178 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol 



8ilk Culture. 



The following communication we ecknowledge 

 with pleasure. Men are always willing to baasi of 

 their success, but few men are brave enough to tell of 

 their mistakes and failures, which are often more use- 

 ful and important to be known than their successful re> 

 suits. 



In some respects we cannot agree with Mr. Cook. 

 A prepared, iinished and furnished cocoonerjr, well 

 adapted to Tentilation and warming at pleasure, is un- 

 doubtedly to be preferred ; but within our knowledge 

 good silk and an abundant product have been obtain- 

 ed in feeding in vacant barns and granaries. We 

 recomnxend a well built cocoonery, believing that the 

 cultivator sviil be ia the end fully compensated lor the 

 expense and outlay ; but at the same time we would 

 not have poor and small cultivators prevented or dis- 

 coirraged in their operations, because they have not 

 the means of at once erecting a well Rniebed cocoon- 

 ery. Jn IVfansfield.iCt.j where silk has been successfully 

 j-aised for seventy years, such provision is scarcely 

 known. That the time of feeding may by the beet 

 arrangements be reduced from six weeks to little more 

 than three weeks is a very material consideration to 

 recommend the beet fixtures ; and as by the improv- 

 ed Flench method, attention day and nigbt, in ordei 

 ;o the most rapid cjon<pletion of the work. Tbe dis- 

 ease, to which Mr. •Cook refers, is a formidable ob- 

 stacle in the culture of silk. Wc cannot say from his 

 account of it, that it re the disease known in Europe 

 as the muscadine and which it has been said confident- 

 ly, may he cured by o sprinkling of caustic lime up- 

 on the worms ; but we know that a friend of ours, 

 whose worms were diseased this season and died in 

 great numbers, applied lime as directed without any 

 perceptible benefit. We need much more informa- 

 tion than we have in the casebefore we can pronounce 

 on the charocter of, or the remedy for the disease. 

 That the worm may be injured by feeding from ihe 

 leavesof the multicaulis of one year's growth is not 

 improbable, as we have heard from a very intelligent 

 silk grower the same opinion strongly expressed. 



In respect to the destruction of the Chrysales we 

 would recommend Miss Rapp's method of stifling 

 ihem in a box with camphor ; though wc know those, 

 svho do itby steam in preference to all other modes 

 without the inconvenience or ill effects which Mr. 

 Cook describee. They are careful however in the cane 

 not to allow the current of flteam to be poured direct- 

 ly upon the cocoons; but the cocoons receive it as it 

 becomes gradually diffused through the box or vessel 

 in which they are placed. 



AVith respect to the insect, which Mr. Cook de- 

 Bcxibes as perforating the cocoons and materially in- 

 juring iheir value, we know at present of no certain 

 preventative. This is not a frequent accident. An 

 excellent silk grower of long experience however ad- 

 vises that when the cocoons are put away Scotch 

 Snuff or tobacco should be put among them, as is 

 done among woolen clothe in summer, to keep off the 

 insects. This he thinks would prove an cfietlual se- 

 curity. It is a curious foot that there seems to he no 

 animal, except the huninn, fiUhy enough to relish or 

 jalher not to be absolutely offended with this detesta- 

 ble weed ; and which in the vile habits of chewing 

 end smoking with their peculiar accompaniments 

 renders its devotees in roost cases a perfect nuisance to 

 decent people. 



We fully agree with Mr. Cook in the opinion that 

 ihe silk culture can never succeed without pains-tak- 

 ing and cere and labor. Nothing good in life con 

 ever be accomplished without these ; and \vjth these 

 the silk culture is almost sure to return on ample 

 compensatijn for all the labor and expense incur- 

 «d,— Ed. 



PtiiKS- Farm, Sodcs P. O. ) 

 October 14, 184?. ) 



Henbt Colman, Pear Sir: — Your letter, asking 

 an account of my operations and success in tbe culture 

 of silk, was received several weeks since. A multi- 

 plicity of engagements, both at home and abroad, 

 must be my apology for the deloy in answering it. 



I have been e3:/)crimen<i7!|f in a "small way" in 

 the culture of silk, abaut five or six years, preparato- 

 ry to larger operations, which I hope to moke next 

 year ; and the value of this communication, (if worth 

 anything,) must depend upon the profits of experience 

 in mistakes, errors, bad management, and misfortunes, 

 more than upon the hietory of sny very splendid or 

 successful result?. I hftvs not made in any one seo- 

 6on more than about five bushele of cocoons ; and the 

 present, only enough to supply seed fur another year, 

 as I hove been finishing off and plastering my co- 

 coonery. 



First, then, as to mistakes and errors i presume I 

 was not alone in believing a great deal that has been 

 written and said with regard to the ease of raiding 

 worms in barns, open sheds, ifcc. Of the falsity of 

 this, at least in this climate, with our changeable 

 weather, cold nights, nr.rth-east storms, I have become 

 thoroughly convinced. To ensure n rcosonable de- 

 gree of snccese a cocoonery ought to be finished oft', 

 and plastered to keep off rats, mice and other vermin; 

 to be furnished with a stove to warm the room in 

 stormy days ond cold nights, and conveniences for 

 ventilating in warm, close weather. For ihewantof 

 artificial beat, the worms will be from 1 to 2 weeks 

 longer in going through their several changes. Mine 

 hove lingered along forty or fifty days, while others 

 fed in the neighborhood with the advantage of a close 

 room and artifii:iol heat, have wound up in thirty-two 

 days ; and this summer i hnd many of my millers 

 carried off in the night by rote, bats or something 

 else, before they had deposited their eggs. The. 

 worms if fully supplied, will cut olmoet incessantly 

 with the exception of the moulting periods, from the 

 time of hatchinguntil they ore ready to wind up, un- 

 less they are interrupted by a temperoture so low as 

 to benumb and etupify ihcm. Tbe time of this in- 

 terruption, I believe, must bo added to their exist- 

 ence in the form of the worm, and that loo whether 

 the interruption is coused by cold weather or want of 

 food. This reasoning 1 think will nccouiu for the 

 fact, that worms thus treated, rise so irregularly ; 

 some are more vigorous and healthy than others, and 

 consequently better able to withstand ibc effects of 

 the cold ; thoy therefoie do not lose so much time. 



I lost more than two thirds of my crop this summer 

 by a disease which appeared among the worms after 

 the last moulting, and just as they were beginning to 

 ri e. On the oppearauce of the diseoee they ceased 

 to eot, become stupid, and gradually assiinied u blight 

 yellow color. In thelapt stages of the disease, they 

 would hurst with tbe slightest touch, and emit a 

 yellow liquid aid a very offensive odor. I thought 

 the further spreading of the disease woe finally check- 

 ed after it bad corried oft' ihouhnnds, by carefully pick- 

 ng out all that i-bowed any signs ol'thediscceeiii their 

 appearance, ond throwing them away. I attributed 

 the dlBcaEC to the wont of ortifioiol beat in the co- 

 cooiaery, and to feeding the y/orms with tbe tender 

 succulent and young leaves of the muhicoulis, after 

 the last moulting. 1 have been told by one who pro- 

 fessed to know, that in this age, the worms should be 

 fed only en the old and tough leaves ; if this is the 

 case, it will not do, as I have been accustomed, to cut 

 the branches, and strew them entire upon the feeding 

 shelves. Again, I find that the worms do better to 

 be fed regularly aiid at leoetsix or eight limes in 24 

 hours 



(iiii^ 



liiJi 



It seems to me tbot it is to be desired that 1 

 easier and better way of stifling the chrysales l^ 

 he devised than J have yet known of. I have 

 boking, exposure to the direct rays of tlie sun, 

 direct steaming ; the first I think hordens the 

 and makes them more difficult to reel, beeidet 

 danger of burning the cocoon. The second is n 

 all cases effectual ; and by the last process I hadi 

 cocoons damoged or entirely ruined by the COH 

 eation of the steam on the lid of the steam-box, 

 thence dripping on the cocoons. The steam 

 softens the cocoons so much that they are lioble 

 bruised and injured in spreading them out to drj 

 intend the next season to try the vapor of nlcoht 

 spirits of turpentine. 



Even after we have succeeded in raising the i 

 and stifling the cocoon, there is another enemy, 

 er the bug or worm, which attacks the cocoons 

 they have been put away out of the reach of mice 

 rats. 



A few d«ye since f took down a bog contoininga 

 bushels of flossed cocoons, which hod been fori 

 time hanging up to the rofter, as I supposed, in 

 order and in perfect safety. Upon examination n 

 of them were found to be punctured with a 

 round hole about as large as a coarse knitting neo 

 coneequently, insteod of realizing the full prict 

 flossed cocoons, ($4,00 per bushel,) 1 was obligi 

 to sell them for ®2,00, 



Biitafter all this long story about failures ond 

 tokes, I am by no means discouroged, I believ 

 these difficulties may be surmounted by persa 

 once and greater attention, and it seems to me 

 the great fauit with writers on this subject has 1 

 thai they have labored to make the community- 

 lieve, that silk could be successfully made by the a 

 slip-shod and coreless manner which obtains in a 

 jorityofthe farming operations of the day; buti 

 not so. The business, to be profitable, must be^i 

 attended to, ond " whatever is woiih doing at atj 

 worth doing well." 



One of my neighbors, (L. L. Coleman,) hast* i 

 ed a good crop of silk this summer, and without anjf ' 

 cident. He showed me o few days since, 

 pounds of new silk of hie own raising ond reel 

 which appeared to be of tbe first quality. 

 ¥ours, with much respect, 



W D. COOJI 



p. S. I connot close this communication wiil^ 

 requesting you to sound the note of olormto thcrH 

 ers of the Farmer relotive to tbe black conker 

 plum trees. In o recent trip through o pan of Waj' 

 Cayuga, and Onondaga counties, I vvas astopishei 

 the greot extent and fatal character of the dise 

 From South Butler, in Wayne county, to Syrac 

 in Onondaga county, J did not see a single p 

 tree which oppeared to be perfectly healthy, whi 

 saw hundreds thai were entirely dead. What ig 



cause? W. D. C 



Yates County Fair and Show 



The following intelligence, which weextroclfi* 

 a Penn YoB paper, affords gratifying evidence 

 the right spirit is at work in ihot quarter. 



"The SOth of October was an auspicious day^ 

 Yotes county, The meeting at Fenn Yon on I 

 day was a gatheiing of her true nobility, viz : 

 hard-fisted, intelligent farmers and mechanics. S 

 a meeting has a moral in it — it is a kind of p«. 

 which indicotee tbe tone of feeling ond interest wh 

 the farmers of the country hove in their own pursu 

 Judging thus of the mceiing on tbe 20th, we can 

 infer" that the formers of Yates county are beginn 

 to feel ond appreciate the nature and importancei 

 agricultural improvement and advancement. T 

 \vas the second fair ever held in tbe county, and it » 

 one every way worthy and creditable to theagricttU 

 rists of the county. The improvement in stock mf^ 



