140 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



and healthy colors that is at this time dyed ; as 

 for calico printers, it enters jsrreatly into their 

 dyes. The city of Lowell, in Massachusetts, 

 uses thirty thousand dollars worth per year. A 

 war with France would raise the article to thirty 

 one cents per lb. in the New York market. One 

 small establishment in Otsego County, New York, 

 uses equal, each year, to three-fourths of all that 

 is raised in the Northern States at this time. 



The reader will now inquire why have not the 

 farmers in the United States, entered into the cul- 

 ture of this article, and completely glutted the 

 inarkot ? I will answer, that most of them want 

 tlieir profit at the exftiration of each year, not think- 

 ing tliat the hor.s(? or ox is four years old before it 

 ii profitable to sell. But there is another difficul- 

 ty. I have before observed that there was want- 

 ing, for the consumi)tion in the United States, from 

 45 to 75,000 acres. The amount of Madder roots, 

 for plantinjr, dug last fall, was 1000 bushels. There 

 will be planted this spring, say something more 

 than 100 acres ; next fall there will be for sale, 

 roots amounting to 250 bushels, and next year, 

 enough to jdant 200 acres. Probably it will take 

 ten years or more, to procure a sufiply of roots to 

 plant, equal to the consumption of 1835 — 6 or 7. 

 \ have before me a communication from a respec- 

 table correspondent, detailing the mode of cultiva- 

 tion in Holland and France, together with queries, 

 requesting my answers, which 1 will rnost cheer- 

 fully give, and which will be forwarded to be in- 

 serted ill your paj)er, should you deem the above 

 worthy of pul)lication. 



1 have, for tnai;y years past, believed that the 

 soil and climate of Ohio, was peculiarly favorable 

 to the culture of silk, madder, and the gra|)e for 

 making wine ; an<l having resided here in course 

 of the last and present years, several months, I 

 have been more and more contirtned in that opin- 

 ion. What hinders this State from rising in rank 

 above New York ? Let every fiirmer take an ag- 

 ricultural paper, and improve the privileges that 

 nature has given them. 1 have examined thesoil 

 and privileges of this county in particular, and do 

 not hesitate to say. 1 believe that it equals any 

 part of the United States. There is, I believe, no 

 desirable fruit or grain that grows north of Phila- 

 delphia, but what flourishes here. It is certainly 

 a most desirtble soil and clunate, compared with 

 that of the middle counties of New York. Many 

 of the farmers of this section, only skim tlie sur- 

 face of the land with the plough. What hinders 

 the water, in die spring and fall, from settling in 

 the ground through the sub soi', ;.nd bursting out 

 Shallow ploughing. What hin- 



comnumications from a Buel, a Colman, and a 

 host of other Sftientific and practical farmers. I 

 ain not a practical farmer, in a large way, myself, 

 but the aid I have received from perusing those 

 paj)ers,for a few years past, has been of great ben- 

 efit to me — yes, ten limes the expense of four ag- 

 ricultural papers per year. 



Not b(;ing brought up on a farm, how could I 

 exercise judgment it! the selection of a horse, ox, 

 sheep, or hog ? I read the communications of 

 writers of acknowledged reputation, on the sub- 

 ject, and compared their arguments with my own 

 reason, improved by {)revious reading, and made 

 my choice. How should I be able to select and 

 cultivate the various grains and grasses, or to till 

 the ground to a |iro|)er rotation of cro[)s, or select 

 and engraft with my own hands the best fruits in 

 the country, and last, though not least, to have a 

 good garden ? 



I might go on and multiply reasons why I will 

 patronize agricultin-al papers; but knowing my 

 inability to do justice to the subject, and fearing 

 your readers will think I am fishing for some par- 

 lic<ilar individual, I will conclude with wishing 

 you and your brethren in the cause, many sub- 

 scribers, and that you will consider me one of 

 them. R. BRONSON. 



Birmingham, Huron County^ Ohio. 



tn springs ; • 



ders the farmer from obtaining thirty bushels of 



wheat to the acre .^ Shallow ploughing. I 



wish I were able to commit to paper all I feel in 

 favpr of manual labor, or agricultural schools, back- 

 efi by numerous agricultural paperei, containing 



fFrom tlie fllechanic & Farmer.] 

 TEMPERAIVCE. 



The following letters were writen in answer to 

 inquiries, proposed by a Committee of the Bangor 

 Temperance Association, to gentlemen of science 

 and experience in the medical profession. Other 

 communications on the same subject may be pub- 

 lished at a future time. The questions proposed 

 wero as follows: 



1st. — Whether the habitual use of cider has 

 any tendency, without the aid of other intoxica- 

 ting liquors, to form the habit of intemperate drink- 

 ing. 



2d. — Its influence in reproducing intemperate 

 habits, which had been for a time abandoned. 



3d. — Its influence upon diseases, and upon the 

 general health of the community. 



To L)r Mu.ssey was also ])roposed the question, 

 whetlier the alcohol of fermented liquors is set 

 free, so as to set directly upon the system, or is 

 carried off by the digestive process. 



My Dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiries, I 

 may say, 



1. That we have no evidence whatever, that al- 

 cohol, in any form, or taken under any variety of 

 admixture, is capable of being digested or conver- 

 tefl into nourishment. 



2d. Tliat it is capable of passing into the blood 

 and existing in it in the state of alcohol, and pas- 

 eingout again in the same state, along with watery 



