TOTU. xni. NO. 35. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



been niiicli iiioro ))rodiictivo had it been plaritoc. 

 two ami a half by throe loot distant, instt-ud of 

 three and a half by four, and some even more 

 ■distant. 



I also mail" an cxperiinotit the last year with 

 another hind, the spindie corn (presented nie by a 

 friend) which has a very small but exceedingly 

 long eol), rnnningfrom nine to over fifteen inches 

 in length, is eight rovyed, of a fine bright vellow 

 color, very productive and excellent for "broad, 

 and was harvested ripe before the frosts of last 

 season :— and the last season it is well known, 

 was not one of the most favorable seasons for the 

 growth of that article. 



I am very respectfully your obt. serv't. 



Hector Coffi>-. 



283 



adoption of this foreign word by the Swedes and 

 English is then very easily accounted for. 



In conelusron, I ought to remark, that in Thibet 

 the silk-vvorni is called dar-kou and silk, s!v[^ or 

 srotchnghi, words which offer no resemldanoe to 

 the Greek ar/n and <tv?(xo»', consequently it cannot 

 be from Thibet that the Greeks derivedtheir term 

 for silk. 



IForlhe New Englaml Farmer.] 



SILK. 



ORIGIN AND DIFFERENT NAMES OF THE WORD. 



T. G. Ff5se.M)en, Efq. 



Sir, — As you have lately published several 

 articles on the culture of the mulberry and the 

 rearing of silk-worms, I send you the celebrated 

 Orientalist Klaproth's conjecture on the origin of 

 the word silk among the ancients. 



Yours respectfully, 



.Yewporl, R. /., March 9, 1835. R. J. I. 



Klaproth's opinion on the origin of the name of 

 silk among tht ancienU.— Translated from the 

 Fnneh. 



Without discussing the hypothesis of those 

 who inmgine that Syria, or the country ofsilk lie^ 

 in the valleys between the Glaciers and the snowy 

 regions of Thibet, I think 1 have discovered the 

 origin of the name of this celebrated country. 

 According to the Greek authors, the word 2);o was 

 used for both the silk-worm, and the inhabitants 

 of Syria ; now fioni this, it is probable that the 

 name of this people is derived from the valuable 

 trade that the w^estern nations carried on with 

 foreign countries. In the Arnjinian language, the 

 insect which i)roduces silk is called Cheram, a 

 name very like the oijg of the Greeks. It is nat- 

 ural therefore to sut)pnse, that these two words 

 have been borrowed from nations that inhabited 

 countries more to the eastward, which may be 

 easily proved by the Mongul and Mantchone" lan- 

 guages. It is evident that the word silk among 

 ;he ancients originated in the eastern part of Asiat 

 rhe word silk is called among the Moneuls serkek, 

 ind among tlie Mantchone sirche. These two 

 latioiis inhaWt those countries which lie on the 

 lorth and northeast of China. Can it for one 

 nomont be supposed that they have received this 

 erm from those countries which are situated to 

 he west of them .= While on the contrary, the 

 Chinese word Szee or Szu, which signifies silk, 

 hows a striking resemblance with Sirghe and 

 iirkeh and the a>;g of the Greeks. This analogy 

 s the more striking because in the Mandarine 

 inguage of China, the )• is not pronounced, al- 

 bough it is retained in the ancient dialects spoken 

 n the frontiers of the Chinese empire. In the 

 orthern languages of Europe the wcrd silk or 

 Sic has a striking similitude to the Slavonic 

 rord Chelk, which is not very different from the 

 [antchone and Mongul words above mentioned. 

 a the middle ages the merchandise of the East- 

 m part of Asia was carried into Sclavonia, and 

 'aa thence transjiorted into the north. The 



fFrom tlie New Vnrk Farmer] 

 PRODUCE OF A SMALL FAKM. 



Mr Editor — I procured from an esteemed 

 neighbor, Mr Horatio Hoyt, the subjoined account 

 of the produce of three and a half acres of land 

 in Deerfiold, Mass., in 1833, a result highly credi- 

 table to the cultivator anil the soil ; and which I 

 presume will be interesting to some of your 

 readers. We do not say it is more than others 

 have done or can do ; very far from this ; but we 

 hope it may induce others to say what they have 

 done or can do, for such communications cannot 

 fail to be interesting and u.seful to the agricultural 

 community. The ])roduce is estimated at the 

 marked prices at the time. 



Yours, respectfully, H. C. 



Hay, 3i tons, at .|12 per ton, - $42 00 



VVheat, 11 bushels, at $1 50 per bushel, 16 50 

 Stubble and clover, 1 ton, - . 4 OO 



Corn fodder, stalks, blades and husks, 3 



tons, . ... - 10 00 



Corn, 120 bushels, at 80 cts. - - 96 00 



Potatoes, 117 bushels, at 20 cts. . 23 40 



Apples, 60 bushels, at 12j cts. - - 7 50 



Pumpkins, 1 cart load, - . - 00 00 



$199 40 



ITEMS. 



Durable Whitewash. — I am enabled to cer- 

 tify the efficacy of marine sah in fi.xing whitewash 

 niade of lime. In the year 1795, when I was 

 director of the naval artillery at the port of 

 Toidon, I was commissioned to ascertain the 

 utility of a method proposed by the master painter 

 of that port, M. Maquilan, for a whitewashing the 

 ships between deck, and likewise their holds,''in a 

 durable manner, by means of lime. Our report 

 was in favor of this prooess, which consists in 

 saturating water in which the lime is slacked 

 with muriate of soda, (common salt.) The white- 

 wash produced by it is very permanent, does not 

 crack, nor come off upon one's hands or clothes. 

 The experiment was made only on wood. It ap- 

 pears from M. St Bernarde's account, that it 

 succeeded equally well on wMa. — ./Innales des 

 Arts et Manufactures. 



On the 10th of October, a dreadful earthquake 

 occurred at tlie Island of Java. The Govenor's 

 palace at Bnitenzorg, the government offices, the 

 custom-houses, and various other buildings were 

 destroyed. 



A Prediction Accomplished. — About five 

 and twenty years ago, when the venerable Col. 

 Stevens, of Iloboken, first applied to the Legis- 

 lature of New Jersey for liberty to construct a 

 Rail Road across that State, he was asked, rather 

 in derision, how fast he intended to travel on his 

 hobby. He replied, whh his usual enthusiasm, 

 that he expected, at some future day, .steam carri- 

 ages would run on New Jersey Rail Roads as fast 

 as their pigeons flew. A few days ago one of the 

 locomotive engines of the Camden and Amboy 



Rail Road, while running at great spoed with no 

 cars attached, came upon a flock of pigeons. 

 The birds (lew in the line of the Rail Road, but 

 the lecomnlive overtook ihem and killed lv,o of 

 their number. Tour, of Com. 



Coffee. — The paper published at Franklin, 

 Louisiana, says: — " We are informed by several 

 gentlemen of this Parish, that the n"W species of 

 coffee, spoken of by Mr Dupoiit, of l''lorida, as 

 being an excellent substitute tor the Cuba cofllee, 

 grows spontaneously in great abundance through- 

 out the Attakapas ; and is generally known by 

 the inhabitants as the " Indian coffee." There 

 can be no doubt, if properly managed, and culti- 

 vated in the direct mode, and gathered at the pro- 

 per season, this article might be made a source of 

 national wealth as well as a luxury. 



Curious Coincidences. — Aaron and Robert 

 Fay, two brothers, who live in the town of S. in 

 the county of Worcester, and who died near the 

 close of the last century, had each born to him 

 twenlij children ; each b)-other had tivo wives, 

 each wife of each husband had ten children, and 

 each of the four wives had seven sons and three 

 daughters. One foct more : one of each family 

 only survive, and that one, in both cases the 

 youngest born. 



RiiDBAKE This is one of the many plants 



which a fitrmer may have in his garden, and 

 which may be made to contribute to the delicacies 

 of his table, and to the health and comfort of his 

 family, with very little expense or labor. The 

 plant is |)creniiial, and resembles much in its 

 habits the burdock, though the leaves and their 

 stalks may be somewli.at larger, in a good soil. 

 A dozen jilants will serve to supply a family. 

 The leaf stocks are the parts used. The skin or 

 cuticle is pealed off — they are then cut into 

 quarter or half inch pieces, and used without 

 further preparation, with sugar and spices, like 

 unripe gooseberries, for pies and tarts, which fruit 

 it very miuJi resembles in flavor. It may be used 

 in the spring, and till midsummer. Medical men 

 ascribe to it a salutary influence upon heallh, par- 

 ticularly to children, when used in this way. 

 The seed ripens about midsummer, at which tinie 

 it may be sown. — Conduct's of Cult. 



To make as good butter in winter as in autumn 

 and that it may be formed with as little churning, 

 it is only necessary, according to recent experi- 

 ments, to keep the milk and cream at the 

 proper temperature. With cream at the tem- 

 perature of 75 degrees, the butter will be ready 

 to take out with tiom 10 to 20 minutes churn- 

 ing. 



A French writer says that to procure butter 

 of an exquisite flavor and extreme delicacy, 

 after washing it with water till the water runs 

 quite clear; you must finally wa.sh it with new 

 milk. The cream of the new milk is incorpo- 

 rated whh the butter and communicates to it its 

 sweetness and delicacy. Like butter that has 

 some of the butter-milk remaining in it, how- 

 ever this will not keep well. 



When your cream is taken from sour milk, 

 or has stood so long as to become sour, add to 

 it when it is to be churned a little milk just 

 from the cow. The butter will be improved; 

 but not so good after all as that made from 

 fresh cream taken from fresh milk. 



