17% 
Handling Stock—Cultivation of tlie Mulberry 
the fingers upon the fleshy parts of an ani¬ 
mal, and the hair, hide, and especially the 
flesh beneath have a fine, soft, firm, elastic 
spring, it is called good handling ,—on the 
contrary, if they are coarse, thick, hard and 
rigid to the feeling, with little or no spring 
under the pressure of the fingers, that is 
called bad handling. Of course there are 
as many degrees in handling, from very had 
to very good, as there are grades of animals. 
The better an animal handles, the kinder or 
quicker it feeds; that is, the sooner it will 
mature—become fully grown for the purpose 
of breeding, or to fat for the butcher, and 
will do so at a much less consumption of 
food, than a bad handler. By cultivating 
therefore, a race of cattle that handles well, 
there is a saving in two ways ; first, we gain 
time ; second, we gain food ; as a good hand¬ 
ling steer, for instance, will be fully grown 
and fat for the butcher, the fall after he is 
four years old; whereas, it will take the bad 
handler, two to three years longer to ma¬ 
ture and become fat, and at this time he will 
weigh no more than the four years old 
steer; and the quality of his meat will not 
be as good. The breeder of this last, then, 
has lost at least two years interest on the 
amount of money for which the first sold, 
two years more of risk by accident and dis¬ 
ease j two years more time and attention to 
his animal, and two years additional con¬ 
sumption of food ; which together, makes a 
difference, probably, at least, of fifty per 
cent, in favor of good handling beasts. 
So important is handling considered in 
England, that when the grazier comes to 
purchase stock of the breeder to feed 
through the season, to fat for the butcher, 
he would rather buy his animals blindfolded , 
and handle them, than by an inspection of 
the eye alone , without handling. This obser¬ 
vation applies more particularly to the im¬ 
proved breeds of cattle ; the unimproved , such 
as the Scotch, Welsh, and from several coun¬ 
ties of England, are judged by the eye alone; 
still, when not too wild to get his hand upon 
them, the grazier, in purchasing, will always 
feel their fleshy parts with his fingers, the 
better to assist his judgment in a profitable 
outlay of his capital. Lectures ought to be 
publicly delivered on this subject with the 
living animals before the auditors at all our 
cattle-shows, for our breeders and graziers 
are deplorably ignorant upon the point of 
good or bad handling. 
It is said sheep bells will protect lambs from 
foxes. 
Cultivation of the Mulberry and Production of Silk. 
As we deem the raising of silk one of the 
prominent objects of attention to our farmers 
at no distant day,and one every way commend¬ 
ing itself to their careful consideration now, 
we shall proceed to give a brief manual on 
the subject from our own observations and 
that of others. The first step to be taken, is 
the selection and raising a sufficient number 
of plants, which shall be the best fitted for 
the production of silk. Trees it is not ne¬ 
cessary to have. A long time is required 
for their growth, and when matured, they re¬ 
quire much more labor in gathering the 
leaves, as it must then be done by the use of 
the ladder, and the leaves are no better suited 
to the object in view than from somewhat 
younger plants. 
Varieties of Trees.— Some of the choice 
trees which are produced from the white mul¬ 
berry seed, are generally esteemed best by 
silk growers. It is a well-ascertained fact, that 
tlie mulberry, like the apple, pear, and peach, 
does not produce its like from the seed, and 
it is therefore a safer method to depend on 
cuttings of the best kinds, as they can be pro¬ 
duced at but a trifle more cost than from the 
seed. The kinds most used in Northampton, 
Mass., where a large quantity of silk is pro¬ 
duced, are what are termed the Asiatic, ex¬ 
tensively used in China, and the Alpine, a 
species brought from the south side of the 
Alps by Mr. Samuel Whitmarsh when he visit¬ 
ed Europe some years since. He says, though 
better adapted to the purpose of feeding 
worms than any he met with in France, it 
was limited to a small district. These are 
doubtless selected varieties from the white 
mulberry seed ; but as they unite all the 
essential qualities to a greater extent than 
any others, whenever they thrive well on a 
soil, it is wise to adhere to them. But it is 
prudent to sow a quantity of seed, and as 
the plants grow up, select such as are best 
suited for feeding. The charcteristics for 
this can usually be distinguished by the ap¬ 
pearance ; though perhaps the only strict test 
would be, a comparison of the quantity of 
silk produced from equal quantities of leaves. 
The above varieties are distinguished by a 
tolerably large leaf, twice or three times the 
ordinary size of the common v 7 hite, yet not 
as large as the Morus. The leaf is firm and 
thick, and affords a large supply of substan¬ 
tial food for the worm. It is highly import¬ 
ant that the leaf be not too juicy or succu¬ 
lent, as the worm is by this means obliged 
to consume a much larger bulk of food to 
derive the required amount of nourishment. 
