Vol. IX.— N". 51. 



AND IIOIITICULTUIIAL JOURNAL. 



405 



on, and in nl.oiit ten days luii);,' it ii|) ti^lit, "ii'l 

 loro a -liiiililet licile lUiur llie biiii!.', and put a pfg 

 1 it lif,'liily, im.l in nlunt a inonlli drive it in tight ; 

 xnrnino irin Novcniln-r or tlie lieyinning nl'Docini- 

 ;r, nn<l it will ircmridly l>e I'minil (ine mid liriglit, 

 hen it ought to he racltcd into ii dean cask well 

 ,Mliil with siilplnir, r.nd if it is not p'Tlectly 

 and bright, /lie it; afier whicli it may he] 

 tiled, or :igain racked into nimllier cask, a;: 

 diicrted ; when it will kec[i lor years in the 

 cod, and be improving. 



By taking nine pecks of currants and eighty four 

 ids ot" sngar, a whiskey barrel Inll may he 

 e, Iiolding from ihirlylwo to thirtyfour gal- 

 ns — if the eask is not qnitc lull, fill it with wa- 



Tiiis mode of making rnrrant wine, will make 

 more like a foreign wine, than any other I am 

 qiiainled with ; and as almost every person who 

 s a garden, has a nnmher of currant trees, I give 

 is receipt to enable tbem to convert such as are 

 t wanted for jelly, into a very fine wine. 

 Note — Thirieen and a half poninls of sugar pro- 

 ce one gallon of liquid. The currants ought to 

 picked on a dry ilay, and the wine made the 

 le day, otherwise it will take more sugar, 

 id will not be so neat a wine ns if the whole 0|)er- 

 ans were completed in a day. 



From llolbrook's Scieiuiflc Tracts. 



PILK WORMS. 

 IThe product of anniher insect, the caterpillar 

 i& moth, whether it be looked upon as an article 

 icommerce, or an object of domestic employ- 

 tut, is well worthy theailention of our country. 

 "ii raising of silk-worms engaged the attention of 

 tl emperor of China, so long ago as twentyseven 



Jidred years bef ire the Christian era ; and an 

 press first attended to the manufactiire of silk, 

 s occupation for a long time wa^ confined to 

 es of the most elevated standing; hut gradually 

 aiiie an employment for females generally. 

 ;ir the rpiantity of silk manufactured was 

 icient to clothe all classes in China, it was 

 1 n5 an article of exportation, and was 

 •icd from the northern parts of the Chinese 

 linions to eery jiart of Asia. — In 555, two 

 i' I iks Iirouirht from China in th.=ir hollow staves, 

 s (-worms' eggs to Consianiinople ; and thus Eu- 

 first became possessed of the power of rais- 

 si!k. In Greece, a.f in China, females of the 

 families commencerl the care of silk-worms. 

 t to Greece, Italy attended to the rearing of 

 e insects. About the year 1600, Henry IV. 

 iuced the raising of silk-worms into France, 

 h now derives from their labors 23,560,000 

 ^s anuiilly. — Although inl 180, silk was im- 

 ed into England from China, which was ear- 

 :han it had been received in Franco; still'noth- 

 tf impori.anre was done towards the introrfuc- 

 of the caterpillar into England, until within 

 last eleven years, — two hundred years after 

 ice had set an example. AlihougU two pre- 

 iiig attempts had failed to render the cnltiva- 

 of silk important in Germany, during the past 

 ve years great efforts have been made there, 

 nating with the Agricultural Society of Ba- 

 1. Prussia and Sweden also, have not been 

 and in the former of these, it has been proved, 

 ' silk equal to that of Italy may be produced, 

 ding greater profit than any other branch of 

 industry ;' while that raised in the latter 

 ■( itry would show ' that the silk raised near the 



polar circle is ei]ual in strength ami linnness to 

 .my species cultivated in more temperate cli- 

 mates.' 



The ciillivation of the silk-worm in this coun- 

 trv, is becoming an object of so much imporlance, 

 that during the year 1S28, the Senate of the Uni- 

 ted Stales, ordered 2000 copies vt'a leiterfroni the 

 Secretary of the Treasurv, transmitting all the 

 information which could lie collected respecting 

 ihe cultivation of silk in the Union, to be printed 

 for the use of its metnbers. In Virginia, Georgia 

 and South Carolina, the silk-worm has been rcfar- 

 ed for many years. In 1760, silk was first raised 

 in Connecticut. Since then in New Hampshire, 

 Vermont, Massachusetts and very lately in Maine, 

 this subject has attracted the attention of econ- 

 omists. Connecticut has been eminently success- 

 ful in her efiorts : — in 1S25, in the town of 

 Mansfield alone, in that State, the silk manufac- 

 tured was three hundred pounds — valued at ffleen 

 thousand dollars: — in 1826, the County of Winil- 

 liam manufiictured silk to the amount of fiflyfour 

 Ihousand dollars. It is estimated that five thou- 

 sand dollars' worth of silk is annually sold in one 

 County, (Orange County) lu New York ; and 

 die whole sale of this article in that State, is cal- 

 culated at fifteen thousand dollars. When it is 

 considered that the greater part of the labor may 

 be accoiTiplished by females and children, and 

 that it is not only a healthful exercise, but an 

 agreeable amusement, it will he thought a little 

 Bupprising, that we are so willing and ready to 

 import silk from abroad. 



Agave .imericnna. — At a late meeting of the 

 New York Horticultural Society, Mr Saltus ]n-e- 

 sented an Agave Americana and a specimen of 

 the Hemp manufactured from it, accompanied by 

 the following letter. 



Pnitail rrnce. May a, ISTl, 



Sia — Referring to my respects of the 20tli 

 lilt. I have the pleasure now to forward you pr.lirig 

 Onslow, the jdants you requested. Kegs could 

 not be procured, but I hope they will arrive equal- 

 ly safe as they are. 



The mode used for preparing this grass or 

 hem|) for market is very simple — a piece of tim- 

 ber similar to tliat used by curriers in cleaning 

 skins at a certain jieriod of the process of tail- 

 ing, is arranged ; the green leaves or shoots are 

 placed on it, and with a piece of hard wood, form- 

 ed something like a drawing knife, an end in each 

 hand, the green and juicy substance is rubbed 

 oft'; the white fibres remain and only require dry- 

 ing to be fit for sale. 



Should these roots get to hand in good order. 

 I beg your acceptance of them, and am, 



Very respectfiilly, your 



Obliged Servant, 



H. Phelps. 



N. Saltus, Esq. New York. 



Horticultural. — Those who grafted their fruit 

 trees in the spring, should look them over and 

 see whether the bandages do not reqiiire ta- 

 king oflT; — and whether young shoots from the 

 stocks are not depriving the grafts or inocu- 

 lations of their portion of the sap. If so, they 

 should be cut off; but care should be taken 

 at fifst, not to trim off all the shoots so as 

 to leave the stock without leaves, for fear of stag- 

 nating the sap and causing the death of both graft 

 and stock. — Getiesee Farmer. 



Important Inipruvcnuiit in the Production of 

 Cream. — For about twi Ive inonlhs past Mr 

 S.imiiel Davis of this city has been trying experi- 

 iiienls on the use of milk pans mailo of zinc as a 

 siihstituie for those of liii or other materials. His 

 experiment.s, last summer, on Long Island and 

 New Jersey, were b'g'i'y satisfactory. Ho and 

 another gcntlemat* iiilercsled, have n-])ealed them 

 this spring, willi results equally favorable. They 

 have ascertained lliat milk in zinc pans will keep 

 sweet four or five hours longer than in those of 

 other materials, and consequenlly afford a longer 

 time for the cream to rise. 



On Wednesday, the 25tli inst. wc saw 3 tin and 

 three zinc pans having in eacli nine qnaris of milk. 

 The milk, whicli was just froui the cow.s, had been 

 put in on the Monday previous at three o'clock in 

 the afternoon. On Wediiesilay at nine in the 

 morning, when wc were present at the skimming, 

 the milk in the tin pans had become mostly coagu- 

 lated or loppard ; that in the zinc pans but slightly 

 sour. At two o'clock this latter afrord_ed a second 

 skimming. The result of the churning was, that the 

 cream from the zinc produced three lbs. five oz. 

 and that from the tin only two pounds five and a 

 half ounces. Care was taken to have the experi- 

 ments correct and fair. In addition to the extra 

 quantify, the butter from the zinc vessels is thought 

 to be sweeter. 



V.'e do not know on what principle to account 

 for tills efl^ect, except it may be that of galvanic 

 agency. The importance of the improvement 

 will at once be perceived by every one. The pans 

 are very durable, not likely to rust or oxiiiize, and 

 at a [nice very little higher than those of tin. 



Pans and kettles of every description are man- 

 ufactured by the proprietors of the patent, Messrs. 

 John Westfield & Co. No. 163 Mott street. New 

 York. We hope farmers will lose no time in 

 furnishing themselves with one or more pans to try 

 the experimeiils. — .V. Y. Farmer. 



Pendulum Churns. — We should suppose one of 

 the easii'st hand churns in use, is that operating 

 by a pendulum. A child of eight or ten years 

 old can sit down and move a double churn with- 

 out difficulty, during the time requisite to produce 

 butter. A patent has been recently taken out by 

 persons in this city, and extensive sales made. It 

 is, if we are not greatly mistaken, an old inven- 

 tion. — JV. Y. Farmer. * 



Different Flo'cers on the sam,e Slock. — Tlie 

 new Monthly Magazine gives the following meth- 

 of obtaining flov/ers of different colors on the 

 same stem : Split a small twig of elder length 

 ways, and having scraped out the pilh, fill 

 each of the apartments with seeds of flowers of 

 different sorts, but v^hich blossom about the same 

 time ; — surround them with mould, and then tying 

 together the two bits of wood, plant the whole in 

 a pot filled v/ith earth properly prepared. The 

 stems of the difTerent flowers will thus be so incor- 

 porated as to exhibit to the eye, only one stem, 

 thowing out branches covered with flowers analo- 

 gous to the seed which produced them. 



Insects. — The Curculio continues his ravages 

 upon the plums, apricots and nectarines ; most of 

 wdiicli are already destroyed in this neighborhood. - 

 The yellow bugs which destroy melons and cu- 

 cumbers, have been foiled by the aplication of coal 

 dust, and appear to have deserted our gardens.— 

 Geneste Farmer. 



