370 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMEU. 



Juuo 15, 1627. 



ON THE CULTURE OP SILK. 

 Continued from page 363. 



i fourth : but the moment of maturity, or of mount- gcthcr ; and that by treating them in this manil 

 inn- being come ; oppressed and infected at last he entirely avoided all the distempers to whi 

 I by'so many evils, it can support it no longer. In vain i this insect was liable, when treated by the fol 



Monsieur Marteloy began his memorial by rep- j ^^^ fiibricqueur e.vpecs to bo paid for his labor,his I er iiractipc, and never failed to have a plent 



resenting to the minister, that if a Jhbrkqueur 

 the person who employs himself in the culture of 



worms, which have lived in that prepared pesti-jcro 



lencc if it may be so called, refuse to mount in The pernicious method hitherto used in 

 silk) has got a room fifteen teet high, '''2''*°°" j ofjci- to make their cocoons; the fabricqueur, culture of the silk-worm has not only been 

 feet broad, and eighteen feet long, he lias not the ; ^^^.^^^^ ^^^ the success of his crop of silk, en- cause of the many distempers to which that 

 least difficulty to make use of twenty ounces °' Jga^,o^,rs to assist thera with his hands, which sect ie liable in France, and the great mortal 

 eggs, which, if tolerably good, ought to P''<"^uce ^^.j^^^^j^. .^^^^^^.^^ ^j^^jj. jj^gjj.ggg_ Unable to sup- j which happens yearly amongst them ; it has s 

 eight hundred thousand worms ; and these, when ^^ themselves upon the branches, they descend, 1 been Utendad with worse consequences; for wo 



come to maturity, he observes, would be of the ^^ tumble down, and do nothing but throw out' 



size of a man's finger, and could never be possibly ^^^g jj^^j^ threads of silk, without design. In 

 contained in one room of the above dimansions, fl^g^ they have not the strength to form the rich 

 if this insect, like all other^ creatures, was not tomb in which they ought to shut themselves up, 



in order to propagata their species. 



In that sorrowful and tragic condition, the mas- 

 ter sees his entire ruin ! In des])air ho betr'-- 



accustomed to die at all difterent ages. I sup- 

 pose then, said Monsieur Marteloy, that at their 



fourth age or malady, the half shall have perish- ^^^ ^^^^ __,_^ ^ _^ ___^____ 



Cd, by which menns there remain four hundred j^jmself to remedies, and the fumigations totally 



thousand, a number still far too great to be proper 

 ly contained in a room of this size, if one attends 



complete the destruction of the whole 



The poorest villages, where the houses consist 







(.(•Siieel- 



to this circumstance, that the space of one foot only of so many huts, ready to tumble to pieces, 

 square is necessary to contain properly one hun- ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ,^ ^^ ^1,^ pieces where they have the 

 dred worms. The multiplicity therefore of the ^jg]jj,gt and the most certain crops. These habi- 

 etages in this case will be so great, that they will jj^jjo^s, almost entirely open, in spite of all the 

 nearly touch one another. In fine, the place will ^^^^ ^^ gj^^.^ ^j^g^^^ ^p jurino that operation, have 



n, who have children at the breast, being oft' 

 employed to attend the silk-worms, and give th' 

 their food, &.C., the milk of these women has be 

 but too often affected by the pestilential air oft 

 confined rooms, which has yearly cost the liv 

 of many of the young children. It has been i 

 marked, that for many years past, numbers 

 children at the breast, have died yearly in the 

 parts of the country wliere they rear numbers 

 the silk-worms, particularly at Tiers, Narbon; 

 Castrio, &c. The time of rearing the silk-woii 

 is not the season of fruit, nor the time u-hen tl|,iti 

 earth requires groat labour, as at that time almc 

 all the crops of every kind arc in their infancy .-I «''' 

 One cannot then attribute that mortality ainonsmMw 



,Ti»ve« 





aUvays crevices sufficient to admit a fresh circula- I the children at the breast to any of the abov 

 tion of air, which is the true cause of their sue- | causes, br.t solely to the nurses being in the hallltlial 

 cess. Their richer nsighhours better lodged, and | it of attending the silk-wonus for several weew 

 consequently better shut up, astonislied at the l together, in that cluse r.nd pestilential air abovpofw 



be no better than a great mass of stages of filth, 

 and insects, which must produce an infected air. 

 Add to this, the cruel usage of keeping tho room 

 close shut up ; the exterior air by .this means be- 

 ing absolutely o^xcludcd ; and as to t'l^e int^ernar J^g^ppy'g^j.^.g'gg pj.j,,ggg poor people, call thera in j mentioned. It has been remarked, that all thosiJ 



--"-■-■■ »!---- -. - u.u. ,t.. „ ^^ be directors of the management of their silk- either men or women, who are employed in aiifl, 



'worms. These nev/-comers, transplanted into the [tending the silk-worms, who have any kind ( 

 I more commodious, but less healthy houses, hnve 

 no longer the same advantages they enjoyed in 

 their own shattered habitations, and consequently 

 have no better success than those wlio called for 

 their assistance. The low class of people carry 

 their stupidity to such height as not to be sensi- 

 , ... ble in what consisted the advantages of their own 



The third age arrives, vvh«i the silk worms are ,^^^^^^^ ^^.|^j^^_ unknown to themselves, kept ! scarce : 



increased one-eighth part more in size, and will up ^.lUvays a continued circulation of fresh air.-- ' I gathered the cucumbers from the vin'-.s, am. i,,,, 

 then occupy si.fteen stages. From that moment .j^. commonly attribute this want of success ' without any other preparation than washing thew , 

 the fabricqueur becomes the cruel destroyer of jmi^g^g operations to foreicm causes, to cold, to ! clean, dropped them into a stand containing t\ 

 his own prospects.^ He shuts the door and . win- i^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ air of that particular spot, to par- ' mi-fture of whiskey and water, om part of the- 



ticular winds which may happen to reign at that 



air, in which there is scarce a probability of 

 breathing, they try to correct it by fumigations, 

 which in fact only add to the calanity. 



During the first two ages, the silk worms, oc- 

 cupy but about two stages of the \vhole, en ac- 

 count of their being so small, and from the little 

 room they take up, succeed to the wish of the 

 fabricqueur, v.'ho flatters himself with the hopes 

 of a happy result. 



sinij-le wounds, that those wounds have turned in I 

 to iocurable ulcers. [To be concluded in our » ej:i. fcle, is 



PICKLING CUCUMBERS. 

 .•\ Correspondent of the American Farmer giveii 

 the following as a nea process for pickling cucuc 

 bers, by substituting whiskey wheu vinegar ii1|iissi 



It'll 



dows, caulks up every crevice with more care than 

 ever, which could admit the least degree of e.t- 

 lerior air ; he heats the room at great expense, 

 and actually suffocates his worms by the force of 

 fumigating. 



During the first two ages there is not an ab- 

 ,=;olute necessity of having fresh air introduced in- 

 to the room, since the 



former to three of the latter. I secured tlicm 

 time, to the nature of the s'o'il, to the quantity against gnats, flies, and external air, by tying a' 

 of the mulberry leaves, to the woman who at- flannel close over the top and laying over this ai 

 tends the worms bein<T in a certain situation at ': board and stone, and neither moved nor examined 



l[ti 



that time ; and such other ridiculous causes, with- 



them until Christinas, when I found them not 

 I merely equal, but decidedly superior to any pick- 



out any moaning. 



From the foreign narrative of the ills which at- les I had ever tasted. They were hard and of a 

 '''"'■'"Z,"''"'''® '"'?"^^.,';'' tend tho present practice of cultivating the silk- ^ fine flavour, and what has been particularly ad- 

 inat time a twentieth part ol the room, the nlth -^u • •• j _ -i i ■ ui rnirpH in them thev retained the oiiirinal rnlmir 



, . £■• ic -1 L ■ ■ • , ,■ , worm, one may with justice condemn it as highly ' '""^^ ' " reidiueu ma oiiginai colour 



dries ot itsell, it not being above an inch thick, . j • « »i j ■ ." nf the rurnmher not pxhibitin'T the crrpnn nnio 



. ,,,,£. , , , , ^ V improper and ruinous. A gentleman, desirous to ox me cut muuti, noi e.xmuuiug tne green pois- 



or an incli antl a halt at most, but the whole lace ,. , ' ., ^ c\., ,. c ■ dnnufl nnnearancp of nicklps that hnd hppn enVtoH 



,..,.-, J , I • , , find out the true causes of the want of success in onoua apptaraui-e ui pn-mes uidi nnu ueen sattea 



of things is changed at the third age : the worms 

 as I have already said, do then occupy sixteen 

 stages, and every day increasing in size to the 

 time of their maturity, soon fill the whole room. 

 Tl;e litter increases by reason of tlie great quan- 

 tity of leaves they eat, and by their excrement. — 

 During the continuance of that age, the litter will 

 increase to the ameunt of five or six inches. Tho 

 interior air, full of a poisonous humidity, which 



evaporates from the worms, leaves, and excre- i , . ,, , .l .. ■ . i • ..l vi 



,not,f ....o,, ,...„.>,„ lu. r 1 ■ , keeping them clean, that is. takinsr away the at- 



inent, prevents the litter from drying: always wet, L c ,<\ . n i ■ i-^ j 



;f ,„.„»„.,n„ i,„ .„ „„j .1. 11 u ■ ter very frequently, to prevent all humidity and 



It piesently heats, and the silk-worms being no , cr » '•■ <• .i i-,. u ^ .u 



t/^r^rro,. .1,,- !,„„;„ v.. ^ ■ >!. ■ ■ • , danger ot fermentation of the Utter, he, for the 



longer dry, begin by losing their vivacity, and c ■ , . .l \ i 



„„,i K„ „ ^;,f.,„t„ „f .!,„;■ „;..?... i_ ,'., space of eighteen years together, went on, by 



this lucrative branch of commerce, was at the ut- and scalded in copper. My whiskey and water 

 most oains, for several years together, to examine i (n" salt having been used or heat employed, 

 into the management of those employed in this : no«' excellent vinegar for the table, 

 arlii-le through a great part of Languedoc. Sus- 

 pecting that the want of success in the present! 

 management might proceed from want of cleanli- 

 ness, and want of fresh air, he began by small ex- 1 

 periments, which but they more confirmed him in 

 that suspicion. With a constant attention 



i^nd by a distaste of their victuals, even when the 

 best chosen 



space ot eighteen ye 

 little and little, giving 



by 

 hvays a larger degree of 



'jf„T,pt;.,,»o fi,., ;„„„„.„ ,„„ii J-. J , fresh air in every new experiment, till at last he 

 sometimes tlie insects, well-conditioned and L , .. ., r. .i. j A ■ 



■ Ifrn.r,,.. i-.,^„„„ ' .„ii .u •, , • fouud, that after the second age the insect was 



igorous. Keep up against all these evils during , , . . i, i ■ .■. ■ w 



tlir tliif/i ..n-p n„,i r„„„t;„,„„ „.. . ..^ hardy enough to be reared in the open air alto- 



'j\r iniru age, and sometimes even get over the i ■" ° '^ 



We have observed several orchards in this vi- 

 cinity, within a few days, which are almost entire- 

 ly stripped of their green loaves, by tlie caterpil- 

 lar or canker worm. Is there no bird to help man 

 to get rid of these creatures ? 



An emigrant English family, consisting of the 

 parents and eleven children, tlie eldest aged IG 

 years, and the youngest 10 months, ail in good 

 health, and well clad, passed through Wall .street, 

 yesterday morninjf, and attracted much attention. 

 They landed from the ship Thomas Dickason, 

 from Liverpool, and are to proceed to Ohio. 



JVeiB York pa. 



