ms 
Silk raising.—Storing Roots for winter. 
sionally for the purpose of replacing ex¬ 
hausted cocoons, &c. and when it was re¬ 
commenced, he had omitted to wet the fibres 
below their junction at the crossing. The 
fibres at that point had of course not been 
brought into perfect contact, and had become 
dry; therefore when they passed up and 
through the crossing, they of course did not 
remain adherent, and hence the thread in the 
skein presented those spots of loose or inad¬ 
herent fibres—the perfection of raw silk re¬ 
quiring the several fibres to be closely united 
by their gum into a cylindrical thread.” 
The simplicity and ease of reeling silk is 
detailed thus fully, to take away all excuse 
for omitting it. We may add a plan for silk 
throwing in our next. 
We give here a description for making a 
new article from the silk worm. 
Fig. 18. 
a, 
Silkworm Gut , for angling, is made as fol¬ 
lows :—Select a number of the best and larg¬ 
est silkworms, just when they are beginning 
to spin ; which is known by their refusing to 
eat, and having a fine silk thread hanging 
from their mouthy. Immerse them in strong 
vinegar, and cover them closely for twelve 
hours, if the weather be warm, but two or 
three hours longer, if it be cool. When 
taken out, and pulled asunder, two transpa¬ 
rent guts will be observed, of a yellow green 
color, as thick as a small straw, bent double. 
The rest of the entrails resembles boiled 
spinage, and therefore can occasion no mis¬ 
take as to the silk-gut. If this be soft, or 
break upon stretching it, it is a proof that 
the worm has not been long enough under 
the influence of the vinegar. When the gut 
is fit to draw out, the one end of it is to be 
dipped into the vinegar, and the other end 
is to be stretched gently to the proper length. 
When thus drawn out, it must be kept ex¬ 
tended on a thin piece of board, by putting 
extremities into slits in the end of the 
or fastening them to pins, and then ex¬ 
posed in the sun to dry. Thus genuine silk 
gut is made in Spain. From the manner in 
which it is dried, the ends are always more 
or less compressed or attenuated. Fig . 
18, «, is the silkworm, 6, the worm torn 
asunder ; c, c, the guts; d, d, a board slit at 
the ends, with the gut to dry ; /,/, a board 
with wooden pegs, for the same purpose.” 
The above cuts and description are from 
Ure’s Dictionary. 
Storing Roots for Winter. 
It is important that the farmer have 
roots properly secured for the winter. To 
such as have not cellars sufficiently lan e and 
convenient for this object, the best plar\ is to 
store them in some place contiguous to the 
stock which is to consume them. For this 
purpose, a piece of ground should be selected, 
from which the water will run off freely. 
On the surface of this the roots may be pla¬ 
ced, in high conical, or oblong heaps, having 
an exterior as even and compact as possible. 
The long roots should be regularly laid up, 
with the large end on the outside, and in the 
form of a steep roof, and of the size required, 
and as these toalls are carried up, the interior 
may be filled up with the roots, taking care 
to give them as much compactness as possi¬ 
ble. When the pile is complete, it should 
first be thatched with straw or hay, so as to 
conduct to the bottom of the outside, what¬ 
ever water may find its way to the interior. 
This should be covered with a coating of 
clay, or the most tenacious earth that is con¬ 
venient, to the depth of 4 or 6 inches; or 8 
to 12 inches is not objectionable. The first 
thickness is not sufficient to exclude the frost 
in moderately severe winters in this latitude, 
but this we do not consider of consequence, 
unless the roots are required for use while 
frozen ; as, if kept carefully covered while in 
this condition, the frost will be extracted 
gradually on the returning warmth of spring, 
and the roots will be left in every respect as 
good as if they had not been touched by it. 
Some winters since, we had a large pile of 
sugar beets carefully protected in the way 
described, from which we were feeding 
through the inclement season. They were 
taken from one end, which was carefully 
closed by straw whenever opened, but owing 
to the carelessness of the stock-tender, this 
was left open for a day or two of the coldest 
weather, and when we first noticed it, we 
concluded our crop of one or two thousand 
bushels, would be completely ruined. We or¬ 
dered the hole to be closed and examined the 
other end and sides, but from the inadequacy 
of the covering, and the free circulation of tl 
