PRACTICAL FARMER. 



8} 



Direction for sowing the seed and raising 

 the plants ov the white italian mulberry 



TREE. 



1. To SOW an ounce of seed, prepare a bed 50 

 feet long and 4 feet broad. Maiiiire it well with 

 a compost composed of one third stable manure, 

 one third af^hes, and one third decomposed leaves 

 from tlie woods, or garden mould ; dig deep, pul- 

 verize finely, and then lay the beds off in drills 12 

 inches apart, one quarter or one half of an inch 

 deep ; sow the seed as thi(!k as your onion or pars- 

 nips; cover with rich mould, press the mould 

 down gently, but sufficiently to cause the seed to 

 come into contact with the earth ; and should the 

 weather be dry, water the seed bed every other 

 evening, it will assist in promoting the germina- 

 tion of the seed and vigorous growth of ihe plant. 



2. Keep the beds clean of weeds ; and give an 

 occasional watering with suds and water, say once 

 a week after they are up. 



3. The second year, if not removed before, 

 the plants must be removed into the nursery rows, 

 which must be prepared as for any other crop. 

 The ragged roots being taken oft and the tap root 

 .shortened, ihe plants must be planted out 12 inch- 

 es apart in rows three feet apart, the earth to be 

 well trodden around the plant. As before, the 

 earth must be kept open and free from weeds. 



4. At two years old, the plants may be plant- 

 ed out into hedges, at 18 inches apart in rows six 

 feet wide. The ground should be prepared as 

 before directed, and some good rich mould put 

 into the holes, to be pi'essed around the plant. If 

 intended to be planted out as standard trees, 20 

 feet square apartwould be a good distance ; but in 

 that case the plants should not be transplanted un- 

 til they are about ten inches in diameter. In either 

 case they will require trimming and topping, and 

 if kept as hedges should be treated as other hedges 

 are. — Southern Jlgr. 



Berks County Silk. — We have recently ex- 

 amined a specimen of Sewing Silk, the first ever 

 manufactured in this county, and it was of such 

 a qiiality, and the manner of its production so 



us to prepare a stock of food for our worms, should any 

 accident deprive them of the mulberry leaves, or should 

 they be hatched before the trees have produced any. — 

 Gather in tlie autuain, before the frosts commence, and 

 in dry weather, the leaves of the malberry tree, which 

 must be dried in the sun, by spreading them on large 

 cloths, reduce them to powder, and lay them up in a 

 dry place ; when it is necessary to feed with this pow- 

 der, let it be moistened with water and spread round 

 the worms, who will immediately feed upon it. Other 

 food has been prepared to feed with, such as Lettuce, 

 Endive, &c.; but we are assured by a person of great 

 experience, that the silk produced by any other food 

 than mulberry leaves is of an inferior quality, and the 

 worms are sickly. 



creditable, that it did our hearts good. It w:'-3 

 the entire prodi ction of a young lady near Read- 

 ing, one of Berks county's fairest daughters, who 

 reared and fed the worms, spun the silk from the 

 cocoons, and doubled and twisted it into skeins, 

 all with her own hands. Here new is the exam- 

 ple set to our young ladies, and we are persua- 

 ded they are about to imitate it, as a large quanti- 

 ty of mulberry seed has gone into different parts 

 of the county from this place. How irresistible 

 would be the charms of the young lady, when 

 dressed in the fabric of her own hands' produc- 

 tion, and how eagerly would the beaux press for- 

 ward for her hand ! — And well might they seek 

 such wives, for they would be worth having. — 

 Readins: Press. 



SEED CORN. 



Mr Holmes: — Much is said and written of 

 late on the choice of seed corn — some preferring 

 eight, some ten, and some twelve rowed — some 

 a large and some a small cob. When [ select my 

 seed corn I attend but little to the number of rows 

 or the size of the cob, but to what the cob con- 

 tains. 



When we peel the trees of the forest where the 

 bark is the principal object we choose the largest 

 trees because the bark is the thickest, the trees 

 longest, and still if small trees have as thick a bark 

 as large ones it is very evident that we obtain more 

 bark in proportion to the bulk of timber than we 

 should from large trees. So with corn — the bark 

 or coating being the sole object, it behoves us to 

 obtain those ears that are best coated. When I 

 select my seed corn whether taken from the field 

 or the heap, I take the largest, ripest and best fill- 

 ed to appearance — but when I come to shelling, 

 which 1 always do by hand, it is subject to a tnore 

 minute selection. When 1 have shelled about one 

 fourth part from the top end of the »ear, which 

 part I always exclude from my seed, I can judge 

 whether it is well coated or not, or whether the 

 kernels are deep and of good length and well set, 

 and if J find the coating thin or shallow, I at once 

 exclude it without any regard to the number of 

 rows or size of the cob. 



The Boston Post has discovered an infallible 

 remedy to disperse a mob. It consists merely in 

 carrying round a contribution box. 



The New York Gazette relates as a tact within 

 its own knowledge, that a gentleman at a reading 

 room, .after employing four hours in wading thro' 

 the contents of his favorite newspaper, laid it down 

 and taking up another paper pored it over for 

 two hours longer, before he discovered that it was 

 a duplicate copy of the first, which a wag had put 

 on the tAble to try him. 



