1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 225 



P. 



C. HASKELL S LETTERS. 



The subjoined are extracts from letters received by me from Calvin 

 Haskell, of Harvard, Mass. He has had considerable experience in 

 producing silk in a household way ; and the information given by a 

 man so practical, vk^ill be duly esteemed. 



Letter I. 



Mr. Colman, — 



Harvard, March 9, 1840. 



Dear Sir, — I commenced about twelve years since, by sowing the 

 seed of the white Italian mulberry. I set the trees, some in hedges 

 and some twelve feet apart, for standard trees. I prefer the hedge to 

 the large trees, on account of the convenience of gathering the leaves. 

 By cutting off the tops, they are kept within reach. I have never lost 

 any by being winter killed. About the year 1829 or '30, I purchased 

 a few trees of the Morus Multicaulis, which were imported from 

 France. I set them out and let them remain through the two first 

 winters, without their being essentially injured, but those that were 

 grown from cuttings were invariably killed. This induced me to take 

 up the old trees in the fall, and re-set them in the spring. 1 tried vari- 

 ous ways to protect them that I left out during winter, by enclosing 

 some in straw, some with the boughs of pine, and by heaping the earth 

 around the bodies and roots of the trees, but all were lost that were ex- 

 posed to the winter. 1, however, left out two of the old trees during 

 the winters of 1833 and '34 ; they were but little injured, and in 1835 

 they blossomed and bore fruit, which in appearance resembled the 

 common low blackberry, excepting their being somewhat longer. I 

 watched them with great care, and was enabled to save only 30 of the 

 berries. From them I obtained seed which the next year produced 

 about 500 seedlings. From that time, with the exception of the sec- 

 ond year of their growth, 1 have multiplied them by laying them in in 

 the usual way. The seedlings differ from the parent trees, the leaf 

 being smaller, although in rich ground they approach near the size of 

 the real Morus Multicaulis. They are more rapid in their growth, 

 having in all cases with me, out grown them when set in rows togeth- 

 29 



