364 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MAY 25, ISSC. 



CHINESE MUIiBERRY. 



The following jiulicioiis remarks on the Chinese 

 Mulberry, are froni the Alhany Silk Worm. 



Mr Bestor of Siiffiehl, Connecticut, propagated 

 last season from t'.vo young trees of the Chinese 

 nnilberry-, by layers, that is bending down the 

 branches and covering tliem with earth, two hun- 

 dred and two young trees, fortyeight of which be 

 sold for twelve dollars : thus from two young trees 

 realizing twelve dollars and saving to himself one 

 hundred and fiftyfour trees, besides the two orig- 

 inal ones. What has been done can bn done 

 again, any other person, with the same assiiluity 

 would, probably, have the same sureess. Bi;t al- 

 lowing only one quarter of that increase, would 

 in three years produce 16,625 trees, which would 

 fill over four acres, allowing 3,200 to the acre. 



Let ns now compare the Chinese and white 

 mulberry, and see what advantage either gives over 

 the other. In Mansfield, Connecticut, where they 

 have made silk many j'cars, and still make it from 

 standard trees of the white mulberry, as large as 

 ap|de trees, the produce of silk is calculated at 

 from forty to sixty jjonnds to the acre. These 

 trees rerpjire, at least, from ten to twenty years 

 growth to begin to produce that quantity. An 

 acre set out with cuttings or seedlings of the Chi- 

 nese mulberry containing as above stated 3,200 

 trees, will yield the first year 1600 poundscf leaves, 

 or half a poimd to a tree. One hundred jjounds 

 of white mulberry leaves, as a gmeral calculation, 

 will produce one pound of silk ; but I am inform- 

 ed by a gentleman, extensively engaged in culti- 

 vating and feeding silkworms on the Chinese mul- 

 berry, that eighty pounds are equal to a hundred 

 pounds of the white mulberry leaves. In that 

 case the 1600 pounds of leaves will yield twenty 

 pounds of silk. The same trees which produced 

 half a pound of leaves the first year, will produce 

 a pound the second year, three pounds the third 

 year, and five pounds the fourth year. The pro- 

 duce of the acre will then be twenty pounds of 

 silk the first year, forty the second, sixty the third, 

 and a hundred pounds the fourth year. 



I therefore earnestly repeat the advice to every 

 one who has any thoughts of engaging in the silk 

 business to commence cultivating the Chinese 

 nudberry, if it be on ever so small a scale. If it 

 is with but one stalk, commence with that, and 

 multiply it as fast as possible, if they can get 

 more, do so. 



It may not l)e amiss, however, to endeavor to 

 explain what has caused the doubts respecting the 

 hardiness of the Chinese mulberry aud of the 

 prejudices which some people still retain against 

 it. 



It is well known to every scientific horticultu- 

 rist that plant of almost any kind, carried from a 

 warm climate to a colder one, are not as able to 

 withstand the cold as those grown from the seed 

 in the cold climate, but that this hardiness to en- 

 dure the cold increases, as the plant continues to 

 be thus cultivated for several seasons. It is v.'ell 

 known that this effect, of becoming acclimated 

 progresses much more slowly, if it even progress, 

 es at all, where the plant is propagated by grafting, 

 or cutting or any kind of transfer from the wood 

 of the parent tree, than when propagated from 

 seed by successive generations. 



The first knowledge we have of the Chinese 

 mulberry, it was brought to this comitry from 

 France, where it was obtained from the Phillip- 

 pine islands, which is a tropical and consequently 



hot climate. They have been thus far, both in 

 France and in this country, propagated chiefiy by 

 transfer of the wood in grafts, layers, &c. and of 

 course incline to retain the natural tenderness of 

 the parent stock. Their consequent liability to be 

 winter killed, was also increased by another eir- 

 cuinstance, — when they were first received here, 

 they were thought of great value, and accordingly 

 set in the richest ground and in warm and protect- 

 ed situations. This was one of the surest meth- 

 ods to kill them. Owing to their extremely rapid 

 growth and the contiimation of that growth late in 

 the fall, the cold of winter seized them while the 

 sjirouts were tender and before the wood was 

 formed, and they were therefore literally killed 

 with kindness. This discomaged many people, and 

 the idea that it would not stand the winter became 

 somewhat general. Some, however, who were 

 more fortunate, or who had more perseverance, 

 found out in time, by experience, that the trees set 

 in a dry, sandy, or gravelly soil, contained less 

 moisture, and the wood hardened, and vegetation 

 ceased sooner in the fall, and that these p.reserva- 

 tive effects were increased by standing in a bleak 

 exposure. It is remarkable that many persons 

 engaged in cultivating this tree, have independent- 

 ly of, aud unknown to each other, come to the 

 conclusion, via: that rich soil and a warm and 

 protected situation, by accelerating the growth, 

 increasing the proportion of soft, succident sub- 

 stances, and prolonging its green soft state to later 

 in the fall, were causes of its death, by the early 

 frosts of winter ; and that a contrary course tend- 

 ed to its safety. 



AGRICUIiTURAI, PAPERS. 



While contemplating the immense and incalcu 

 lable benefits which must necessarily residt not 

 only to the farmer and planter, but to the public 

 in general, and to every class of the community in 

 whatever occupation engaged, from the general 

 im])rovement of agriculture and the powerful 

 tendency of agricultural ) apers to produce 

 such improvcnunt, the man of reflection, who 

 loves liis country, and who feels any regard for 

 the happiness of his fellow men, cannot but be 

 struck with astonishment, not only at beholding 

 so many of those who are devoted to the profes- 

 sion of agriculture, and who are entirely depen- 

 dent on it for the supply of all their wants, vol- 

 untarily debarring themselves from the easiest, the 

 most agreeable, the cheapest, and the most effec- 

 tual mode of acquiring knowledge in their profes- 

 sion — but at the short sighted views of those who 

 are obviously not less deeply interested than the 

 farmer himself, in ])roducing that state of improve- 

 ment, on the production of which the prosperity 

 of all is alike dependent. Let every man but ask 

 himself, what would be the effect on the public 

 prosperity, and on that of every individual of 

 which society is composed, whatever may be his 

 occupation, were the fertility of the land and the 

 quantum of his annual production to be doubled, 

 trebled, or quadrupled — all must see at a glance, 

 that the national wealth and resuurces would be 

 in the same degree eidianced. The government 

 would be enabled, with far less inconvenience to 

 the people, to raise double, treble, or quadruple 

 the revenue which can now be collected, either 

 for the purpose of defending the country against 

 foreign, enemies, improving it by roads, canals, 

 &-C., or, for what is of still greater importance 

 than either, the establishing and sustaining a sys- 



tem of Universal Education, by which, and by 

 which alone, liberty can be perpetuated, the peo- 

 ple elevated to that dignity and worth of which 

 they are capable, and which it should be consid- 

 ered the first duty of every Republican Govern- 

 ment to confer. The farmer and planter woidd 

 be benefited by receiving u double, a treble, or 

 quadruple reward for his labor, to be exjiended in 

 supplying his wants, increasing his wealth, or 

 promoting his comfort. The merchant, the law- 

 yer and the mechanic, will be benefited by a dou- 

 ble, treble, or qnadrujtlc ability in their custonicrs 

 to purchase their goods, or to reward them for 

 their services ; and above all, the laborer of every 

 description, would be benefited by constant em- 

 ployment, and good wages paid in ready money. 

 In a word, imiversal prosperity would overflow 

 the land, and universal intelligence and increase 

 of virtue, would enable and dispose the people so 

 to use it, as to banish from the country by far, the 

 larger portion of that njisery and distress under 

 which mankind, in all ages and countries, have 

 heretofore groaned, and which must continne to 

 be their lamentable lot, until by an elevation of 

 the intellectual and moral character of the mass of 

 the people, they shall be qualified so to improve 

 the resotirces which a benignant Providence has 

 placed at their command, as to enable every one, 

 by moderate labor, to acquire the necessaries and 

 comforts of life. That such would be the ultimate 

 effects of doubling, trebling, quadrupling the pro- 

 ducts of the earth by the industrious exertions of 

 the agricultural community, if guided and direct- 

 ed by intelligence, is too plain to require proof. 

 Would the general circulation of agricultural pa- 

 pers, by diffusing agricultural knowledge, and by 

 continually presenting to the iriind of the agricul- 

 turist, clear, unequivocal and demonstrative proof, 

 that great and ample rewards, are the sure and cer- 

 tain consequence of such exertions, have a ten- 

 dency to stimulate the community to active and 

 intelligent exertions ? He who doubts this, must 

 believe the gross and palpable absurdity, that the 

 greater the knowledge a man possesses of the 

 business in which he is engaged, the more will he 

 be disqualified to pursue it with advantage, and 

 that the more clearly and distinctly the prospect 

 of reward for his labor is held out to the farmer, 

 the greater will be his indolence. With those who 

 can believe thase propositions, if any such there 

 be, it would be vain and idle to reason — they can 

 believe any thing which they wish — their error 

 proceeds not from the head, but from the heart — 

 what they want is not the capacity, but the incli- 

 nation to discover truth. To all others, of what- 

 ever character or occupation, we would say, if you 

 believe that agricultural improvement would be 

 thus beneficial to your country, conducive to the 

 best interest of yourselves and of your fellow citi- 

 zens, of every class and description, and that the 

 \vide and general circulation of agricultural papers 

 would have a tendency to produce that improve- 

 ment, do not patriotism, philanthropy, and an en- 

 lightened regard to your own interest, all conspire 

 to demand, that you shoidd exert yourselves by 

 every means in your power, by your example, by 

 your exhortations, by your instructions, and by 

 your influence, to extend as widely as possible the 

 circulation of papers entirely devoted to the diffu- 

 sion of agricultural knowledge and the production 

 of agricultural improvement — papers whose in- 

 fluence, while it may be productive of such incal- 

 culable good, can by no possibility be injurious to 



