PRACTICAL FARMER 



93 



Extract of a Letter from Gen. Tallmadge to the 

 American Institute, dated 



" Naplks, 5th March, 1836. 

 •' Since I arrived in this land of fame and fa- 

 ble, I have not been unmindful of the culture of 

 Silk, so justly a subject of great aud growing in- 

 terest of our country. I have visited several man- 

 ufactories of silk. It is not the season for seeing 

 the silk worm, but most of its progress in otiier 

 rsepects I have been able to see. I have made 

 many inquiries in hopes of obtaining useful in- 

 formation. Finizio is an extensive manufacturer 

 of sewing silk ; he makes about 3000 lbs. a week, 

 which is mostly sent to the New York market. 

 He is an intelligent man, and i found him willing 

 to answer my inquiries ; as also were several oth- 

 er establishment-', and which mostly confirmed 

 his statement. The sewing silks of Naples are 

 mostly made from the silk -grown in Calabria, 

 where the Worm is fed principally upon the black 

 mulberry, and which makes tlie strongest and 

 best sewing silk. Finizio slated that the worm 

 fed on the black mulberry, made the strongest 

 thread ; that on the ichite mulberry, finer and liet- 

 ter for fabrics ; that on the Chinese mulberry, still 

 finer and more delicate. When asked if the co- 

 coon from the Chinese mulberry required more 

 skilful and delicate work to wind and work it, he 

 said it did, and immediately produced two skeins, 

 one of whichj he said, was from the black mul- 

 berry, (from a bush, perhajis, eight or ten feet in 

 circumference,) the other from a bush about four 

 feet. The lesser bush, he said, was less liable to 

 break the thread in winding from the cocoon, and 

 was used in finer silks for fabrics. 'J'he black 

 mulberry produced a stronger thread, and would 

 bear the largest reel, and was principally used in 

 that business. The silk here is mostly made in 

 the country by families in detail, and much of it 

 reeled there, and in this condition it is brought to 

 market. For sewing silk it is doubled as often 

 as required, and twisted as much. This process 

 is wholly in a darkrootn. The silk is worked wet, 

 and for this purietsc, to preserve a uniformity, the 

 atmosphere is kept damp, the day light excluded, 

 and the work carried on with small hand lamps. 

 The machine was turned by men harnessed like 

 mules, I have since been out about twenty miles 

 to the silk factory of the king, which is worked 

 by water power, and b}- which the cocoons are 

 also reeled. I stated to" Finizio, as well as at the 

 king's factory, that the Italian silk was sold in the 

 American markets by its weight, while the Amer- 

 ican sewing silk was sold by the skein : and that 

 one pound of the Italian would have perhaps two 

 hundred and fifty skeins, while one of the Amer- 

 ican silk would have about threfe hundred and fif- 

 ty skeins. The cause of this difference of weight, 



or why the American sewing silk has a tendency 

 to curl or knot, they couid not exjlain without a 

 sample ; but said the weight of sewing silk could 

 be diminished or very considerjibly augmented in 

 the dyeing, and that good dyeing required the silk 

 to l)e well boiled in soap, after which it was )»ut 

 into an acid, and was there prepared for the pro- 

 cess of the dye, according to the color, as de- 

 scribed. The gloss, or dressing, seems to be pro- 

 duced by beating or twisting on a post, which, 

 with the manual labor put upon its finish, it is 

 supposed, prevents its tendency to knot. 



I asked if the color of the cocoon, yellow or 

 white, gave any difference of value, or indicated 

 a sickly worm, and the answer was, that the color 

 was casual, and the value the sanje ; that a selec- 

 tion of white or yellow cocoons from which to get 

 eggs, would probably produce a like color ; and 

 Mr Finizio said he had some customers who 

 had so selected and brought him cocoons entirftly 

 white ; and that for white ribbons or fabrics, they 

 commanded a greater price of from three to five 

 per cent., thouijh otherwise of equal value. 



I have made many other inquiries and observa- 

 tions on this subject, but which in the limits of 

 a letter cannot be detailed, 'ilie eggs" are herein 

 market during most of the year, and by being 

 kept m a grotto, or eld, duinp ; lac , the wornj 

 can be produced as requind. '^^1 he sirocco, or 

 hot south wind, is here the greatest enemy of the 

 silk worm, aud sometimes sud ienly destroys so 

 many of the wo/ms as to require the reproduction 

 of another class, from eggs in reserve. They 

 should be sheltered from this wind, and ventila- 

 tion should be given them above or by back win- 

 dows. I think we have sometimes a like south, 

 or south-west wind, which should be guarded 

 against, and which our gardeners call a red wind, 

 from a rust produced by it on peach, and ajj^icot 

 trees, which curls up and burns the young leaves, 

 and often kiLs the trees, and is said to effect the 

 mulberry trees in like manner' 



We do not entirely despair of having (Jrcasion- 

 ally a" Johnny Cake," after the old corn is all 

 consumed. A gentleman from Westmoreland in- 

 forms us that he thinks he can safely calculate on 

 fortyfive bushels to the acre from his corn fields, 

 but considers it an exception of that of most of his 

 neighboring farmers. W ile his fieliis remain 

 uninjured iiom the frosts, others near are neaily 

 destroyed. His lies Uj'nn a^very elevated part of 

 the town. — Silk Grower. 



Three thousand one hundred and eleven squir- 

 rels of all kinds, grey, black, red and striped, were 

 brought in by the two sides at a great squirrel 

 hunt in Swanton. (Vt.) a few days since. 



