.,1. V No. 4:i. 



MEH ENGLAND 1 AliiWEU. 



a:3[i 



is worthy to be recollected, that some of the 



'tat trees known are willows ; nay, tiie siiiull- 



ee known, williout any exception. 'I'lio hcr- 



;OUB willow, .lalii htrbacta, is seldom higlicr 



three inches, sonictunes not more than two, 



vet it is in ovory respect n tree, notwithstand- 



jthe name herbaceous, wliicli, as it has been 



rved, is inappropriate. Dr CUirke says, in liis 



Qvels in Norway," " We soon recognised 



of our old Lapland icquaintances, snch as 



la nana, witli its minute leaves, like silver 



mountain-birch ; and the dwarf alpine 



ies of willow : of whif^h half a dozen trees, 



1 all their branches, loaves, flowers, and roots, 



ht be compressed within two of the pages of a 



r's pocket-book, without coming into contact 



1 each other. After our return to England, 



imens of the satix hcrbauea were given to our 



nds, which, when framed and glazed, had the 



earance of miniature drawings. The author, 



ollecting them for his herbijry, has frequently I 



ipressed twenty of these trees between two of i 



pages of a duodecimo volume." Yet in the 



at nortliern forests, Dr Clarke found a species 



Aiillow " that would make a splendid ornament 



our English slirubbcries, owing to its quick 



' >\vth, and beautiful ajipearaiice. It had much 



' re the appearance of an orange than of a wil- 



-tree, its large luxuriant leaves being of tlie 



St vivid green colour, splendidly shining. We 



ieved it to be a variety of salix amijgdaiina, 



. it may be a distinct species ; it principally 



urishcs in Westro Bothnia, ar^d we never say," 



Isewhere." 



ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. 

 Continued from page 331. 

 At' putting the cocoons upon the thread, in orJr r 

 prepare them for breeding, be at tlie pains to 

 ICC a male and female cocoon alternately upon 

 e thread, that they may be near each other for 

 ipulatioii, when they come to pierce the cocoons; 

 • d when the butterflies come out, you place them 

 ion n piece of clean w oolen cloth, that is per- 

 ctly sinooth, h.'.ving no nap or pile upon it, ftliich 

 jy be hung upon the back of a chair. 

 The male is easily to be distinguished from tlie 

 male, by his body being more slender, and by 

 ittering his wings oflener, and with a great 

 jal more force than the fem;ile. When they 

 ave been about ten hours in copulation, the male 

 to be gently removed, »3 the female is suppos- 

 d by that time to be sufficiently imprennated. — 

 'he female will then proceed to lay her eggs up 

 n the cloih, to which tliey will closely adhere, 

 nd upon which you let the egjs remain till about 

 month before the usual time for hatching, when 

 hey are to be taken from the cloth, which is gen- 

 rally done by means of a thin piece of copper 

 :oin, which in France passes for a penny {vn sol 

 iiarqxie). ai d which is found perfectly to answer 

 t'ae purpo.-iO. The cloth upon which the eggs are 

 aid is folded up lightly and kept fill the proper 

 season in a drawer or closet in a dry r-joni but 

 not too hot. Every female butterfly is calculated 

 to produce from three to four hundred eggs. The 

 reason for recommending the egcs to be taken of? 

 the clotli about a month before the usual time of 

 hatching, is this, that it can then be done williout 

 the smallest injury to the eg^s, which at that time 

 are perfectly hard and firm ; tnit if delayed till the 

 time of hatching, the case becomes greatly altered, 



because the eggs gradually sotl«n by the ap" 

 proiich of spring, so that they cannot then be taken 

 from the cloth without the evident risk of destroy- 

 ing a great part of thorn. 



Were it possible to wind oft" the silk from the 

 other cocoons before the insect naturally pierces 

 them, that is the best time for doing it because the 

 silk at that time winds off with much greater ease 

 than afterwards. But as that is found to be im- 

 possible, two methods have been pursued to de- 

 stroy the insect in the cocoon, that they may wind 

 off the silk at leisure, and with full convenience. 

 The first method which was followed in France 

 for that purpose, was to destroy them by placing 

 the cocoons in baskets in a baker's oven ; but if 

 the oven happened to bo a little hotter than was 

 proper, the silk was by that means scorched, and 

 often very mucli hurt by it. They therefore tried 

 to kill the insect by the steam of boiling water, 

 which could not at all hurt the silk, and they suc- 

 ceeded ; so that the placing them in the oven is now 

 wholly laid aside. The killing of the insect by 

 the steam of boiling water is perforuTCd in the fol- 

 lowing manner. 



Tliey build a little furnace of brick, of a kind of 

 oval form ; the ground part of which is for holding 

 the wood or charcoal which they use upon the oc- 

 casion ; and to make the fire burn properly, they 

 have a little iron grate in the furnace, upon which 

 they place the wood or charcoal ; and over that, 

 at a little distance they place a little copper caul- 

 dron, which they fill with water, and make it boil 

 by means of the fire underneath. Above this caul- 

 dron they have another iron grate, upon which 

 they place the cocoons, in a little open basket 

 composed of twigs, which is jiiade pretty open be- 

 Ureen the twigs, to let the steam and heat of the 

 boiling water Ijave the ea.'jier access to the co- 

 coons. To this cauldron and the grate above it 

 for holding the basket with the cocoons, you have 

 access by a little door which opens above the en- 

 trance of the fire. The furnace is arched over the 

 top with bricks, that when the door above-mention- 

 ed is shut, the steam may be retained within, which 

 in the space of eight minutes, is found efTcctualiy 

 to kill the insects within the cocoons. The bas- 

 ket is then taken out and put aside, to lot the co- 

 coons dry, as upon coming out of the furnace, they 

 will be all of them wet with the steam, and th'\v 

 then place another basket in the furnace with 

 more cocoons, taking care'so to keep up the lire, 



as to itave the water cauldron always boiling 



Charcoal is preferable to wood fur fuel upon this 

 occasion, because it has no smoke. The smoke of 

 wood spoils the colour of the silk, and takes away 

 from its lustre. The smoke of pit coals would be 

 still worse. 



Here it is proper to add, that after the insects 

 have been killed by the steam, as above-mentioned, 

 care must bo taken to stir about and move the 

 cocoons regularly, at least once a day. If this is 

 negl.3cted, the insects will corrupt, and breed 

 worms in the cocoons, which will destroy the 

 silk. After the cocoons are taken out of the fur- 

 nace, and dried a little, as before directed, they 

 should be wrapt up in a good thick woollen blan- 

 ket, to keep in all the hot steam, and to prevent all 

 access to the exterior air. This is done with a 

 vipiv to stifle any of the insects which may hap- 

 pen to be yet nlive ; and which, if immediately ex- ' 

 posed too mnch to the air, misrht revive and re- 

 cover their strength. They are left covered up 

 in that manner with the blanket for five or six 



hours together ; after which they are to he taker 

 out of the basket, and spread out upon a table ; and 

 are afterwards to be stirred and moved about reg- 

 ularly every day, us directed above. And yoi: 

 then ns.'sort the cocoons according to their dif 

 ferent colours, of which they have three sorts ir 

 France, namely, the white, the yellow, and thosr 

 of a greenish colour. 



When the insects are once killed, the sooner you 

 wind off the silk from the cocoons the better; be 

 cause it can then be done more easily than aftci 

 they have been kept for some time ; upon v.hicl 

 account they always wind off the silk as fast a."- 

 they possibly can ; and it is done in the followini/ 

 manner : they build a little copper cauldron into n 

 small furiTnce of brick, with a fire place under it 

 as in the other furnace already described, exactly 

 in the same manner as we do in Britain, at the 

 sides of our rivers, for the washing of linen at our 

 bleaching fields ; at the end of which they havft u 

 large reel wliich turns round with the hand, and by 

 a footboard, and two or three little pieces of iron, 

 at proper distances, with eyes to them, by wliicl. 

 to conduct the threads to the reel. The cauldiOL' 

 above mentioned they till with water, and keep i 

 always boiling witli a fire of wood or charcoal ; 

 the last, however, being preferable, on account of 

 its being free from smoke. They then put from 

 20 to 30 cocoons at once into the boiling water, 

 = nd, with a small brnsh of little twigs, (of heath 

 for example) they keep stirring the cocoons about. 

 The heat of tlio boiling water dissolves the gui:i 

 that is naturally about the silk, upon which, a? 

 the cocoons are continually touched and tossed 

 from side to side amongst the water by the little 

 brush, the ends of the silk attach themselvep to 

 the brush. When the woman who manages the 

 brush perceives that she has got hold of the end.-' 

 of tlic silk by it, she takes hold of the silk thread 

 with her hand, puts aside the brush, and pylls th^' 

 silk toward.s her, which disengages itself with 

 ease from the cocoons; and this she continues to 

 do till she has got away all the floss or outsidf 

 silk of the cocoons. When she observes she i.~ 

 come to the fine silk, she breaks off and separ'atos 

 the coarse from it. which coarse silk she puts; 

 aside. She then applies her brush again till she 

 has got hold of the end of the fine silk, all of 

 which she sets apart, every fine thread by ifscll' 

 by fi.vins it to a piece of wood kept near to the 

 furnace for that purpose, till she has arranged tiic 

 whole, or at least the greatest part in this manner, 

 which by that means are in readiness to be thrown 

 in, to form the thread of silk which is to be wound 

 oft-. 



This done, she puts together the threads o,f a^ 

 many of the cocoons as she inclines, according as 



she wants to make the thread fine or coarle 



Thesp she joins together, and after having put the 

 silk through one of the eyes of two of the pieces 

 of iron whicn are placed for conducting the thread 

 to the reel, she fixes the silk thread to the reel ; 

 upon which another woman, who attends to liian- 

 age the reel, begins 'o turn it about with her 

 hand, and keeps it in motion by applying her foot 

 to tlie foot-board, and by this means winds off the 

 silk from the coccons, which i-i done with great 

 swiftness. (To be continued.) 



During four days of the last week, one hundred 

 and fifteen vessels arrived in New York, 41 ot' 

 them ships and brigs, bringing over 1500 passen 

 gers, most of them emigrants from Great Britain. 



