PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS* CLUB. 263 



berry tree shoulil be revived. It sliould not be done by the sound of the 

 trumpet, but quietly, in distant valleys, by the few men to whom this 

 objlict k',i::ilimately belongs, and who alone can set a lasting- example. 



Kaw silk in 1843, good No. 1 Tsallee waij worth in the New York market 

 $4.50 to $5 per lb. Wages to competent hands was no less than $3.50 to 

 $5 per week; about $2 for apprentices. At these rates silk culture was to 

 some remunerative. To-day No. 2 Tsatlee, (No. 1 is inaccessible,) is 

 worth in New York market $7.50 in gold, or $15 currency. Wages to-day 

 arc in currency, $2 for apprentices; $3.50 to 85 per week to expert hands. 

 (This is what will pay a girl at work, higher rates make them go visiting.) 

 Raw silk, duty free, taking strict No. 1 Tsatlee at about $9 to 610, has gone 

 up lUO per cent., while wages have gone down 50 per cent, since 1843. 

 The amendments to the tariff act now before Congress will tax raw silk 10 

 per cent duty. To all that, thousands of bales are now annually consumed 

 by us. Hands eager to plant and to reel are not abundant but in sufficient 

 number. 



I want to gratifj' the wishes of my neiglibors to furnish them cuttings of 

 Multicaulis and White Italian Mulberry trees or shrubs; also the eggs of 

 the silk moth. 



Flower Seed. Distribution. 



The Secretary has already received and answered 2,500 letters, by return- 

 ing the envelopes with seeds inclosed, to the ladies who have applied for 

 seed sent in for distribution. 



Peat for Locomotives. 



The Chairman read an account of an experiment made at Syracuse, N. Y., 

 in running a locomotive with peat, which proved highly successful. It is* 

 stated that one ton of coal for twenty miles is the usual allowance, and 

 that half a ton of peat did the saUiC work. Farmers who have peat swamps 

 arc advised of their value. 



Where is the Best Place for a Sheep Farm 1 



Mr. Burton L. Kingsbury, Alton, 111., answers the above question of a 

 correspojident in favor of the Neosho Valley, Kansas: 



'■ The valley consists of high rolling prairie cut up by numerous well 

 timbered streams. There is an abundance of feed for all the sheep in Penn- 

 sylvania, free of charge. The winters are short and mild. Sheep and cat- 

 tle will live the year around from what they can get from the prairie and 

 timber; but it is more profitable to feed in the winter. Hay can be cut 

 and put up close to where it is wanted to feed out. The prairies will turn 

 off from one to four tons per acre. The climate appears to Le particularly 

 adapted to eheep. I was a resident of the Valley nearly eight years, and 

 never heard of sheep being attacked with any of the diseases peculiar to 

 sheep in other States. To winter large flocks there, it would be best to get 

 on the creek bottom in the timber, to break off the wind. The best carding 

 mill in the State is on the Neosho, at Burlington." 



