174 
Cultivation of tho Mulberry—Preservation of Grapes and Must. 
increasing with the age and growth of the' tree, if well 
used : and nothing is better repaid than good care and 
cultivation for the mulberry. We shall heed much less 
care than the cultivators of Europe, as the mulberry 
thrives much better in this country and makes a much 
aiore luxuriant growth,—so much so, indeed, that I 
have seen intelligent men, who had extensive acquaint¬ 
ance and experience with the mulberry in France and 
Italy, quite at a loss amidst our fields, to recognize their 
old acquaintance—varieties which they have long cul¬ 
tivated at home, here quite changed in appearance. 
They could scarcely believe the fact, when shown a 
year’s growth of the mulberry in this country. 
The mulberry delights in the hottest sunshine,— 
never too hot, if moisture is seasonably supplied. Our 
bright sunshine and frequent showers cause an almost 
too luxuriant growth of the mulberry, in some cases 
detrimental to the worms. 
The leaves are undoubtedly improved by the age of 
the tree, having less of the rough, harsh taste and feel¬ 
ing that are common to the plants of younger growth. 
It is found in Europe that the worms succeed best when 
brought out simultaneously with the leaf. They are 
generally hatched much later in this country, and the 
general character of vegetation differs so materially 
from that of the silk districts of France and Italy, and 
withal so extensive is our country, and so various its 
climate, that I can give no better rule than for the 
North to aim at the most genial and steady heat, and 
for the South to endeavor to finish the crop before the 
hottest season commences. Excessive heat is more to 
be dreaded than cold. Cold only retards the worms; 
excessive heat destroys them. An equal temperature 
of about 72 degrees of Fahrenheit is most to be desired. 
The soil must be warm, gravelly, or sandy. It is 
often said, that e( the poorest land is the best for the 
mulberry.” It is not so. It may with truth be said, 
that the light lands of a farm—too light for a profit 
in other crops may be most advantageously planted 
with the mulberry, and in a few years, by proper treat¬ 
ment, be made more profitable than richer lands plant¬ 
ed with other crops. I have seen many acres set out 
with mulberry trees, the soil so poor that blackberry 
briars would starve ; whilst mulberry trees’from four 
to eight feet high, with full heads were set in the bar¬ 
ren sand; and because they would not begin to grow, 
“ the silk business was all moonshine.” Now^ had 
the holes been filled with muck, and the heads of the 
trees cut off —poor as the soil was, they would have 
made a good growth, and in a few years, when well 
rooted, produced a good crop of silk. 
Lands that are considered worn out for corn or cot¬ 
ton may thus be made productive, and of the best silk. 
The mulberry strikes its root deep, and when once es¬ 
tablished, will do better on light lands than any other 
tree. Lands which will not grow twenty bushels of 
corn to the acre, manured, are quite strong enough for 
good silk, if on a gravelly or sandy bottom. Such 
lands, by the application of ashes, lime, mud or muck 
or compost of all kinds, will produce vigorous trees, 
with the sweetest foliage, and silk of the best quality, 
and much more than lower, richer lands. It is the dry 
nature of the leaf on. such lands that makes the silk so 
superior. 
Having thus given the first steps to be 
taken on the subject of silk culture, we must 
deny ourselves the pleasure of pursuing it 
further in this No. for want of room, but will 
continue ii hereafter, till we furnish the silk 
handsomely done up in. skeins. We cannot 
here omit mentioning the fact of the splendid 
success of Mr. W. in the introduction of the 
silk business in Jamaica, W. I. He has 
been a resident there for two years, in which 
time he has so satisfactorily demonstrated 
the capabilities of the island for producing 
silk, that a company has been formed in Lon¬ 
don, to which the British Government have 
contributed largely, with a sufficient capital 
to carry out the operations on the most ex¬ 
tensive scale. Mr. W. hopes for a yield of 
10,000 lbs. of reeled silk per month; but 
this, we think, is too large an amount to look 
for from any one establishment. We see in 
this the ever watchful, ever liberal policy of 
Great Britain, in appreciating and fostering 
whatever is calculated to promote her own 
interests. Here are two magnificent pro¬ 
ductions, silk and cotton, which are essential 
to the prosperity of her manufactories, and 
which she cannot raise on her own soil $ yet 
she has the sagacity to see, and the liberality 
to encourage at any cost, their introduction 
into her provinces, by which she will in a 
few years inevitably increase her wealth to 
an immeasurable extent. Mr. W. has an ele¬ 
vation on one of the mountains that abound 
in those islands, a few miles from the coast, 
that affords an unvarying temperature of 70 
to 75 degrees, which is the best adapted to 
the operations of producing trees and silk. 
The condition, character, and habits of the 
emancipated inhabitants, he represents as in 
the highest degree favorable to the develop¬ 
ment of the resources of the island. We 
wish him every success in his undertaking. 
Preservation of Grapes and Must, or the Unfermented 
Juice of the Grape. 
Among the many striking changes that 
characterise the present day, perhaps none 
are more auspicious or salutary than the 
diminished and constantly lessening use of 
alcoholic and vinous drinks. The effect 
that has already been produced, has begun 
to be severely felt by the agriculturists of 
this and other countries. The sugar planters 
of the West Indies have found it impossible 
to dispose of so large a portion of their rum 
hitherto manufactured from their coarse 
sugars and molasses ; and the inhabitants of 
the Mediterranean can, no longer distil their 
raisins into alcohol, at the same profit as 
heretofore, and the wine they have hitherto 
furnished in such large quantities from the 
direct fermentation of the juice of the grape, 
is daily becoming less an object of manu¬ 
facture. The distillation of millions of 
bushels of rye, and corn, and other products 
