Vol. 1.— No. 51. 



A1VD GARDFIVER'S JOURNAL. 



4^7 



usum. I'i.da in Bomuyx. boston. Carter, 

 Hmd e and Bubcock. 



This Treatise is introduced by an able re- 

 jiort of a Committee of the Massachusetts 

 Legislature, of which Mr. Abel Wheeler 

 was Chairman (published in N. E. Farmer, 

 vol. ix. page i6£) and a resolve 'That his 

 excellency the Governor be requested to 

 cause to be compiled and printed a concise 

 Ma.mtal to coin. un the best information res 

 pecting the growth of the AIucueury Tk .:, 

 with suitable directions for the culture of 

 Silk, and that this manual be distributed 

 in suitable numbers in tlie city of Boston, 

 and to every town in .he Commonwealth. — 

 That to defray the expense thus incurred he 

 be authorized to draw nis warrant on the 

 treasury for a sum not exceeding six hun- 

 dred dollars.' 



The importance ol the silk culture in a 

 national point of view, as well as a useful 

 and profitable pursuit of individual industry, 

 is now so well, and so universally apprecia- 

 ted, that remarks on this head would be su- 

 perfluous. We shall, theref re, confine 

 ourselves to the indications of the claims of 

 the treatise before us to confidence and pat- 

 ronage. 



The author remarks in his preface that 

 ' In preparing this manual he has been gui- 

 ded by the personal experience which he 

 has had for several years in the culture oil 

 the mulberry tree, and rearing ot silk worms 

 in the state ol Massachusetts.' lie also 

 gives a list of the works which he has made 

 use of in compiling his manual, and subjoins 

 the recommendation of Mr. Peter S. Du 

 Ponceau, and Dr. Felix Pascal}',. Mr. Du 

 Ponceau observes that 'the works of foreign 

 writers on the cultivation ol mulberry trees 

 and raising of silk worms, particularly in the 

 latter, are by no means suited to the ineridi- j 

 an of this country, and are rath r calcula- 

 ted to discourage than instruct our farmers.' 

 You have with great propriety discarded 

 their artificial heat, thermometers, barome- 

 ters, hygrometers, and all these varieiy of 

 troublesome ineihods,minute regulations and 

 useless implements, which make the culture 

 of silk a difficult and intricate science. I 

 see no more difficulty in cultivating the mul- 

 berry than any other fruit tree: and the art 

 of raising silk worms seems to reduce itself 

 to a few simple rules easy of observance. — 

 I know but of one European author who has 

 had the courage to break through the fetters 

 of habit and prejudice; and in a late work 

 on the culture ol silk, published in the Ger- 

 man language at Vienna in 1829, adopted 

 what I call the American System, the same 

 which your manual recommends, and which 

 in fact nas been followed in ibis country for 

 more than 70 years. " The author is the 

 Chevalier Von Ileint, an Austrian noble- 

 man, the owner of large estates in the impe- 

 rial dominions. He appears to have com- 

 pletely succeeded by following this simple 

 American method, and he even ventured to 

 raise silk worms on mulberry trees in the 

 open air on the frontiers of Hungary, 44 

 deg. N. Lat. ; and he assures us that he met 

 with the same success.' 



Dr. Pascalis observes 'I have read the 

 work of Mr. Jonathan H. Cobb on the cul- 

 ture of silk, which is intended by him as a 

 popular, manual of instruction, and hare 

 been much pleased to find that it unites brev- 

 ity with all the most important precepts re- 

 quired, in that valuable branch o( domestic 

 produce. It is also clear and lucid, and free 



of all unnecessary details little to be c.'led for 

 within the short peiiod of tune necessary to 

 make a silk crop. It is evident that Mr. 

 Cobb has been for many years a practical 

 culturist, and could also embrace the inter 

 esting cares of the filature, even farther than 

 that of making marketable raw si.k, which 

 is not frequently attended to by the grow- 

 ers.' * * * 



'I conclude with observing that the work 

 of Mr. Jonathan H. Cobb deserves the con- 

 fidnce of the public, and its circulation should 

 be encouraged. 



ON RAISING GRAIN ON LIGHT 



SOIL..-.. 

 Eastern Pa. Nov. 8, 1831. 

 Mr. Smith : — A correspondent in your 

 last " Farmer" wishes to be informed wheth- 

 er any thing has been done at raising giain 

 on light sandy soils manured with marsh 

 mud, plastei of Pans, or lime, and if so wish- 

 es a detail. Sic. with the results. 1 will give 

 him what has come under my observation. 

 Some years since 1 bought a lot of la id which 

 contained 14 or 15 acies of river bottom of 

 very light sandy soil- the rest upland, which 

 was stony. The bottom beint, easier far- 

 med, had been completely worn out by the 

 tenants, who, under the former owner, had 

 used it for years without any manure. The 

 firsi year of my owning it I tried a part with 

 50 bustiels of lime to the acre, put on in the 

 spring alter breaking it up for com — it pro- 

 duced a good crop of corn and subsequently 

 one of the best crops of winter gram in the 

 township; it was then sown with clover and 

 timothy, and plastered, (i. e. sown with 

 ground gypsum) and produced me two tons 

 of hay to the acre; I continued the same 

 course of trearment on the whole flat, with 

 equal success, adding to ihe lime as much 

 stable manure as we had made on the lot. 

 it may be proper to say that perhaps previ- 

 ous to my owning it, the lot had never had a 

 bushel of plastei sown on it, and perhaos 

 never had been limed or manured to any ex- 

 tent, and that when broken up after I got it, 

 I caused it to be ploughed very deep ; deep 

 ploughing answers very well except on stiff 

 clay soils. The crops oi ilus part f the 

 world have been -j ''. .oved within the 



lastt.n or fifteen n use of lime as 



a manure. For,, une after the introduction 

 of gypsum, many of our fanners relied on 

 it, and clover alone ; other manures were 

 neglected, and although much good was done 

 by the introduction of clover, yet the pro- 

 cess of cropping exhausted ihe land, and 

 gypsum, wnicli I lielieve is only a stimulus, 

 ceased to produce any beneficial effects on 

 the lands. Recourse was ihen had to li.ne; 

 that has been successfully continued evei 

 since, and our millers inform me mat the re 

 suit has been an increase of ai least 50 per 

 cent, inihe quantity of gr un produced in the 

 same district of country. Lime, I believe, 

 operates as a manure by its caustic properties 

 neutralizing the acids in the soil. I have 

 also observed, wire i several years Ir veelaps. 

 ed without the application of gypsum, that 

 on renewing it its e.lects ire ; gain very ,. n- 

 ifest, espec ally in ihe grass crops in the 

 little farming I have recently done 1 have 

 combined the application ol stable manure 

 and lime, and when I manure, I do it in ear 

 nest and it pays well. On an out lot of five 

 acres near tins borough, which had been suf- 

 fered to become exhausted because the foi 

 mer owner said he could not afford to buy 

 lime and manure, he was unable to raise 



wheal, and ihe grass crop was very indiffers 

 ent. I broke it up early in the summer-- 

 put on it 250 bushels of lime, and 41 horses 

 loads of manure, gave it three ploughings and 

 sowed white wheal. The next season I gor 

 51 bushels of wheat to the acre; 1 sowed 

 clover and timothy among ihe wheat. 1 

 sold the crop of grass standing the next sea- 

 son for gtO, and got ©tO for the fall pastur- 

 age ; ttiis vear I made upwards of ten tons 

 of hay off it, and have again gotten $ ,0 for 

 the fall pasturage. 



The effect of lime is visible for a greater 

 or less length of time according to the nature 

 of the soil. I have seen it distinctly visible 

 twelve years after n h id been applied. 



In this country it is generally put on after 

 the land is ploughed, and then harrowed and 

 ploughed in. If the season be not too dry 

 its beneficial effects will be visible in the 

 summer crop following iis application in the 

 spring. But if land be limed for the sum- 

 mer crop and a dry summer succeed, it some- 

 times injures that crop that season, although 

 its beneficial effects will be seen the next 

 and succeeding yeais ; lime never is fully 

 felt in its effects until a winter has passed af- 

 ter its application. On poor or thin land I 

 think an application of the lime on 'he sur- 

 face or sod in the fall the most advisable ; 

 spread it and let it lie till spring. 1 think 

 any land will bear 40 bushels to the acre thus 

 applied, and that the difference of the corn 

 crop the next season will nearly if not quite 

 pay the price of the lime, if il can be procur- 

 ed at a reasonable price,— Am. Farmer. 



Strange Affection. — A foxhound bitch 

 the property of Mr. A. Thornton, of Caro- 

 line county", Va. was in, last spring, at the 

 death of a she-fox. Soon after, she was 

 found baying at a hollow tree, which being 

 cut open, was found to have been the den 

 of the she-fox, and to contain seven fox 

 whelps, quite young. On being taken out, 

 the hound bitch coiled her elf about them, 

 and eagerly gave them suck. Her own 

 ! pups were put with a foster mother, and 

 she, with maternal care, nursed the young 

 foxes, on the farm, where there were seve- 

 ral other . dogs, and where they remained 

 unmolested, until tit to wean, i hey were 

 then put in the neighboring wood, but per- 

 sisted in rit, unmg occasionally to the 

 jho uestead, where,fiue to their nature they 

 depredated on the poultry yard until it be- 

 came necessary to destroy them. Many 

 are the morals that might be drawn iiom 

 this incident, w rich is no fable. No virtue 

 more beautiful than offering shelter to the 

 fatherless — (he more sinkina, when exer- 

 Icised in despite of country and family pre- 

 judices. But the con luct of the fox ,-hows 

 how far beyond the force of education is 

 that of nature! Is if not so with some ani- 

 mals that are not ferce natura? — American 

 Turf Reg. 



On Friday evening last, a colored wo 

 man, by the name of Lliza Freeman, »va s 

 committed to ji il in Mount Holly, N. 3. o» 

 a charge or murdering lier husband, David 

 Freeman, the pre< eding night, by cutting 

 his throat with a razor. 



sh 



Lower Cauda. — TJk- census of Lower Canad,* 

 Ws a population of near 500,000 souls. 



