VOL. X». KO. 10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



75 



cFrom the Northampton Courier.) 



Extract from Gen. Tallmadge's Letters in Europe. 



SILK AND MULBERRY TREES. 



.April G, 1836. 



In my last letter from Naples, I believe I prom- 

 ised to say somelliing more on the cultivation of 

 silk. I have since travelled through Italy, and es- 

 pecially in the silk districts, and also through 

 France, and have visited many of the manufac- 

 tories in both countries, endeavoring to learn the 

 details of this subject, now so interesting, and, I 

 think, so essential to our country. The limits of 

 a letter, will, however^confine me to a few isolated 

 remarks. 



The weaving of silk, after it gets into skeins, 

 is like any other weaving of like character; it is 

 the |)roduction of silk and the habit of groiving 

 it, that miKst he acquired by our country ; and it 

 is, in this view, a mine of boimdless wealth, not 

 second even to the production of cotton. The 

 country which so lately surprised Europe by 

 sending eight hales of cotton to its market, and 

 now astonishes the world with its countless thou- 

 sands, may soon exhibit a like wonder in the pro- 

 duction of silk. 



In Calabria, which is in the south of Italy, the 

 black mulberry is principally u.sed. In the rest 

 of Italy, the white mulberry, counnon to tliem 

 and France, is principally used. The north of 

 Italy, that is between the Alps and A|)peivines, 

 produces ihe best and most silk.- In this region, 

 and especially in Sardinia, near Tmin, and at No- 

 vi, the English and French are competitors in 

 market, to ])urchase their silk as the best in the 

 world ; and yet on the 9th of March, the snow 

 was one foot and a half deep, and the streets of 

 Novi blocked up like our Cedar street ! In Cala- 

 bria, the silk is produced by the country people, 

 in their families, and mostly reeled by them. — 

 There are very few factories for reeling in the 

 Neapolitan kingdom. In Lombardy, and towards 

 Venice, there are also establishments for reeling, 

 yet the greater part is reeled by the families, in 

 delail, and brought to market in the skein. In 

 Sardinia the cocoons are niostly reeled in estab- 

 lishments. At Novi their reeling establishments 

 are numerous — I saw one, now erecting, which 

 is a quadrangle two hundred feet square, and ap- 

 propriated solely to reeling i^ocoons. They are 

 purchased from up near Milan and many miles 

 distant. This is admitted to he the best silk in 

 the world. The red mulberry is here principally 

 used, and is known as the Calabria mulberry. It 

 is described as having a dark fruit ; the tree is 

 like our black ; and when I called it black mul- 

 berry, I was corrected, and was told the stain of 

 the fruit was red and not black, and which gave 

 the character of the tree. The French, in addi- 

 tion to the white nudbcrry, have a dwaif white, 

 much liked, and getting into use ; but, it must be 

 remembered, -there is not in France, and scarcely 

 in Italy, a fence, and they do not graze their fields 

 as we do. With our habit of pasturage, the 

 dwarf would be inadtn'ssible. The Chinese 

 mulberry is unknown in Italy. I found only a 

 few young engrafted trees, but no experiments 

 there, to be relied upon, to establish its superior 

 utility. 



In Italy, and in France, the mulberry is gene- 

 rally planted near the houses, along the road side, 

 by division fences and often like an open orchard. 

 The trees are formed like a middle sized apple 

 tree. Its shade does not injure the land. The 



tree in Italy is usually made to sustain a grape vine 

 and the field is cuhivatr-d for wheat and other 

 crops. There is less discrimination here than you 

 woidd imagine in the kind of mulberry. The 

 French have tnade experiments, especially on the 

 Chinese ; and the ojiinion seems to be, that the 

 Chinese mulberry vvill bear to have its loaves 

 picked twice off, and thus |irodiice two cro(is of 

 silk in one year. As yet, however, there is not 

 much use made of the Chinese mulberry, and 

 even here, the grower of silk cannot answer as 

 to its virtues ; — but the answer is often given to 

 me, that, as to the quality and quantity of silk, it 

 is the same as any other mulberry ; and that the 

 quality of the silk ilepends on the treatment of 

 the worm, and the care and skill in reeling. They 

 pay less attention to the kind of mulberry on 

 which it is fc;d than we expect. They have also 

 white, and use it. Habit directs more in Europe 

 than with us, and therefore I urge thafour [leople 

 make experiments for themselves. They should 

 neither take nor reject any thing loo quick upon 

 Emopean experience. Climate and circumstan- 

 ces may produce a difl^er^nt result, and the al- 

 leged exi)erimputs of Em-ope may have hern in- 

 correctly and inadequately tried. 



It is a peculiar and important circumstance in 

 favor of the adaptation and fitness of our climate 

 to the cultm-e of silk, that, with us, the silk worm 

 is produced at the beginning of warm weather, 

 in May and June, by the natural temperature of 

 the season, while in Europe, es|)ectally in Italy 

 and France, it is produced only by artificial te:n- 

 perature and means. The fact is a volume in 

 promise of our country. Fires and a thermome- 

 ter are not used in the south of Italy to secure an 

 equal temperature in the rooms of the worms, nor 

 much used in the north of Italy unless in the re- 

 gion of some snow-capped mountain, or where 

 other circumstances produce sudden inequalities 

 of temperature. It is the same as to the south 

 and north of France. 



The implements of husbandry, n either Italy 

 or France, offer not much for the American farm- 

 er. Their lands are mostly cultivated with the 

 spade and manual labor, and when the plough is 

 used, it is the old fashioned plough on a pair of 

 wheels. Their crops and tlnir cultivation are so 

 (lifl>!rent from ours, that very little ean be learned 

 from them useful to us. .Silk, wine and wheat, 

 are their staple productions, and to an almost in- 

 credible extent : so it is in France, where the 

 manner of cultivation, and implements of hus- 

 bandry are much the same. Wheat is now so 

 ahimdant in Italy and France, and the price so 

 low, I found them the other day, at Marseilles, 

 shipping wheat for the New York market 1 and 

 they would do the same from all parts of Italy, 

 but for their lack of commercial enterprise. Our 

 farmers are now sheltered by a jirotecting duty, 

 otherwise their crops would moulder in their 

 barns; and even New York be furnished with 

 bread from a foreign market. They have felt se- 

 cure in their production, and have not regarded, 

 as necessary to themselves, the system of protec- 

 tion for our domestic products. Should peaci; 

 continue a few years longer (.n Europe, such is 

 the surcharge of labor and povyey of production, 

 that every product of American, agriculture will 

 find foreign competition, even in onr own mar- 

 kets at home. The wheat, both in Italy and 

 France, greatly surprised me ; — the quantity is 

 immense, and greatly beyond my l)eVief till actual 



observation; and I have travelled eight or nine 

 himdred miles in France,and have nowhere found 

 sour, dark or imperfect bread. Can we do and 

 s:iy the same in oiu' couirtry ? The bread of 

 France certainiy has a decided sui)criority over 

 ours. 



The agriculture of France is in fine condition, 

 and second to that only of England. It has eve- 

 ry abimdance and the |ieo|)h' appear pi'osperous 

 and happy. The Olive is a vahrahlc addition t<) 

 the ]iroductionof Italy and France. Our climaf': 

 will not, perhaps, favor the tree, at least in the 

 northern states ; yet it is of so nnich value, it 

 should he encouraged. The olive can success 

 fully he engrafted on the ash tree, and thus, per- 

 haps, it njight be acclimated with us. Some such 

 trees, engrafted on the ash, are said to be growing 

 at I'istoia, about twenty miles from Florence. — 

 There is no inducement in France or Italy, thriK 

 to engraft the olive, but the hint is certainly wor- 

 thy the attention of our nm-scrymen and of our 

 country. 



Great efforts are made in Franc." to advance 

 the condition of its agriculture. It is ascertained 

 that the increased use of the potatoe has dimin- 

 ished the consuuqnion of wheat for bread. The 

 raising of the beet root for the production of 

 sugar, has, as one of its principal objects the 

 supplying a new production for the benefit of the 

 farmer. For the same reason the growing of 

 madder is encouraged, and the production of tho 

 beet and madder come in great relief to agricul- 

 ture, and are made new sources of public wealth. 

 Our farmers certainly merit the like fosteringcare 

 and assistance. 



I have before mentioned the use of the natural 

 current of the principal rivers and streams of the 

 continent as a water power for manufacturing ob- 

 jects, and I have no doubt but the current in the 

 East river at New York may be used for the same 

 purposes. At Lyons, a water wheel is thus turn- 

 ed, and works a forcing pump, which ulrives up 

 the water of the pier about three hundred feet to 

 a reservoir in a public gaiden ; it there forms it 

 jet d'eau and falls into a marble basin, which serves 

 as a fountain in case of fire, and its overflow^ 

 washes the streets. It is attended and worked by 

 one man, and might be recouimended forado|>tion 

 at New York. 



To THAW OUT A Pdmp. — Take a piece of 

 lead )>)pe, long enough to extend from the top ol 

 the pum[i to the bottom of the ice. Run it down 

 the pum[> so as to let one end rest upon the ice, 

 and pour boiling water into the other. The pipe 

 keeps the water from spreading, and applies it to 

 one exact spot, and as fast as it melts, the pipe 

 sinks upon the bottom of the hole through the 



ice faster than a man can bore with an auger 



After one hole is maile in this way fairly through,, 

 raise the pipe and rest it <m the ice in another 

 spot and pour in water as before. After repeating 

 the process two or three times the ice vvill be foimd 

 all melted, and the piston rod will be free. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



Pickle for Bed Bugs. — A hou.se keeper 

 wishes lis to say to our readers that a strong solu- 

 tion of common salt and water will kill bugs im- 

 mediately, if applied to them. Those who are so 

 unfortunate as to be troubled with such visitors, 

 can thus get rid of them in a cheap manner by 

 applying a little pickle to their carcasses. — Ibid. 



