SEPT. 4, 1839. 



THE SILK BUSINESS— ITS AGENTS— ODD 

 TIMES, &c. 



To the Editor of the Farmer's CaHiiict .- 



Sir — I know not whether it is pcniiitled to the 

 female portion of your redtlers to address yuu in 

 your professional capacity, but if il bo not incom- 

 patible with decorum, I tee) a de.-iro to say a word 

 or two in defence of our righu and privileges as a 

 class, whose laborious aiid_ incessant solicitude, de- 

 mand for us, in my estimai,i(iM at least, the charac- 

 ter of ;)a)7)!e/-« — as in the toils incidental to the 

 profession of husbandry, so also in the more pleas- 

 ing and legitimate ta^il; of good housewifery. All, 

 however, that I require is, that we be ' considered 

 by our husbands as lidpmiiUs, deserving their re- 

 gard and kind attentions. Cut to the point. 



You must know, that my husband has been en- 

 gaged in the cultivatiou of tiie morns maltioaulis, 

 with the real intention of growing silk, and more, 

 of manufacturing it from the cocoon ! thus proving 

 that he is the one in a thousand who has ever 

 thought seriously of doing, what all pretend to have 

 in serious contemplation. Now I should never 

 have thought of interfering with these pursuits, had 

 it not been for a conversation which passed yester- 

 day at our table, by wliich it appears that we are to 

 be considered the chief workers in the business, 

 the real silk icorms ! for just at the point when 

 their labor ends, and a short labor, or rather pleas- 

 ure it has been to them, ours is to commence, and 

 be carried through tte thread of our existence. Our 

 guest at table was from Philadelphia, and commenc- 

 ed by inquiring, " Well, how comes on the morus .' 

 Ah! the making of silk mi:st in the end prove the 

 making of this great country ; so admirably calcu- 

 lated for the employment of our redundant popula- 

 tion ; affording a proiitable investment of capital to 

 any e.vtent; enormous profits to all those engaged 

 in the various departments connected with it, from 

 the growing of the trees to the weaving silk dres- 

 ses for our fair ones, and embroidery for our draw- 

 ing rooms ; and to none more than to the wives and 

 daughters of otic tiirmers ; thus affording our women 

 and their children profitable and elegant employ- 

 ment at odd times" .' At this I looked up, and be- 

 held a youth about seventeen, " all red and white, 

 like a pork griskin," as ihe song says, with hair " n 

 la turcq" and scented (o the nose— just escaped 

 from that band-box of fashion, a dry goods' store in 

 Market street ! JVIy choler rose, the fire kindled, 

 and I at lengtli spake with my tongue— but do not 

 suppose that I said more than a prudent woman 

 should: there was no need of that, for the little 

 creature diminished to the size of a chrysalis, and 

 I could have relied him into a cocoon ! " I merely 

 said, " That is kind of you, Mr , to find em- 

 ployment for your women at odd limes— the oddest 

 thing I ever heard of— for Ihe industrious wives of 

 farmers never have any odd times. Besides,.! am 

 much mistaken if any good can come of an employ- 

 ment which requires the incessant and ail-enduring 

 patience of a whole life, proverbial for wearing out 

 the energies of both body and mind, if it.is to be 

 taken up only at odd times. You say it is particu. 

 larly adapted to the family of a farmer occtipying a 

 few acres of hind ! Now in the name of comii.on 

 sense, and in the name of every industrious female 

 in the country, what is meant by this.-' in a coun- 

 try too which is spreading far and wide lier arms, 

 entreating those industrious families who are wil- 

 ling to take up so unhealthy and debasing an em- 

 ployment at odd times, to come west, and cultivate 



the land and walk upright in the glory of nature! 



No, no, Mr , before I submit to fill up my odd 



times in this way, I will carry my husband where he 

 may be able by liis industry to enable me and my 

 children to employ our odd time.'! in a f\;r more 

 agreeable wVjy — in the improvement of our minds 

 and bodies, leaving the silk business to those coun- 

 tries whose wretched inhabitants (notoriously de- 

 formed in body and imbecile in mind, fit subjects 

 for a tyrannical and monarchical government,) are 

 compelled to toil for fifteen hours for about as many 

 cents ; and with all this misery and starvation, you 

 see they cannot afford to sell the articles, which 

 they fabricate at such a sacrifice of body and mind, 

 for less than the price which they command in tlie 

 market at the present time. You seem, too, to 

 have alighted upon bad times, for you see the im- 

 port duty on silk is taken off. I know that you all 

 rely upon the enormous, bounty which the States 

 are giving for the production of these articles of 

 doubtful good, but I can only say I am mistaken 

 if these encouragements to speculation will remain 

 in operation for six months longer ; and when the 

 e.iicitemerit has passed away, these States will view 

 this piece of legislation as about the height of the 

 morus folly." 



After the young man had taken his leave, which 

 he scarcely waited to do, I learnt that he was a 

 stripling from one of the wholesale dry goods' stores 

 in Market street, endeavoring to form '■ A Joint 

 Stock Trading Morus Multicaulis Company," with 

 a capital of about five hundred thousand dollars, 

 the directors of which were to have the privilege 

 of buying and selling their stock, of both kinds I 

 presume, at whatever prices they might deem most 

 advantageous to the good of the company. The 

 president and other officers had all been chosen, to 

 whom liberal salaries had been appropriated, and 

 this young worthy, so an.\ious to find employment 

 for hisivomeri, at odd times, is to figure as treasurer! 



J.\NET JeNKIXSON. 



Tfitch Grass. — A writer in the l\!aine Farmer 

 states from experience, one of the easiest and most 

 profitable means of destroying this grass, which is 

 as follows : " .V!y father once took a piece which 

 was thickly set with it, ploughed it late in June, 

 sowed it with winter rye, and turned it into his 

 ! sheep pasture. The rye continued to come up for 

 a year or two, and was kept closely fed by the 

 sheep, and in a few years the witch grass was ex- 

 changed for sweet clover and red top. I doubt 

 not but that this plan might be adopted to advan- 

 tage on many farms that are over-run with this use- 

 less weed. It is folly to talkof diaging-it up when 

 it has obtained a firm foot-hold. Land that :is of a 

 light thin soil, can be changed from tillage to pas- 

 turage to great advantage. Pastures would beinir 

 proved in this way, for it is bad economy to possess 

 a pasture that will give only now and then a -spot 

 that cattle will touch." 



Most of the agricultural papers have recently 

 noticed the increase of witch grass, and the means 

 of destroying it have been frequently a topic of 

 di.'ieussion. Has it been ascertained that this grass 

 is so noxious and worthless a weed as seems to 

 bo generally admitted ? It is doubtless a nuisance 

 in the garden, and so are all other grasses. But 

 is its presence amonfr other grasses, for mowing or 

 pasturing, so much to be dreaded ? We make the 

 inquiry, at the suggestion of a gardener, presuming 

 that an answer will be forthcoming from some of 

 our more practical neighbors. — Bost. Cour. 



[Fcir the New England Farmer.] 



THE EDUCATION OF FARMERS. 



Ha KniToii — I shall trouhl" you and your read- 

 ers viith but a few more remarks on the subject 

 which forms the caption of the pre.sent article. In 

 my last communication I suggested the great im^ 

 portauce of the education of farmers' sons profes- 

 sionati;/, in order that a regeneration of our aoricul- 

 tu re may be effected. The mind, in early life, is 

 so free from prejudices grown--dear through lapse 

 of time, and is so open to impressions and ideas 

 that are presented to it, that it would seem it should 

 be (as il has been in most pursuits, with the excep- 

 tion of the culture of the soil.) directed exclusively 

 to the acquisition of knowledge and the formation 

 of opinions, that may be applied practically in after' 

 years. In the freshness and vigor of youth, it ac- 

 cumulates ideas with infinitely more rapidity than 

 when, calloused by age, it must store itself with 

 information gathered by exertions wearing to the 

 body as well as itself. To dwell on a fact so well 

 established, would be common-place and trite, and, 

 in its application to almost every other pursuit, it 

 excites our wonder that it has been overlooked and 

 forgotten in rural pursuits. There is no one who 

 stands more in need of an early acquisition of knowl- 

 edge that may be applied in daily practice of prin- 

 ciples that are called into constant use, than the 

 young farmer. When thrown upon his own re- 

 sources, such knowledge must be his chart and 

 compass, and he might as well hope to navigate the 

 ocean without the latter, as to attempt the culture of 

 the soil with any certainty of success without the 

 former. 



Indeed, sir, whatever education touches, it ele- 

 vates and dignifies. As soon as success in any 

 pursuit is made to depend upon the development of 

 the mind, then is that pursuit respected. And here 

 has been the difficulty with farming. It has, until 

 very recently; been entirely independent of any- 

 thing intellectual. In otlter countries it has been 

 left to peasants and serfe, and in our own, those 

 engasred in it have hardened their hands and worn 

 out their bodies, while their brains have lain al- 

 most inactive. The idea has gone abroad that the 

 duties of the husbandman and his sphere of action 

 are necessarily confined to the manual operations 

 of the plough, the harrow, and the flail — fit occu- 

 pation for those whose ambition does. not carry 

 them farther. And hence it has become fashiona- 

 ble, and naturally enough, while the public labor 

 under existing false impressions, for younu' men to 

 hurry into commerce and the professions, until these 

 avenues are choked with votaries even to their very 

 entrances. 



We rejoice to perceive that a more correct view 

 of agricultural pursuits is gaining ground in the 

 community. The spirit of the age is onward, and 

 although at the eleventh hour, husbandry begins to 

 feel the impulse. The public, we believe, are 

 daily becominj disabused of its false estimate of 

 the subject, and there are those, who can see that 

 there is both honor and profit to be found in the 

 use of the spade and the rake. Indeed were it on- 

 ly to fashion tlie inclinations and correct the tastes 

 of youth, wo would urge the early education of 

 young men professionally for farmers. Not only 

 does the agricukural interest demand that the er- 

 rors and prejudices of centuries should be removed 

 but it also calls loudly for pioneers who may go 

 forward and break the ground. The public weal 

 is still more urgent for a greater number of hus- 



