370 GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE-MAKING. 



Would any person advise, therefore, to abandon firming in the United States, as a 

 business which will not pay, and advocate the importation of seed and breadstuff's 

 from foreign countries? I suppose that no man would like to appear before the pub- 

 lic with such a ridiculous proposition or argument. 



So it is with silk-raising, as I will demonstrate. Almost everj' fanner's wife will 

 raisfe chickens, turkeys, ducks, or geese ; this is considered a recreation, and with 

 pleasure and pride does the industrious and good housewife call together her feath- 

 ered subjects, showing to her husband and neighbors the little treasure she has cre- 

 ated by her industry. I call it treasure, for many a shilling is saved from the hard 

 earnings of her husband for the purchase of sugar, tea, coftee, and often dresses, by 

 the sale of eggs, chickens, turkeys, etc., etc. 



Now, then, to raise chickens, etc., it requires the care of a whole year; when rais- 

 ing silk-worms, twenty-four to forty days will be amply sufficient time bestowed on 

 them ; and, again, it is much easier to raise silk-worms than poultry. Every farmer's 

 wife can raise the silk-worm successfully without the least difficulty ; it is so very 

 simple that every body can comprehend it by reading the mode which I will give 

 below. 



I do not for a moment advance the idea of discontinuing the raising of poultry^ 

 No ; the housewife can raise poultry and breed silk-worms ; they do not interferP 

 with each other any more than her husband's raising wheat and ])otatoes on the farm. 



This will be, too, an additional income to tlie good wife, and a much larger and 

 surer one, there being no fluctuations of importance in the price of cocoons, the price 

 being fixed according to quality, Nos. 1, 2, and 3 ; not, like poultry, sometimes not 

 to be sold at any price, or, if not for cash, for some unnecessary trash in the store. 

 Cocoons are in all countries cas/i, and I warrant that it will be so in California. But 

 I see my fair reader's inquiring looks for the lines containing the probable jirofits of 

 such an undertaking. I will give an approximate estimate from data collected on 

 my travels and from celebrated authors. I will here suppose that California will 

 give no more encouragement tlian the least favored country in Europe — Bavaria. I 

 have taken this northern country as an estimate to be far below the real result which 

 must ensue in California, as I am satisfied that this state is better than the best in 

 Europe for cultivating the mulberry. Bavaria, in its produce of leaves to tlie tree, 

 is 50 per cent, less than the south of France or Italy. A farmer possessing 40 acres 

 of land can divide his land in convenient lots, surrounding each lot with a double row 

 of trees; this will be no detriment to his crops or farm, but will serve to beautify his 

 property very much. If the farmer has means to purchase mulberry-trees from the 

 nurseries, it will bo to his interest, as he will gain a year ; if not, he may purchase 50 

 cents worth of mulberry seed, sow them in a bed, and raise his own trees. When one 

 year old, plant the trees in avenues 12 feet apart; 300 trees, 4 years old from plant- 

 ing, will give 10,000 ])0unds of leaves. This produces 125,000 cocoons, which, at 90 

 cents per thousand, is $'112 .'JO. This sum one housewife with a child ten years of 

 age, without extra help, can save by 40 days' care at the utmost. The price here is 

 estimated as in Germany, so 40 per cent, may be safely added. This income will be 

 almost doubled every year, until the tree reaches its highest bearing, which is about 

 its twenty-fifth year, when, in California, no doubt 400 pounds of leaves will be the 

 yield. 



When the happy event occurs that the family increases and grows with the trees, 

 then those little creatures will lighten the labor of their parent, even in their tender 

 years ; for children eight years of age, for rearing and feeding silk-worms, arc quite 

 as useful as older ones. The wojk is more play than any thing else, and therefore 

 not detrimental to health. 



Where trees are producing more leaves than the housewife .and her family can at- 

 tend, it would be proper to lease such trees to women who have none of their own — 

 to wives of mechanics, tradesmen, etc. In Europe, wherever silk-worms are bred, 

 every body has them — wives of officers, tradesmen, merchants, etc. Nobody thinks 

 it below their dignity to raise them ; so far from it, that ladies enter into competition 

 as to who can raise the finest cocoons, and the greatest number, from a certain num- 

 ber of leaves. 



Reader, do you not think that something should be done to enable poor but hon- 

 est females to earn a living honorably? Not every female is fit to make a house- 

 maid. Some have been so unfortunate in life as to have been brought up delicately. 

 This class, oven if pride should not prevent them from living out as kitchen-maids, 

 have not strength, arc delicate, and would soon compel their employers to discharge 



