FESSENDEN'S 



9 



AND 



^mA©^i©Am ^Amiiam< 



DeToted to the Culture of Silk, Ag^riculture, and Rural Economy. 



VOL. 1. 



BOSTON, JULY, 1835. 



NO. 3. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



GEORGE C. BARRETT, 



"51 fy 52 JVorth Market St., at the JV. E. Farmer Office. 



T. G. FESSENDEN— Editok. 



Fifty cents per year — twelve copies for five dollars 

 — always in advance. 



QU' Postmasters and Agents allowed 10 per cent on 

 all subscribers. 



BOSTON, JULY, 1835. 



FACTS AND OBSKRVATIOItfS REIiATlVE TO 

 THE CULTURE OF SIi:.K. 



The following extract from the Journal of a 

 Board for the extension of the culture of silk, 

 connected with the Agricultural Society of Bava- 

 ria, contains ideas which may prove useful to as- 

 sociations combined for similar purposes in the 

 United States : 



After reading of the resolutions and the list of 

 the members of the new Board, the Counseller of 

 State, M. de Haggi, spoke in substance as follows: 



« Gentlemen — The resolutions which have 

 just been read explain the end for which you have 

 convened. It is not less than to procure to your 

 country an important branch of industry, known 

 by the name of culture of silk. Like the Greeks, 

 Italians and French we wish to call silk culture 

 into existence. The culture of silk will be an 

 incidental business, the secondary work of chil- 

 dren, paupers and ol<l people. Encouraged by 

 the example of Greece, Italy and France we wish 

 to trust it to the fair hands of ladies, who could 

 by way of amusement, and without any expense, 

 obtain within six weeks, a most elegant material 

 for the ornament of their persons and of their 

 apartments. 



" The whole enterprize requires nothing further 

 than to feed the silk worms in the spring with 

 mulberry leaves ; a care not greeter, but surely 



more useful, than the feeding of dogs, birds, and 

 cats ; to keep them clean, and to grant them a 

 little space in a room to spin their silk. These 

 are the means by which the cocoons are obtained, 

 and these furnish again eggs : and here ends the 

 whole culture : for the cocoons themselves are ar- 

 ticles of commerce. 



" The business of the board is for the present : 



1. to attend to the plantation of mulberry trees ; 



2. to procure silk worms: 3, and lastly, to guide 

 in the use of these means. Only after these three 

 preliminaries have been attended to begins the 

 first chapter of fabrication." 



Mulberry must not be planted separate along 

 the street, exposed to dust, or to northerly winds, 

 nor in a marshy soil ; but on the contrary in a 

 sheltered place, with an exposure to the sun. 

 Cobb's Manual asserts that the white mulberry has 

 been found superior to the purple or native red. 

 Rush's report enumerates seven varieties of the red, 

 and says that « the leaves of the native red mulber- 

 ry tree agree perfectly with silk- worms, and yield 

 very good silk, is a fact so well established by the 

 experience of more than a century, that to doubt 

 it would amount to an absurdity. It appears 

 however, that the leaves do not suit the constitu- 

 tion of French worms and the author [Mr De- 

 longchamps] of the experiment, which he made 

 to satisfy himself on this point, therefore, decides 

 against the fitness of the tree for the food of the. 

 insects." 



" The roots of the mulberry tree strike very, 

 deep into the ground, so that the surface not 

 being impoverished as it is by many trees, whose 

 roots are found more in the upper soil, other 

 kinds of cultivation may be prosecuted around it. 

 Neither its shade nor the droppings of rain from 

 its leaves is considered prejudicial to plants 

 growing beneath. 



