42 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



Mr Cooke, 



I send you a few suggestions in season for 

 those who are feeding silk worms. It is a com- 

 mon error to hatch more worms than our leaves 

 will feed. The best mode of diminishing the 

 number is to throw away those, that do not finish 

 the process of moulting or casting the skin in for- 

 tyeight hours. The healthy vigorous worms get 

 through in that time. The others are feeble and 

 make imperfect or loose cocoons. You thus se- 

 cure a strong stock and have strong silk. 



If you cannot reel the ball in ten days after it is 

 spun, the best mode of killing the worm is, with 

 camphor dissolved in alcohol. Put in as much 

 as the spirit will dissolve. Take a large coffee 

 pot or tin pail with a close cover ; put in a layer 

 of balls and sprinkle with camphorated spirits, as 

 you sprinkle clothed to be ironed, continue this 

 process till the vessel is full ; then close it up and 

 set it near the fire, moving it nearer gradually till 

 the heat causes a vapor to rise — this will pervade 

 the whole mass and extinguish life. The gum is 

 loosened, the balls are reeled moi'e easily and no 

 moths or ants, or mice will touch them after- 

 wards. • 



The objection to baking is, that we are apt to 

 bake too much, lest we should not kill the worm, 

 the fibres of the silk are frequently injured though 

 the color of the ball is not changed. Those that 

 are steamed are apt to become mouldy, if not at- 

 tended lo, and those killed by exposure to the 

 sun are seldom efi'ectually done, for the want of 

 three or four hot days in succession. — Silk 

 Grower. 



Those of our readers vk'ho intend visiting the city, on 

 business or otherwise will find at the Frankhn House, 

 convenient accommodations, good beds, attentive wait- 

 ers and an obliging iiost. 



Tlie House is wilhin a stone's throw of Faneuil Hall 

 and Q,uincy Market, one side opening to the Market 

 square. 



RAISING} CHICKENS. 



Tlie following is a valuable article, and relates to a 

 branch of rural economy, which deserves more attention 

 than it has received in this country. Further favors of 

 a similar nature from the same hand are respectfully so- 

 licited. 

 Mr Fessenden, 



Sir — In one of your late papers I saw mentioned a 

 successful way oi raising chickens, — I have been in the 

 habit of raising them for some years, and if you think 

 favorably of the mode I have adopted, you can insert it 

 in your valuable paper. 



I keep my hens warm under cover during the winter, 

 and feed them on " Brewers' Grains " placed in an open 

 box or tub, that they may eat when they please, occa- 

 sionally giving them oats, corn, and oyster shells pound- 



ed fine, and plenty of water — by keeping them warm 

 and well fed, they begin laying earlier in the season. I 

 prefer spring chickens, as they lay earlier than old hens 

 — and the old hens to set, as they make the best mothers. 

 I take care the eggs do not get chilled with cold, and 

 keep them in a warm place in my house. When three 

 or four hens want to set I put from thirteen to fifteen 

 eggs under each of them, according to size — the day of 

 the month marked on each egg — and after the hen has 

 seta week or ten days I examine them by holding the 

 eggs to a crack or knot hole in a board when the sun 

 shines thiough, and if 1 discover any rotten ones, I take 

 them away and replace them with fresh ones marked as 

 before mentioned. When the chickens are all hatched 

 I put two or three of the broods to one hen, in a coop 

 witliaii opening against an empty barrel placed on the 

 bilge, and with a little care, when put in the coop, the 

 hen may be made to brood them at the further end of 

 the barrel. In that way the chickens that are not cov- 

 ered by the hen huddle together around her, and keep 

 each other warm. The hens from which the chickens 

 are taken I put into another coop, and in about a fort- 

 night they will begin to lay again. The hen being con- 

 ii ned in the coop, will leave her chickens much earlier 

 than if left lo run at large with them, and the chickens 

 will become so accustomed to going into the barrel and 

 huddling together, as to be quite contented to give up the 

 hen's brooding them. After the chickens are two or 

 three weeks old I remove them with the coops into my 

 garden, where they feed upon insects, so as to require 

 but little food — but do not keep them there until they 

 are large enough to injure the garden. 



I feel persuaded that in the way I have proceeded, our 

 market could be supplied with an abundance of poultry, 

 and I recommend it with confidence, if managed witii 

 care and attention, as profitable to those who may engage 

 in such business. 



Cha'vlcstown, July, 183G. 



0° The following is only one of many cases we have 

 heard, of farmers purchasing seeds, when the venders 

 know nothing about what they were selling. 



Seed. — We have heard that for a year or two past, 

 some of our farming friends have been horridly imposed 

 upon in their seed. Cabbage and English Turnip seed 

 having been sold them for Kuta Baga. One of our 

 friends will this year lose from two to three hundred dol- 

 lars in his crop, as he intended to have three acres of 

 Ruta Baga, but they have proved to be English Turnips ! 

 Men who deal in seeds should be held responsible, espe- 

 cially when they purchase their seeds of Tom, Dick and 

 Harry and then sell them as genuine. We only say at 

 present that the seeds were not purchased at the Agri- 

 cultural Ware House of Mr Harlow. But unless some 

 satisfactory explanation shall be given, we shall caution 

 our readers against purchasing seed at the establishment 

 where these were obtained. — Bangor Far. 



