78 ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. 



ground planted in rows four feet asunder, the trees being set 

 about one foot apart in the rows, would probably produce as 

 many leaves in the third, fourth, or fifth year of their growth, as 

 the acre covered with standard trees one and a half rods apart. 

 As the trees increase in size, they may be thinned out. 



The natural history of the silk worm is an interesting study, 

 and wUl in itself reward the labour necessarily bestowed upon 

 it, by those who would successfully manage these wonderful 

 insects. This employment cannot fail to be an excellent school 

 for young minds. So much depends on order, cleanliness and 

 accuracy of management, that it must deeply impress on them 

 the value of these virtues in all the concerns of life. The intro- 

 duction of the silk culture among us, may, we think, also 

 subserve the higher interests of morality and benevolence — by 

 adding to the charms of rural scenery and to the delights of rural 

 employments. Were it admissible to enliven a dull agricultural 

 essay with a picture drawn from imagination, we should be 

 tempted to portray young men and maidens, as gay and as 

 (true to love and duty as the birds which fill with melody the 

 mulberry grove, making by their mutual aid and kind offices the 

 culture of silk a most fascinating and delightful employment. 

 As we contemplate the subject, the creations of fancy assume 

 all the characteristics of real life. We see the bashful swain 

 with downcast eye and palpitating heart, hand over the leaves 

 •which he has gathered to the fair manager of the laboratory, who 

 receives with blushes the raw material, which is perhaps to be 

 wrought by her own hands into some ornamental part of her own 

 w^edding garment. Again, we see the charms of rustic beauty 

 heightened by the consciousness of independence, which beams 

 from her countenance, when she looks on the proceeds of her 

 own industry, and seems to say, ' I have not added to the em- 

 barrassments of my father's house, and shall be able to carry 

 that which is better than gold, economy, health and industrious 

 habits, into my husband's. 



It is desirable that the cultme of silk should become among 

 us the incidental employment of females, boys and infirm people. 

 Almost every family might rear a few thousand worms advanta- 



