76 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Sept. 24, 1830. 



SILK. 



We were invited yestenlay to view the silk 

 establishment in Pine street, under the direction 

 of Mr D'Honiergue. In the rear of the house is 

 tlie reeling do[)artiiiciit ; tiiis being one of the most 

 dif&ult processes in the whole business, is especi- 

 ally worthy of notice. From the number of reels, 

 we should suppose that a vast quantity of silk might 

 be wound in a day ; and heaps of cocoons show 

 that the work is not closed. 



In the iipiier part ol" the dwelling, M. D'llomer- 

 gue had fitted up a neat light loom, in which he 

 had placed the white warp for weaving a piece of 

 bilk resembling in some degree the Florence. We 

 noticed that the warp had not l)een ihrowsted owing 

 to the want of a suitable machine — workmen who 

 understand the business are to be found — yet such 

 is the exellent quality of the American silk, that it 

 had retained its smoothness notwithstanding the 

 boiling which it had all sustained, and the dying 

 process to which a part had been submitted. • 



We learned iVom Mr Duponceau, to whose 

 liberality the country is indebted fur the establisl 

 inent, that he was particularly fortunate in securing 

 the services of Messrs Le Due & Landslierg, dyers, 

 whose colors for silks have all the brilliancy and 

 permanency of those of Italy and France. 



Mr D'll. was weaving a large and splendid Uni- 

 ted States flag, which, when finished, will be a 

 truly gratifyingspeciinen of American manufactine. 

 The smoothness and polish of its texture, and the 

 brilliancy of its colors, are imsurpassed by any silk 

 imported ; yet the whole of this ah ova, to speak 

 literally, from the egg, is .'American. — U. S. Gazelle. 



arc told, to the previous pains taktii to enrich the 

 soil by plentiful additions of suitable compost. 



Were the same policy pursued by the owners ' 

 of large iarins, there would be little need of em- 

 igrating from the New Englatid to the Western 

 states ; for the very tracts which now under a 

 careless system of culture barely afford susten- 

 ance for a single family, might be niaile to support 

 three or four — and that too, with much less ' toil 

 and trouble,' in proportion to the quantity culti- 

 vated. Many of our farmers grasj) at the manage- 

 ment of too spacious a territory — the consequence 

 is, they impose upon themselves a state of slavery : 

 they accumidate nothing, except now and then an 

 additional patch of waste land, which serves only 

 to increase their burthens without augunienting 

 their income. Were they on the contrary to con- 

 fine their exertions to smaller sj)ots, while their 

 crops could be rendered equally if not more 

 abundant, they would themselves enjoy lile better 

 — become more independent, and with their usual 

 share of sagacity and frugality, triore wealthy : 

 they would acquire time tti institute experiments, 

 and to exandne improvements; they wonkl attain 

 what they now scarcely ever possess — leisure — 

 whereby we mean not the privilege of l)eing lazy 

 — but that sort of leisure which poor Richard de- 

 scribes as 'time for doing soinething useful' — 

 time for study, for reflection, for familiar converse, 

 for looking after the education of their ycung — 

 in short, for realizing the blessings after which they 

 are constantly toiling. We are no practical farm- 

 er — l>ut, according to the proverb, ' a wink from 

 a blind horse' is sometimes serviceable. 



ithaUnitod Slates Literary Adv 



FARMING. 



Those who have strictly investigated the sub- 

 ject, consider largo farms comparatively less |iro- 

 ductive than small ones; while they at the same 

 lime impose upon their owners a degree of labor 

 much greater in proportion than would seem to 

 be required by the mere difference of size. The 

 cause, it is thought, lies altogether in the difftjr- 

 ence of management. A farmer in moderate 

 circumstances, with fifty or sixty acres of lanil, 

 for instance, will bring every inch of it into a 

 high state of cultivation — the labor employed in 

 jireparing his grounds will be more than doubly 

 compensated in his subsequent exemption from 

 toil ; while the owner of a wide spread Territory 

 of three or four hundred acres, which he has but 

 sparingly sujiplied with nourishment, must work 

 raore sedulously upon every acre during the pro- 

 gress of vegetation, and, after all, reap but a 

 meagre and inadequate harvest. As a single acre 



BEES 



When bees begin to build their hive, they divide 

 themselves into bands, one of which produces ma- 

 terials for the structure ; another works upon these, 

 and forms them into a rough sketch of tlie dimen 

 sions and partitions of tlie cells. All this is com- 

 pleted by the second band, who examine and ailjnst 

 the angles, remove the superfluous wax, and give 

 the work its necessary perfection ; and a third 

 band brings provisions to the laborers, who cannot 

 leave their work. But no distribution of fo d is 

 made to those whose charge, in collecting propolis 

 and pollen, calls them to the field, because it is 

 supposed they will hardly forget themselves ; 

 neither is any allowance made to those who begin 

 the architecture of the cells. Their province is 

 very troublesome, because they arc obliged to level 

 and extend, as well as cut and adjust the wax to 

 the dimension required ; but then they soon obtain 

 a dismission from this labor, and retire to the fields 

 to regale them.selves with food, and wear off their 

 fatigue with a more agreeable emjdoyment. Those 



of land highly cidtivated, can be made to yield a | ^bo succeed them, draw their mouth, their feet, 

 crop equal to three or four acres scantily prepar- I and the extremity of their body, several times over 

 ed ; it must be ebvious, t1iat the extra labor in ; all the work, and never desist till the whole is 

 dres,ving the former is abundantly more than saved polished and completed ; and as they frequently 

 by the diminished labor in attending it. A strik- . „eed refreshments, and yet are not permitted to re- 

 ing exemplification of this fact may be viewed by | tj,.c, there are waiters alwt.ys attending, who serve 

 any of our farmers, who will take the trouble to I ,l,em with provisions when they require thetn 

 visit the grounds attached to the House of Indus- 1 Xiie laborer who has an appetite, bends down his 

 try at South Boston— there, they may have the j „.,,„k i„,fo,.e the caterer, to intimate that he has ai 

 theory and the illustration directly before their [ jisdination to eat, upon which t!ie other opens hi; 



eyes. Those grounds, it is said, have produced 

 this season, from three to four tons of hay per 

 acre — which is three or four times the quantity of 

 ordinary crops. So exuberant was the grass, that 

 there actually was not room, upon the surface 

 where it grew, sufficient for the pur|)ose of ma- 

 king the hay. And thia we^s entirely owing as we 



bag of honey, and pours out a few drops; these 

 may be distinctly seen rolling through the whole 

 of his trunk, which insensibly swells in every part 

 the liquor flows tlirough. When this little repast 

 is over, the laborer returns to his work, and 1 

 body and feet repeat the same motion as before 

 JLib. of Ent. Knowledge. 



MILK PANS. 



A writer in Poulson's Daily Advertiser, has the 

 following remarks on the properties of ndlk pans. .; 



'The pans used in this country are made either 

 of tinned iron, glazed earthen, or stone ware. Tiu 



perhaps less objectionable than any other spe- 

 cies of metal, at least of all such as can be applied 

 this use; but no metallic vessel whatever 



ould be allowed to enter the walls of a well 

 regulated dairy. A tiu pan becomes a galvanic 

 a(>|iaiatus the tnoment an acidulated fluid is pour- 

 ed into it ; besiiles which, if the seams are closed 

 with solder, a poison is soon generated by the acid 

 of the milk, and if closed by lapping, the cut eilge 

 exposes the iron to the same influence. Tinned 

 vessels soon communicate a disagreeable taste, and 

 even smell to water — distilled water! how unfit 

 then for preserving such a fluid as milk. 



The earthenware pans arc generally glazed with 

 lead, which renders tin vessels, (improper and dirty 

 as they are and must be) very iireferable indeed. 

 Here then we have a direct mineral poison (which, 

 in the very smallest quantities produces sickness) 

 lining the whole of that surface which is in imme- 

 diate contact with the milk. 1 would as soon 

 drink vinegar that had been boiled in a copper 

 saucepan as to use butter or cream that has re- 

 mained twelve hours in a glazed earilien vessel. 



' To the slone ware, I can sec no possible objec- 

 tion ; on the contrary, I am thoroughly convinced 

 iVom theory, that it alone, is the proper material 

 for milk pans. Consider it as you will, its supe. 

 rior fitness for this jjurpose is evident. The most 

 highly concentrated acids have no effect upon it; 

 the chemists daily avail themselves of this capital 

 substitute for glass, of which the faces are coin« 

 poseil, an absolute vitrification taking place during 

 their baking by means of salt. Stone ware milil 

 pans then, are the proper ones, and I shall here- 

 after conclusively demonstrate that stone ware oi 

 glass is the only proper material for such vessels 

 as are intended to preserve butter and a variety of 

 objects wholesome in themselves, but rendered 

 deleterious by being prepared or being allowed to 

 remain in improjier vessels.' 



From the New York Evening Post. 



TO AGRICULTURISTS. 



The season has now arrived when the fanners 

 are pre|)aringto sow their winter grain. The wri« 

 ter of this article has experienced the efficacy of 

 slack lime, as a manure on ground that was en- 

 tirely worn out, |)rodL'cing nothing but five-fingered 

 leaves and weeds. The ground was tilled, and 

 40 bushels to the acre wa-- spread over it. It was 

 seeded with grain, and timothy and clover were 

 sown at the satne time. It yielded me a fine 

 crop. I mowed the same five years without ad- 

 iling any manure. The second manuring was still 

 more efficacious, when CO to 80 bushels was 

 used. Forty bushels is as much as ought to be 

 used the first time. I know of a farm hi New Jer» 

 sey, in a lime stone country, completely worn out, 

 The most that could be obtained for it was fifteen 

 dollars jicr acre. I presume the purchaser would 

 not now sell it for fifty dollars per acre. It is en- 

 tirely renewed by lime, and it is a pleasure to look 

 over it. 



The advantage of using lime is, you insure to 

 yourself a certain crop, unless the season is very 

 unfavorable. Ground which has not yielded 

 wheat for many years now [iroduces fine crops. lo 

 one instance, fortyfive bushels per acre has been 



