SILK AND MULBERRIES. 



hedges to divide fields, or otherwise. In the first instance, the directions given 

 for planting and pruning fence trees will apply here, and their distance may 

 be fifteen feet, or more, to suit the taste or convenience of the proprietor. If 

 half standards are to be cultivated, and the ground ultimately to be appro- 

 priated to their growth, the ground should be ploughed deep, and if trench 

 ploughed the better, and well pulverized, and the trees planted four to eight 

 feet apart in double rows, that is, two parallel rows four feet apart, leaving 

 intervals for the passage of a cart between each double row. Plant in quin- 

 cunx, putting the plant in one row opposite the interval between two trees in 

 the other, thus . . Half standards need not be pruned, except of such 

 as fall to the ground. Branches will spring from near the surface, and 

 the intervals will be filled, in a few years, with thrifty foliage. For two or 

 three years the intervals may be ploughed carefully, and cropped with pota- 

 toes, beans, &c., the tillage of which will facilitate the growth of the mulber- 

 I'l.iLK f, >r half standards may be taken from the nursery at two years, 

 and if very thrifty, at one year old. In all cases it is advisable to transplant 

 the mulberry, at the north, in the spring, and the earlier the better. The ob- 

 ject of this mode of planting is, to raise the greatest quantity of leaves from a 

 given area of ground, and to facilitate the gathering of them. When required 

 For a hedge, the plants may be one or two years old. A neat way of training 

 this hedge is to cut down the plants the first year, to within four or six inches 

 of the ground, leaving two buds, and after another year's growth, to bend 

 down or lay one of the new sprouts in the line of the fence, and tie it to the 

 next plant, and to leave the other sprout to grow upright. The buds from the 

 laid sprout will send up shoots and fill the intervals. The plants may be set 

 fifteen inches apart. Sprouts springing from the roots should in all cases be 

 cut away, unless they are wanted for layers. It is recommended that small 

 intended for spring planting, should be taken up the preceding fall, and 

 buried in great part or wholly, to protect them from injury during the winter. 

 The Cocoonery is the place where the worms are to be fed, which should be 

 sufficiently tight lo protect them from stormy or severe weather, and so fitted 

 that it may be thoroughly ventilated when the weather is mild and fair. A 

 spare room of the house, or an out building, will serve for beginners on a 

 small scale. This must be furnished with a table, or shelves, to deposite the 

 worms upon. The best way seems to be to frame four posts together, say 

 four by three feet square, into which are fitted three or four frames for the 

 worms to feed upon, the centre of which to be filled with meshes of catgut or 

 twine, and others directly under them, covered with paper. The object of 

 which is, to have all the filth and excrements pass through the meshes on to 

 the paper slide, which may be withdrawn and cleaned without disturbing the 

 WMI-IIH. The paper frame should be so near the other, that if the worms fall 

 through the meshes, they may be able to reach it and get up again, which they 

 will do for the leaves, which are always laid upon the mesh frames. 



