160 ladies’ department. 
Cabins’ ©apartment. 
ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. 
If I have not promptly replied to the very flatter¬ 
ing appeal of your correspondent, S. H. R., in the 
July number of the Agriculturist, “ to support her 
proposition in favor of raising silk worms,” I trust 
she will kindly attribute my apparent neglect to any 
cause, rather than indifference to her good opinion, 
or disinclination to aid her in so praiseworthy an 
undertaking, so far, at least, as my feeble powers 
may permit. 
I have seen many successful attempts at silk cul¬ 
ture, and know it can be made, even when carried 
on in a small way, by individual enterprise, very 
profitable to those who engage in it with a proper 
spirit, and under favorable auspices; but to make 
it so, many things are requisite that are not always 
at command. In the first place, it requires more 
time during the silk season, than the mother of a 
family can have to bestow, if she attends personally 
to her children, and superintends her household; 
but in families where the children have advanced 
beyond the mother’s hourly watchfulness, and 
where all are able and willing to unite in the com¬ 
mon interest, by a judicious division of labor, it 
‘would be both pleasant and profitable, to take charge 
of a small cocoonery ; and, as from four to six 
generations of worms can be reared in succession, 
before the leaves fail in autumn, the quantity of 
raw material produced, in a single season, would, 
when sold, make no small addition to the usually 
small gains of the female part of a farmer’s family. 
A few years ago there was a liberal bounty paid on 
cocoons in the middle states, which is still, I be¬ 
lieve, allowed in some of them. They usually 
command a high price at the factories, and for 
reeled silk, also, there is a ready sale. Therefore, 
when individuals wish to engage in silk culture, 
with a view to make it profitable, they should con¬ 
fine themselves to the only branch, that on a small 
scale, can be made so—the care of the worms and 
the sale of the cocoons. The first object should be, to 
plant at least two years in advance , a sufficient num¬ 
ber of mulberry trees, in order that the worms may 
be furnished with an early and ample supply of the 
proper kind of food. The most experienced silk 
culturists here, and it is said, in France also, prefer 
the leaves of the many-stalked mulberry (Morns 
multicaulis ), said by some botanists to be an im¬ 
proved variety of the white mulberry (Morns alba), 
which is a native of China, and is exclusively used 
by the Chinese and Italians, for feeding silk 
worms. In the United States, both of these varie¬ 
ties flourish as far north as the forty-third degree 
of latitude. The mulberry trees require no care 
after the first year, unless they are lopped down, 
and kept as pollards, for the greater convenience of 
gathering the leaves. 
In cases of necessity, very young worms maybe 
fed, vrithout injury, for a few days,upon the leaves 
of lettuce, or the tender buds of the black mulberry; 
but experience has amply proved, that it is only 
when they are restricted to the proper kind of food, 
before mentioned, that silk of the finest texture, 
and highest lustre can be produced. 
This used to be rather a tender subject with me ; 
but, having burnt my fingers by an amateur experi¬ 
ment in silk culture during the prevalence of the 
“ Morus multicaulis fever,” which a few years ago 
proved the ruin of many a fair fortune, I, like 
most of my neighbors, caught the infection, and my 
pulse rose to a hundred and ten, at least. But I did 
not meddle with buying, nor planting trees ; nothing 
would abate the fever but raising silk worms. As 
my difficulties furnished the subject for a good deal 
of mirth in the home department, at the time, I am 
willing to let others be amused, though they may 
not be much benefitted by my experience. With 
the natural history of the insects, I was, of course, 
well acquainted ; and knowing they lived but a few 
weeks, and as I was always fond of pets, I thought 
it would be very clever to attend to them ; and I 
anticipated, with great satisfaction, the pleasure of 
knitting divers purses and gloves of my own silk, 
to present to my friends as specimens of my success 
and skill. My wish was speedily gratified by a 
kind old gentleman (I have since had good reason 
to believe he was amusing himself at my expense), 
who sent me a quantity of silk worms’ eggs, which, 
as they had been taken from their winter quarters, 
in his cellar, soon felt the effects of the warmer tem¬ 
perature of my sitting room, and all hatched out in 
my writing-desk drawer, before the mulberry leaves 
even thought of being ready to be eaten. I there¬ 
fore fed them for ten or twelve days with the full- 
grown leaves of lettuce from the hot bed, and, as 
might have been anticipated, a large proportion of 
them died, happily, in their tender infancy; an 
event I mourned over at the time, but like all un¬ 
reasonable sorrow, I soon acknowledged was “all 
for the best.” 
I still had several thousand worms left, in fine 
health, and with ravenous appetites ; and as I had 
neglected to provide proper accommodations for 
such an increase in my family, and as the carpen¬ 
ter was too busy to attend to my wants, I deposited 
my pets in a large, airy garret room, on tables; qnd 
as they grew larger and required more space, 
boards were spread over an empty bedstead, then 
from chair to chair, filling the whole room, except 
the necessary passages between and around them. 
Here I fed them regularly, and kept them accurately 
clean, and found myself exceedingly interested in 
watching their habits and changes. It was health¬ 
ful, and pleasant, too, to walk every evening to the 
field of the neighbor from whom I had engaged my 
mulberry leaves, and gather the supply for the next 
day; but by the end of a month, the work became 
intolerably burdensome, and though I had several 
little “ domestic familiars” to assist in cleaning the 
hurdles and bringing the leaves, I was closely occu¬ 
pied in my attic 
“ From morn till dewy eve,” 
and was then too tired to gather the leaves for my¬ 
self. The quantity consumed by the little creatures 
exceeded belief. I could not bear to see them suffer 
for want of proper care, and it happened that those 
of the household who would cheerfully have reliev¬ 
ed me of part of my labor, were absent from home. 
So 1 toiled on, in defiance of heat, fatigue, and dis¬ 
gust (perhaps a little too proud to give up my fa¬ 
vorite scheme), after having so confidently predicted 
1 the success of my undertaking; but I cannot think, 
