764 [ASSEMBLT 



top soil to the bottom of the trench. Over that they put the second 

 spit and on top the third spit, so that the bottom about three feet 

 deep becomes the top soil. After such trenching, the land will, 

 without manure, grow five or six good crops, and will grow corn 

 from generation to generation if occasionally trenched again. Some 

 think this fabulous, but 1 have seen it with my own eyes, and never 

 saw better, wheat, oats, or barley. Land even poor is generally cov- 

 ered with a coat of some sort, either stubble or grass, or weeds, which 

 being thrown into the bottom of the trench and covered two or three 

 feet thick, it ferments, rots, and evaporates its volatile spirits, which 

 penetrate through every particle of the earth above it. 



"The laborers on farms get a shilling a day in summer. Eggs, 7 

 and 8 for a penny. Beef and Mutton, 2| pence a pound. Good 

 chickens, 2 to 2| pence each. Turkeys 10 pence each. Roasting 

 pigs from 12 to 15 pence each." 



And the following translation by him from the Portuguese (viz.) 



I translate from the Auxiliador da Industria Nacional of Rio 

 Janeiro, January 1847, the following just remarks on the indispensa- 

 ble necessity of the filature to silk culture (viz.) 



"The production of cocoons is absolutely worth nothing without 

 the organization of a filature. The raising and collecting of them 

 becomes a source of depression and disgust where there is no means 

 of sale or filature. To send them to Europe to be reeled is utterly 

 impracticable. The production of cocoons and their reeling must be 

 organized at the same time. And we affirm without fear of being 

 mistaken that the filature is the greatest difficulty for us to conquer. 

 The best method to obviate the evil will be to establish filatures,, 

 central to the growers of cocoons. 



"Mulberry trees growing on hills or mountains have, by long ex- 

 perience proved better for silk than those grown in valHes or on rich 

 soils. 



"According to the last census in the department of De Gard in 

 France, there were upwards of two million three hundred thousand 

 mulberry trees on 16,620 hectares of land (about 3600 acres.) The 

 silk of Alais holds a well merited reputation in the manufactories of 

 Lyons, which is owing in part to the ability of the reelers, but stilL 

 more to the good quality of the cocoons, which is due to the care of 



