340 



N E W 



CULTURE OP SILK. 



Extrnrt iif a letter from Dr Tliomas Wliiie. o*" Monnf 

 Pleasant, lu a citizen nf Sieubenville. (Oliio,) dated 

 MonNT Pleasant, Dec. 13, 1835. 

 Dear Sir, — Yours c.iirie duly to hand ; and in 

 re[)ly, I am Iiappy to intonn you that I liave suc- 

 ceeded very well ; and am iully convinced that 

 the culture and tnamifaclure of" silk, will hefoie 

 long, become one of the most iinportaiit pursuits 

 that liave ever claimed the attention of onr citi- 

 zens. !n my view there are three reasons why it 

 sliould hecotnc so. 



l.<t. It imi.st, and will most inevitably become 

 a great source of wealth to all who turn their 

 attention to it, especially to the farminf; part of 

 the commimity, if they can be encouraged to 

 engage in it. To them it will be attended with 

 but Tittle expense to raise the cocoons ; a feinale 

 of an ordinary constitution will be able to tend 

 from 30 to 40,000 worm.s, which if well fed and 

 properly taken care of, will yield from 10 to 1.5 

 liushels of cocoons, fur which we will give them 

 from .f4 to $.t,50 and .$.5 per bushel, according to 

 qiidi<y ; or manufacture them into goods agreea- 

 bly to order. Good cocoons will yield one pound 

 of reeled silk per bushel ; each pound will make 

 12 srpiare yards of good substantial goods, worth 

 from $1 to ],.50 per yard. "^I bus 30,000 worms 

 will produce ten (Otinds of silk, or 120 yards of 

 goods; and supposing it takes two thirds to pay 

 for the manufacturer, jt will leave the pr:.dii'„-er 

 'orty yards of goods ; an.'l c<Huiting the labor at 

 <Jne dollar per week (which will be the time em- 

 ployed), will reduce the price of the silk goods to 

 12 1-2 cents ficr yard, or .f 1,50 pe,- pound. 



Now, I would ask you, and ever,-' farmer iu 



our country, by what means can our fema^s clothe 



Ihemselvcs chcai)er than by feeding silk wo -'ns .? 



I know none. Jt is on'y the busine.ss of h've 



weeks for a female to provide lier.self with forty 



e'i.iare yards of goods, worth n»o,e than one hun"- 



died nn.i twenty yards of the best coxtoii goods 



sbe can fit,,, iti the market — these are no vi.^^- 



Jonary d.-eutns • hat practical facts founded upon 



t'xj<er,ei>ce. 'IJiis se.^soii I raised enough for 



pi..?""' ^'■''^ hujidrsfj i/ards of sik, which did iiot 



cost me more than 15? 1-2 eonlr; per yard to raise 



the cocoons, counting l>'y labor of one liired 



female and my daughter, eacjj at a dollar a week. 



It is the tedious process o.'' nr.mufacturing si)4j, 



*iL"J ivill, for a time, make it .-xpensive; but this 



exp'jnse falls on the rnaniifaciurer, not on tlie 



farmer, or silk grower. As it retspects the food 



for lliO worrms, ' am unable to see any jfront Bujie- 



.riorit'y tliat the Italian leaf has ovev oi^r native 



JlcbS. I aiTi inclined to believe tbirt tlie jurincipal 



advantage the Italian bos over the ijativ(^ isi that 



these can be broiigiit into <piicker use, as they an; 



iHjucb more tJirifty in their ^growth than our native 



trees. I fed mine this season principally from the 



native tree, ai)d expect to feed as niauy as oi'e 



jiiil ion next season from the siuiie source ; my 



fllll Itlil HeAt ?»l rtr-VIll IIUIM tin; n.UlJC. n»/ili it. , ■iij' 



grove of Italian trees being too young t<> yiehl 

 iT)iieli fooil. Our native tree of the middle size 

 will prod'icc food eiioiigli for 3000 worms, or a 

 pon"d of silk per tree ; each tree that a farmi^r 

 has is worth more to him than two sheep. 



At a sale of himls in Northampton last week, 

 several |ots of meadow land were .sold at .^114 o 

 134 for meadow plough land, and $78 1-2 a 104 

 for grass land. 'I his is said to be the biglu st 

 price ever given for meadow laud iu Northamplun. 



S:I,I£ ACT. 



The following act was passed at the Jate se.ssion 

 of the Legislature of this State. 



" Be it enacted, fyc. as follows : — Section 1. 

 There shall be allowed and paid out ot the trfta- 

 smy of ilie Commonwealth I'or every ten pounds 

 weight of coconns of silk, the produce of si k 

 worms raised within this Commonwealth, the sum 

 of one dollar, and in the same proportion for any 

 larger quantity of cocoons to be | aid to the owner 

 of such worms, or his legal r-prcsentatives. 



Section 2. 'f here shall be alowed and paid out 

 of the treasury of the Commonwealth, to every 

 person who sbujl reel or tan.se to be reefed, and 

 to every person who shall throsv or cause to be 

 thrown iu this Commonwea'tb, from cocoons pro- 

 duced fi-om silk . worms raised in this Common- 

 wealth, a merchantable silk, capable of being 

 manufactured into the various silk fabrics, or to 

 the legal representatives of such person, one dol- 

 lar for every pound of silk .so reeled and thrown, 

 and fifty cimls for every pound of silk, reeled 

 without being thrown. 



Section 3. When satisfactrry evidence by the 

 oath of the party or otherwise, shall be exhibited 

 to the selectmen of any town iu this Cofiimon- 

 ealth, that any person, ijeing an inhabitant of 

 icb town, is entitled to claim tlfe bounty or 

 bounties provided for in the first and second sec- 

 tions of this act, they shall give a certificate there, 

 of in writing under their bands, stating the quan- 

 tity of cocoons produce.l, or of silk reeled or 

 thrown conformably lo the provisions of said 

 sections, au<l that such claimant is entitled to the 

 bouity or boiiiilics therein allowed, and when 

 such certificate sha I have been filed in the office 

 of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Gov- 

 ernor, with the advice of the Council, is hereby 

 authorized to draw bis warrant on the treasurer 

 I therefor. 



Section 4. If any person shall claitn a bounty 

 „;ore than once fur the .same cocoons, or silk so 

 reei,'^'' or thrown, or olitain any bounty under this 

 ai't, lli,"o"fi'' <'""ii' ui" deception, such person shall 

 forfeit to ^^e use of the Commonwealth, a sum 

 not more th '■''^ <""= hundred dollar.s, in addition to 

 the airroimt ot '*">' I'oi'nty he may lia\e received, 

 to bi; recovered b^ iti(|,Vtiiieut in any court proper 

 to try the .sime. 



Section 5. This act shall take e^ect in thirty 

 days from the timi! of jmssing the same, and con- 

 tinue ju'lbrce (luriuj^ ,),e term of seven years fiom 

 tlie *Mie of its go„'^p \,„o operation, and an act 

 entitl S'l 'All Ac ^ to encourage the reeling and 

 Ihi-o-wjiig of i-'j\\h^^ passed the seventh day of 

 A I Til III the y (>,,r gne thousand eight hundred and 

 thirtyfive br^^ „,„! ,||g g.^,^,^. hereby is, repealed^ 

 but iiothin g herein contained shall affect tlie right 

 of any P'jison entitled to any premium under th • 

 said ac',. 



Sec.tiiin 6. The provisions of ihi.s act shall not 

 app' y to bodies politic and corporate." 



Apjvroved by the Governor, lllh April, 1836. 



JIIAV 4, TS30. 



■ be officinal ganlcn should be three or more fi^et 

 deep, for If the roots of most plants, when in a 

 state of matuiity, be minutely traced, thev will 

 be found to penetrate into the earth, in sea.'cb of 

 ood, to the depth of two feet, provided the s„it 

 be of a nature to allow it. A garden should be 

 made on land who.se bottom is not of a spriu-v 

 net nature. Jf this rule can be observ.'d drain 

 "ig vvill be unnecessary; for when laml is,,,, 

 pared for the growth of fruit trees, ami ol'dual 

 plants, by trenching, manuring, and di.nri,,., ^ jg 

 by these means brought into such a poroil^' tem- 

 perament, that the rains pass through without 

 Deiug detained longer than necessary. Jf the laud 

 of a garden be of too strong a nalbre, it will be 

 much improved by the admixture of sand 



Iron MouNTAm in Missouri. Jt appear^ by a 



report to Congre.ss, by Mr Featherstouhaugh, that 

 there is actually a u.ountain of iron in Mi.s.somi, of 

 very great dimensions, and capab'e of yieldii,.r 

 ...ore ore than will he wanted from this time to 

 the end of the five hundredth century. In the 

 emphatic and somewhat poetical language of the 

 enthusiastic geologist, it :s impossible to estin,ate 

 lU value " by any other terms than those adequate 

 to all a nation's wants." 'I his is pretty broad 

 assertion to be sure, but we fbel no dispo.sition to 

 controvert its correctness. We recollect hearing 

 of a great deal of fun that was once poked at Mr 

 Jefferson, (we deny bfiug old enough to acknow- 

 le.lge It as contemporaneous history,) for his de- 

 scn,,tion of a salt mountain— but there is no 

 mistake about the iron mountain. It is bona fide 

 and will be the making of Missouri ; a state which' 

 by tlie way, is already rich iu resources of all sorts 

 — especially in a whole mountain of bra.ss iu the 

 person of her senior member of the United States 

 benate .,V. Y. l^nq. 



Soil for a Oaih.f.'v. — The best soil lor a gar- 

 den is a sandy Imiil, not less than two feet deep ; 

 the earth should not be of a biurling nature iu 

 summer, nor retentive of rain in winter ; hut of 

 such a texture, that it can be worked without diffi- 

 culty in any season of the year. There are few 

 sorts of fruit trees, or escuh^nt vegetables, wlii<di 

 require less depth of earth to grow in, than two 

 feet, to bring them to perfection, and the soil of 



NovKL Ejection Proce.ss.— A short time a<'o 

 a .-ottager, between Tborne and Doncaster, wag 

 visited by two bailifTs, who proceeded t-. mark his 

 effects ; the-oldinan recollecting that he -had .some 

 property outside, went out, and imfirciliately 

 brought in a hive of bees, which he threw into 

 the house, and bid them mark Ihnt ! In a short 

 time had the gratification to se<; his unwelcome 

 guests lake a hasty departure, snns ceremonie, 

 through the window covered with bee.«, in which 

 state they made the besi of their ways to their 

 respective homes. — London paper. 



Railroad Speed am) Steaii Pon-ER I'n lbs 



February number of the London Mechanics' Mag- 

 azine it is stated, that Mr Ranncy, " the very intel- 

 ligent engineer of the New Orleans and Nashville 

 Rai road Coin[)any," has actually contracted with 

 iMr Stephenson fur a locomotive engine whiidi will 

 drag a load of 200 Ions at the rate of 60 miles per 

 hour! 'i he road is to be built with a view to 

 bear this unprecedented combination of velocity 

 and Weight. 



Singular. — A whirlwind of sand, says the Ha- 

 vre Journal of 15th Feb., about 5 orBOOO feet cir- 

 cumference, and from 450 lo 500 feet in height, 

 formed itself on the road along the coast from Cal- 

 ais to Dunkirk, and took a flireclioii towards the 

 sea, where it burst at the distance of about a 

 league. A small fishing boat was overturned by 

 it, but the crew were happily saved. 



