THE CULTIVATOR. 
as 
2 
crop. The hoeing was done well and the surface left as 
level as possible. The potatoes were hoed at the same 
time and hilled. I gathered ten bushels of seed corn the 
last of August, which was dry and hard. I cut up, 
shocked, husked and housed my corn and stalks in Sep¬ 
tember. My stalks are bright, and much better fodder 
than hay. I have enough, I think, to winter two cows. 
My corn is all sound and hard; the product of the two 
acres is, 
10 bushels of seed corn, worth $2 per bushel,. $20 00 
161 bushels market corn, weighing 61fc lbs. the 
bushel, sold for $1 per bushel,. 161 00 
23 bushels of nubbins fed to hogs, worth 87& 
cents per bushel,... 20 13 
40 bushels potatoes worth 31 cents per bushel, 12 40 
1700 bundles of stalks. 16 00 
500 pumpkins,... 5 00 
Value of whole crop,... $234 53 
EXPENSE OF WHOLE CROP. 
Use of land,. $12 00 
Drawing manure two days, ... 4 00 
Ploughing land,..... 5 00 
Rolling, dragging and marking,... 2 50 
Planting, three days,... 2 25 
16 bushels lime kiln ashes,.. 1 60 
Putting on ashes,. 75 
Horse and hand with cultivator, three and one 
fourth days,.... 3 25 
First hoeing, six days,... 4 50 
200 lbs. plaster,. 50 
Second hoeing, four days,... 3 00 
Cutting up and shocking corn six days,. 4 50 
Husking, twelve days,. 9 00 
Houseing stalks,. 1 00 
Digging potatoes,. 1 13 
Thrashing corn,. 3 00 
Expenses of whole crop,.. $57 98 
Value of one acre,.$117 26£ 
Expense of one acre,. 28 99 
Nett profit of one acre,. $88 27| 
JAMES PARKER, Jr. 
I hereby certify that I am personally acquainted with 
the above named James Parker, jr., and believe him to 
be a person of veracity, and that the truth of his state¬ 
ment may be depended upon. 
WHEELER NEWTON, Justice. 
From my own observation of the above mentioned 
crop. I consider the above statement correct. 
NATHAN COB, Justice. 
Com Crop. 
J. Buel, Esq. —Dear Sir— I send you a statement of 
the expense and product of one acre of ground, planted 
with Indian corn, the small eight rowed yellow variety, 
together with the mode of cultivation. 
Soil and Culture .—The soil a sandy loam, ploughed 
the first day of May. Sward, which was timothy, and 
mowed the summer previous, laid flat though not deep ; 
then carried on thirty wagon loads of unfermented ma¬ 
nure, rolled and harrowed the ground well, without dis¬ 
turbing the sod. On the 12th and 14th planted the corn, 
two and a half feet between the rows, and sixteen to 
eighteen inches between the hills; seed simply wet and 
plastered; ashed when it first made its appearance; 
hoed the 11th June, and again dressed with ashes. 
About the middle of July hoed it the last time, making 
two hoeings, without hilling the dirt up around the corn 
any, or but a very little. 
Harvesting .—Corn cut up about the middle of Sep¬ 
tember, and shocked in small shocks; the first of Octo¬ 
ber husked and measured. 
Product. —Seventy-seven bushels sound corn, and five 
bushels pig or poorish corn, that grew on the suckers, 
for they were not taken off, as I did the year before, be¬ 
cause my corn stood rather unsound from the fact that 
it was partly covered by a hired man. 
EXPENSES. 
One day ploughing and boarding,. $2 00 
Rolling and harrowing, one day,. 2 00 
Seed and plaster,. 0 75 
Planting, two days,. 1 50 
Hoeing, three days,. 2 25 
Horse and hand, two days,. 2 00 
Cutting and shocking,. 0 75 
Husking and housing,. 6 00 
Ten bushels ashes at one shilling,. 1 25 
Interest on land,. 3 50 
Thirty loads manure,. $7 50 
Carting and spreading,. 7 75 
$15 25 
Deduct for succeeding crops in rotation, 10 00 
-— 5 25 
Total charges,. $27 25 
VALUE OF PRODUCT. 
30 bushels seed corn,. $60 00 
47 bushels sound corn,. 47 00 
5 bushels of pig corn,... 2 50 
4 loads stalks,. 8 00 
2 loads pumpkins,. 2 00 
I hereby certify that I am personally acquainted with 
the above named Henry Hopkins; believe him to be a 
person of veracity, and that the truth of his statement 
may be depended on. 
HARVEY BUTTS, Justice. 
Laurens, Otsego Co., N. Y. Jan. 15 th, 1839. 
Morus Muiticaulis. 
Judge Buel —Sir—Since our communication to you 
in September last, on the subject of mulberry cultiva¬ 
tion and silk growing, we have received addresses 
from nine different states and several from each state. 
All these give credit to the columns of the Cultivator, 
as the organ through which they were informed of our 
location and business, and many other addresses from 
the same states, have given equal credit to the Genesee 
Farmer. 
These addresses in general, appear to have originat¬ 
ed with men of science, property, talents and enterprize. 
And considering these a criterion of the hundred addres¬ 
ses received by yourself and others on this subject, it is 
a sufficient guarantee for us to conclude, that, this busi¬ 
ness being in such hands, the most skeptical need have 
no fears of its ultimate success. 
For our own part, we are fully satisfied that the silk 
culture will progress with those who are qualified to 
appreciate its worth—but to make it more general as an 
acquisition to the state, it needs legislative aid. 
We are therefore, strongly impressed with the opini¬ 
on, that our legislature will not be last or least in its 
encouragement to this national movement. 
We hazard nothing in saying, there is no agricultural 
project or domestic enterprize, which appears so feasi¬ 
ble and promises so much to the American nation, as 
the cultivation of the mulberry and raising the silk¬ 
worm. 
A number of our correspondents have solicited from 
us, our manner of cultivating the mulberry; the best 
kinds of earth, inclination, &c. 
We are young in this cultivation in comparison with 
some others, but having succeeded fortunately in the 
little we have done, we cheerfully give a partial synop¬ 
sis of our former practice and future intention. 
We have had but one location, and that a little ele¬ 
vated; has a southeasterly inclination, soil a sandy 
loam. 
We prepare the ground for trees the same as for corn 
—furrows six feet apart sufficiently deep to receive the 
roots of the trees ; lay the trees in the furrows, roots 
the lowest, making the most natural disposition of them 
we can, in this almost horizontal manner cover the roots 
and pack the dirt around them singly—cover the trunk 
and limbs about an inch and a half to two inches deep, 
leaving a hollow in the furrow to fill up after the buds 
have vegetated sufficient to want hoeing. 
For layers or cuttings, prepare a bed as for onions, 
and for layers mark ofF drills from three to four feet 
apart; lay the limbs in these drills, cover from one and 
a half to two inches. 
For cuttings make the rows from two to three feet 
apart, sticking down the cutting from one to one and a 
half feet in the row, place the cutting in an oblique di¬ 
rection—inclination to the north—angle about 45 de¬ 
grees—upper bud on the north side of the cutting, a lit¬ 
tle below the surface. 
For one bud cuttings, pursue the same course as with 
the upper bud of the second bud cuttings, crowding it a 
trifle deeper. 
Water all at evening, according to circumstances, suf¬ 
ficient to retain a rational moisture that would be proper 
for other vegetables. 
We intend removing to Long Island, near New-York, 
as soon as navigation willpermit after the first of March. 
All communications, therefore, addressed to us, after 
the opening of the navigation, should be directed to 
Brooklyn, Kings county, Long Island. Yours with re¬ 
spect. S. E. GIBBS & SON. 
Troy, Feb. 11, 1839. 
Muiticaulis. 
Coxsackie, N. Y. January 30, 1839. 
Mr. Buel —Sir—Permit me to suggest to yOu my 
views as regards the Morus Muiticaulis mulberry. I 
have noticed in your publications, at different times, 
remarks upon them, and representing them as being too 
tender for our climate, and freezing to the ground in 
winter. In this I am ready to agree with you, from the 
experience I have had in them for the last four years. 
Yet there are good qualities in them, which ought not 
to be forgotten; and such as stimulate every one who 
expects to make silk to propagate them. I do not con¬ 
sider their freezing to the ground any objection ; as the 
roots do not freeze; but they shoot forth a greater num¬ 
ber of sprouts, and bear larger leaves than older trees, 
and are more convenient for gathering, as a person may 
stand upon the ground to gather them. I think these 
and other advantages they have over the white mulberry, 
are sufficient to encourage all to propagate them. In 
this way they may be propagated in hedges or rows, 
and if the sprouts are wanted to propagate from, they 
may be cut to the ground every fall without injury. 
Of the few I have cultivated for the last four years, I 
have lost but one root. Yours with respect, 
W. S. JACKS. 
first opening of navigation in the spring. If they will 
grow, I shall feel proud of having introduced a new va¬ 
riety of tree, and a good one, into your section of coun¬ 
try. The tree requires a very strong soil. I am now 
using in my family, pork fatted upon the Bur oak 
acorns, which is to all appearance as good as corn fed, 
except it is more dry and less inclined to fry out much 
fat. The timber, too, when seasoned, is the most solid 
and strong of all oaks. The tree, when in foliage, is 
one of the most beautiful in the forest, though it does 
not grow commonly in “ thick timber ;” but it is found 
covering very large tracts of land called “barrens,” an 
intermedium between prairie and timber; after grow¬ 
ing so isolated as to have the appearance of a scatter¬ 
ing orchard and having a strong resemblance to the 
work of man. You may travel miles before the coun¬ 
try is settled, through these “barrens” with a carriage, 
without any obstruction. In these barrens the trees ne¬ 
ver grow large—the soil being deep, the roots are situ¬ 
ate so far below the surface that they offer no obstruc¬ 
tion to the plough, and these barrens are often ploughed 
without removing the timber. I remain your friend 
truly. __ SOLON ROBIN SON. 
School Libraries. 
The introduction of libraries into our common schools 
is becoming daily, a subject of deep interest. Among 
the libraries presented to our notice, is one selected and 
prepared by the American Sunday School Union, of 
which we have only space now to say, that it consists 
of one hundred and twenty-one volumes, on a variety 
of subjects; neatly printed and bound, accompanied 
with fifty descriptive catalogues, and the whole contain¬ 
ed in a substantial case, at the low price of thirty-three 
dollars. 
That a highly beneficial influence may be obtained 
over the minds of the rising generation, through the 
medium of good books, is beyond doubt, and every one 
will see the propriety of our urgingupon those who are 
empowered to procure libraries in their respective dis¬ 
tricts, that they be careful in their selections. We com¬ 
mend to their notice the above mentioned library. 
They may be procured of Mr. E. H. Pease, No. 82, 
State-street. M. 
Note —We give the above, as we received it, without 
meaning to adopt its sentiments. We have yet seen no 
catalogue of a common school library, that we felt wil¬ 
ling to recommend for that purpose ; not on account of 
what it does contain, but of what it does not contain.— 
Cond. 
Hints to Silk Growers. 
From a Female Correspondent. 
Sir—S ome years since I was an inmate of a house 
where the mistress was engaged in the cultivation of 
silk; without having any fancy for the employment, 
I became curious on the subject of its introduction in- 
in to this country, as a new branch of industry. I read 
whatever I could find upon the subject; among other 
things, Arthur Young’s tour through the silk districts of 
France, made for the purpose of ascertaining whether 
it could be introduced into England to advantage. He 
decided that labor was too valuable in England, and I 
argued that surely then we could not compete with 
France, Italy and China. 
But in reading an account of the growth of silk in 
China, I learned that the finest made in that country 
was grown in the southern provinces, where, from the 
mildness of the climate, the worms were put out on the 
trees, and left to feed and provide for themselves agree' 
able hiding places for their cocoons ; upon this circum¬ 
stance it is observed, that the perfection of spinning 
greatly depends. For a worm, if not satisfied with its 
position, will change its location several times, spinning 
a little in each place, and so wasting and tangling the 
thread; sometimes, when not very well provided, two 
or three will insist upon working in the same envelope, 
and so spoil all their cocoons. 
Worms are apt to be injured by heavy rains, hot suns, 
dews, and loud concussions of thunder. 
It therefore occurred to me, that a shed, constructed 
like a rope-walk, would fully protect hedges of mulberry 
trees, during the time the worms were out, so as to allow 
them to be at liberty as they are in the south of China; 
feeding themselves and selecting their places for spin¬ 
ning. The sheds should have a coarse, cheap roof, divid- 
ed say every eight feet, each part hung at the top, on 
strong wooden hinges, upon which it should turn entire¬ 
ly over and hang down on the north side, so that when 
the cocoons were gathered, the trees might be, for the 
rest of the year, exposed to the rain and sun, with a shel¬ 
ter from the extreme cold of the north wind. The 
great interest lately expressed on the subject induces 
me to make these suggestions, in hope that some one 
of the many speculators employed in the business may 
gratify me by making the experiment. Much fewer 
trees would be necessary than when they are stripped, as 
a large portion of the leaves are left by the worms, and 
so wasted; it saves the labor of feeding them, and cer¬ 
tainly will be less expensive than taking up the mulber¬ 
ries like cabbages, in the winter. 
Respectfully yours, &c. M. 
Belmont, Va. January 26. 
Inducements for entering on Rural Pursuits. 
$119 50 
Deduct expenses, . 27 25 
Nett profits,. $92 25 
HENRY HOPKINR. 
The Bur Oak. 
Lake C. H. la. Jan. 25, 1839. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—Your note of the 31st. ult. 
is received. I shall send a box or bunch of the Bur oak 
acorns to you for your own use and distribution, at the 
Mr. Editor —We were pleased to see, in looking over 
a late number of the Cultivator, a circular addressed to 
the public, on the subject of an agricultural -school. We 
hail with joy, the establishment of such an institution, 
and we trust the proposal will meet with such favor 
