VOL. XIV. NO. 21. 



no luiiiilior per acre would give us 21,000 Mis. 



lives, or from 275 to 300 poiiiids of silk. 

 Prom the miinner we cultivate those trees, we 



satisfied, that an acre ran easily lie made to 

 diice at the same rate. We shall try the ex- 

 iment next season, with one acre of puttings — 

 one acre of trees (wiili roots) started the |iast 

 son." 

 fVorthampton, .Vor. 1835. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



165 



RAISING OP wool,. 



The raising of wool is fast becoming the great 



ness of this part of the country, tc which their 



ductive meadows, and their fine pasturage on 



hills seem adiiiirahly adapted. Wal| ole, 



tminster, Clartiiiont, Wethersfield, Orford 



Lime, all river towns, have long been distiii- 



slied for their imjiroved stock, their admirable 



iiagcment, their extensive flocks, and their fine 



I had the pleasure of visiting some estab- 



ments, which, as somewhat connected with a 



ent discussion of the comparative value of the 



ony breed of sheep, it may not be uninterest- 



to notice. 



Ir Wylliam Jennisoii, of Walpole, N. H. has a 

 k of 370 sheep and lambs. Fit-tyfour of these 

 pure Saxony ewes, of the finest wool ; the oth- 

 are mixed, though finer. Of this 54 pure Sax- 

 ewes, 4 proved barren ; and from the remain- 

 fifty he raised this year 48 lambs. Their 

 rage yield of wool this ysar, was 2 lbs. 3 oz. 

 whole clip of wool was sold, without selec- 

 , for one dollar per pound, and his Saxony 

 bs always bring $15 per head. The demand 

 ;reater than he can supply. He considers his 

 ony sheep as good nurses, and .says he has 

 which disown their lambs. He has his 

 bs come the last of March ; considers clover 

 the best feed for bis sheep,'aud feeds his ewes 

 ly with potatoes, at the rate of about one quart 

 day to each. He washes his sheep in pure 

 er: first dipping them in water, and taking 

 Ti out immediately, and after they have stood 

 about half an hour, then taking them again 

 running water, and the wool is easily and 

 •oiighly cleansed. The construction of his 

 igers is excellent. The barn is placed on a 

 hill, and the sheep are kept on the ground in 

 lower story, which is open to the yard, hu: 

 bj closed in case of necessity ; and is divided 

 compartments, for fifty in each. The bay is 

 into the mangers from above. 



visited, likewise, the establishment of Mr 

 Iskins, in Walpole, who has a flock of 800 

 3p. From 200 Saxon ewes, be this year 

 ed 183 lambs ; but bis usual calculation, found- 

 jn long experience, is, that 225 sheep may be 

 ected to raise 200 lambs. His yield of wool, 

 bed and put up in the finest manner, averages 

 'S. 4 oz. ; last year, 2 lbs. 7 oz. ; and it is un- 

 jtood that the whole lot was purchased at one 

 ar per pound. He does not permit his sheep 

 -eceive the buck until three years old, and 

 iks it profitible to keep them until 8 years old. 

 thinks that the wintering of 100 sheep will 

 iiire 12 tons of hay. He found by experience, 

 in one case 100 large old ewes eat a ton of 

 in 10 days ; in another case, one ton of hay 

 2 days. Yearling sheep will require not more 

 n two-thirds as much. He salts his sheep 

 ce a week, and allows about four quarts of 

 to 100 sheep at a time. His success speaks 

 itself. The condition of his wool, which I 



had the [ilcasure of seeing, could not bo im- 

 proved. 



There are many other flocks in ibis vicinity of 

 considerable extent, and managed in an admira- 

 ble manner. Leonard Jarvis, Esq. of Claremont, 

 N. H., has a very extensive flock of from 1500 to 

 to 2000 of Saxony and full-blooded merino. This 

 gentleman so!d, the last spring, Ihe clip of several 

 years, amounting to 18,000 lbs. Mr Calvin Ueii- 

 ton, a ilistingnished wool dealer, has given his 

 certificate, in which he says, that, " I consider it 

 the finest, softest, and most valuable American 

 wool that I have ever packed, without any excep- 

 tion." William Jarvis, Esq. of Wetherfield, Vt., 

 on the Oj'posite side of the river, has likewise a 

 flock of about 800 fine wooled sheep, which 1 had 

 the pleasure of seeing last spring in the finest 

 condition possible. . Both these gentlemen are 

 able to furnish the Saxon and the merino sheep 

 of the best quality, and entirely unmixed. — Hen- 

 ry Colman. 



Silk for domestic pniiPOSES. — In many fam- 

 ilies, there are individuals who are in feeble 

 health, or who have had the misfortune of a dis- 

 located or broken bone, who sufl^er more or less 

 in variable weather, and by languor or pains, can 

 anticipate the approaching storm with a degree of 

 accuracy that cannot be mistaken. Physicians 

 inform us, that this sensation is occasioned by the 

 escape of that portion of electricity which is abso- 

 lutely necessary for the healthy condition of the 

 body — and as silk is a non-conductor of electri- 

 city, medical writers recommend its use, in every 

 possible way, as an over-dress to cotton or flannel 

 shirts and drawers. In this way it may be made 

 to prevent or alleviate pectoral or consumptive 

 affections, rheumatism, inflammatory fevers, indi- 

 rect debility, and that languor so oppressive to 

 persons of feeble health. A coarse quality of silk 

 similar to the pongee silk, so called, will answer 

 very well for such purposes, and being strong and 

 stout, will do good service. Silk of such quality, 

 might be manufactured in the domestic household 

 aiui the culture of the mulberry and the manufac- 

 ture of silk, may be attended to in almost any 

 family, without interruption to other occupations, 

 not only as a lucrative business, but abo to pre- 

 vent or alleviate a variety of pains which flesh is 

 heir to. This subject is becoming so important 

 to the community, and can be undertaken with so 

 little expense, that it merits the attention of every 

 family, to begin a nursery of mulberry trees with- 

 out delay, and the first or second year may com- 

 mence feeding the worms, and manufacturing 

 silk, even upon our common reels, wheels and looms. 

 Because there are large establishments in con- 

 templation and progress, for the manufacture of 

 silk, some have thought these companies would 

 discourage the domestic manufacture, but instead 

 of discouragement, it ought to operate as a stimu- 

 lus to family culture; because if families do not 

 wish to manufiicture their own silk, they can have 

 a ready market for the cocoons. It is expected, 

 and with a good degree of probability, that the 

 time will come, when our families will uot only 

 manufacture, but that they will dress themselves 

 with silk of their own make, with as little ex|)ense 

 as they now clothe them in wool and flax. — ' P.' 

 in J^orthampton Courier, 



A writer in the Raleigh Register says, the high- 

 est ])eak in the U. S. is that of the Black mountain 

 6,746 feet; height of Mt. Washington, 6,234. 



ProvidF.NCE S;I,K MANUKACTUKINO COlViP* "'•""' 

 This Company, which was late the " Vai'ditino 

 Silk Company," vvas incorporateil lit the ret '^"' 

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

 000. Their tactory is situated upon Eddy street, 

 the iK^xt building to the old glass house. The 

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

 pelled by a six horse power steam engine. '1 he 

 steam is generated with the sittings of anthracite 

 coal, at an expense of 33 cents per day. This 

 (till recently) useless and refuse iiortion of the 

 coal, is ignited and rendered about as valuable as 

 any other, by the aid of Reynold's patent blowing 

 apparatus. While preparing their machinery and 

 instructing their operatives in the art, they have 

 manufactured from 16 to 1800 yards of rich, heavy 

 goods. The number of hands has recently b'^en 

 very much increased, and with the additiotial 

 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 sujiply, they are compelled to manufacture 

 foreign silk. Another year, however, they will 

 probably derive a considerable amount of raw 

 material from their own plantation. This planta- 

 tion is on the western border of the city, and con- 

 sists of thiitysix 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 spring, and about 16,000 mulberry trees 

 of very vigorous growth, most of which are five 

 years old, and 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 succeeding five years double the 

 amount. This is a moderate estimate, comjiared 

 with the one made by the Boston Company, and, 

 indeed, compared with the results of expeiience, 

 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 3 

 years' growth, in hedges, after the Italian mode. 

 These, it is estimated, will yield an average rate 

 of one ounce of wound silk to a tree per year, 

 for the next five years, or 2500 pounds per year. 

 The total product of the farm in silk, according to 

 this estimate, would be worth, at four dollars per 

 pound, $18,000. One half of this amount is 

 allowed for attendance upon the cocoonery and 

 winding the silk into a marketable state, leaving a 

 nett profit of $9,000. lu 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 among them. With a 

 liberal application of fish, which abound, as a man- 

 ure, within less than a mile of the farm, it may 

 beyond doubt be rendered much more productiva 

 than in the above calculations is anticipated, and 

 by planting in hedge rows 100,000 more trees, 

 which it is competent to sustain, it would, of 

 course, yield a manifold increase of uilk. On one 

 side of the farm is a beautiful pond, from which 

 the trees may be watered, by the aid of a force 

 pump, in any (period of drought. — Providence 

 Journal. 



Cincinnati is the greatest pork market in the 

 world — last year, 125,000 bogs were slaughtered 

 and packed within the corporation lines, and this 

 year the amount will be greater. 



