CULTURE OF SILK. 
241 
ing new varieties, but of preserving in their purity 
those which have been proved to be valuable. 
But your correspondent, in order to incite to this 
praiseworthy object, undertakes to make sugges¬ 
tions, and to enforce them by facts, which should 
not have been expected from an enlightened man 
in this enlightened day. I have for many years 
read Mr. Allen’s writings with great pleasure, and 
have regarded him as a distinguished laborer in 
the cause of agriculture. Under the signature of 
Ulmus,* in the old Genesee Farmer, ( Ulmus Buff a- 
loensis I think he was familiarly yclept, when I 
visited the glorious region of western New York 
some six or seven years ago,) he has often com¬ 
manded the attention of its readers, and delighted 
them with the elegance of his diction. And when 
it was announced that he would become a regular 
correspondent of your journal, I congratulated my¬ 
self that I could oftai repose again under his um¬ 
brageous shade. But surely, while other people 
have been steadily advancing, he has been content 
to remain stationary. Not unlike the famous Rip 
Van Winkle, he has slept while the “chess con¬ 
troversy” was raging, for he professes to be entire¬ 
ly ignorant of its merits, and to have scarcely 
glanced at it during its progress. It is far from 
my wish to “provoke” him into a controversy 
now. I have no desire to break a lance on the 
subject, even with so gallant an antagonist; though 
I can not but regret that he should have taken no 
interest in a discussion in which error, however 
popular and deeply rooted it had become, was tri¬ 
umphantly exposed. 
Mr. A. “ suggests” that chess is the original of 
wheat, from which the latter was derived by a 
long course of culture in the early ages of the 
world, antecedent to any record we possess. But 
how does he attempt to justify such a conclusion ? 
We may readily conceive, as he justly states, that 
the delicious cauliflower, and the immense drum¬ 
head cabbage, are the products of the wild cole- 
wort, (.Brassica oleracea ,) obtained by judicious 
cultivation; and that the golden pippin is the off¬ 
spring of the wild crab of Europe, not of Ameri¬ 
ca ; for under all circumstances, and in ail cli¬ 
mates, every individual of those races retains not 
only its generic, but its specific characteristics. 
No plant deviating farther from its original than a 
simple variety , has ever been produced from either 
of those tribes. Wheat and chess on the contrary, 
are not only of different species, but of different 
genera. There is no more resemblance between 
them than there is between the chestnut and the 
oak. If the same connexion existed as that which 
is found between the various members of the cab¬ 
bage or apple families, Mr. Allen’s illustrations 
would be happy and forcible. In process of time 
it is possible that a race not inferior to the Euro¬ 
pean may descend from the Hottentot, or even 
from the wretched pigmies of interior Africa; but 
not even those degraded specimens of humanity 
could ever be derived from beings a single degree 
lower in the scale of existence than man. 
Your correspondent has also referred the origin 
* The writer is in error here. Ulmus is L. F. Allen of 
Black Rock; the author of the article on u New Varieties 
of Wheat” is R. L. Allen of Buffalo.—E d. 
of wheat to chess, because the wheat plant is not 
to be found in a wild state in any country. But 
are there not other plants which are only to be 
found in a state of cultivation ? To what remote 
origin would he refer oats, and rye, and barley, 
and maize ? Chess is as nearly allied to three of 
them as it is to wheat; and indeed it has been 
gravely contended that they also degenerate to 
chess. The parentage of the peach has also been 
ascribed to the almond. These and other similar 
metamorphoses were strenuously advocated du¬ 
ring the pendency of the famous chess controversy; 
and I thought they had long since been exploded, 
or banished to the dim twilight of agricultural 
knowledge. Your correspondent would probably 
have scarcely ventured to evoke their aid at the 
present time, if he had taken any interest in that 
controversy; for he would not have remained ig¬ 
norant of the utter discomfiture of those who at¬ 
tempted to force nature into a conformity with 
their views, instead of conforming them to the 
immutable laws of nature. 
I repeat that I cordially concur with Mr. Allen 
in recommending to the farmer the utmost atten¬ 
tion to the subject which he has brought to his 
notice. It is only to the unscientific, not to say 
absurd views, which characterize a portion of his 
communication, that I beg leave most respectfully, 
and with acknowledgments for his zeal as an 
agriculturist, and his ability as a writer, to object. 
P. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CULTURE OF SILK. 
Northampton , Mass ., September 6, 1843. 
Dear Sir : It is gratifying that you take such 
favorable notice of silk culture. Our whole coun¬ 
try should rise in its strength, and use the means 
with which we are so richly furnished to promote 
this great object. Our soil, climate, and industri¬ 
ous habits, are in our favor, and we may easily 
overcome every obstacle, which ignorance or pre¬ 
judice has, or can present. Our privileges and 
circumstances are such, as to enable us to com¬ 
pete with the cheap labor of other countries, not 
only to supply our own market, but in due time 
to export to other nations, who never have, and 
perhaps never will raise enough of the raw mate¬ 
rial to supply their own demands; although, silk 
affords them the most satisfactory returns. It is 
gratifying to find so many leading men expressing 
their unqualified approbation of the importance of 
silk culture. Much has been said and written 
upon the subject, and we must begin to act more 
vigorously than in by-gone days, or the great ob¬ 
ject will not be accomplished; all talk and no 
work is not the best mode. There are thousands 
of hands which might be profitably employed in 
the culture of silk, if encouraged by those occupy¬ 
ing the higher walks of life. Those who have 
made the experiment, pronounce the employment 
not only healthy, but agreeable; only make the 
business fashionable, and the desired object may 
be considered as more than half accomplished. 
The culture of silk is no new employment, even 
