VOL. \V. ^"0. 41. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



325 



I From tlieGi-nesoe Farmer.) 

 SILK AND THE .lIVIiBERRY. 



Soma iiiiliviiliiiils seeiu ilis|)ose() to siiuer at the 

 i.lea lUat the silk business can ever beooirie of 

 much conseqiienre to the comnry, or that such 

 snail l)efriiiiiings as we at present witness, can ev- 

 er ijrow into eslal)lishments al)Ie to compete with 

 the loiTj and permanently fixed ones of France or 

 England. For ourselves, we think diflTercntly of 

 the enterprise. Unless individuals should be so 

 cheated and hnmluigijed by men who care more 

 about making money, than the benefit of the silk 

 business, as to cause a prejudice against the whole 

 affair, the time is not distant when American in- 

 genuity, and .'Vmericau .skill, will produce fabrics 

 which will vie with the best of those from abroad. 

 Difficulties which have requireil centuries to over- 

 come in France and other parts of the world will 

 not retard us as many years; as the business of 

 raising silk is now so extremely easy and simple, 

 so the reward will be ample. During the last year 

 the quantity of silk imported amounted to about 

 seventeen millions of dollars, and a manufacture 

 which shall eventually save this amount to the 

 nation, should not be treated as an affair of little 

 moment. The history of the silk trade and busi- 

 ness in France, was given a few years ago, in a 

 work written by Mr Mavet. From this work it 

 api)ears that the first mulberry tree was brought 

 into France juid planted during the time of the 

 crusades, by Guipape of St. Auban, Lord of Al- 

 l:m, three leagues from Montmeliart. This iden- 

 tical tree was living in 1810, when the owner of 

 the premises, iM. De La Tour du ))ay-le-Chaux, 

 caused this momunent of an.tiquity ami venerable 

 parent of French midlierry to be |)reserved and 

 r('sp(;cted, by having a low wall built around it, 

 and forbidding its leaves to be gathered. The 

 ciniings or descendants of this tiee now cover the 

 soil of France, and produced to the State in ISIO, 

 a revenue of more than 100 ni illions of pounds 

 of raw silk, and more than 4C0 millions of 

 francs in imlustry, an amount greatly increased 

 since that time. Only let silk growers be careful 

 liow they suffer themselves to be hoaxed by de- 

 signing specidators, and by pursuing the business 

 steadily and prudently, gathering experience, and 

 correcting the errors ol a new and untried busi- 

 ness by the published results of the labor of eth- 

 ers, they will find themselves in the road to com- 

 l)etence and independence. 



SILK CULTl'RE. 



Mons. Tinelli, an Italian gentleman, (who was 

 a sojourner here during a greater (iirt of last win- 

 ter,) has just published in New York a neat little 

 v/ork of 54 Images, entitled " Hints on the cultiva 

 tion of the Midberry, with some general observa- 

 tions on the production of Silk." Theauthor has 

 jiolitely sent us a copy, which we have j)erused 

 with much ])leasure, as it aftords many, to us, 

 new and very useful facts in relation to the cul- 

 ture of the mulberry and silk, and the rearing of 

 worms. 



This subject, which, for a few years past has 

 elicited the attention of many enterprising men in 

 this country, and es[)ecially in the eastern states, 

 is as yet but little understood, and it is for that 

 reason that the introduction among us of this im- 

 portant branch of comiiiercia! industry is so tar- 

 dily effected. For a want of [iroper knowledge 

 of the first principles necessary to be known to 

 make the culture of silk profitable, many who 



liave undertaken it have become discouraiied, and 

 desisted, from the belief that the receipts would 

 not balance the expenses, and willingly chargcid 

 a part of the cause of their fiiilure to tie uncon- 

 geniality of the climMe. liut the experi 'nc>; of 

 foreigners who have been engaged in the busi- 

 ness, tells us that no climate in the world is bet- 

 ter adapted than ours for prosecuting the silk cul- 

 ture ; and among these evidences we need not 

 look for higher authority for the truth of such as- 

 sertions than Mons. Tinelli, who, having Ii'TI 30 

 years' ex[)erience as proprietor and su])erinten- 

 dent of a Filature of Silk in Londiardy, and an 

 official station in the University of Pavia, has had 

 every opportunity to know, both by theory and 

 practice, every thing connected vvith the subject, 

 is eminently fitted to judge correctly. In the work 

 in question, he has shown conclusively that cold 

 climates (which objecticm has been raised against 

 the northern states of our llnion,) are not only 

 congenial to the growth of the Morns multicau- 

 lis, but are far better for the rearing of worms and 

 other important matters connected with the busi- 

 ness, than the torrid regions of the South. The 

 northern and western stales lie within the tem- 

 perate zone, and consequently they are be.st adap- 

 te<l for the ])urpose. 



That the business may be made profitable not 

 only to individuals but to the nation, if properly 

 prosecuted, cannot be doubled. IMons. Tinelii 

 makes the following interesting statement, which 

 we have taken the liberty to extract. In another 

 place, he exhibits a table, showing than in 1832-3 

 and '4, the average (^\■portation of silk from the 

 single Lombardy-Veneii;m kingdom, was 5,334,- 

 202 pounds yearly, which, calculated at ,$3 l«er 

 pound, makes the sum of 816,002,606 ! Hut to 

 the extract : 



"In order to be within boimds, I will take the 

 case of a farrner who owns meicly a small house 

 sufficient for the residence of his family, and about 

 ten acres of land. Without the least sacrifice or 

 dinumition of the productiveness of his little farm, 

 if he would merely surround it with a hedge-row 

 of Mulberries, planted with judgment and accor- 

 ding to the best methods, it is certain that it would 

 cost him to do so only a few days of labor and a 

 few dollars of expenditure for the jiurchase of the 

 trees, but t'ne beauty and the value of his farm 

 would be immensely improved. .'\t the end of the 

 third year, the trees will have arrived at such a 

 growth as to furnish leaves in considerable abun- 

 dance. Supposing that they ))roduce leaves enough 

 only to feed the silk worms from two ounces of 

 eggs,yetsuch a number if cjirefullynurtnred would 

 yield, at a moderate estimate, one hundred ard 

 sevep;tyfive jiounds of cocoons, which at twenty 

 cents a lb. would give a profit of $63 6-lOOths.— 

 The care of so small a number of wor;riS would 

 not be a great burthen to the farmer. One wo- 

 man, with the assistance of a boy, for the labor of 

 gathering the leaves during five weeks, would 

 suffice. Nor would it be requisite to enlarge the 

 house for the accommodation of the worms. The 

 kitchen or the sleeping room, if well ventilated, 

 would be sufficient to contain the worms from 

 two ounces of eggs, without inconvenience. The 

 fixtures necessary for the accommodation of the 

 worms would be so trifling that their cost can 

 scarcely be calculated, especially as the expense 

 would be incurred only in the first year. From 

 this little calculation made on an experiment so 

 limited, it is estimated how greatly profitable it 



would be for farmers and proprietors of extensive 

 grounds to cultivate the silk worm in greater 

 ((uantity, where they might have plantations of 

 the Mulberry on a larger scale." 



This work is only a part of a much larger one 

 upon the subject which the author purposes to 

 publish. The present |iublication should be pur- 

 chased by every person interested in ihe culluie 

 of silk or of the mulberry. — PouglJicepsie Tele. 



Broolis's Silk Spinner and Twister, deserves a furiliej 

 notice from our hand.i, because we think it ranks among 

 llie most useful im|)roveMi(^iits uf ihe. day, and israleu.a- 

 ted greativ to facilitate our progress in tlie silk busi- 

 ness. Lcf it be remetubeied, thai veiy liltle irislruc- 

 tion is rct),iired to qualify u woman to use it ; that il is 

 equally adapted to the iabricalinn of sewing silk, twist, 

 or to a llinad for any required fabric, and tli;it it pro- 

 duces all these, as far as we can judge, in a perfect man- 

 ner. Now the question is, what will it earn, in a silk 

 familv, or a silk neighborhood ? For now-a-days, pro- 

 Jit is"llje great desideratum. In this matter, we shail 

 speak on the authority of the patentee, a very unassu- 

 ming, intelligent, and, we believe, honest menjbtr of 

 the society of IViends, or Quakers. He says it is a 

 moderate il-iy s work to spin and twist half a bushel of 

 cocoons into sewing silk, and that the fair average pro- 

 duct of these cocoons would be IT.O skeins of sewing 

 silk, worth now, at wholesale price, five cents ihe 

 skein. The li ghest price of cocO(ms is $4 per bnsliel. 

 Assuming these data, and basing our calcnl-ation upon 

 five bushels of cocoons, which a family of girls may ea- 

 sily produce every year, let us see wliat would be the 

 gain which would accrue to this family in five years, 

 from the use of this m icliine. 

 The 25 bushels o( cocoons would produce 8,750 skeins 



silk, worth five cents at wholesale, - - $437 50 

 From which deduct the wages of a woman, 



.'■>0daysat50 eents, - • - - $25 00 

 Add cost of machine, - - - - 35 00 



And it makes a total of - - - - GO 00 



And leaves a profit of • ^ - $377 50 

 The hiffbest price at which cocoons sell is $4, 



wliicTi would be, for the 25 bushels, - - 100 00 



$277 50 

 Whi-h shows a profit, in buying and using this nin- 

 chine, over sellinsr the cocoons, in the small quantity of 

 25 bathcls, of .$277 5i). This would acquire the labor 

 of a womaii only ten days in a year, or 50 days in the 

 five years. The remainder of the time, to any extent 

 required, might be as profitably applied, in working up 

 the cocoons of the neighborhood, of the town, or of 

 Ihe county ; and the value of the machine would be but 

 little impaiied by these eainiugs ! Every silk district 

 should have one of Brooks's machines.— jJidany Cult. 



Resoitbces or M.mne. — These are thus sum- 

 med up by Dr .Tackson, State Geologist, in iiis 

 recent lectures in Augusta : 



1. Water power unequalled in extent, besides 

 being on rivers accessible from the ocean. 



2. Granite inexhaustible, the best building ma- 

 terial in the world. 



3. Slate enough to supply the union. 



4. I'ine timber in vast quantity. 



5. Lead — extent yet unknown. 



6. Iron in many (daces, valuj' not yet known. 



7. Coal is great abundance on borders, proba- 

 bly within limits of the state. 



8. Lime enough to supply the whole continent. 



9. Superior materiais for glass, of the finest as 

 well as the coarsest qualities. 



10. Vast forests of Hemlock, supplying the ma- 

 terials for tanning leather, to the va'ue of many 

 millions of dollars yearly. 



11. A soil and climate well adapted to the rear- 

 ing of fine wooUed sheep, whose fodder in Eu- 

 rope should be hay, potatoes and turnips ; rocky 

 hills affording the best pasturage in the summer. 

 —Mcc. fy Far. 



