, and about 16,000 mul- 

 berry trees of very vigorous growth, most of 

 which are five years old, aiwl the remainder four. 

 From these trees it is estimated that an average 

 amount of at least 2000 pounds of wound silk 

 may be produced per year, for the next five years, 

 or two ounces to a tree — and for the succeeding 

 five years double the amount. 1 his is a moderate 

 estimate compared with the one made by the 

 Boston Company, and, indeed, compared with the 

 results of experience, of those who have been 

 engaged in growing silk in Connecticut for many 

 years. The company are about putting out 40,000 

 more trees, of three years' growth, in hedges, 

 after the Italian mode. These, it is estimated, 

 will yield an average rale of one ounce of wound 

 silk to a tree per year. The total product of the 

 farm in silk, according to this estimate, would be 

 worth, at four dollars jier pound .$18,000. One 

 half of this amoimt is allowed for attendance upon 

 the cocoonery and winding the silk into a mar- 

 ketable state, leaving a nett profit of §9,000. In 

 addition to this ought to be reckoned the value 

 of the crops of corn and potatoes which the best 

 condition of the trees will require should be 

 planted anumg them. With a liberal application 

 of fish, which abound, as a manure, within less 

 than a mile of the farm, it may, beyond doubt, 

 be rendered much more productive than, in tho 

 above calculations, is anticipated, and by planting 

 in hedge rows 100,000 more trees, which it is 

 competent to sustaiu, it would of course yield a 

 manifold increase of silk. On one side of the 

 farm is a beautiful pond, from which the trees 

 may be water .d, by the aid of a force pump, in 

 any period of drought. 



The whole establishment of this Company is 

 now in fine order, and is judiciously located and 

 well arranged for the purpose of exhibiting to our 

 farmeis and manufacturers the mode of operating 

 this important branch of business. The soil of 

 Rhode Island is well adapted to the growth of the 

 mulberry tree, and the very borders of the roads 

 may be apjiropriated to this use. There can 

 hardly be a limit assigned to the amount of wealth 

 which would accrue to this State, should its 

 |iopulation be generally engaged in the cultivation 

 and manufacture of silk. We have taken much 

 pains to ascertain, from persons long acquainted 

 with silk growing in Connecticut, what are the 

 actual profits of the tree, and it is our purpose to 

 give the results of our inquiries at another time. 



What aee we coming to ? — A few weeks 

 since, a party of five spoke for a dinner at a seclu- 

 ded public house in the country. On entering 

 the dining room at the dinner call, they were most 

 hospitably greeted with a brimming tumbler of ci- 

 der each ! all waiting the lip ! Strange to tell, 

 the company with one accord ordered cold water, 

 (that insipid beverage !) in its stead ! and there the 

 tumblers of white and red stood side by side du- 

 ring the whole performance ; the red untouched, 

 the white exhausted! We vouch for the truth of 

 this most extraordinary occurrence! — [Bridgewater 

 Republican. 



A Manual Labor College has been located at 

 Cane Hill, in Washington county, Arkansas, a 

 short distance from the Arkansas river, in a dis- 

 trict of country remarkable for its beautiful and 

 picturesque scenery of mountain and jirairie. 



