370 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



M.\.Y23, 184* 



TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF THE SILK 

 BUSINESS. 

 We give below the tesliniony of a few penile- 

 men ill favor of the silk business, from the pamph- 

 let noticed lost week, entitled "The Silk Question 

 Settled, or Testimony of One Hundred and Fifty 



6th. Have fed both in the early and late part of 

 the season, and our success in each is equally crood. 



7th. As to the causes of bad success in fHedinir, 

 we know jio neid of having bad success. We al- 

 ways keep our room warm, feed as often as the 

 worms will take leaves, and attend well to cleimli- 



Witiifsses"— a work which we rpcommend all to j "''"'■''"'' ''Y *"> ''"i"?- 'he worms are all in the 



bushes to wind in four weeks from the time of 

 hatching. If this seems in any degree incredible, 

 please try it, and see. 



Our only crop this season amounted to one hun- 

 dred u.id eighty pounds of cocoons. I consider 

 the silk business one well worthy the attention of 

 our New England farmers : and I believe it is one 

 which will yield a much better profit than ordinary 

 agricultural productions." 



purchase who are in any way interested in this 

 subject. It is not among tlie inipriibabilities of the 

 future, that the silk business is destined to become 

 a leading interest of this country — and surely those 

 who are endeavoring to demonstrate its feasibility 

 and encourage its adoption, arc deserving of much 

 credit, and have our best wishes for their success : 



Extracts. 



John McSummy, Manheim, Lancaster Co., Penn., 

 says — " Voiir Convention was unknown to me un- 

 til this day, too late for me to attend. I am sorry, 

 as I liave over 100 lbs. of well-reeled silk (from 10 

 to 20 fibres,) of this year's crop, which I should 

 like to take on to New York to sell, besides attend 

 the Convention. I have more yet to reel. There 

 is much silk raised in this county. We have suf- 

 fered for want of good reelers. I have now sur- 

 mounted this difficulty, as well as other difficulties 

 in raising silk, and experience both pleasure and 

 profit in the business. I should be very glad to 

 receive orders from manufacturers for my silk now 

 reeled, or I will reel to order. 



I began in the silk business in 1839, and have 

 increased as follows : 



lS3f>, made 40 lbs. cocoons. 



1810, " 165 " « 



1841, " 534 « '« 



1842, '< 856 « » 

 1S43, " nearly 1800 ■' " 



I have used different kinds of leaves, but never 

 found any difference wliere the trees were culti- 

 vated alike. They must be cultivated and kept 

 clean, otherwise it is useless to try to make silk. 

 It ia al.-o useless to try to feed after harvest, where 

 the old leaves have not been taken off the early 

 part of the season. 



I have f^d for two seasons out of doors in open 

 shaiiteis, after the worms had passed the third 

 moulti.ig, and fed altogether on branches. It is a 

 very great saving of expense and labor." 



RoswU Rice, Charlemont, Franklin Co., Mass. — 

 ''We consider the silk business a noble one; 

 therefore, if we can, by sending in our statement^ 

 small though it be, yield any assistance or encour- 

 agement, we gladly do it. In answer to fjiiestioiis : 



Ist. We have fed worms six seasons, and our 

 labors each year have been crowned with success. 



2d. Feed in a close building, regulate the tem- 

 perature by artificial heat, the mercury standing at 

 75 or 80 degrees. 



3d. Have never fed in an open leirt or shed. 

 Did we live in a latitude where no chilly blasts 

 were ever felt, but all were warm and pleasant as 

 a sunny day in July, we might feed in tents; but 

 we think the rigors of this our northern clime, are 

 too severe for the silk-worm to endure. 



4th. We prefer, above all other kinds, the pen- 

 n\tt worm ; consider the texture finer, and the yield 

 greater. 



5th. We use the Uiulticaulis and white mulber- 

 ry — the white in the early part of the season, be 

 fore the ethers are grown. Cut the tops from the 

 multicaulis trees in (he fall, and 

 the ground. 



John D. Dix, Ithaca, N. Y. — I received your 

 Silk Circular, some days since, and take the first 

 opportunity upon recovering from a severe illness, 

 to answer your questions, or as many of them as 1 

 can, satisfactorily to myself. 



To question 1, I answer, I have fed worms three 

 years, and the general results have been favorable : 

 the second year better than the first, and this year 

 belter than both together. I have raised forty 

 bitsheta this year, at an expense of $70, which is 

 about the amount of premium I have drawn from 

 the State, leaving me the amount received from 

 the sale of cocoons as so much made. 



2. The first year, I used the upper rooms of my 

 house, badly ventilated, and w.'is very careful to 

 shut the windows nights, and build a fire cold days 

 — all urong. Second year, used third story of 

 store, long room, windows at each end — no artifi- 

 cial heat — windows closed in cool weather. Third 

 year, used an old rope-walk and barn, from,, which 

 I took off boards all round, and let the air circulate 

 freely night and day, in all kinds of weather — 

 very few diseased worms. Spun in thirty day.s, 

 and made the best cocoons I ever saw. I also fed 

 the leaves as they came from the trees, wet or diy ; 

 used lime freely, and changed the litter but once 

 during each age. 



3. Have Jiot fed in an open shed or tent, but 

 think it would do well. 



4. Prefer the Mirabel Jaune, or mammoth Nan- 

 kin pea-nut worms. 



5. Trees, Multicaulis, and heretofore they have 

 managed themselves. Hereafter, I intend to cut 

 them down close to the ground in November, and 

 lay down the tops at the same time, instead of 

 waiting till spring. 



6. I have found a great difference in favor of 

 early feeding : for instance, from two ounces hatch- 

 ed 17th June, I obtained 135 lbs. of the very best 

 cocoons I ever saw. From 4 1-2 ounces hatched 

 June 28, I olitained 213 lbs., not quite equal to the 

 first. From four ounces hatched July 10, I ob- 

 tained 1J2 lbs., decidedly inferior to the first, 

 though good. 



7. The causes of bad success in feeding that 

 have come under my observation, are, 1st — Want 

 of the pure air of heaven. 2d. They do not ge.ie- 

 rally have sufficient room on the shelves. 3d. 

 Their fiiod is kept too long in cellars or some oth- 

 er vile place, where it gets wilted or dried up. 

 Give silk-worms plenty of food fresh from the 

 trees, plenty of room on the shelves, and plenty of 

 pure air, and then do not handle them too much. 



eave the roots in and there is no difficulty in raising them success 

 I fully." 



THE ECONOMICAL APPLICATION OF M 

 NURE. 



From a notice in the London Gardeoers' Chrc 

 icle, of a "Treatise on Alkali as a Manure," 

 Hugh Waterton, Esq., we extract the following: 



We all acknowledge, in the case of t.ie tradi 

 man, that it is his interest to turn his money ot 

 as soon as possible during any given period ; ai 

 though this truth is equally applicable to the f 

 mer, yet in practice he seems to deny its applii 

 b-lity. 



" It is a common observation amongst farmi 

 (says Mr Waterton,) to say 'I have given such 

 field a dressing it will not forget for jears.' L 

 on reflection, it must strike any one that this is 

 most improvident mode of proceeding." 



It is so, for two reasons: 1st, because as the a 

 thor immediately states, the manure, if not nil a 

 soibed fiy the crop to which it is applied, is Hat 

 to waste during periods when the land is n..t u 

 der crop ; and 2d, because that portion remaini 

 in the soil after the first crop, is so iimtii capii 

 lying useleas'lill the second and tl ird ur fiui 

 crop, before which it is not all consumed. He 

 Mr Waterton : 



"The practice of using strong and lastini; m 

 nurcs, as they are termed, lias generally been mc 

 approved ; and the artificial or highly cone en'rat 

 substances which have lately been introduce 

 have failed to give satisfaction to the agnculluri; 

 from their evanescent nature, and from the supp 

 sition that they exhaust the soil. Becaise th( 

 act but for one year, they are turned aside as ne' 

 fangled things, fit only for the experim.^ntal fa 

 mer. The virtue of bono manure is said to la 

 fifteen years. Now it is quite certain that if tl 

 land derives benefit in the fifteenth year after tl 

 bones have been used, it must be that some 

 them (the writer refers to crushed bones, not bon'i 

 (/us/,) I'ave remained all that time undecompose 

 and consequently fourteen years must have elapse 

 without any good result, except from the portic 

 that has annually been absorbed by plants. 

 100/. is laid out in bones, and 15 acres of grai 

 are top-dressed with them, and their effects ail 

 visible for 15 years, the first return of profit col 

 only result from that portion of the bones t!iat hi 

 become immediately decomposed and entered in( 

 the composition of the plants — the remaining 1 

 parts having to wait each succeeding year, till th 

 the whole quantity has been decomposed. Now 

 the 100/. worth of bones were so prepared as t 

 come into operation all at the same time, 225 acre; 

 or 15 times the usual quantity, could be topdressei 

 So sensible ore the Dutch and Belgians of the at 

 vantage of supplying their land annually with ms 

 nure ready for immediate use, that they take grea 

 pains to prepare every substance that onn be use 

 with advantage, in such a mani.er as to be mad 

 available by the crop intended to be sown ; an 

 where circumstances will allow them, they suppl 

 the plants themselves rather than the soil." 



These are very useful remarks, and ought to bi 

 influential. We certainly should not like our laiu 

 to be wholly dependent for the crop it bears an; 

 year, upon the manuring we had given it that yeai 

 There must always, on well cultivated farms, b. 

 a certain innount of capital invested in cultivation 

 which lies dormant from year to year — which thi 

 farmer in part invested when paying his predecea 

 sor for the cultivation in the land, as it is termed 

 and which he expects to receive again only whei 



