90 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Mulberry and Sugar Beet. 
Mr. Randolph, chairman of the committee on ag¬ 
riculture, has made a report to congress, on the sub¬ 
ject of giving governmental encouragement to the 
culture of the mulberry and the sugar beet, which 
embraces letters, upon these subjects, from gentlemen 
in different parts of the Union, and recommends the 
adoption, by congress of a resolution— 
“ That the President of the United States be, and he 
is hereby, authorized gratuitously to lease, for the cul¬ 
tivation of the mulberry or sugar beet, for the term of 
ten years, any lot of land belonging to the United States, 
and not included in the unlocated or public lands.” 
Trifling as is the encouragement proposed, we are 
doubtful whether it will be granted. Agriculture is 
of no party, and has nothing to proffer to subserve 
the political or personal aggrandizement of legisla¬ 
tors ; and she is too humble in condition, and too mo¬ 
dest in her demands, to expect aught from their libe¬ 
rality or foresight. She shares least in public bounty 
and patronage, though she contributes most to na¬ 
tional wealth and national character. She cannot 
fawn, and will not menace, and consequently is nei¬ 
ther favored nor feared. 
The letters appended to the report, however, con¬ 
tain much valuable information on the choice of the 
mulberry and the management of the silk-worm.— 
We propose to notice some of the prominent and use¬ 
ful facts which these letters contain, for the benefit 
of those who are engaged in the business. 
Joseph C. Parsons, of Northampton, cultivates five 
kinds of the mulberry. He prefers many varieties to 
the multicaulis, and gives a preference to the Can¬ 
ton, which he thinks will stand our northern winters, 
though we are somewhat constrained to doubt it.— 
From 100 of the Florence he produced, by layers, in 
one season, 1,747 plants. He laid in April, and laid 
the largest of the spring growth late in July. The 
plants were 18 to 24 inches in height. He thinks 
the multicaulis will not answer so far north; and 
that the mulberry should have a western, not a south¬ 
ern exposure. It seems he takes up and buries his 
seedlings in autumn. In regard to the beet, we learn 
from Mr. Parsons’s letter, that the legislature of 
Massachusetts have proffered a bounty of three cents 
er pound for all sugar made in the state, from the 
eet root, for five years; he thinks the product can 
be made to equal 50 tons per acre—a pretty liberal 
calculation—which will yield, at only 4 per cent, in 
sugar, 4,000 lbs., and will entitle the manufacturer to 
a bounty from the state of $120 per acre. If we es¬ 
timate the sugar at 6 cents per lb., its value will be 
$250, which, added to the bounty, will give $370 as 
the product of an acre, besides the beet cake !—the 
culture and manufacture to be deducted. A large 
profit, if half what is here stated should be realized, 
. George Green, of Belvidere, N. J., prefers the mul¬ 
ticaulis, even though it should not withstand the win¬ 
ter, a fact of which he seems to admit there are 
doubts ; “for,” says he, “the roots may be taken up 
and buried in pits, like potatoes or turnips, or thrown 
into cellars until spring, and then replanted.” He 
seems to depend upon the annual growth from the 
roots, and not upon trees or hedges; and he terms 
this “ summer-cropping.” 
Hervey Hammond, of Lewisburg, Pa., prefers the 
multicaulis, as being easily propagated, tenacious of 
life, affording an abundance of foliage, which is ga¬ 
thered with facility, liked by the worm, and produc¬ 
ing good silk. He recommends a light, high, sandy 
soil. Plant, he says, “inrows, six or eight feet asun¬ 
der, and 12 or 14 inches in a row, and cut off the 
trees or tops within five or six inches of the ground, 
late every fall, and cover the stumps with earth, so 
as to protect them from cold in winter. ” Thus it would 
seem, that in Pennsylvania, three degrees south of 
us, it is recommended annually to cut down the mul¬ 
ticaulis, and to cover the stumps with earth, to pro¬ 
tect them from cold in winter—a practice which will 
at least be irksome and inconvenient to a northern 
farmer. 
Jacob Corklin, jr., whose residence is not indicated, 
cultivates the white mulberry in hedge rows, and 
from the leaves on forty rods of hedge obtained three 
bushels of cocoons, which were worth $9. An acre, 
he says, will give 24 bushels of cocoohs, or $72.— 
Mr. C. has raised the sugar beet. He estimates the 
expense of culture, including manure'and rent, at 
$25 per acre, and the crop at 1,452 bushels of 50 
lbs., and he considers them as good for farm stock as 
any other roots. 
The fifth letter is from Daniel Stebbins, of North¬ 
ampton. It goes largely into detail in regard to the 
mulberry and silk business. Mr. Stebbins recom¬ 
mends a poor, light, dry soil, for the mulberry. He 
thinks the multicaulis does not ripen its wood well, 
and is liable to be injured by the winter. He prefers 
the Canton, the seed of which came from the Canton 
mission, and which Mr. S. terms the Canton multi- 
eaulis. In the Same soil and exposure in his garden, 
du ring the winter^ the Manilla (common multicaulis) 
was much injured, the Canton and Asiatic unhurt, and 
the Chinese and Smyrna uninjured. The seed of the 
multicaulis does not produce its like, but plants with 
inferior leaves. A gentleman who kept an accurate 
account, ascertained that his silk cost him two dollars 
a pound, and it was worth in the market from six to 
seven dollars per pound. The bounty given by the 
state is about sufficient to cover all the expense of 
gathering the leaves, feeding the worms, and reeling 
the silk. 
The 6th letter is from Chauncey Stone, Burlington, 
N. J., who recommends a loose dry soil, and an un¬ 
dulating or hilly surface, for the plantation. He pre¬ 
fers the multicaulis. He recommends planting in 
rows eight feet asunder, and the trees four feet apart 
in the rows—to manure and cultivate the ground, and 
when the season of growing is over to cut them down 
near the ground, to induce them to “ send up seven 
stalks where one grew the prior year.” An acre is 
estimated to produce 5,000 lbs. of leaves in a season, 
and a nett annual profit of $50. 
C. F. Durant, we believe the celebrated aeronaut, 
writes the seventh letter from Jersey city, Mr. Du¬ 
rant gives a decided preference to the Brussa mulber¬ 
ry—the kind introduced by Mr. Charles Rhind, from 
Brussa, in Turkey. He thinks the genuine cannot be 
propagated by seeds, but only by scions from the same 
parent stalk , produced by cuttings, inocculation of en¬ 
grafting. Mr. Durand, we think, carries his theory 
too far. Seed will produce like the parent tree, if 
there be no other variety or species of the same ge¬ 
nus growing in the vicinity, to affect the blossoms, or 
seed. And besides, Mr. Rhind’s trees were all pro¬ 
duced from seeds, and they certainly exhibit a same¬ 
ness in wood and foliage. We are glad to find Mr. 
Durant concur with us as to the merits of our native 
mulberry. “ The native black [red, rubra] is equal 
in quality,” says Mr. D. “to the best in the world; 
the leaf is smaller than the Brussa, and is therefore 
inferior in quantity, because one hundred pounds of 
large leaves can be stripped at less expense than the 
same weight of small leaves.” In propagating by the 
bud, Mr. D. recommends, that in the spring, when 
the buds have swelled almost to bursting, cuttings be 
made, of three eyes to each, and planted one foot 
asunder, in rows three feet apart. “ Every farmer in 
the states south of 45° N. lat.” says Mr. D. “can 
raise from 100 to 800 dollars worth of cocoons in the 
spare room of an ordinary barn or dwelling, and this 
would be considered all profit, if the'silk is consider¬ 
ed, like poultry, a collateral branch of farming.” The 
total expense would then, be the price of the trees, 
and the transporting the cocoons to market, which 
Mr. D. puts at $5.28, and leaving a nett balance of 
$105.72, which he considers a low estimate for a 
“ small farmer.” We agree with Mr. D. that the silk 
business should be a collateral branch of farming, and 
not a joint stock concern. 
The next letter is from E. P. Roberts, editor of the 
Farmer and Gardner, Baltimore, who has been long 
engaged in the culture of the mulberry, particularly 
the multicaulis, and has grown the beet, though not 
manufactured sugar from it, to a considerable extent. 
Mr. Roberts recommends a sandy or gravelly loam 
for the mulberry, a high situation, and a southern as¬ 
pect. He considers the multicaulis “ beyond all com¬ 
parison the most valuable species of mulberry grown;” 
and he wrnuld plant it on high ground, because there 
“ the wood ripens better, and the frosts do not affect 
them so much as in low situations.” Thus we see 
this inveterate enemy of the multicaulis, Jack Frost, 
pursues it even to the mild climate of Maryland.— 
And even the morus alba, which is generally affected 
by our winters, does not escape in Maryland: Mr. 
Roberts says he lost 70,000 plants of it in one winter. 
Mr. Smith propagates the multicaulis by cuttings of one 
bud, placing all but the tip of the bud in well prepared 
soil, inclining the upper end to the south in an angle 
of 45, pressing the earth around it, and watering if 
the weather is dry. As to the profits of the silk cul¬ 
ture, Mr. R. estimates the expense of managing an 
acre at $203—the product at $1,333.33|—and the 
nett profit at $1,129.48^. 
The 9th letter is from an esteemed friend, J. A. 
Downing, of Lhe Botanic Garden and Nurseries, at 
Newburgh. Mr. Downing gives the preference to 
the “Chinese (morus multicaulis) and the Brussa,”— 
the first south of lat 42°, and the latter in all parts 
of the Union too cold for the Chinese. As the Brussa 
was first raised, on this continent, in Mr. Downing’s 
immediate neighborhood, his opinion of its value is 
entitled to great weight. “The Brussa mulberry,” 
says he, “is remarkable hardy, and produces a great 
abundance of foliage, larger, finer, and of superior 
quality to that of the Italian. It is yet rare in the 
country, having been introduced by Mr. Rhind, from 
Turkey; and the principal stock of trees (about 20 
or 30,000) is now growing in this-town. Silk has 
been manufactured from it of . most excellent quality, 
which took the premium at the late Institute fair, at 
New-York. Mr; Downing recommends the cultiva¬ 
tion of mulberry hedges, sufficiently wide apart to 
admit the free passage of the plough for culture, and 
of a hand-cart for gathering the leaves. Plants from 
18 to 24 inches apart. In propagating by cuttings, 
Mr. D. recommends that pieces be taken from 6 to 18 
inches long, and inserted in the ground the whole 
length, up to one or two buds. 
Then follows a letter from Charles Kaigne, and one 
from Andrew T. Judson, of Connecticut. Mr. Jud- 
son’s letter contains a compendium of all the infor¬ 
mation he had collected in relation to the silk busi¬ 
ness, in answer to queries which he had sent abroad. 
It is too long for our present purpose, and it cannot 
be abridged without doing it injustice. 
Extracts from Mr. Pedder’s report, which we have 
formerly noticed, on the culture of the beet, and the 
manufacture of beet sugar, closes the documents, 
saving an official statement exhibiting the imports and 
exports of silk and sugar from 1832 to 1837. From 
the latter it appears that the value of silk imported 
in 1837,— 
Amounted to. $14,352,823 
Do. exported,. 1,207,802 
Home consumption,......-$13,145,021 
Sugar imported, value, .... $7,802,668 
Do. exported, .. 2,650,052 
- 4,652,616 
Amount retained in both, ... $17,797,637 
This pamphlet has confirmed us in the opinion, that 
the multicaulis is not suited to our northern climate; 
that the Brussa and native red must be our main re¬ 
liance, if the latter proves hardy, as we think it will. 
It is unquestionably excellent for silk; and the reason 
it is not noticed by most of the gentlemen who wrote 
to the committee, is, that it was unknown to them, ex¬ 
cept by reputation. On the subject of the multicau¬ 
lis, we subjoin an extract from the Southern Agricul¬ 
turist, being a paragraph from a letter from a citizen 
of Charleston, J. H. May, Esq., to Dr. Johnson, with¬ 
out any view other than that of apprising our readers 
of the matter it contains. The letter is dated Sept. 
1837, at Paris. The extract is as follows : 
“Silk-worms .—This is a subject of deep concern to 
our country. Prince and others have propagated and 
recommended the ‘ morus multicaulis/ as the best sub¬ 
ject for that ‘purpose—do all you can to destroy this 
opinion. Noisette, who has studied the morus more 
than others, tells me there is none equal to the common 
white, (morus alba) ; that the multicaulis, after four or 
five years, dies, or vegetates badly. This is experience—• 
profit by it.” 
It is proper to say, that the causes of its dying, or 
vegetating badly, in France, may not exist in the 
United States. 
Mode of analyzing Xiime, and interesting facts in 
relation to its application. 
“ In eastern Pennsylvania, lime is the great source of 
improvement; and of this we have all the different va¬ 
rieties, I suppose, that can be named. We want some 
plain simple rule, by which any farmer may analyze 
lime, and be able to judge which of the different kinds 
is most useful to agriculture. We have primitive and 
secondary lime stone, also that which contains large 
quantities of magnesia, which we find very injurious to 
vegetation, and which I should like to detect before 
using it. Send us rules, in the Cultivator, to try lime, 
and you will oblige yours, &c. 
“BENJ. F. BADOLET. 
“ Pugstown, Chester county, May 25.” 
Before we reply to our correspondent, we cannot 
but repeat our regrets, that chemistry, so important 
in all the arts of productive labor, is not made a branch, 
of instruction in the schools of farmers’ boys, as it is 
in Germany, France, and elsewhere; and that we 
have no schools of instruction for them, in the theory 
and practice of husbandry, like those of Hoffwyl, 
Moegelin, Templemoyle,—of France, and of most of 
the German states. The benefits that would result 
alone from teaching the young farmer, scientifically, 
to determine the qualities of his soil, its defects, and 
the proper means of improving it by lime, marl and 
manures, would more than remunerate the public for 
twenty agricultural schools ; or for suitable books of 
instruction in these matters, to every school in the 
nation. Science is almost indispensable to good and 
successful husbandry. See our extracts to-day. Or- 
fila says— 
“ It is impossible to lay down any general rules re¬ 
specting the fitness of lime for the purposes of agricul¬ 
ture, because much must depend upon the peculiarities 
of soil, exposure and other circumstances. Hence a 
species of lime may he extremely well adapted for one 
'kind of land, and not for another. All that can be ac¬ 
complished by chemical means, is to ascertain the de¬ 
gree of purity of the lime, and to infer, from this, to 
what kind of soil it is best adapted. Thus, a lime which 
contains much argillaceous earth, [clay] is better adapt¬ 
ed than a purer one to dry and gravelly soils; and stiff 
clayey lands require a lime as free as possible from the 
argillaceous ingredient. 
“ To determine the purity of lime, let a given weight 
