76 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



[From the Silk Cultuiist.] 



Sufield, June I5th, 1835. 



Mr Editor: — Having been often requested, by 

 several gentlemen engaged in the silk business, to 

 furnish some information for your valuable paper, 

 on the best method of increasing the Morus Mul- 

 ticaulis, 1 send the following communication, and 

 if you think it worthy of a place in the " Cultu- 

 rist," you are at liberty to publish it. 



I think that to conmiencL! by inoculating is cal- 

 culated to multi[)ly the Morus Multicaulis the most 

 rapidly, as it affords facilities for increasing them 

 many other ways afterwards. Inoculated trees 

 are more abundant in sprouts than grafted ones 

 which will make good layers, and besides furnish 

 abundant cuttings for another year. They ai-e 

 also more forward. I have three thousand which 

 were inoculated last August, the most of which 

 have already grown more than a foot, whilst; those 

 grafted the present season are just putting out. 



Trees intended to be inoculated the present 

 year, should be trimmed immediately and kept 

 clean from sprouts from the ground a foot up- 

 wards, and should stand at such distance from 

 each other as to make it convenient to work 

 around them. Success depends much on the con- 

 dition of the trees. 



Select for the buds the small size of ripe twigs 

 of the present year's growth, and cut off the leaves 

 near the buds ; select a smooth jilace in the stock 

 and make a perpendicular slit downwards in the 

 bark, about half an inch, cross this by another slit 

 at the top, taking care not to cut the wood, then 

 take off the bud, (this should be done with expe- 

 dition, as the influence of the sun and air injure it 

 if exposed,) this is done by entering the knife half 

 an inch above the bud, taking it out with a slight 

 scollop to a quarter of an inch below, turn the bud 

 over and ])ick out the wood, leaving in the roots, 

 then with the knife raise the corners of the bark 

 and enter the bud, then place the thumb nail on 

 the leaf stock, and push it down to the bottom of 

 the slit, then with a drawing stroke of the knife 

 cut off the top of the inoculation exactly corres- 

 ponding with the 'cross cut, and bind down the 

 bark with woollen yarn, taking particular care in 

 the whole operation not to iriar the inside of the 

 bark or tlie wood of the stock. 



A knife much used in New Jersey for budding- 

 peach trees, which is perfectly simple, 1 think best 

 adujted to this purpose; the blade is made by a 

 common blacksmith, one inch and a quarter long 

 and three eighths wide, with a shank to drive into 

 the handle, which is made of wood, the point of 

 the blade is rounded back, having the edge con- 

 vex. 



In addition to the above described knife, I placed 

 in the opposite end of the handle of mine a small 

 piece of ivory, into which I filed a notch of suita- 



ble size to stride the bud, with this I press down 

 the bud, after it is entered, which is preferable to 

 using the thumb nail. 



Inoculations seldom adhere to the stock, only 

 around the edges, therefore the smaller the piece 

 of bark the better, pi'ovided the organs of the bud 

 are preserved, and also for the benefit of the trees, 

 as the smaller the wound the quicker it will heal, 

 and besides, if the piece of bark be large, it leaves 

 a hol!ow place under the bud which often causes 

 it to wither. 



I have recommended tying with woollen yarn, 

 because it is more elastic and convenient than 

 loose matting. These strings may remain fifteen 

 or twenty days, regard however l)eing had to the 

 rapidity with which the trees grow. 



I have further noticed that of those buds insert- 

 ed without taking out the wood a much larger 

 proportion die than those having the wood re- 

 moved. I have not therefore recommended it, 

 although it is more expeditions. 



The best time for inoculating, is from the middle 

 of July until the 1st of September, but the original 

 stock should not be taken off until the following 

 Spring. Thomas J. Bestor. 



[From Kenrick's New American Orchardist.] 

 JTOBIEROtJS SUCCESSIVE CROPS OF COCOO.\S, 



From the present encouraging appearances, we 

 are induced to believe, that instead of one single 

 and solitary crop of silk in a year, we may yet be 

 enabled, in our climate, and with our prolonged 

 sununers, to raise not merely two crops of silk a 

 year, with a void interval of time between them, 

 but numerous crops of different ages at the same 

 time and in rapid succession for a season. With 

 the complete establishment of such a system, a 

 new era with us will commence. There are mul- 

 berries which will renew their foliage suddenly, 

 and for numerous successive times in a season. 

 Where a regular succession of crops can thus be 

 obtained, with a diminished proportion of labor, 

 of land, of cultivation, of habitations and of fur- 

 niture, for the successive generations of insects, 

 how greatly augmented tnust be the profit. 



Some, I am aware, might object, on the suppo- 

 sition that the i)Ian has been befoi-e tried an hun- 

 dred times in Italy, in France, and other countries. 

 Not a doubt exists but it lias been tried. But we 

 have no evidence whatever that in a suitable cli- 

 mate, it has ever been tried fairly and aright, and 

 failed. It seems important, that in this case, only 

 the eggs of the former year should be used, as 

 these by age, are found to hatch more promptly 

 and simultaneously, and all these may be saved 

 from the cocoons of the first crop produced, 

 which would prevent the possibility of a degene- 

 racy. These are to be preserved dry at a suitable 

 temperature, and to be transferred to an ice house 



