PRACTICAL FARMER. 



67 



SILK CULTURE. 



From the correspondence of Gen. Tallmadge, it appears, 



1. That one great source of national wealth of 

 France, is the product of the Vineyard, under the 

 culture of the husbandman — and the Silk worm 

 under the fostering care of the wife. 



2. That in Italy, partially, and chiefly in France 

 the culture of Silk is carried on by private and in- 

 dividual industry. 



3. That a damp climate is injurious to the silk 

 worm — and that the culture of silk does not pros- 

 per near the ocean. 



4. That France does not produce one half of 

 the raw silk which she manufactures. Her pop- 

 ulation is so dense that she cannot furnish suffi- 

 cient space for mulberry trees. 



5. Tiiat the warm dry summers of the inland 

 parts of the United States are admirably fitted for 

 the culture of silk in families, and that we shall 

 succeed in it. That when the leaves of different 

 kinds of mulberries are mixed together, the ivorms 

 will select and gather the Chinese mulberry. 



6. That in Europe the mulberry trees are cut 

 oft' and kept dwarfed, for the convenience of gath- 

 ering leaves. 



7. That although the Chinese mulberry is 

 vastly superior to any other for feeding silk worms, 

 yet from the inaptitude of French farmers to 

 change habits, there are comparatively but few of 

 the Chinese mulberry set out in France. At this 

 time there are probably growing in America more 

 Chinese mulberry than in all Europe. Even af- 

 ter the experience of ages, Europeans are said to 

 act more from usage and habit, than skill and ex- 

 perience. The demand for mulberry in America 

 is so great, that the French this year have sold ug 

 100 trees where they have set out 10 for their 

 own use. 



Remarks on the foregoing : 

 If Silk is one of the greatest sources of national 

 wealth to France, and not land enough to grow its 

 mulberry, and are necessitated to import raw silk, 

 why cannot the culture become of equal impor- 

 tance to the wealth and prosperity of these United 

 States, where we have land enough and to spare .' 

 If in some parts of Europe the culture of silk 

 is chiefly done in families and by private individ- 

 uals, why cannot we do the same ourselves? 

 " We can and we will do it." It has already been 

 done in Mansfield, Ct. ; thoy have no special act 

 of government to enable them to do it, yet they 

 annually make and sell over 30,000 dollars worth 

 of silk, all made in families. Even the town of 

 Northampton, Mass., has one enterprising gentle- 

 man, who removed from Mansfield some forty or 

 fifty years since and brought with him a portion 

 of the silk habit, and has, as we are told, from 

 only a few trees manufactured annually for 40 

 years not less than 75 dollars worth of sewing 



silk. This has been done in a silent and unosten- 

 tatious manner, like other domestic employments, 

 not sung in verse, or known scarcely a stone's 

 throw from his residence. But how difFei-ent at 

 this time ! Now, Northampton takes a prominent 

 stand — is the very focus of silk culture, — possess- 

 ing the knowledge and information necessary and 

 requisite to the prosperity of the silk business. 



If a damp location and the sea air be unfa- 

 vorable to the health of the silk worm, then is 

 |)lenty of room, high and dry, in the interior sec- 

 tions of every State in the Union, exempt from that 

 evil. Where elevated dry soil and pure air 

 abounds, therefore let not these advantages be neg- 

 lected. 



If the territory of France is so much covered 

 with inhabitants that there is not spare room for 

 mulberry trees sufficient for the silk manufactured 

 there, we trust that America can never urge that 

 as an apology why we should not raise all the silk 

 needed for our national use, but we hope the en- 

 terjjrising spirit of our people will yet enuble 

 them to export many millions to other nations in- 

 stead of importing annually as we now do about 

 seventeen millions worth of silk materials. Of 

 course, so much cash must be sent out of the 

 country every year to pay for it. That silk worms 

 will select the Chinese in preference to any other 

 kind of mulberry, has been well attested, and from 

 its use more ailk is obtained. 



Now if we have one of the most favorable cli- 

 mates for the culture of silk, let us not sleep as do 

 others, but spread the mulberry throughout our 

 fertile vallies, and cover our granite hills. Im- 

 prove these sources of wealth which are within 

 the grasp of yankee industry and perseverance, 

 and instead of wandering to the •' far west " in 

 pursuit of what all cannot obtain, let us go ahead, 

 harnessed with silken cords, and raise an abun- 

 dance of that nourishment for the silk worm, the 

 Chinese mulberry, which is necessary to speed the 

 reel and shuttle, whether done in family or fac- 

 tories. 



It is a singular fact, that while in Europe, and 

 even in China the garden of silk, experience has 

 convinced cultivators of the expediency of head- 

 ing them down or cutting off tho mulberry every 

 year, for the convenience of gathering foliage, — 

 that, at the same time, we have adopted the same 

 method, not only for the same purposes, but also 

 for augmenting the foliage, propagating the trees. 

 and as a certain and sure protection from liie se- 

 verity of the climate. 



Europeans are trammelled by the habits and 

 customs of their predecessors, so are we. We 

 have our corn and other crops, the culture of 

 which has been transmitted from father to son ever 

 since the settlement of the country ; and having 

 such veneration for our fathers' habits of industry 



