NEW ENGLA ND FAKMEIl. 



I'ublished by Jon>- B. Rcssem- at No. 5'2 North Market Syet^(oppo.aeVar^uoi\UM).--^^ 



hi. V. 



BOSTOIN, FKIDAY, 7\PR1L G, 1827. 



No. 37 



O.N TUB CULTURB OF SILK. \ 



Continued from page 282. 



PRKPARING THE SEEDS. 



.11 now proceed to give an account of the 



r Msod in Frnnce for disenfjaofin!;; the seeds 



lie fruit of the Diulberry, which requires a 



erablc degree of labour as well as attention. 



,ng gathered the quantity of fruit you pro- 



) set apart for seed, which must be thor- 



' ripe before it is pulled, you put the fruit 



lartre tub or vessel, where you cause a per- 



tramp and press it wiili liis bare feet, in or- 



bruise the whole of it thoroughly, and by 



cans disengage the seed from the little pods 



s iu which it is cont.iined. 



\ ni"?t at the same time have in readiness 



:r tub. which must be pretty deep into which 



troduce a piece of flat wood, which must be 



.,_to rest on the sides of the tub, at the dis- 



u of six, eight or more inclies from the bottom 



AGlilCULTUKE. 



having put. the piece of wood iind the sieve in 

 their proper places ns before, after which you pass 

 the pulp and seed, by deg^ee^^, through the sieve, 

 by rubbing it with your hand upon tin- bottom as 

 before, and lifting up the sieve from time to time, 

 with both hands, and shaldng it, as already men- 

 tionod. In passing it this second time you will 

 disengage a great quantity of the pulp, which you 

 throw aside from time to time, as soon as you ob- 

 serve that none of the seed remains among it. 



You then pour the water off as before ; and if 

 you find that there is still some of the pulp romain- 

 iGg with the seed you must pass it a third time 

 through the sieve, which will effectually clean it, 

 if your sieve is 6ne enougli. 



if your sieve is too coarse, that is if the holes 

 are too large, it will occasion you a great deal 

 more work, as you will be obliged to pass it of- 

 tener through the sieve, since that operation must 

 be repeated till the seed is perfectly clean ; after 

 which you must spread the seed upon a clean 

 cloth, and e.tpose it to the sun till it is thoroughly 

 dry. Three days, or even four days of a full sun 



ra necessary to dry and harden the seed proper - 



tub, as you shall judge to be necessary for^^,^ .,^^^.„„._, . 

 (uantity of fruii. This cross piece of wood jy for keeping. 



...i„»„,i t„ o.irir.nrt c mnn/l rnnfi snivn. which Upon this part of the subject it seems proper to 



add, tliat in a cool moist country, such as about 

 Paris or London, it is reckoned the mulberry tree 

 carries a double, nay nearly a triple quantity of 

 leaves to what it can do in the hotter or drier cli- 

 mates, such as that of the South of France, which 



„.„ _^ i^ judged to be owing to the moiqture of the cli- 



ip the brim of the sieve, when placed uponf'ff^te, and the superior richness of the soil. In a 

 ere of wood, you then put a handful or twoLoij moist climate a person is not able, even with 

 ■e bruised fruit into the seive, which yon rub | the utmost care, to produce above half the co- 

 with your hands upon the bottom of the | coons from the same quantity of eggs which can 

 in order to make the seed pass through the be done in a warmer and drier climate. But as in 

 , and every now and then you lift up the Uhg colder climate the mulberry carries nearly 

 with both hands, and shake it to make the three times the quantity of leaves, which it can do 

 . ^ ^Umt^rrh iT vi^KipVi rnrrip.f! the fleed :n ♦!.« ^tl.or . fmm thpnrp it arises, that the cold- 



.ulated to support a round cane seive, which 

 est upon it. This sieve must be very fine, 

 5 the holes must be very small and close set 

 icr, that as little of the pulp of the fruit as 

 le may go through the holes with the seed. 

 ngs being thus prepared, and the tub filled 

 with water that it may rise more than half 



pass through it, which carries the seed 

 ■ with it. Besides rubbing the fruit with 

 hand upon the bottom of the sieve as above, 

 also take it and rub it heartilv betwixt the 

 3 of your hands, rubbing the one hand against 

 ther; as it takes a great deal of work and 

 : to wet the seeds disensraged out of their 

 cells, and this must be done effectually be- 

 they will pass through the holes of the sieve, 

 lis work must he repeated till you observe 

 the whole of the seed has passed throusrli the 



in the other ; from thence it arises, that the cold 

 er climates, such as those before mentioned are 

 able on the whole, to raise at least as much silk, 

 from the same quantity of eggs, as the warmer 

 countries ; because the quantity of food is the 

 great artitle, as the grain or eggs of the silk 

 worm can easily he multiplied to as great a quan- 

 tity as. you please. 



1 HATCHING THE WORMS. 



Having thus gone through the articles of the 



he whole ot the seed nas passea mrousrii iiu, ^.......j, ...— t. r .i a tr. 



of the sieve: after which you throw aside greatest importance, so far as they occurred to 

 ... -.i .„ ,.„i„t .,r, tr. flip firat ;inH leflfiinir branch or 



julp, and proceed in the same manner with 

 Test of the frmt, till you have finished -the 

 le. 



in tlien take the sieve and piece of wood out 

 lie tub, and pour off all the water, when you 

 find tho seed at the bottom : but alon? with 

 great quantity nf the pnlp. which hr.s hren 

 ed through the holes of the sieve, in ruhhirf 

 f-iiit hard upon the bottom of it with your 

 ':. as ahove-men'ioned. 



should have norVed. that all the seeds which 

 Ti upon the surfire of the witer are light and 

 d for nothing, and must, therefore, be thrown 

 e. 



ou then put the pulp and the seed, which von 

 mixed together at the bottom of the tub, into 



me, in relation to the first and leading branch of 

 our subject ; the next, which naturally falls to be 

 considered, is the method observed in France in 

 hutching the worms. But before proceeding to 

 the article it may not be improper to premise the 

 following particulars as they seem justly to de- 

 mand a very particular attention. 



Here th<;n 1 must observe thai the greatest care 

 ought to be taken to procure healthy, good seed 

 or eggs, because it has been ascertained from re- 

 peated e.vperience that the eggs from those houses 

 where the worms were infected with had air, car- 

 ry along with them to the worms produced there 

 from, the same distempers to which the worms of 

 the preceding year were subject. 



The -eggs in order to be properly preserved. 



I mixed together at the tioitom ot ine lUD, inio x^^ -^f^e- .- - ^ ;,r, , f,„» nlr 



ther vessel, and fill the tub with water at first, I should be kept m some dry place, with a free .air 



not too hot ; and you should avoi.l keeping tiieni 

 in any vault or cellar under grotiiid ; because anv 

 kind of damp is found to be destructive to them. 



Tho eggs of the silk worm have been found to 

 degenerate in the .space of five years; hence a 

 change from time to time is judged to be necessa 

 ry, taking caro to have the eggs brought from a 

 warmer to a colder climate. This however tnusi 

 be done by degrees, and not carried at once from 

 one extreme to another. For example, eg-g^ 

 brought from t.he Levant, the isle of Cyprus, or 

 from other «mm'lries iu the same latitude, ough; 

 not to befc'Oiighi at once into such a cold climatt 

 as that of Flanders or the north of France ; hu( 

 should be first brought into such a climate as that 

 of Provence or Languedoc, from whence,. after 

 having remained there for two years li-ey can be 

 brought with safety into the colder countries. 



The first year that the eggs are brought from a 

 warm to a cold climate, you must not expect .^reai 

 success from them : on the contrary, you will find, 

 though the utmost caro and attention are given tc 

 them" that the greatest part of tho worms will die. 

 But still you will be able to save ei-.augh to stock 

 yourself sufficiently with the egg.s, which every 

 succeeding year will be found to answer better a» 

 the worms beoome naturalized to the climate, 

 which can only he brought about gradually ; and 

 indeed more time will be requisite for this purpose 

 in Britain than in France, as the climate upon the 

 continent is more fixed and steady than in Eng 

 land. 



In transporik»«5 liie eggs from one cojntiy t... 

 another, especially where this is done by sea, you 

 must order them to be put into a bottle, which 

 ought not to be filled more than half full, that the 

 eggs may not lie too close together, which might 

 run the risk of heating them, and causing them to 

 hatch. The bottle being but half full, leaves suffi- 

 cient room to the eggs to be tossed upside down 

 by the motion of the vessel, which keeps them cool 

 and fresh, and hinders them from heating. After 

 putting the effgs into the bottle, let it be carefully 

 corked ; a cover of leather put over the cork ; and 

 let that be sealed, to prevent any danger of chang- 

 ing the eggs. When corked and sealed as above, 

 pu^t the botUe into a double case, or box of wood ; 

 not only to preserve the eggs from all damp from 

 the sea, or otherwise, but also to protect them 

 from too much heat, which would cause them to 

 hatch. If the bottle is too full, the eggs will he 

 too clo^e upon one another, and will in that case 

 heat of themselves, and hatch, and consequently m 

 both cases must be lost. 



The eggs that are duly impregnated by the male 

 butterfly are of a grey cindery colour, which col- 

 our thev preserve till they are properly prepared 

 for hatchinff, as after mentioned. The eggs which 

 are not dulv impregnated are readily to be distin- 

 cruished from this circun.s'ance, vi . that after be- 

 Tng kept for some time, they always continue to 

 be'of a yellow colour ; and I need scarce add that 

 such eggs are good for nothing, and ought there- 

 fore to be thrown away. There is no distinguish- 

 in<r betwixt good and bad oggs, but by the change 

 of^colour, after being kept as above mentioned. 



One ounce of eggs will produce 40,000 worms 

 and so in proportion for a larger or smaller quan 

 ,jty. (To be continued.) 



