!»IIACTIGAL FARMER 



181 



the first year*s j^rocess of M. Beaiivais, gave him 

 67 |)ounds of cocoons to tlie ounce of seed ; he 

 has been constantly' in progress during tlie years 

 1830, 1831, 1832 and 1833 1 in 1834, lie obtained 

 104 pounds. All these facts are generally known ; 

 the results of his last year's procress was 137 

 pounds — in this, 8 ounces of seed were employed ; 

 it ^vas made under a temperature of 18 to 20 dcg. 

 of heat by the theuiometre of Reaumur; (73 to 77 

 de«r. of Fahrenheit ; ) it occujiicd thirtyseveu days, 

 and consumed 16,830 jiounds, (8,416 kilogr.) of 

 leaves, not pealed, taken from midberry trees, the 

 one half of which v/ere grafted the other wild ; it 

 produced 1,101 pounds and three quarters (551 

 !;iIogr.) of cocoons of the finest qttality, large, firm 

 and of an admiiable whiteness. -It does not ap- 

 pear that a similar result has been previously else- 

 where obtained in any other large establishments, 

 nevertheless, iM. Be-auvais is the first to inform us 

 that one of his pupils, M. Henri Bourdon, recently 

 from the polytechnic school, and a proprietor at 

 llis, has just finished an experimental process, of 

 which the product was in the ratio of 170 pounds 

 of cocoons to tiie ounce of seed. 



[To be concluded.] 



Deterioration of Silk Worms. — A super- 

 stitious notion formerly prevailed to a considerable 

 extent that the eggs of the silk worm mtist be 

 changed every two or three years to prevent the 

 deterioration of the worm. This notion, like 

 many others of the same class, is at war with rea- 

 •son and science. The supposition that good co- 

 coons, after a few yearp, are no longer fit to pro- 

 duce good seed, is ridiculously absurd. Tlie time 

 has gone by when tlie idle and foolish theories of 

 Ihiflbn, Robertson, De Pauw and others, respect- 

 ing the tendency of nature "to be little" and de- 

 generate every thing in the new world, are received 

 as truths. Facts also have settled t!ie question 

 that silk worms will not degenerate, except as a 

 consequence of neglect, or the long propagation of 

 those of diminutive size. — Silk Culiui-isi^ 



Scarcity of Hat. — The Greenfield Mercury 

 remarks : — " We regret to hear that a scarcity of 

 hay is beginning to be sevei'ely felt in many of the 

 towns in this cotmty — pai'ticularly in the hill 

 towns west of us. Many farmers have scarcely a 

 lock of hay left, and are unable to procure it except 

 at exorbitant prices. Meantime their stock is 

 suffering extremely. A farmer in Ileath, we 

 understand, lost five cows last week from absolute 

 starvation, and a farmer in another town upwards 

 of twenty sheep from the same cause : the depth 

 of the snow preventing their going into the woods 

 to browse. Wc have heard of one or two instances 

 where farmers have oflered their cows at $5, and 

 sheep for their fleeces when sheared, and been 



unable to dispose of them, even at that rate. We 

 apprehend that this scarcity arises not so much 

 from an absolute deficiency of hay in consequence 

 of the light crop of last year, as from the with- 

 holding for a higher price, of those who cut their 

 usual quantity, and who have tons of a sur|)lus to 

 tlispose of. If the hay actually in possession were 

 more equally distributed, we have no doubt there 

 would be a sufficiency for all, enough at least to 

 prevent much suffering." 



The Northampton Courier says: " Hay is scarce 

 beyond example. The ' hill towns ' are sufler- 

 ing much, and the valley little better oflT. Hay is 

 selling for twentyfive dollars, and it can hardly be 

 had for love or money. W^e were told tlie other 

 day, that if all the hay in the town of Goshen 

 should be put before the cattle, it would not last 

 them twentyfour hours. The mildness of the 

 weather will soon enable sheep to browse, and in 

 this way a great saving will be had in the shape of 

 provender." 



Rail Roads in the United States. — It is 

 estimated on good authority, that at this time, the 

 rail roads in the United States, either actually 

 under contract, or in progress of being surveyed, 

 amount to more than three thousand miles. Eac!i 

 yard of the highest iron rails, fit for a rail road, 

 weighs sixtytwo and half pounds. As there are 

 1760 yards in a mile, each mile of rail road with 

 a double track, will require two hundred and 

 tliirtyeight tons of rails, besides chains, screw and 

 bolts, amounting in the whole to at least 250 tons 

 of iron per mile — 250 multiplied by 3000, is seven 

 hundred and fifty thousand tons of iron, that will 

 shortly be used in the United States, in the con- 

 struction of rail roads. 



Such is the demand for railroad iron in England 

 for the American market, that common bar iron, 

 W'hich one year ago, was worth only £6 10s. stg. 

 in Wales is now worth £9 10s. at the Welsh 

 works ; as appears by the British Prices Current. 



It is stated in the New York papers that at this 

 time contracts have been actually made in Eng- 

 land by z\merican Houses, for four hundred thou- 

 sand tons of rail road iron, to be shipped to this 

 country. 



£9 10s. sterling is about fortyfive dollars of our 

 money ; but rail road iron costs more than com- 

 mon bar iron, and is at this time worth at least 

 $50 per ton, at the works in Wales or Stafford- 

 . shire. Four hundred thousand tons of iron p.t $50 

 per ton, is twenty millions of dollars, that the people 

 of the United States are bound to pay to the En- 

 glish by their present contracts for rail road iron. 

 If all the projected rail roads of this country shall 

 be laid down with British iron rail, we shall pay 

 to the English nation within the next seven years, 

 at hust Jifty millions of dollars for rail road iron. 



