Vol. 1.— No. S5. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



NATIVE AMERICAN SILK WORMS 1 



Translated for the Chronicle of the Times, 

 from the Registro Official : Official Regis- 

 ter of the United Mexican States, of the thir- 

 teenth of February, 1831. 



The following letter has been addressed 

 from Jalap, to the board of directors of the 

 National industry : — 



The quantity of wild si IU produced by the 

 immense forests of this State is truly aston- 

 ishing. The worms which produce it, feed 

 on the leaves of the guayboa, an evergreen 

 with small leaves, or on those of the oak; 

 but the finest silk is that of the norms which 

 feed on the former. 



These worms, in my opinion, are those 

 which a Chinese author describes by the 

 name of Txtsen Kyeu or Tyau-Kyen, which 

 are raised in that country, and with this Silk 

 they make the stuffs which they call Kytn 

 Cheu, which is a handsome diugget, and so 

 much esteemed that sometimes it sells as 

 high as the first tissues of China. 



The natives of this state gather that silk in 

 the month of March ; they take off large 

 bags with which the cocoons are covered, 

 leaving them exposed to the air during four 

 days, after separating from the tree the 

 branches which contain them, in order to 

 free them from imperceptible thorns, left 

 there by the skin of the silk worms, and af- 

 ter cleaning them as will be seen by the 

 samples sent herewith, they spin the silk and 

 make girdles therewith of which a sample 

 is sent, which lasts fifteen or twenty years in 

 daily use; the strength of these girdles is 

 such, that one having been tied to the horns 

 of a wild bull, resisted his efforts for more 

 than 34 hours, which was thought a sufficient 

 trial. 



They make here no other use of this beau- 

 tiful silk, and no pains have been yet taken 

 to bleach it before or after it is manufactur- 

 ed. The silk is gathered in this state by the 

 Mixteca indians, who come down in the 

 month above mentioned, and also cut off the 

 honey combs from the wild bee hives, and 

 collect in abundance the honey and wax 

 which they produce. 



In the vicinity of ihis city, the trees begin 

 to be covered, with that valuable silk, and in 

 the districts of Cosamalsapan, Alvarado and 

 Acoacyn, and in short in all the finest forests 

 in this state, in which are found the trees a- 

 bove mentioned, it is produced in great abun- 

 dance. 



The worms have for their enemies certain 

 birds of the size of a tame pigeon, of a grey 

 color and is known by the name of Pepe, be- 

 cause its whistling imitates the sound of that 

 word ; they seat themselves on the branches 

 where the bags are hanging, peck and pierce 

 them, and devour the useful little animals. 



These worms begin their work at nine o'- 

 clock at night ; then they come out of their 

 bags*and begin to feed; in their passage 

 they draw long silk threads, which serve them 

 as guides to return to their cocoons; thus 

 they make to themselves silken roads or 

 bridges, the threads of which are of an ex- 

 traordinary strength. 



By Mr. Icaza, now in this city, I shall send 

 you a cocoon bag of the material above men- 

 tioned, and if the beard desire it, I shall send 

 them as many as they may think proper. 

 Thomas. Ilx.anez. 

 God and Liberty, Jalapa, Jan. 6th, 1831. 



Spontaneous Combustion. — Mr. George 

 -<5ulliver,tho managing agent of the Wool- 



279 



len Cloth Factory of John B. Yates Esq. 

 in this place, has within a few days, par- 

 ticularly noticed an instance of spontane- 

 ous combustion, which we think it useful 

 to publish. 



It is desirable that attention should be 

 paid to such subjects, and in the beliel 

 that a mere publication of the facts, with- 

 out comment, will be more serviceable 

 than uny tedious speculation, we give the 

 following statement in his own words. 



"A few days since application was 

 made tome for the waste wool or sweep- 

 ings of the Factory, which, for the sake 

 of safety, I have commonly thrown away, 

 as they have been daily swept from the 

 building. I agreed, however, to collec 

 them, and had them placed in boxes at a 

 sufficient distance from the building for 

 safetv. Two or three days afterwards 

 one of the boxes that had been filled was 

 observed to smoke. It was opened and 

 examined, and the mass was beginning to 

 be ignited in different places. On a close 

 examination it was found that in every 

 place where fire was discovered, there 

 was some iron scrap, and in no place 

 where there was not any iron did we see 

 fire. The fire was extinguished, as we 

 supposed, and the ma erials replaced. — 

 In the morning we again visited the place 

 and the whole was consumed, together 

 with the cask in which it was placed." 



The oil used in the lot thus consumed 

 was mostly neat's-foot and sperm., aris- 

 ing from there being a small quantity on 

 hand when the wool was prepared. Ol- 

 ive oil is now used whnly, which is con- 

 sidered more safe, and better. — Chit. 

 Her. 



Magnificent Tobacco Box. — By one 

 of our late English papers, we find that in 

 the city of Westminster, the overseers of 

 the united parishes of St. Margaret and St. 

 John the Evangelist, possess a tobacco box 

 which is upwards of one hundred and eight- 

 een years old; it weighs no less than fifty- 

 six pounds, and it cost more than £2000 

 sterling. This is certainly a valuable and 

 unwieldy tobacco box. The history is rath- 

 er curious, and to all lovers of the "aromatic 

 vegetable," whether snuffers, smokers, or 

 chewers, it may be interesting. It appears 

 that the box was originally a common horn 

 box, bought, as tradition reports, at Horn 

 Fair, by Mr. Henry Monck, the then over- 

 seer, for the small sum of four pence. This 

 gentlemen usually brought the four-penny 

 box with him to the tavern where the parish 

 meetings were held, where the party smoked 

 their pipes in friendly intercourse after the 

 business of the day was over. The orna- 

 ments upon the tobacco box are all of silver, 

 and have annually increased, so as to make 

 it of the value above stated, all succeeding o- 

 verseers making some addition thereto, des- 

 cribing the most remarkable events of their 

 year of office. The box is delivered to each 

 succeeding overseer, with the following 

 charge by one of the church-wardens : "This 

 box and the several cases are the property 

 of the past Overseer's Society, and deliver- 

 ed into your custody and care upon condition 

 that they are produced at all parochial meet- J 

 ings which you shall be invited to ; or have a I 



right to attend, and shall contain three pipes 

 of tobacco at the least under the penalty of 

 six bottles of claret. And also upon further 

 condition, that you shall restore the box with 

 the several cases belonging to it, to the soci- 

 ety in as good a state as the same now are, 

 with some additional ornament thereto, at 

 (he next meeting after you shall go out of 

 office, or sooner if demanded, under the pe- 

 nalty of two hundred guineas." The chair- 

 man (hen proposes as a toast, " the new o- 

 verseers, wishing them health to go through 

 their office," which toast concludes the cer- 

 emony. 



The box and cases are annually entrusted 

 to the care of the overseers for the time be- 

 ing, without restriction as to the nature of 

 the ornaments which may be added, or the 

 skill and the taste of the artists who ma be 

 employed to execute them; therefore, the 

 nature of the ornaments, and the style of 

 their execution, are as various as the num- 

 ber pf hands through which it has passed. 



Several of the ornaments display considera- 

 ble taste in design, and ability in execution ; 

 and amongst these is a portrait of the Duke 

 of Cumberland, who commanded at Cullo- 

 len in 1746. In this battle the rebels, head- 

 ed by the pretender in person, were defeat- 

 ed which put an end to the rebellion. This 

 portrait and characteristic illustrations are 

 engraved on the inside of the original box, 

 and were designed and engraved by the cele- 

 brated William Hogarth, when in the ze- 

 nith of his reputation. 



|3r The Revenue received at Boston, from Jan. 



1831 to June 30, 1831, exceeds that received last 

 year, in the same time, by five hundred ninety-two 

 thousand four hundred fifty-nine dollars 90 cents. 



It is proposed to establish a Rail Road from 

 Williamsport to Elmira, in this State. 



ZINC HOLLOW WARE, 



MANUFACTURED by John Wcstfield & 

 Co. No. 163 Mott st N. York. 

 The prices of this ware will, upon examination, 

 be found not to vary materially from that ot Tin 

 and Iron, yet as durable as iron, easily cleansed, 

 not subject to rust, giving the article cooked or 

 kept in it no unpleasant taste, and containing in it- 

 self no poison as do copper, brass and lead. 



Zinc Kettles will be found to cook rice, hominy, 

 and all kinds of sweat meats, better than any oth- 

 er kind of metal, neither discoloring nor varying 

 the flavor of the substance cooked ; and for these 

 purposes, it will ere long be substituted for brass 

 and copper, to avoid the poisonous corrosions of 

 these metals. 



Zinc pans for the dairy will be found by the dai 

 ryman an object of his immediate attention, from 

 these considerations — that they will greatly out- 

 last any other pans — that the same size will pro- 

 duce one-sixth more cream or butter, and of a su- 

 perior flavor — that they are more easily cleansed, 

 and will keep milk sweet longer by a number of 

 hours. Zinc tubs and fiikins will keep butter 

 sweet several days longer in hot weather, than 

 those of wood or other kinds of metal. This has 

 been a subject of experiment, and the results safe- 

 ly warrant the statement. Hence families who 

 prefer sweet butter to rancid, will do well to avail 

 themselves of these tubs, for keeping their butter 

 sweet and retaining its flavor. 



Zinc ware is cleansed by rubbing it with brown 

 brick dust, dry without the use of soap. The a- 

 bove are indisputable facts in regard to Zinc ware, 

 which are subject to experimental proof by any in- 

 dividual, who will take the trouble to experiment 

 fairly on the use of the articles. For sale bv 

 jROSSITER <t> KNOX, 

 sep 3 vt Buffalo st Rochestel 



