junu ary, 1842. THE FARME R 'S MONTHLY VI 



luude a Diofitahle and successful business- in New of almost anv larniiii!' r.mn rHniiiif!!! nmra tli:in 



S IT O R , 



made a profitahle and successful business in New 

 Hampshire. The position and residence of Doct. 

 Plasirid;^e is near tlie outlet of the beautiful 

 Mascomy pond or lake on the north side about 

 three miles from the Shaker villages in Eutield. 

 One characteristic of the cultivution upon the 

 borders of the numerous lakes of New Hamp- 

 shire of the extent of three miles and upwards 

 is, that the early frost seldom injures any crop. 

 Dr. P., situated U|)on lanil facing the south, has 

 raised some of the finest crops of corn. He this 

 year produced the Biowu corn at lh<; rate of one 

 hundred bushels to the acre. He has, with the 

 assistance of his wife and dau<;hters, raised tor 

 several past years from ten to fifteen pounds of 

 raw silk ; and he considers this a more sure and 

 profitable business than the grovvin;; ol sheep 

 and wool, which has better succeeded lor the last 

 thirty years in Lebanon than in almost any other 

 town of the State. The ladies of his family have 

 made it almost a pastime to teed the worms and 

 to draw out the delicate fibres from the cocoons. 

 One thousand of these are wound into raw silk 

 in a day by a practised and dilitrent female hand; 

 and this, when manufactured, is worth five dol- 

 lars. Doctor P. partly promised to commit to 

 writing a more particular account of the progress 

 he has made in the silk culture ; and this we hope 

 to submit to the public through the columns of 

 the Visitor. 



It has occurred to us, that the apparatus for 

 feeding the silk worm noticed in our extract from 

 the Ohio paper may come greatly to aid in the 

 production of silk in this country whenever ra- 

 tional people shall be disposed to take hold of 

 this business in a rational manner. All corpora- 

 tions and joint stock associations with salaried 

 men for managers and operators for growing 

 trees and worms and i)roducing silk, may be ex- 

 pected to fail in this country as they have failed 

 heretofore; but individuals taking up and carry- 

 ing on the business as the shoe and leather busi- 

 ness has been carried on in Massachusetts, as the 

 straw and palm-leaf braiding business has been 

 carried on by females in many families in our 

 country towns, as various other nianufactm-es are 

 carried on having no other expense than the 

 work of the operators themselves, may and doubt- 

 less will in time make the silk culture a success- 

 ful pursuit in New England. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



Reasons for eagasin? in the Silk Culture. 



We give another paper from the same source, 



setting forth eighteen reasons why the people of 



the Utiited States, especially the tanners, should 



engage in the business of silk growing: 



1. Because silk forms the heaviest item in the 

 catalogue of our im])ortaiions. 



2. Because we i)ossess the means of doing it 

 to better advantage than any other nation. 



3. Because the necessary skill is easily acquir- 

 ed, and no nation ever possessed better talents to 

 acquire it. 



4. Because the nation is under heavy embar- 

 rassments on account of excessive itnportations, 

 and no other means are so sure of success in pro- 

 viding the necessary relief. 



5. Because it can be effectually engaged in 

 by all classes of j)eople, requiring little or no 

 capital. 



6. Because we have more spare land than any 

 other nation, and much well suited to the growth 

 of the mulberry, which is worn out for other 

 purposes. 



7. Because we are already well stocked with 

 the mulberry trees, which will be lost to the na- 

 tion if not used for that purpose. 



8. Because a stock of silk worms may be ob- 

 tained the first year, equal to what could be rear- 

 ed of any other live stock in a great portion of a 

 lifetime. 



9. Because raw silk or cocoons are always 

 surer of a market than almost any other com- 

 modity. 



10. Because it is a very certain crop. 



11. Because a pound of silk worth six dollars 

 can be grown in less lime than a pound of wool 

 worth fifty cents. 



12. Because it will cost no more to transport a 

 pound of silk-to m;frket worth six dollars, than 

 a pound of bread stuff or pork v/cirth six or eight 

 cents. 



13. Because the labor of growing a crop oi 

 silk requires only six or .<'vcn weeks, while that 



of almost any farming crop requires more than 

 as many mouths. 



14. Because most of the labor will be perform- 

 ed by women, children or invalids — who, though 

 willing, are unable to perform other profitable 

 labor. 



1.5. Because there are hundreds if not thou- 

 sands of skilful silk manutiicturers in the coini- 

 try, who are unable to find regular employment 

 for want of raw silk. 



10. Because the growing and manufacture of 

 silk has never failed to be a source of wealth to 

 any nation which embarked in it. 



17. Because the Legislature of our State, (New 

 York) having observed and duly weighed all the 

 foregoing reasons, have wisely [?] offered a liberal 

 bounty tor its encouragement. 



18. Because the American Institute, with a lib- 

 erality which speaks volumes to its everlasting 

 credit, has offered, tor the encouragement of lit- 

 erature as well as this most eminent branch of 

 industry, a premium of fifty dollars and a gold 

 medal for the best treatise thereon, and a like 

 medal lor the best silk reel. 



The person who would not be stimulated to 

 exertion by such reasons and liberal offers of re- 

 ward, must be sordid indeed. 



A. OF THE NORTH. 



The Massachusetts Agricultural Socie- 

 ty's Premium for the best Orchard, has been 

 awardeil to George Randall of New Bedford. 

 Mr. John Welles, Chairman of the Counnittee to 

 whom the examination of Orchards was intrust- 

 ed, made a report to the Society, on the Kith of 

 Decem!)er, wliich was accepted and its publica- 

 tion directed. At the request of the Committee, 

 Mr. Randall turnished for publication, with the 

 report, his manner of planting and treatment of 

 the trees. Tfie following paragraphs embrace 

 the substance of his communication — which may 

 be recommended to all farmers and gardeners as 

 highly worthy of attention. 



The extent of the orchard is 3 1-2 acres; the 

 number of trees, 213 ; their distance apart, 25 

 feet ; and the number of varieties, 57. The soil 

 is a sandy, gravelly loam, generally light. In 

 planting the trees, Mr. Randall says the mutilated 

 roots of each tree were carefully cut off smooth ; 

 even the small fibrous ones, and engrailing salve 

 put over large cuts. The roots were immersed 

 in water for above one-half hour lietore planting, 

 therel)y inducing the mould or loam to l)ecome 

 attached to them. The hole was dug large, so 

 that every root might extend without bending or 

 being cramped. Nothing was put round the 

 roots but surface eartli, and that carefully worked 

 in by hand, each root and fibre lying horizontally 

 and naturally. No manure was used in setting. 

 One bushel of fine stp.'ole manure was put round 

 each tree the first of November, and repeated for 

 two years. Mr. Randall preferred raising the 

 earth around trees, when first planted, above the 

 common level, to give them firmness, to planting 

 deep. He prefers Spring to Aviunm [ilanting. 

 Shallow planting he thinks succeeds best, and 

 this, he t'.iinks, may be accounted for philosophi- 

 cally. The roots are luxuriating in a good soil, 

 and are more immediately under the influence of 

 the Sim. 



The orchard was planted in 1837, and the 

 g'oiind has been planted every year since, and 

 including 1837, with potatoes, carrots, ruta baga, 

 sugar beets, and mangel wurtzel. The manures 

 used have been common stable, com|)ost of sta- 

 ble, loam and swamp mud, lime compost, spent 

 ashes, plaster, and a small quantity of saltj.etie. 

 The trunks and lower limbs of the trees have 

 been well washed with oil soap, sand and water, 

 every spring and fall since they were planted out ; 

 after which a coat of oil soap has been put on 

 with a painter's brush. The first pruning was 

 done the first of IMay last, at which time the 

 earth was removed from around every tree to ex- 

 amine for borers; not one was found, or any in- 

 dication of one. In reply to the inquiries of the 

 Committee respecting the Oil Soap, Mr. Randall 

 says — that ii-om eight to ten pounds of oil soap 

 are put into a common pail, with such a quantity 

 of warm water as will render it about as thick as 

 paint when mixed for use. With this pail of 

 soap, thinned as de.scribed, a man having a small 

 tin pail, or bag, or pocket, filled with fine sand, 

 tied rounil his waist, with a coarse crash cloth 

 and a paint brush, is ready for operating. Ik- 



first wets his cloth with soap, then scatters on 

 some dry sand, and gives the trunk and branches 

 a good rubbing; after which, with a paint brush, 

 he puts on a co.it of the soap, prepared as above, 

 equal to a thick coat of paint, to is well, he says, 

 to select tor this work the terminatioti of a storm 

 of rain, vvlien the moss or any rousliness on the 

 bark, will yield more readily to rubbiug. 



This World, This Life, not iMiserable.— 

 " They who say that this is a miserable world, or 

 this is a miserable life, say not well. It is mis- 

 anthropy, or a diseased imagination only, that 

 says this. Life is liable to misery, but misery is 

 not its very being ; it is not a mu^erabl 



fence. Witness — I know not what thi 



1 to say, 



or how many. The eye is opened to a world of 

 beauty, and to a heaven — all sublimity and love- 

 liness. The ear heareth tones and voices that 

 touch tiie heart with joy, with rapture. The 

 great wide atmosphere, breathes upon us— bathes 

 us with softness and fragrance. Then look deep- 

 er. How many conditions are liappy ! Child- 

 hood is happy ; and youth is prevailingly happy: 

 and prosperity hath its joy,and wealth its satisfac- 

 tion ; and the warm blood that flows in the ruddy 

 cheek and sinewy arm of honest poverty, is a 

 still better gift. No song is so hearty and cheer- 

 ing — none that steals forth from the windows of 

 gay saloons — as the song of honest labor among 

 the hills and mountains. Oh ! lo be a man — 

 with the true energies and affections of a man, all 

 men feel it to be good. To be a healihful, strong 

 true-hearted and loving man — how much butter 

 is it, than to be the minion, or master, of aiiv con- 

 dition— lord, laiul,-i ave, king or Ctesar ! " How 

 many affections too are happy — graliiiide, gener- 

 osity, piet}', love, aiul consciousness of being be- 

 loved ! And to bow the heart, in lowliness and 

 adoration, before the Infinite, all-blessing', ever- 

 bless'ed One — to see in the all surrounding bright- 

 ness and glory, not beauty and majesty only, but 

 the all-Beautiful, all-iMajestic, all-Conscions'.Wnrf 

 and Spirit of love — this is to be filled with more 

 than created tidiness — it is to be filled with all 

 the fullness of God ! 



A world where such things are — a world above 

 all, where such a presence is— seemeth to me, a 

 goodly world. I look around upon it,l nieditatenp- 

 onitlfeel its blessings and beatitudes; and I say, 

 surely it is a world of plenteonsness and beauty 

 andgladness, of loves and friendships, of blessed 

 homes and holy altars, of sacred commimionsand 

 lofty aspirations and immortal prospects ; and 

 I remember that He who made it, looked upon 

 it and saw that it -was very good." — Rtv. Dr. 

 Deweifs Discourses. 



Beautilul Sketch of the Itlissouri River. 



The following beautiful and highly interesting 

 sketch of the Missouri River, is from Catlin's 

 Notes on the North American Indians, not yet 

 published in the United States. 



Tlie Missouri river is, perhaps, different in ap- 

 pearance and character fioiii all other rivers in 

 the world; there is a terror in its manner which 

 is sensibly felt the moment we enter its muddy 

 waters from the Mississippi. From the month of 

 the Yellow-Stone River, which is the place where 

 I am now writing, to its junction with the Missis- 

 sippi, a distance of two thousand miles, the Mis- 

 souri with its boiling turbid waters, sweeps off in 

 one unceasing current; and in the whole dis- 

 tance there is scarcely an eddy or resting place 

 for a canoe. Owinir to the continued falling-out 

 of its rich alluvial banks, its waters are always 

 turbid and opaque, having at all seasons of the 

 year the color of a cup of chocolate or coffee, 

 with suitar and cream stirred into it. To give a 

 beiter definition of its density and opacity, I li::vo 

 tried a number of siiiiple experiments witli it at 

 this place, and at other points below, at the result 

 of which I was exceedingly snrpriseil. By plac- 

 ing a piece of silver (anrl afterwards a piece of 

 shell, which is a much whiter substance,) in a 

 tumbler of this water, and looking through the 

 side of the glass, I ascertaineil that those substan- 

 ces could not be seen through the eighth part of 

 an inch. 



This, however, is the spring of the yeju-, when 

 the freshet is upon the river, rendering the water 

 undoubtedly much tnore turbid than it would be 

 at other seasons — though it is always muddy and 

 yellow, and from its boiling character anil ni\- 

 coininnn color, a stranger would think, even in 



