SIL 



SIL 



tings as the Alpine or other hardy 

 variftios of the mulberry. Same 

 year, planted ('anton and niuiticaulis. 

 They vegetated very well, but made 

 a small growth. I had been taught 

 to believe that the mulberry -tree 

 would flourish where nothing else 

 would grow — quite a mistake. I took 

 iny trees up too early, and lost many 

 the ensuing winter. 



"Thus far I had been operating 

 upon rented lands. In 1S40, began on 

 tlie farm wiiere I now live — lands all 

 sadly exhausted ; not an acre on the 

 farm that would give half a ton of 

 )iay. I i)lanted two acres, chiefly 

 with multicauiis and Cantons, by lay- 

 ing the trees whole length in the fur- 

 row, manuring th(>m with a cheap 

 compost, made principally of peat 

 nuid properly prepared. They did 

 well, and made an average growth 

 of three feet. Let them stand as 

 they grew, and they all wintered safe- 

 ly. In 1841, planted three acres more 

 in like manner ; season dry, average 

 growth two feet : left all out as be- 

 fore. 



" But the winter of 1841-42 was 

 very open : no snow, frequent and 

 heavy rains, with constant freezing 

 and thawing. My ground is a flatn, 

 very level, and the water stood and 

 froze in many places : trees not ridged 

 up with the plough in summer culti- 

 vation, as they should have been on 

 such land, to guard against this dan- 

 ger. The result was, that I lost the 

 whole of the three-acre lot, and at 

 least three fourths of the other. 



" To me this was a sad disappoint- 

 ment, and for a few days in March, 

 1842, for i\\e first and the last time, I 

 had feelings of unconquerable discour- 

 agement. In this state, my first move- 

 ment was to despatch some twenty- 

 five to thirty letters of inquiry to silk- 

 growers in New-England. The mails 

 in due time brought me this return, 

 that the injuries of the winter, severe 

 as it was, had been confined to trees 

 planted, as mine were, ichole and hori- 

 xontalhj, on flat ground, without being 

 ridged up. and those of small growth. 

 I was greatly relieved to learn that, in 

 all cases where they had been set 



deep, one root in a place, on dry, slo- 

 ping land (or ridged, if flat), rich 

 enough to make good extended roots 

 the first season, ihcy had gone through 

 the winter safely, pre-eminently bad 

 as it had been. 



"Feeling, therefore, that I then 

 knew the worst of the case, I went di- 

 rectly to work, with augmented confi- 

 dence, to repair my loss. I ploughed 

 up all my lands, saving every live 

 tree, sent thirty-five to forty miles 

 and bought others, so as to plant 

 seven to eight acres, and thus bcfran 

 the silk business anew, in 1842, and be- 

 gan right. 



" As to trees, I prefer the multi- 

 cauiis, the large-leaf Canton, and the 

 i Asiatic. Managed as indicated in the 

 above details, they are essentially safe 

 from the perils of winter anywhere be- 

 tw'een Canada and the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. If not thus managed, they are 

 in danger anywhere and everywhere, 

 where it is cold enough for jcc/o/orm 

 and the groxind to freeze. It is not the 

 degree of cold that does the injury in 

 this and similar cases, but freezing 

 and thawing. Everybody knows that 

 a peaeh-tree is more safe on the north 

 than on the south side of the wall, and 

 for the reasons here stated. I would 

 not, therefore, give a dollar for a full 

 ensurance on all my trees if the ther- 

 mometer, in December, will drop 

 down to twenty degrees below zero, 

 and staij there until the last of March. 



" As to the feasibility of the silk 

 business in this country, I have no 

 doubt. I must unlearn all that I have 

 learned upon the subject for fifteen 

 years, undo all that I have done, and 

 unsay all that I have said — unhinge 

 and upset all the abiding and fi.xed 

 impressions upon my own mind be- 

 fore I can begin to doubt." 



SILK-WEED. The A.^clepias seri- 

 aca, the seed vessels of which con- 

 tain a long, silky down, sometimes 

 wrought into fabrics by private per- 

 sons. 



SILL. The horizontal and lower 

 piece of a window or other framing : 

 also, the shafts of a cart. 



SILT. The loose sandy matters 

 that accumulate in rivers. 



723 



