CULTURE OF SILK. 
79 
mending Colonel Bonner’s fine stock to the particu¬ 
lar attention of breeders of Berkshires, we can in 
all confidence assure those persons intrusting their 
orders to him, that they; will be fully, promptly, 
and honorably met; and we may farther add, that 
in zeal and public spirit, Colonel Bonner yields the 
palm to no man. 
We have been in the possession of the improved 
race of Berkshires ever since the year 1824, conse¬ 
quently, we believe we were the first to mount the 
Berkshire hobby. Whether we have ridden for 
good or evil to the country, we will leave it to the 
community to decide; but now we dismount, and 
with our bow and kind thanks to our numerous 
patrons, and our best wishes, joined by our hum¬ 
ble endeavors for your success in the new and lau¬ 
dable pursuit you are engaged in, we retire from 
the business of breeding Berkshire pigs for sale al¬ 
together. With great regard and esteem, 
A. & G% Bkentnall. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
by a gentleman now resident in Northampton. 
Cocoons have also been seen in the month of July, 
formed on the white mulberry found in a deep ra¬ 
vine on the southeast side of Mount Holyoke, and 
near the summit. On opening the cocoons, the 
live chrysalis was found. 
This subject, however, comes not within your 
medical department, but the avails, in some shape, 
may replenish the medicine-chest; and I hope you 
may live to see the time when the culture of silk 
may become a valuable source of revenue and sa¬ 
ving to the country. Why should the United States 
expend annually some twenty millions of dollars 
for an article of luxury, which can as well and as 
cheaply be produced at home, and no longer send 
our money abroad to encourage the industry and 
enterprise of foreigners? We have the appropri¬ 
ate soil, climate, and cheap labor among our fe¬ 
males, children, the aged and infirm. "Why then 
hesitate what to do ? Try the experiment. 
Yours, &e., D. C. 
Northampton , April 10,1842. 
CULTURE OF SILK. 
Extract of a letter from, a gentleman in Massa¬ 
chusetts , to his correspondent in Monroe County , 
N. Y., who has always been faithless in the silk 
cause :— 
After all, the poor despised mulberry may be 
worth something, for feeding worms, making the 
best of paper, and the stalks used to obtain bark 
s\\k and no mistake ; so say those who have tried 
it. I suppose you are yet among the doubting. 
Astonishing as it may appear to you, some have 
the courage to suggest, that a field of mulberries 
may be cultivated at a profit exclusively for the 
purpose of making paper; and also, that after be¬ 
ing stripped of the foliage, the tender stalks may 
be subjected to the jaws of the common brake, and 
procure abundance of valuable bark silk, which 
would make excellent Pongee, very suitable for 
coats, vests, handkerchiefs, pantaloons, &c. 
It remains, however, to be proved, that the bark 
silk, from an acre of close planted mulberry, may 
be worth an acre of flax; and why not much more, 
as silk is more valuable than flax ? A silk-grower 
in this vicinity has a pair of pantaloons made of 
silk spun from perforated cocoons, which he has 
worn two seasons, and it is apparently as durable 
as leather. It is thought that the bark silk may 
be made valuable for similar purposes. To do all 
this, and use up the whole mulberry plantation, 
requires some skill, all which is accessible. Here 
are three separate applications of the mulberry 
patch, the product of which may be worth more 
than can be obtained in any other crop. 
A great improvement is being put in order for 
feeding worms. It is less expensive than the usu¬ 
al cocooneries, and more congenial to the wants and 
habits of the worm, called open feeding. Their 
treatment has been too nearly allied to the nursery 
system; whereas, they are the natives of the open 
air, and should be accustomed to all the vicissitudes 
of the weather. The worms would be more 
healthy and form better cocoons. Cocoons have 
been seen in their forest state in South Carolina, | 
A correspondent from Alabama asks: “ Can you 
not draw out from some one of your contributors 
something on plows, harrows, and cultivators ? I 
mean the principle of construction, for there are 
very few persons who know anything about it. I 
asked a planter the other day if he made his own 
plows.” 
“ ‘ Yes.’ 
“ ‘ By what rule do you stock them V 
“‘No rule—I just put them together by my 
eyed 
“ This was enough to convince me that he 
cared but little for a mule’s shoulders, and his com¬ 
fort in pulling.” 
An excellent article will be found on the subject 
of southern plows, by Mr. Cornell, page 49 of May 
No. of this paper. 
In order to see how it looks, we have taken the 
liberty of inserting the pedigree of Col. Sherwood’s 
bull, according to the method suggested by us page 
73, Vol. I., of American Agriculturist, which we 
think much more simple than the one adopted in 
the English Herd Book. It is perfectly preposter¬ 
ous to repeat the G’s so often; they convey no idea, 
till counted, and it always gives us a sick head¬ 
ache to do this. Beside, the old method can not 
be followed much longer. Let any one think of a 
herd-book a century, or even half a century hence 
with the pedigrees recorded in the usual way, and 
he will find that the G’s will occupy three fourths 
of the book, and the volumes by that time make a 
small cart-load. A reform must be made, and the 
sooner we hit upon a more simple method of record 
the better. This is our suggestion, and if any one 
can propose something more appropriate, we shall 
be glad to hear from him. We took the same 
