No. 144.] 365 



THE BROWN CORN. 



John Brown, senior, of Long Island, near Lake Village, Lake 

 Winnipisiogee, New Hamphire, states, that the island he is upon, 

 is in latitude 43° 40' North, and contains about 1100 acres, the 

 largest part of which is in good arable land, the remainder pasture 

 imd wood. Soil abrow^iiish yellow loam, which, well tilled, becomes 

 warm and retentive of manures. Subsoil, bright yellow^, underlaid 

 by a hard pan of varying depth and thickness. The Brown corn 

 grown on one acre of it ; highly cultivated, produced 130 bushels 

 per acre. 



My rotation of crops for the last thirty years, generally, has 

 been, 1st potatoes, 2d Indian corn, 3d wheat, and then grass, 

 mowed till " bound out," say 6 to 7 years. 



I have made a profit of one hundred dollars an acre on Indian 

 corn, sold at one dollar, per bushel. 



[La Patrie. Paris, Monday, Oct. 30, 1854. Presented by Dr. J. G. Adams, late from Paris.] 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES— SILK-WORMS. 



At the recent sessions of the Academy, were read several inte- 

 resting communications on this subject, the Bombyx Cynthia, of 

 which we have already spoken, has been raised for a long time 

 past in the East Indies and in China, and has lately been natu- 

 ralized in Italy ; it may be naturalized in France. This insect 

 presents important advantages ; it flourishes upon leaves of the 

 castor oil plant, which grows everywhere readily in moderate 

 climates ; it also feeds well upon leaves of the willow and lettuce. 



The mulberry silk-worm gives but one generation a year, while 

 the cynthia complete one in forty three days; it is more robust; 

 it is sick during its four mouldings, but each of these lasts but 

 24 hours, at most. Its silk has considerable hardness and solidity, 

 but it is not yet very certain that it is capable of division. For 

 a complete understanding of this point, some details as to their 

 cocoons is necessary. The silkworm has this peculiarity, that it 

 creates the material to build its house withj which it dwells in 



