VOL. XV. NO. 37. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



293 



reeling, to pro.luc!) 312 H'S. of silk. Again, the 

 plat) he proposes Ik to raise the plants frnm cut- 

 tings, the first year in close order. And in au- 

 tumn, or early in the following spring he recom- 

 mends to set the plants in rows 2 or 3 feet as- 

 under and a foot and a half distant in the row. 

 And he moreover, particuhirly directs to set the 

 plants 8 or 10 inches deep at least, as thus they 

 will throw out new anil tnnre ahiindant an<l nu- 

 nierons roots on every side. 



These plants are shortened down to near the 

 surface of the ground early in spring, to make 

 them throw up new and numerous shoots of the 

 most luxuriant growth, 5 to 7 feet. The ground 

 during summer to he ke].t cultivated, and the 

 plauts^'in the spring to he annually pruned down. 

 M. Bonafoux recommends cuttings of 5 or 6 in- 

 ches, each furnished with 3 or 4 eyes. In this he 

 is right, as cuttings of this length are sure to live. 

 Usually with us, hut 2 eyes are left to each cut- 

 ting, from motives of economy ; hut when an ear- 

 ly and severe drought occurs, and before the cut- 

 tings have time to take root, the danger of a total 

 lo* by reason of the short cuttings becomes great 

 except only in moist grounds. 



After being cultivated in this mode for 15 or 20 

 years, he his recommended to take up the plan- 

 tation to clear the groundof all roots, and to cul- 

 tivate with vegetables for one or more years, new 

 plantations !)eing formed in the meantime. 



Among the advantages enumerated by him, 

 which this mode promises to cultivators, and es- 

 pecially when they employ the new mulberry, 

 moms nmlticaulis, in preference to the white iniil- 

 berry, are the following : 1. The winds have less 

 power or action on the trees. 2. A less depth of 

 soil is retpiisite than is required for standard trees. 

 3. ^V'omen and children may collect the leaves 

 without danger, and with much greater facility 

 and promptitude than froiTi large trees. 4. The 

 vegetation of the mulberries will be carltsr in the 

 prairies, and by reason of this the worms inay 

 complete their labors before the greatest heats of 

 summer. 5. 'I'he .-ibsence or scarcity of fruit will 

 facilitate the gathering of the leaves which will 

 not he soiled, to the injury of the insects when 

 1 consumed, or by causing fermentation in the lit- 

 ' ter. 6. 'J'his early vegetation of the -mulberries, 

 and the promptitude with which their foliage is 

 renewed, may render it possible to make two suc- 

 cessive crops in a ycai-, without sensibly injuring 

 the vigor of the plant, which will again recover a 

 pew crop of leaves before winter. 



In fine this culture offers at the same time an 

 inxn^ease of production ; diminution of expense ; 

 economy of land ; and to all these and other ad- 

 vantages which M. Bonafoux has enumerated, I 

 also will add, that the economy in time is another 

 very important consideration, as the plantations 

 in this mode are sooner rendered productive, than 

 from trees at an extended distance. Thus the 

 prolonged and expensive outlay is saved, and the 

 tedious (jultivation of many long years. 



With regard to the White mulberry, 1 will sug- 

 gest the opinion that only one crop of leaves can 

 probably be gathered in our climate in a season, 

 its growth being slow, a second crop would too 

 much exhaust the tree, but in warmer climates as 

 in Tuscany, two crops may be obtained even 

 from that tree in the same season. As to the 

 Osage Orange, ] have urged last summer on some 

 at Philadelphia, that trials should be made of the 

 leaves, by feeding the silkworms exclusively on 



them alone, throughout their various mutations. 

 But though I understand that the worms eat them 

 with avidity, they were not fed with them exclu- 

 sively, and I cannot yet learn that the <lecisive 

 experiment has been fairly tried. The tree seems 

 perfectly hardy on my hill, where it has stood un- 

 injured and unprotected during 8 years. Yet 

 though I believe it to be fidl as hardy as the mul- 

 berry, I am informed on the best authority, that 

 in the valley of the North river and at Albany, and 

 in the same latitude as with us, that the inaclura 

 or Osage Orange is ahnost invariably destroyed 

 down every winter, as are also some other hardy 

 trees ; a proof that that climate during winty is 

 very different from ours. That climate however, 

 must bo equally as well suited as ours to the cul- 

 tivation of the sugar beet. . \ 



The progre.-!Sof Italy, as I before stated, is slow 

 in every advancement. Their country is old and 

 their people still wedded to old customs, and bad- 

 Iv governed by a con)binaiion of temporal and 

 .spiritual rulers ; their people harrassed and op- 

 pressed an I discouraged, need only a new and 

 more thorough regeneration. Though the daily 

 wages of labor, are far less in Italy than they are in 

 our own country, still it must beailmitted that the 

 spirit by which alone, man is inspired to the most 

 heroic labors, is wanting there. Thus in Pied- 

 n)ont, according to Dr Lardner, and where the 

 original throwing machines for silk were first in- 

 vented in former centuries, they are still content 

 if the spindles to their machines do but revolve 

 from 300 to 400 times in 'a minute. It was^ the 

 same of late in France. But now those of the 

 British in their throwing machines revolve 1800 

 times a minute ; and will revolve and work well 

 at 3000 in the same space of time. And lately, 

 Ritson has made them revolve 4000 times. Now 

 let us look at the still greater improvements of 

 America. Our spindles for spinning cotton, which 

 work on the same principle as the spindles of the 

 throwing machines of Piedmont, are made to re- 

 volve, working well, at the rate of about 5000 

 times in a minute. And the following important 

 evidence lias been kindly furnished me by Dr 

 Ilohbs, the agent of the Waltham manufacturing 

 Company. Twenty years ago, the Waltham fac- 

 tory put out all their cotton yarn to weave in pri- 

 vate families ; and the price they then paid for 

 weaving No. 14 cotton yarn into cloth, 37 1-2 in- 

 ches wTde, was from 8 to 12 cents a yard, which 

 is fully eqoal to the average price which the same 

 goods have sold for the last five yeans. Now by 

 improvements in the power looms, the cloth of the 

 same kind and quality is wove for 3-8 of a cent a 

 yard ; and a girl will tend two looms and occa- 

 sionrily three, and each loom will weave of this 

 same qualitv of cloth, from 40 to 45 yards in a 

 day of 12 hours. The improvements in spinning 

 at these factories are even as great at this day, and 

 far before all other times and countries. A girl 

 now tends 256 spindles, which will spin 1,300,000 

 yards of No. 14 yarn in a day of 12 hours, (equal 

 to about 733 miles) which is equal to 1548 hanks, 

 or 110 lbs. To do this 20 years ago in a day of 

 12 hours on hand machines, would have retpiired 

 500 giris. Now not only in manufactures of cot- 

 ten, but in many other articles of manufacture, 

 we are able, quality considered, to undersell not 

 only Britain, but any othsr nations, even in their 

 own markets. 



It has been remarked by the Baron Charies Du- 

 1 pin, who is deemed high authority for his sagac- 



ity and distinguished researches into all sub- 

 jects connected with questions of commercial and 

 political interest; that in ail the most important 

 branches of mamifacture, a superiority the most 

 decided, has been attaiiu-d by those people witli 

 whom labor bears a higher price than with their 

 rivals. ITe instances in proof, the cotton manu- 

 factures of Knglaiul, which are afforded both cheap- 

 er, and of better quality than by any other people 

 of Europe, although the price of labor is dearer 

 in Great Britain than in any other country of the 

 eastern world. Also, he instances the manufac- 

 ture of linens in which the Dutch and the Bel- 

 gians surpass and undersell the Bretons, although 

 the price of labor is higher in Holland and in Bel- 

 gium than in Rritany. Furthermore, he has also 

 shewn, that in the jiroduction of fine woollens, 

 France surpasses and undersells Spain, although 

 the price of labor is higher in France than in the 

 latter kingdom. 



The striking superiority in these instances, is 

 ascribed by him to higher attainments in mechan- 

 ical insenuity and skill, a. id a triore eminent de- 

 gree of commercial knowledge and enterprise. 



On a careful investigation, it will usually be 

 found that the apparent difference in the price of 

 labor between different countries, is rather nomi- 

 nal than real ; and that in those countries where 

 labor is higher in regard to price, there the great- 

 est encouragement is always offered for the exer- 

 cise of the ingenuity of man, in curtailing and di- 

 minishing its amount in every possible mode. — 

 Sufficient and ample evidence of this iiti|iortaiit 

 fact is taking i)lace daily, and before our own 

 eyes, and in our own country. 

 Respectfully your friend 

 And humble servant, 



William Kfnp.tck. 

 J^onantum Hill, March 17, 1837. 



I Letter from Judge Maison of Sing-Sing, to the Con- 

 ductor of the Albany Cultivator.] 

 FATTENING SWINE. 

 We have lately seen an abundance of experi- 

 ments and instructions for rearing and fatter.ing 

 swine ; and it is fortunate for the farmer, that the 

 almost despised apple, (after cider was entered on 

 the list of proscription) is now being elevated to 

 its proper rank and standing. The apple is found 

 to contain nutriment enongh-,not for keeping alive 

 only, but for actually fattening and hardening our 

 porkers, and that too, without the aid of corn.— 

 But like all other great discoveries, it will take 

 some time and experience to reduce its impor- 

 tance to that simplicity and u.sefulness that .will 

 bring the expense to a level with its value. 



The last direction I have seen, include boiling 

 or steaming with a mixture of flour or meal, or 

 some such expensive article. This may all do in 

 our western or newly settled countries, where 

 firewood and timber must be burned to get them 

 out of the way ; but when wood attains the value 

 of six or seven dollars the cord, and coals eight 

 or ten dollars the ton, it would be sheer nonsense 

 to talk about steaming or boiling. 



I too have tried some experiments in this way, 

 and I find tliat apples for feeding, to give them 

 their hi'dicst value, must be pounded or ground 

 Hue in a common cider mill, and then stand in 

 tubs or vats, for the saccharine matter to evolve, 

 which natural process will be effecte.l m about 

 twentvfour hours in warm weather, and from that 

 to forty hours, as the fall weather grows colder, 



