314 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



jether; female industry will search out the end 

 of the thread, and wind and spin the threads from 

 Sen to fourteen cocoons together into one single 

 thread, with that care, and correctness, which will 

 &bake a silk perfectly even, and perfectly clean. 



Here we could enter into minute details, and fur- 

 nish drawings of such winding and reeling ma- 

 chines, as are used in the large Italian and French 

 establishments, but we consider that, at the pres- 

 ent early period, it would have a tendency to fa- 

 tigue, and perplex the attention, of such of our 

 readers as may wish to embark in a trial ; their 

 first attempt will probably be upon a limited scale, 

 and undoubtedly the simple means used for wind- 

 ing and reeling in this State, and in Connecticut, 

 which m.iy be more easily learnt by actual view 

 than by tedious descriptions, will be found amply 

 sufficient, and as we progress in the business, our 

 own intelligence and experience, gradually assist 

 ed by further information respecting the practice 

 of Europe, will make us fully acquainted with the 

 best process; when it is not convenient, to wind 

 and reel all the cocoons at that time, then all 

 the millers must be destroyed before they come 

 out, in order to save the silk from injury ; this 

 may be done in the following manner : a kettle of 

 hot water must be prepared, and when boiling, a 

 sieve filled with cocoons about three or four inch- 

 es thick, may be placed over the kettle, so as to 

 receive the hot steam without dipping in the vva- 

 ter; a wooden cover may be placed over the sieve 

 to confine the steam, and after leaving it in that 

 situation for about ten minutes, you throw the co 

 coons into a cloth and wrap them upin it, that the 

 heat may be sure to penetrate into them, and de- 

 stroy the life of the chrysalis ; thf>y must imme- 

 diately, afterwards, be spread in the sun to dry 

 thoroughly, and then be put away on shelves, or 

 on a floor, spread very ihin, that the d«ad insects, 

 within, may dry up and harden, otherwise it might 

 corrupt tliere, and stain the silk ; when this is 

 done the cocoons may be kept, if convenient, for 

 three years without any ill effect to the quality of 

 the silk, which will wind easi'y, and bo as good as 

 if it had been wound immedutely, but will not ap- 

 pear quite so bright. At the opening of the sea- 

 son, the object to attend to, is as soon as convcni- 

 nient, to procure good seed oT the white Mulberry, 

 and to sow it in rov.'s as before directed, hoeing 

 the young plants carefully and frequently, to keep 

 them free from weeds and as thrifty as possible, 

 that they may gain strength and not suffer from 

 the first winter; the second sprinn; after powincf, 

 they will be in a good condition for gathering, and 

 feeding the worms; nay, any person who should 

 feel desirous of driving the business, may begin to 

 use them the first spring after sowing, and keep 

 on sowing in reserve, not to be used until the third 

 year, when the plants being better rooted, and 

 stronger, can bear without any ill consequences, 

 to be cut down near the ground and would soon 

 be up again for a second crop; it would be desira- 

 ble to transplant some of the young trees into case 

 rows, placing them at the distance of two feet a- 

 part, and suiTeriDg them to grow in the manner of 



bushes, which would be convenient for gathering 

 the leaves; some also should be transplanted to 

 grow singly with a but ; such trees, (as mentioned 

 before,) will give the best and most substantial 

 food ; thus the drills of seedlings will give the 

 earliest and tondorest food for the little worms at 

 their birth, the leaves of the edge rows will af- 



fxjrd a food next in substance, suitable after the 



second shedding, and the leaves of the mature i 

 standard trees will, after the fourth shedding, of- 

 fer to their voraciousness that substantial food \ 

 which is very requisite, at that time, to satisfy j 

 them and to insure a rich and heavy crop; clioos- ! 

 ing for the whole plantation, a piece of sheltered 

 high ground, sweet and well laid lO the sun, and . 

 planting ridges, hedges, and trees in such a man- i 

 ner, as will give to all, the uninterrupted benefit j 

 of the light ind heat of the sun. ! 



Fully aware of the importance of the ob- 

 ject ive have presented to the attention of the ( 

 community, wo cannot leave it, without ma- j 

 king a concluding appeal to the intelligence and j 

 energy of our countrymen, not to suffer any delay j 

 to lake place in setting their hands, to a work sol 

 promising of results the most favorable to our | 

 comforts, and for our welfare ; the first step is! 

 within the farmer's immediate department, to sow 

 the mulberry seed and rear the young trees, and^ 

 after two years of attendance, the silk raisingmay ; 

 commence and will become a healthy and pleasant 

 business for children, and young women. This 

 rich crop will require but two months care to se- 

 c':re it, and when the business shall flourish on a 

 large scale, which we may anticipate, as probable 

 within a short period, the raising of the cocoons 

 uill become a distinctoccupation for farmers' fam- 

 ilies ; the winding and reeling of the silk also 

 most probably, will be carried on as a distinct and 

 separate branch of industry ; this is actually the 

 case in all the silk growing countries, where the 

 cocoons iire carried to the public markets and sold 

 for ready cash to those who keep filatures, where 

 they wind and reel them. Great advantages will 

 accrue to the younger members of farmers' famil- 

 ies in cultivating so pleasant and profitable an em- 

 ployment at home; it will offerto many young wo- 

 men a choice between home, and the factories, and 

 a resource in case the liberal encouragement giv- 

 en to manufactures, should eventually prove the 

 cause of business being overdone; it vvill also of 

 for valuable resources for the pauper establish 

 ments, where the old and infirm, under a discreel 

 and judicious government, may be madeto provide 

 themselves a comfortable support. If we take a 

 retrospective view of the affairs of mankind, since 

 the times of early record, we find that the riches 

 and the prospprity resulting from commerce and 

 navigation, or from a system of extensive manufac- 

 tures, howeverbrilliant, are comparatively of short 

 and uncertain duration; the changes of views and 

 systems of government at home, the changes of 

 policy among foreign nations, render the whole 

 fabric subject to many sudden and unforeseen vi- 

 cissitudes, and dependant upon the results of re- 

 lations abroad, and of the compromise of jarring 

 interests at home, setting at defiance intiie course 

 of time, the subtle calculations of the most accom- 

 plished statesmen: but the prosperity which is 

 founded upon a perfected agriculture, combining 

 with intelligence the facilities of soil and climate, 

 so as to natiiralii'.c. by industry, rich crops of pro- 

 ducts not indigenous, is a prosperity inherent and 

 lasting. Of the great results of a rich cultivation 

 upon the circumstances and ability of a people, 

 Italy aflbrds a convincing illustration, although 

 groaning under bigotry and priestcraft, without 

 loreign commerce, and without foreign navigation, 

 yet at various periods three or four years of peace 

 with good crops of silk and oil (silk is the richest,) 

 have filled the country again with competence, af- 

 ,tor the dreadful devastations of war. 



April 23, 1828. 



There is a certain order in society, the memberE 

 of which although not united by the bonds of cor- 

 porate privileges, although unknown to and unac- 

 quainted with each other, yet move on with a 

 steady and harmonious step to one coinniuii end, 

 the prosperity of their country, the welfan^ of all 

 its inhabitants; to them, the powerful Bearers of 

 Light, respectfully, we would recommend the con- 

 sideration of the objects of these lines, and if their 

 judgment joins in accordance with our own, we 

 invite them to endeavour to accelleralu its comple- 

 tion, and to save it from a lingering course thro' 

 one or two generations. The knowledge of the 

 rearing of silk, was imparted in the course of about 

 si.K hundred years by Greece to neighbouring Italy, 

 and in about three hundred and forty ynar.- more 

 it was communicated across the linebetweei) Italy 

 and France; thus the progress was slow iiiiJeed, 

 but such are the miserable results of ignorance 

 and bad policy. 



We would repeat that the first step is to pre- 

 pare an abundance of food for the silk worm, by 

 stocking our warm, light lands, with white mul- 

 berry trees; accordingly, wherever there are now 

 white mulberry trees bearing fruit, the fruit should 

 bo carefully collected when fully ripe and the 

 seed should be washed out, dried, and preserved; 

 it will be much wanted, and it is both the duty, nnd 

 the interest of the owners, not to suffer even the 

 smallest part logo to waste. J. M.GOURGAS. 



A'ew Zealand Sjiinach. — This is a half hardy an- 

 nual, with numerous branches, round, succulent, 

 pale green, thick, and strong, somewhat procum- 

 bent, but elevating their terminations. It is a na- 

 tive of New Zealand, and grows by the sides of 

 woods in bushy sandy places, and though not used 

 by the inhabitants, yet being considered by the 

 naturalists as of the same nature of the chenopo- 

 diom. It was introduced in England by Sir Jo- 

 seph Banks, in 1772, and treated as a green-house 

 plant. As a summer spinach, it is as valuable as 

 the orache, or perhaps more so. Every gardener 

 knows the plague that attends the frequent sow- 

 ing of common spinach through the warm season 

 of the year ; without that trouble it is impossible 

 to have it good, and with the utmosi care it can- 

 not always be obtained exactly when it ought to 

 be, from the rapidity with which the young plants 

 go to seed. The New Zealand spinach, if water- 

 ed, grows freely, and produces leaves of the great- 

 est succulency in the hottest weather. Anderson, 

 one of its earliest cultivators, had only niin plants, 

 frOm which he says, "I have been enabled to send 

 in a gathering for the kitchen every other day 

 since the middle of June, so that I consider a bed 

 witli about twenty plants quite sutlicient to give 

 a daily supply, for a large table." 



Use. It is dressed in the same manner as com- 

 mon spinach, and whether boiled plain, or stewed, 

 is considered liy some as superior to it ; there is 

 a softness and mildness in its taste, added to its 

 flavor, which resembles that of spinach, in which 

 it has an advantage over that herd. — Loudon. 



From Wilson's Economy. Just publislicd. 

 NEW-ZEALAND SPINACH. 

 This is a vegetable, that appears to possess very 

 valuable qualities. It was introduced here only 

 last spring. It proves extremely productive — so 

 much so, that a few plants of it are sufficient to 

 supply an ordinary family with jreens, through 

 the whole summer. 



