10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



43 



Fnm the Jvuniiil i,f the A. .S. .V, 



Silli CuItare"Now is the time to begin. 



The price of multicaulis trees having fallen to a very 

 '^\' rate, the present ie a moet propitiorji time for the 

 uiiiiienccnient of the silk business, by those who 

 I V , heretofore avoided it on account of the high pri- 

 :8 of the trees. Kvery thrifty farmer in the Union 

 dyht to plant at least one acre of ground — some out- 

 t-ihe-wuy old tield, some chestnut ridge, some incon- 

 C[iicnt hdl-sidc, that yields little or no profit in any 

 \in^' else. It will cost now but a trifle. A thousand 

 'LS should be obtained and planted either by layers 

 r luttmgs, and there will enough be certain to grow, 



I .iceupy the ground. Plant them in rows, four I'cet 

 ):in, and if they grow eo that they stand nearer than 

 V' ' feet apart in the row, take up Lntejvening trees 

 lul plant them where failures had left .open spaces; 

 mi it you have aliU more than the above proportion, 

 \'.i:ai the tield. 



In .luly, they will have grown so far as to enable 

 our daughters, or your female servants or children, 

 i feed worms; and you niny then hatch 10,0(10 eggs. 

 tny common room will do to keep them in, and the 

 isl volume of the Silk Journal will teach you how to 

 . innage them. When the first crop is three weeks 

 Id, hatch 20,000 more, to be ready to take the place 

 t the first as soon as they spin cocoons. When the 

 ?ioiid crop is three weeks old, bring out the last, the 

 laiu ciop of 50,000 to hatch. As 5,000 trees will 

 iiuluce 5,000 lbs. of leoves, and as each worm wiU 



II one ounce of leaves, your 5,000 trees will feed 80,- 

 "I worms, which you will have fed in the above three 

 uci-ls. As soon as your first crop has finished the co- 

 " ius, seta couple of intelligent girls to reeling. You 

 ill teach them from the Silk Journal above referred 

 '. The Piedemontese reel should be need. In a fevv 

 reks, they will learn to reel as well as you may de- 

 le; and then let them take one or two other girls as 

 ilirentices to learn to reel. By the lime the last crop 



I worms have spun cocoons, you will have four reol- 



who will be able to nee up the cocoons speedily. — 



result will be twenty- four to twenty-eight pounds 



'. 1 raw silk, which you can either send to market, or 



ifjr luse to be made into elegant silk dresses for your 



lit aughters, who have so well deserved them. Ne.\.t 



at , ear, double this amount may be made, and every year 



ilj: ' om two to five hundred dollars worth of silks may be 



liJ.' reduced without any cost to yourself. 



OK Then why not begin? How hard mnst a farmer 



,# 'ork to produce a hundred dollars in wheat, corn, or 



;» ibacco; or in flour, whiskey or pork, or any other 



Bi: I -oducl. Let us see. He must breok up four acres of 



•.\e\ round, there is eight or ten days hard work at plough- 



tffi ; 'S and seeding in October. During winter he ie tan- 



dized with promises of good weather, that seldom 



n'ji ippens, and in the spring he fears his wheat is 'win- 



,a| r killed;' or, if it escapes that, in March i here comes 



[jsJl season of freezing and thawing, that threatens to 



pi^jiew it out of the ground. Well, it escapes even 



■ at, and now the fly flits about, but even that spares 



The spring passes, and summer with its cradles 



I I rakes, and harvest labor arrives. Six or eight days 

 lore of hard labor is again required and performed. — 

 he harvest is in the stack. October again arrive8,''and 

 le flail now tdls heavily of six or eight days more 

 ard labor. But the wheat is in the sack, and two or 

 tree days more hard labor with the four-horse wagon, 

 I required to carry the one hundred bushels of wheat 

 I the mill. The wheat is ground, and the flour in 

 le barrels. Well, now we have two or three days' 

 ibor with the four-horse wagon again, to carry the six- 



rj^en barrels to market, and somaiime in November, 

 »|te farmer returns home weary Sm hungry, with his 

 undred dollars. Here we have had hard work 

 nough, and time enough occupied too, for an hun- 

 red dollars surely. Let this picture be placed by the 

 de of the little cocoonery of 80,000 worms, and then 

 hose between them. But we would not interfere with 

 le growing of wheat, nor with the production of ony 

 ther staple. We would not take the hardy plough- 

 lan from his plough. But while he labors in the field 

 produce his hard- won dollars in wheat and corn, we 

 •ouJd enable the more delicate in ales of his house 

 add something to his income. And this they will 

 ill be able to do, if be Will only in the first instance 

 rinish them with a small mulberry orchard. Try it 

 jmers, try it. e. b ; 



The Farmei-s. 



The following just and eloquent tribute to thiemer- 

 onous class of American citizens, is from the pen of 

 n eminent New England clergyman: 



"There is one class of men upon whom we can yet 



ily. It is the same class that stood on the little green 



J I- I^exington— that gathered on the heights of Biiuker 



I'll, and poured down from the hills of New England 



— which were the life-blood of the notion when the 

 English lion was ready to devour it,— I mean the 

 Fakmkrs. They were never found to trample on law 

 and right. Were I to commit my character to any 

 class of men, my family, and my country's safety, it 

 would be to the farmers. They are a class of men 

 such as the world never saw for honesty, intelligence 

 and Roman virtue, sweetened by the Gospel of God. 

 And when this nation quakes, they and their sons are 

 those who will stand as the sheet anchor of our liber- 

 ties, and hold the ship at her moorings till she outrides 

 the storm." 



English Hay-Makijig and Hay-Makers. 



The following liveTy and faithful picture of the rural 

 peasantry of England, is copied from Chambers' Ed- 

 inburg Journal, and cannot fail to interest many of our 

 readers. 



One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the land 

 for a number of miles around London, is the large cx- 

 ■*tent of ground kept in grass for producing hay for the 

 metropolitan market. The hay ie generally of aeweet 

 and nourishing quality, very unlike the harsh kind of 

 wiry grass and clover which prevail in the northern 

 part of the United Kingdom, where it would be called 

 by the name of meadow hay ; and its preparation forma 

 an important branch of rural economy. The hay- 

 making season, which is the busiest in the year, draws 

 laborers from places most remote from the scene ol 

 operations, in the same maimer as the grain harvest 

 attracts a tlnong of reapers in other quarters of the 

 country. Those who mow or cut the grass, are al- 

 most to a man English laborers ; but the other class 

 of workers are a mixture of English and Irish, the 

 former being about two to one of the latter. A Welsh- 

 man is rarely to be seen among either class, and a 

 Scotchman never. 



The hay-making season is from about the middle of 

 June to the third week of July. In the beginning of 

 June, English laborers are to be seen on the diflerent 

 roads, travelling with their faces towards London, each 

 bearing his scythe and a basket or small bundle, the 

 edge of the scythe corefully protected against the ac- 

 tion of the atmosphere. These precursors are mowers, 

 men known to be good and worthy workmen, who, 

 year by year, work on the same farm, and until the 

 times of cutting are sure of other work. Day by day 

 the numbers of the travelling laborers increase, and 

 by the middle of June the roads are thronged with 

 them. Some of the English bear scythes, and moet 

 oS them a bundle or basket ; now and then one has a 

 fork, its points guarded with corks. Afewof the Irish 

 carry a bundle, but the majority bear no greater bur- 

 then than the clothes they wear. At home, and on 

 the road, the English term their emigration "going 

 upwards for work." The English labourers common- 

 ly travel alone, or in parties of two, three, or four, 

 and nsually leave home with provisioft eufficient for 

 the greater part or the whole of their journey, and 

 money to pay for decent lodgings at night. On the 

 otlier hand, the Irish, first congregated on board a ves- 

 sel, when they reach England, commonly travel in 

 droves, trusting mainly to chanee for food and lodging 

 during their travels. 



The mowers are paid by the acre. A common 

 price at the beginning of th? season of 1839, was 4s. 

 fid. an acre without beer, but it afterwards rose to 5s. 

 and 53. 6d. an acre, with beer. The pay of a hay- 

 maker (in distinction to a mower) was Ss.. and 2s. 6d. 

 a-dayr and after wards rose to 3s. and 3e. 6d. a-day, 

 with an allowance of beer, some of them finding their 

 own forks. When the hay is spread, oris fit to carry, 

 and rain is expected, the farmers urge all bands to in- 

 creased exertions by extra allowances of beer, and 

 the promise of a supper. In this district, compared 

 with others, the women employed in hay-making are 

 tew, and their pay is commonly Is. a-day : this is not 

 fair ; for, although it is true that a woman cannot take 

 every place in the work, she will, in the lighter por- 

 tions, pel form as much as a man. The boys employ- 

 ed are also few. In fact, very few women ond boys 

 are employed but those belonging to the resident agri- 

 cultural population. 



In the beginning and at the height of the season, 

 the public hnises and cottages in the district, where 

 lodgers are taken, are crowded with the migratory 

 laborers. Every chamber has as many beds ag can be 

 put into it, and the men sleep two, sometimes three, 

 in a bed ; in rooms of not greater dimensions than 

 fifteen fest by twelve, from eight to ten, and even 

 twelve men pass the night. The price of lodging to 

 a man who has a bed to himself, is sixpence a-night, 

 but when more than one sleep in a bed, the charge for 



each is fourpence. If a man pays four nights conse- 

 cutively, he pays no more that week; at leii.st this is 

 the practice in some places. The Englishmen usually 

 sleep in beds, and the Irishmen in barns, etablea, or 

 outhouses, sometimes ensconsing themselves in a hay 

 cock. A prejudice exists against the Irish laborers, 

 that they are not so clean in their persons as the Eng- 

 lish, and some publicans make a point of refusing them 

 lodgings. When the Irish hay-makers have women 

 and children with them, they often camp in the lanes, 

 but without tents, there cooking their food, and taking 

 their evening meals ; such a case with an Enolish par- 

 ty is very rare. " 



Beer is the hay-makers' usual drink. They very 

 seldom have recourse to spirituous liquors, and, com- 

 pared with the workmen on canals, railroads, and in 

 brick-fields, they are generally of sober habits. The 

 Irish are decidedly more sober than the English. When 

 lodging either at a private or public house, each man 

 buys his own food, the cooking being performed, and 

 pepper and salt being providec, gratis. The publicans 

 usually keep biead, cheese, and bacon, and sometimes 

 cooked meat, for sale ; at some houses soup is suppli- 

 ed, for which the charge is twopence a basin. Tea 

 and coffee are not commonly used. 



Towards their employers and strangers, the hay- 

 makers are civil in manner and language, but with 

 each other jiracticid jokes are not uncommon. The 

 language of the English laborers among themselves, 

 particularly of the young men, is mixed up with many 

 oaths, and horrible imprecations. This species of lan- 

 guage is at present dreadfully on the increase, and has 

 not yet reached its climax; lor these laborers are still 

 behind the workmen on railroads and canals, inland 

 boatmen, brickraakers, and the like, from whom the 

 contagion has been caught. 



Upon their way from home, and at their places of 

 destination, anxious are the inquiries and the mutual 

 talk of the men as to the probabilities of the weather, 

 the state of the crops, the numbers of workmen likely 

 to come up, the prices of labor, and the masters who 

 have and who have not engaged their complement of 

 men. The season fairly entered into, the merits and 

 demerits of the diflerent masters who give the best wa- 

 ges, whose beer is the best, who are most liberal in 

 giving that and victuals, and who look most sharply 

 after their people, are engaging subjects of conver- 

 sation ; but of these, "the beer" is the most frequent; 

 and it is impossible for strangers to conceive the im- 

 portance which hay-makers, in particular the English, 

 attach to beer, either as a source of pleosure or a help 

 to work. When elevated with this same beverage, 

 their own capabilities are boasted of; and how much, 

 in one day, a man can mow of grass, cut or thrash of 

 corn, feats of strength and agility, and the like, supply 

 matter for_ noisy but friendly debate. Sometimes the 

 meaning of words and phrases locally used in the neigh- 

 borhoods of their respective homes, and local peculiar- 

 ities in manners and customs, especially ae regards lo- 

 bor, beguile their leisure hours. With them Saturday 

 nights are times of carousal. Sunday is a tireebme 

 dtiy, not one hoy-maker in a hundred attending a place 

 of worship ; from singing, or any kind of play, they 

 usually abstain on Sunday, but often get tipsy ; ond 

 if their master required it, (as is sometimes the case in 

 wet weather,) they would not hesitate to work. To- 

 bacco, in smoking, is used in great quantities ; a few 

 chew it; but snuff ie only taken in fun, when tn 

 elderly mechanic or old woman offers a pinch. To_e- 

 ing halfpence, to decide which man Gball pay for beer, 

 or a game of skittles, the stake veiy seldom exceeding 

 a pint of beer, is almost the only gambling in which 

 they indulge ; cards are very seldom used, Over the r 

 jugs and pipes, a song is a favorite recreation ; the 

 music, hovvever, is never, and the words not frequen- 

 ly, of a refined order. Occasionally a song issurg 

 in praise of poaching, after the manner in which war 

 or sea songs set forth the hardships, pleosures, glories, 

 and honors of war and the ocean. The way in which 

 such songs are received, and the heartiness in which 

 all join in the chorus, prove that with the English ag- 

 ricultural laborers, poaching is not considered a crime; 

 though, in talking of poaching, they treat it as a mic- 

 fortune lor a man to have a propensity towards il, rrd 

 call him a fool for indulging therein. Politics tlty 

 never dicuss. If any portion of a weekly newepajtr 

 be read aloud, it commonly is something which reliilca 

 10 a murder, a robbery, or dreadful Occident. Qui r- 

 relling, likely to lead to fighting, is carefully avoided ; 

 and if a man in this respect lacks discretion, he is e- 

 pressed by his fellow-workmen, particularly a mow er 

 by fellow-mowers, and reminded, that a fight will 

 probably spoil him for work for a week ; not a slij ht 

 consideration with a laborer, miles away from home, 

 depending upon his daily work for his daily bread. 



