38 



SILK MANUAL. AND 



ter for a pasture, being satisfied that it is admirably 

 adapted to that purpose. I laid it down v/ith bar- 

 ley, but it grew so fast that I was obliged to cut 

 the barley stalks very short, or else I should not 

 have been able to thresh it, so thick and succulent 

 was the lucerne. I cut over this field once and 

 then depastured it. 



" I mention this fact as a remarkable one, be- 

 cause the French writers speak of it aa a venj rare 

 occurrence even in their climate that it will bear 

 the scythe the first year." 



With regard to top dressing for lucerne, we see 

 nothing in the books. Mr Lowell says, " I have 

 always used gypsum, and perhaps owe my auc- 

 eess to that valuable stimulant. I have employed 

 two bushels to the acre." 



CULTURE OF SllilC IN TURKEY. 



I offer to the public extracts of a letter written 

 recently by Charles Rhind, Esq. to a gentleman 

 in this city. It is replete Avith interesting inform- 

 ation on tlie mulberry and the culture of silk. Mr 

 Rhind is well acquainted with Turkey ; he was 

 the yjrincipal negotiator of our treaty with the 

 Sultan, and is a gentleman possessing a highly 

 cultivated Diind, united to acuteness of observa- 

 tion. He says '' In that country (Turkey) the 

 ])roduction of silk is confined to cities or the 

 larger towns, in the vicinity of which the mul- 

 berry tree is chiefly cultivated ; those trees belong 

 to the farmers or proprietors of the ground, who 

 do not rear the worm themselves, but during the 

 crop-season, the leaves are collected by them daily 

 and, carried into the city and sold in the market 

 in the same manner as fruit and vegetables, in 

 auch quantities as purchasers may require. At 

 the commencement of the season almost every 

 family clear out all the rooms in the house except 

 one in which they live during the crop season : 

 the worms being produced they purchase a quan- 

 tity of leaves and strew them over the floor of 

 each I'oom, leaving a small space next the wall, 

 that they may Avalk round and distribute the 

 leaves ; they then place the worms on the leaves, 

 who readily attack them, and then daily throw on 

 such a quantity as experience teaches them will 

 supply the want of the worms, and this they re- 

 peat until the worms are ready to rise and wind 

 the cocoon, without ever removing the offal or 

 stems, and frequently the pile of collected matter 

 will reach the height of three or four feet. When 

 the worms show symptoms of winding they plant 

 branches and brushes immediately over the col- 

 lected mas^, the worms rise on these, the cocoons 

 are formed and collected, and the rooms are then 

 ;*leared out and the reeling is commenced. This 

 manipulailui: is performed in the most clumsy 

 manner and with the rudest machinery imagina- 

 ble, notwithstanding which tlicy produce the 



finest silk in the world. For upwards of thirty 

 years I have been of opinion that the culture of 

 silk would in time, be the most important of our 

 agricultural productions next to cotton. When 

 last in Turkey, by means of an American gentle- 

 man who is resident in Brusa, I obtained a quan- 

 tity of the genuine seed of the Morus alba (white 

 mulberry) of Brusa, the great silk district situated 

 at the foot of Mount Olympus, (where the best 

 silk is produced,) the climate of which resembles 

 our own, being almost in the latitude of New York. 

 The seeds which I brought have flourished here, 

 and in three years more will produce fruit suffi- 

 cient to supply tlie state, and probably the United 

 States with seed from a native stock of the present 

 blood, as a jockey would term it, for I am of 

 o{)inion that the Morus muUicaulis, Chinese mul- 

 berry, is too delicate for our climate, although it 

 might succeed in Florida ; but those I brought 

 we know to be genuine and hardy, and they will 

 flourish in our latitude." 



Re7narks — This information of Mr Rhind's is 

 important in several respects. It is highly proba- 

 ble that the mulberry seed which we may soon 

 expect from him, will produce trees more genial to 

 our climate, and better adapted to the worm, than 

 those now in this country. The Turkish method 

 of rearing the worm in cities and country villa- 

 ges, is worthy of our imitation and adoption. 

 How many persons there are unemployed who 

 might in tliis way earn large sums of money an- 

 nually, and thus live in comparative comfort. It 

 would be very profitable to farmers living near 

 the cities and villages, to cultivate the mulberry 

 and sup])ly the market. The Turkish method of 

 rearing the worm is disgustingly filthy, and ought 

 to be avoided, the worms should be placed on 

 shelves properly constructed, in tiers rising from 

 two to eight feet, filling all parts of a room ex- 

 cept,si)ace enough to allow the attendants to feed 

 them and remove the offal and filth which when 

 accumulated, must injure the worm, Mr Rhind 

 proves the fact that our climate is atlapted to the 

 production of silk of a superior quality, and he 

 very justly ai)preciates the high importance of the 

 culture of silk, and is not mistaken in considering 

 it the most important of our productions next to 

 cotton, and I doubt much whether he need have 

 excepted cotton itself. — Correspondent of the Alba- 

 ny Journal. 



Coughs and Colds. — Horse-radish cut into 

 small pieces and chewed in the mouth is an ex- 

 cellent remedy for hoaiseness, coughs, cohls, and 

 cases of incipient consumption. — Farmer^s Gazette 



A rail road is projected from Paris to Calais, so 

 that one may breakfast in Paris, and dias in Lon- 

 don. 



