FARMERS' REGISTER— CHINESE MULBERRV. 



50a 



even if aided by much ^eolog;ical experience, yet 

 this constitutes an important branch of the science 

 of mining. 



In Mexico, I have seklom seen a vein, which 

 would, until the shafts were sunk at least three 

 hundred feet, pay its expenses, or at least leave any 

 profit of notoriety. What then, may be asked, 

 was the inducement of the Spanish miners to ex- 

 pend larp:e sums in mere trials, by sinkinfj; deep 

 shafts and driving extensive galleries? Was this 

 eflfecled, because they found in the immediate vici- 

 nity large pieces of massive gold? Was there 

 gold ever visible in the outcrop spar of the vein? 

 On the contrary, I recollect not one solitary instance 

 of such flattering prospects being held out. The 

 Spanish miners formed their conclusions of the 

 propriety of their attempt at discovery from the 

 character of crystallization or grain of the spar — 

 from the concomitant mineral substances which 

 are generally found in goUl ores and from geologi- 

 cal data. 



What then, would a miner see in the gold region 

 of Virginia, to encourage him in his arduous enter- 

 prise? He would perceive the gold visible to the 

 naked eye, in the numerous veinetors scattei'ed on 

 the very surface of the earth ; and when a small 

 depth of twenty feet even has been developed, 

 large masses of ore are exposed to view, which, 

 were they in a Mexican vein, would leave a Span- 

 ish miner to conceive a perhaps too high and ex- 

 travagant opinion of its value. 



Of the mines in the gold region at present develo- 

 ping, several deserve to be held in estimation. 

 Those belonging to the United States Mining 

 Company, resemble the well known mines of 

 Ekatberoneburg in Russia, where the malachite or 

 green carbonate of copper predominates. Consi- 

 derable research has also been made at the mines 

 of the Mill Bank Mining Company, and their 

 prospect appears to be deserving of much confi- 

 dence. At the Rattlesnake Mine in Stafford, a 

 •vvell executed drift has been driven several hun- 

 dred feel at right angles to the vein, through a 

 granite formation. Having been there but lately, 

 I had an opportunity of remarking the character of 

 the ore, at seventy feet in depth from the surface — 

 it is of that class which cannot but encourage the 

 enterprising operators. The brilliant specimens 

 and rich workings of the gold vein of the Culpeuer 

 Mining Company, are so well known in the State, 

 as to require no comment. There are other mines;, 

 among which the Rappahannock Mining Company 

 of Stafford, and the Union Gold Mining Company 

 in Fauquier, rank high; at the latter, I have un- 

 derstood, that under the mana<iement of an expe- 

 rienced miner, it was calculated to sink immedi- 

 ately, the shaft now operated on, to the dej)th of 

 500 feet, and set forever at rest all doubt as to the 

 vast wealth of the mineral region of Virginia, at a 

 depth equivalent to that of the most productive 

 mines of Eurojie and South America. 



CHIIVKSE MULBERRY PROPAGATED BY CUT- 

 TIKGS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register, 



Dear Sir, — I feel that 1 owe you an apology 

 after what passed between us, just before the com- 

 mencement of your editorial labors, for having so 

 long derived pleasure and instruction from the 

 Farmers' Register, without contributing my mite 



towards a periodical, which must owe in a great 

 measure, its usefulness and interest to the contri- 

 butions of practical agriculturalists. But doubt- 

 less you, as well as your readers, will regard a 

 practical commentary upon the foregoing te.xt of 

 more value than a studied preface or apology; and 

 therefore, I proceed, to produce my mite. It is 

 simply making known a fact, wiiich I conceive, 

 may be of great importance to those disposed to 

 embark in the silk culture. 



Late experiments in various parts of Middle and 

 Lower Virginia, have I'emoved all apprehensions 

 of any existing obstacle in our soil or climate, to 

 the successful prosecution of this business. And 

 it seems to be agreed, that all now wanting, is an 

 ample supply of the food necessary to sustain the 

 worms. 



The process of raising the Italian Mulberry from 

 the seed, the only successful mode of preparation 

 for carrying on the work hitherto known, is a slow 

 one — requiring such a lapse of time, and expense 

 of inclosing the young plants before they arrive at 

 a profitable state, as to deter many persons from 

 entering upon an enterprise demanding so much 

 time and labor in advance. Hence, a discovery 

 which obviates in a great degree these objections, 

 appears to me, quite a desideratum in this new field 

 of rural economy. This discovery has been made 

 by Mr. Jolin Carter, an intelligent and enterpris- 

 ing horticultor in the vicinity of Richmond. It 

 consists in the fact, which I have verified by expe- 

 riment, that the iMorus MullicauUs, or Chinese 

 Mulberry, lately introduced into our country, and 

 said to be the most valuable of all the varieties as 

 food lor the silkworm, will live, and may be pro- 

 pagated as readily from cuttings, as the common 

 willow or Lombardy poplar. From my own ex- 

 perience, it is the most vivacious of all the peren- 

 nial plants with which I am acquainted. Mr. Car- 

 ter informed me in June last, that it would grow 

 readily from cuttings; and havin'j:a single young' 

 standard of the kind, for which I had paid Wm, 

 Prince & Son, a high price, on the 22d day of 

 the same month, I took off every branch which 

 could be spared without endangering the original 

 stock, and cutting these branches into pieces of 

 four or five joints — or leaves and leaf buds, I 

 planted them in a fresh spaded bed of commoi? 

 garden soil, about two thirds of their length, vary- 

 ing from four to six inches in the earth, leaving the 

 leaves attached to the cutting above the surface. 

 In a i'cw days, the leaves dropped — but almost with- 

 out an exception, the Ijuds at the foot stalks of the 

 leaves, at and above the surface of the soil, put forth 

 and grew vigorously. It is true, a portion have 

 since perished, but I have still two-thirds of the 

 whole number planted, living — from which, in the 

 course of next spring and summer, I shall get cut- 

 tings sufficient to raise thousands. Mr. Carter 

 assures me, they may be cut in pieces of, a single 

 bud each, and planted as you would cuttings of 

 Irish potatoes, and they will vegetate with as much 

 certainty — nor can I doubt it, from the results at- 

 tending my oAvn experiment. Mr. Carter com- 

 menced with a single cutting two years ago, not 

 more than afoot in length, and he now has hun- 

 dreds of well grown and strongly rooted plants, 

 which he offers for sale at twenty-five cents a 

 piece — while the northern Nurserymen, until 

 lately, asked a dollar a piece, and now have only 

 fallen in their price, to seventy -live cents. 



