FESSENDEN'S 



AND 



Devoted to the Culture of Silk, Agriculture and Rural Economy. 



( 



VOL. II. 



BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1836. 



NO. 7. 



PDBLISHED MONTHLT BY 

 JOS FPU BRECK & OO. 



51 8f 52 JYorth Market St., at the JV. E. Farmer Office. 



T. G. FESSENDEN, Euitok. 



Fifty cents per year — twelve copies for five dollars 

 — always in advance. 



U* Postmasters and Agents allowed 10 per cent on 

 all subscribers. 



BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 183G. 



(For IheSilk Manual! 



Mr Edftor — Novices in the Silk business are 

 asking for the best mode of preserving the young 

 plants of the Morii.s !\Iulticaulis, and White Mul- 

 berry from the effecis of Winter. By publishing 

 some plain directions for their preservation in the 

 UHXt number of your useful ''Manual," you will 

 confer a new favor on Many. 



Sept. 19, 1836. 



By THK Editor. — The foregoing should have 

 been inserted in our i\Ianual lor October, but was 

 mislaid, and did not come to hand till too late for 

 our last. We will now give the best information 

 we can, at |)resent, command. 



Dr Stebbins, of jVorthampton, in a communica- 

 tion for the jYorthaniplon Courier, republished in 

 Fessenden^s Silk Manual, vol. 1, p. 24, observes : 

 "Although the climate of New England may be 

 congenial to the growth and culture of the Chi- 

 nese mulberry, and trees have withstood the seve- 

 rity of several winters, even in open and exposed 

 situations, because these trees have not been dis- 

 turbed by fretpient hoeing about the roots, in the 

 expensive cultivation of the Chinese mulberry, it 

 may be |)rudent to accelerate the growth in the 

 early part of the season, by frequent hoeing and 

 stirring of the earth about the plant, and by, or 

 before the middle of the month of August, it will 

 be necessary wholly to omit stirring the earth 



about the roots to impede the growth of the tree. 



To iiso »ho tooY-oa for fljedrng ttoi ina, or for dry- 

 ing in a shade with a sprinklingof salt, and pack- 

 ed away for early use the next spring. By this 

 metho<l the tree may acquire a more firm tex- 

 ture or wood. On light soil the plant will soonest 

 cease to grow ; therefore, our ))oor light land will 

 answer for the propagation of the Chinese mul- 

 berry, and on such land be more likely to acquire 

 firm wood, and the capability of withstanding the 

 severity of northern winters. But as the plant 

 may be multiplied by cutlings or layers, to a great 

 extent, should any i)erson fear the severity of 

 winter, the plants may be easily secured by lay 

 ing down the plant and covering with earth, or 

 by drawing up the earth a few inches above where 

 the sprouts start from the foot stalk — or by tak- 

 ing uj) the roots and setting them out in a cellar, 

 or out-house. These several methods have been 

 adopted with success, and have preserved the 

 roots in a healthy condition ; but the tender 

 plants which were left in the fields without any 

 protection have suffered severely, especially in 

 consequence of the early frost, which proved the 

 death, not only of the Chinese mulberry stock, but 

 some of our most hardy trees. 



Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, in a communi- 

 cation for the Baltimore Purrnor, observca that 

 " none but the young trees (of the 3Iorus Multi- 

 caiilis) are ever injured by winter, and all we 

 have to do is to give them such a start as to ena- 

 ble them to repair their wood previous to the ap- 

 proach of very cold weather. T raise all my trees 

 from cuttings, in a hot bed. About the first of 

 iMarcli, I make an ordinary hot bed, like those 

 used for cabbage plants : then I take the young 

 wood of the last year's growth, and cut it into 

 pieces about two inches long, merely leaving a 

 single bud on each ; these pieces I stick in the 

 hot bed, three inches apart, in a slanting direc- 

 tion, the upper end inclining to the north, and 

 burying it so That the bud is scarcely seen at the 



