292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MARCH 28, 18^?. 



(FtirlheNnw England Farmer) 



SIIiK AND SUGAR HEET CHLTURK AND MAN- 

 I'PACTUIIES. 



I send you some few notes relative to Silk Jind 

 its culture, and the Sujjar Beet. The ])rogress 

 making in Initli tLose branches in France and oth- 

 er conntrios at the present day, offers now en- 

 couragement. I5y eonliniied perseveranc-e, which 

 is one of the most distiiignisliing traits of the 

 American character, vve have the assurance of 

 perfect success, and in the end it is expected that 

 these two hranches will constitute to the northern 

 and middle St.itcs of the Union, a mine of inex- 

 haustible wealth. 



The production o( food and of clothing, are the 

 two most in)portant sources of wealth to a nation. 

 Silk and the Sugar Beet are the two all engross- 

 ing topics which have engaged the attention of the 

 F'rench nation of the present day, as I am assured 

 hy a letter of a very late date, from the most au- 

 thentic source in that country. The stork of the 

 Chinese mulberry is exhausted in the vicinity of 

 Paris, and its price has risen to mote than double 

 ■what it was last year. Such has been the in- 

 creased demand and reputation of this plant of 

 late ; and even the seed of the White nuilherry 

 commanils at Paris, a price of CO francs a pound. 

 Of these facts J am very lately assured by the 

 Chevalier Soulange Bodin, whom I consider the 

 best atuliority in France. 



Il.nly U advancing, though now in the rear, if 

 -we ii'ia," believe all accounts. Aided as they are 

 ■'by the e-s'^'t'ons of M. Bonafoux, they must ad- 

 ' Vance in ti.^'i^- The silk culture, by the aid of 

 the present v"JilighteHed Pacha, is also, from all 

 accounts, making considerable advances in Egypt. 

 I shall endeavo." 1° prove that the comparative 

 high price of labor i.'» .America, offers no discour- 

 agement. The zeal ai?(l eiUerprise of our peo|)le 

 (^itt .anjtble them to overcome all obstacles, the 

 di'terence in the price of labor must be measured 

 according to the -.miount of labor performed, and 

 the taletit and ingenuity which are brought into 

 action. 



■'i'h.e iniproved power looms for weaving silk of 

 the most perfect constructi<Mi, are of American 

 invention. The experiment has since been 

 tried in England, but with only partial success.— 

 I have seen Gay's power looms at Nantucket for 

 weaving plain silks, which can weave pongees at 

 the rate of 2 1-2 inches in a minute, and of the 

 most perfect luanufacture. Ordinarily however, 

 they seldom come up to this speed. A woman 

 can tend two looms. The President of that com- 

 pany ("the Atlantic Silk Company,") to whom 

 the public are greatly indebted for his unwearied 

 perseverance, has lately assureil me that their suc- 

 cess in the manufacture, exceeds his most san- 

 guine expectations. 



Last summer S. V. S. Wilder, Esq. called on 

 me — a gentleman of great iiitelrtgence and the 

 strictest veracity — w ho owns a very large farm in 

 u neighboring town, though principally he resides 

 as a merchant in the city of New York. He ap- 

 ]>earef) anxious that people shoulil begin aright. 

 On his farm he is setting out the mulberry on the 

 hills, and from his extensive observations and 

 knowledge of the silk business, in which he was 

 constantly engaged during a residence of twenty- 

 two years in France, he is confident that the hills 

 and uplands are best suited to the mulberry. — 

 This confirms my previous statements. He ob- 

 serves to his certain knowledge,that in low grounds 



and near ponds nud meadows, the leaves are lia- 

 ble to becoihe spotted and mildewed, and if given 

 to the insects the sure sources of disease. 



These low grounds are moreover exposed to 

 the destructive frosts of winter, and of summer, 

 anil are better adapted to the growth of the sugar 

 beet. 



He relates an account of the growth, progress, 

 and profits of an orchard of mulberry trees, set 

 out by a crape mannCacturer, and a friend of h'.s, 

 of Lyons, at Fontaine, about 1.5 miles from Lyons, 

 abont the year 1807. He was invited by his frieml 

 to visit this ])lantalion at its formation at that time. 

 Here were 60 French acres, {about 75 English 

 acres) just set out "with mulberry trees at the rate 

 of 200 trees to the French acre. Six years after, 

 he was invited by his friend to visit this planta- 

 tion again, and was then informed that he had 

 just sold the leaves on the whole idantation for 

 one franc for each tree, or about §2,000 for the 

 whole, to the gatherers. These are another class, 

 who come sometimes even from remote sections, 

 with their whole fatniliesin wagons, and well pro- 

 vided with the essential means of purchasing the 

 leaves on the trees, and with every needful requi- 

 site for making silk ; shantees or sheds however 

 are usually provided by the owner, and special 

 provision is made in the cniuract, that the leaves 

 of tlie tip ends of the tvigs shall always he pre- 

 served to retain the sap and preserve the vigor of 

 the Uti". About four years afterwards, hy invita- 

 tion, Mr Wihier made another visit at this planta- 

 tion from Lyons to Fontaine. The crop had at 

 that precise time, just been sold on part of the 

 plantation at three francs per tree. About seven 

 years after, Mr Wilder being again invited by his 

 friend to visit the same plantation at the epoch of 

 gathering tfie leaves, be found that the whole crop, 

 frotri 10,000 trees had been sold to the gatherers, 

 on the trees, for 5 francs per tree, or abont $10,- 

 000 for the whole. And this plantation bid fair 

 to produce ah eq,ual or superior amount of foliage 

 for a long series of years. 



It must be remarked however, that the price of 

 leaves varies somewhat in different years, and is 

 governed in some measure by the demalul of silk. 

 This amount of juoduce may be regarded as a 

 great estate to the fortunate jiossessor, in a coun- 

 try like Fraiu:c, where a man may live indepen- 

 dent and coiufortable on one half the income which 

 would be required in America or in England. It 

 is stated that many of the English go to France, 

 and especially to Paris, there to reside on account 

 of the cheapness and economy of living. 



Mr Wilder states it also as a fact, which long 

 experience has proved in France, that more pas- 

 tin'e is produced beneath, the shade of the mul- 

 berry trees, than in the open ground. All the 

 reason for this, which I can assign is, that the 

 roots of the mulberry tree strike downwards ; 

 other plants may therefore, with reason, grow well 

 beneath its shade, especially those whose roots do 

 not descend deep; besides the tree serves during 

 siuumer to protect the surface from the scorching 

 sun. 



This mode of raising the mulberry tree is ex- 

 ceedingly simple, but evidently it is not that 

 which is most approvt<l at this day, either in 

 France, in Turkey, in China, or in India. The 

 system of raising them in hedge-rows, seems now 

 the most of all approved. And even in Italy, at 

 this day, M. Bonafoux, the director of the Royal 

 Gardens at Turin, and the celebrated writer on 



silk, who e translated works are so well known 

 with us, has recommendeil hedge-rows, and has 

 made extensive experiments, and his authority I 

 deem equally high as that of the lelebrated Dan- 

 dolo, whose disciple he was, and especially as his 

 writings are of a more recent anil of a later date. 



John P. Cushing, E.sq., a gentleman who has 

 resided many years in China, has stated that the 

 most approved mode of cidtivating the mullierry, 

 as practiced in many parts of that ancient and ex- 

 tensive empire, consists in keeping them low by 

 annual jirunings, like plantations of Raspberries. 

 This system has at a late date, attiacted the atten- 

 tion of M. Bonafoux, and has b;en adopted in 

 practice, and highly recommended by him. In 

 an article which I find recorded in the Annali s 

 rie I'lnstitut Royal Horlicole de Frdmont, vol. iii. 

 p.p. 341 to 348, inclusive, — this celebrated wri- 

 ter and master of the art recomn ends the prac- 

 tice of raising mulberries in low plantations, and 

 in close and compact order as in (-hina, or as he 

 terms it, in prairies. The Cliinei' mulberry, mo- 

 rus niulticaulis, or as he terms it, M. cuculala, had 

 early attracted his attetition after its first introduc- 

 tion to France, from the •peculiar luxuriance of 

 its growth ami produce, the e.vtraordinary size of 

 the leaves, atui the facility with which they are 

 gathered, and the promptitude with which they 

 are renewed, the facility also, by which it is in- 

 creased from layers and from cuttings. He adds, 

 " we can say with assurance, that the mulberry of 

 the Phillippines, [of China] is not iriore sensible to 

 the cold of our countries, than the White mulber- 

 ry." He then proceeds to state, that in the mem- 

 orable winter of 1830, which was one of unexam- 

 l)led severity, the branches were indeed destroyed 

 at theirsuinmit,as were also those of the common 

 sjiecies ; but they failed not to re establish their 

 growth in short space of time. 



M. Bonafoux speaking further of the merits of 

 the new jdant, ])rocecds to say : " The advantages 

 being already stated, it remained only to examine 

 how far the leaves possessed the qualities requi- 

 site for the nourishment of silkworms. I made 

 therefore, two comparative experiments in theed- 

 ncation of the silkworms, numbers ami all circum- 

 stances in the two cases being equal. Thewuritis 

 fed constantly with the morns cuciillata [jnonis 

 7milticaulis] consumed rather less in qiumtity than 

 was consumed by the worms which were fed al- 

 together with the ninrier hianc, [white mulberry] 

 and I obtained from each, several thousands of 

 cocoons, which offered no perceptible difference 

 in regard to strength of fibre, fineness, or weight." 



M. Bon>»fonx found that a journal of land of 

 Piedmont, set out in close order, or in prairie, 

 with 5000 cuttings of morns mullicaulis, produced 

 about 50 quintals of leaves in the second year, 

 while it would have required, at least 10O,C0O 

 plants of the white mulberry, of one or two years 

 growth from seed, to produce the same quantity 

 offoodonthe same ground. In the third year, 

 the same plants on tliat same ground, |)roduced 

 liini about 100 ipiintals of leaves, and he supposes 

 that in a very short |;eriod after the quantity pro- 

 duced on the same journal of land, would be in- 

 creased to 200 quintals, aiul that this might be the 

 maximum. The journal of Piedmont is 100 fn- 

 bles, or about a third of a French hectare, or about 

 J„ of an English acre. Thus, according to this 

 calculation, an English acre would soon produce 

 25,0CO lbs. of leaves, enough with the best man- 

 agement and the strictest economy in feeding and 



