THE CULTIVATOR. 
39 
must be graduated in a measure by the extent of 
their circulation. Three of these periodicals are now 
issued from Boston; three are published in Ohio, and 
three in Tennessee. We are pot disposed to com¬ 
plain ; but we verily think, that was the talent which 
conducts, and the patronage which supports them, 
somewhat more concentrated, in the cases we have 
noted, it would be better both for the proprietors and 
the patrons. 
In horticulture, we have now but one periodical, 
the Magazine of Horticulture, published at Boston by 
C. M. Hovey. We hope to see this liberally patro¬ 
nized, and well established in usefulness, ere the pa¬ 
tronage which it deserves, and which can alone ren¬ 
der it truly useful, is divided among half a dozen rival 
w °rks. . 
Yet there is one business in which no evil is likely 
to arise from competition and rivalship. The more 
that embark in this, and the more successful they be¬ 
come in outdoing their neighbors, the better for them 
and the better for the country. We mean the busi¬ 
ness of practical agriculture—a business calculated, 
above all other employments, to make men “ healthy, 
wealthy and wise,” as poor Richard says. Here is 
ample scope for competition, for rivalship and for en¬ 
terprise, without interfering with the prosperity of 
our neighbors, or compromitting our character, or, 
what freemen should hold most dear, our indepen¬ 
dence. A man who can, under the favor of heaven, 
supply his own wants by his own industry, should ne¬ 
ver consent to become the venal tool of others. 
Forcing Rhubarb. 
In our December number, we stated Mr. Knight’s 
mode of forcing rhubarb; and at the same time we 
directed our gardener to fill a half barrel with roots 
and earth, and place it in the cellar. About the first 
of February the tub was taken from the cellar and 
placed in the back part of a basement kitchen, and 
covered over by another tub to exclude the light. On 
the first of March the tub was filled with fine blanched 
stocks of rhubarb, from twelve to eighteen inches in 
length, upon the top of which the leaf was just deve¬ 
loping. The rhubarb not only makes a superior pie, 
but is said, by medical men, to make a very health¬ 
ful one. __ 
North Anna Agricultural Association. 
We invite the attention of the reader to the pream¬ 
ble and regulations of this association, under corres¬ 
pondence. It is a mutual benefit association, calcu¬ 
lated to add to the knowledge, and wealth, and good 
feelings of all its members, without impairing the 
good qualities or the wealth of any one. The month¬ 
ly meetings will resemble the literary converzasiones 
of Paris, the meetings of scientific men in Britain, and 
the weekly agricultural converzasiones of Prof. Col- 
man, which are now being held in the capital of New- 
England—where men come together not merely to 
benefit themselves, but to benefit their country, with 
the fruits of their knowledge and experience. 
The Short-Horned fever in Kentucky 
We are admonished by our worthy cotemporary 
of the Franklin (Ky.) Farmer, that we are no doctor, 
and that this fever has not yet reached its crisis in 
Kentucky. We admit that we have been better advis¬ 
ed since we hazarded our opinion ; though we are not 
yet exactly prepared to retract it wholly. Kentucky 
is undoubtedly well adapted for grazing, both on ac¬ 
count of the richness of its pastures and its interior 
location. The Short-Horns find there a home—the 
climate is much more congenial to them than that of 
latitude 43—and they grow larger and do better there 
than they do here—and yet gold may be bought too 
dear. At all events, we hope, if our life is spared, to 
accept the kind invitation of friend Stephenson, and 
to be able to judge more understandingly in the mat¬ 
ter. In the meantime we commend, without stint, 
the spirit of improvement which animates the editor 
of the Farmer and his respectable correspondents. 
What is Education? 
“It is,” say the schoolmen, -‘the training of the 
whole man, the development and proper exercise of 
all his powers—the cultivation of his physical, intel¬ 
lectual, moral and religious nature”—and we would 
add—that although every thing necessary may be 
here implied, all is not clearly expressed. Education 
is not complete till the pupil is trained to some use¬ 
ful employment, by which he can earn an honest live¬ 
lihood—and this training, too, if to an agricultural or 
mechanical employment, will give the best develop¬ 
ment to his physical and moral powers, and afford 
the strongest guarantee for their active exercise. No¬ 
thing tends more to promote moral culture, than a con¬ 
sciousness that we can, and a determination that vve 
will, provide for ourselves, by our own honest indus¬ 
try. Without some fixed employment, while the 
body and mind are ductile, and capable of receiving 
lasting impressions of usefulness, both the physical 
and moral powers are apt to relapse, however well 
trained, the first for want of due exercise, and the 
latter for want of bread. Education should not only 
develop the bodily and mental powers, but should 
teach their proper and useful employment. 
New Species of Silk Worms. 
In the province of Assam, in Asia, which has re¬ 
cently fallen under the jurisdiction of British power, 
among a variety of hitherto unknown productions, 
there has been found a dozen species of silk-worms, 
which produce materials for valuable fabrics. One 
of these is the muga worm, which feeds on the foli¬ 
age of a variety ol trees, and is never reared in the 
house. The female deposites its eggs on wisps of 
grass, which are collected, and when wanted to be 
hatched, the wisps are exposed to the sun about ten 
days, when the worms begin to show themselves.— 
They are then hung up in a tree which has been se¬ 
lected for the purpose, and the worms find their way 
to the foliage. If a tree is stripped of its leaves, the 
worms are removed to another, by means of bamboo 
dishes, fastened to long poles. They are prevented 
coming to the ground by plantain leaves being tied 
round the body of the tree, over which they cannot 
crawl. They feed about thirty days, and when ready 
to wind, descend to the plantain leaves, where they 
are gathered, placed among dry leaves, where they 
form cocoons. The cocoons are about two inches 
long, and of proportionable thickness. They are not 
reeled in one continuous thread, like common silk, but 
spun, like cotton or worsted, and of course the pro¬ 
duct is a thicker and harsher thread. The silk is wove 
into cloth, for scarfs, turbans, sashes, &c. In that 
warm climate, the insect produces five ciops in a year. 
The arinda worm is reared entirely under cover. 
It has been known to have perfected twelve broods 
in a year. The silk, though coarse, is warm and du¬ 
rable, and is worn by the common classes. More 
than 80,000 lbs. of arinda, and 50,000 lbs. of the muga 
silk, are annually produced in Assam. The cloth is 
said to be of incredible durability ; the life of one per¬ 
son being seldom sufficient to wear out a garment 
made of it. One other sort of these silk worms pro¬ 
duces a beautiful thread of great lustre ; and a fourth 
sort is of very large size, the moths measuring ten 
inches from wing to wing. 
The Grain-Worm. 
It will be seen, by the letter from Mr. Gaylord, un¬ 
der correspondence, that we were right in our con¬ 
jectures, that the grain-worm of the east, and the 
grain-worm of the west, are not identical, that they 
belong to different genus of insects, and are altoge¬ 
ther different in their appearance and habits. We 
will however indulge in another conjecture, viz. that 
the grain-worm of the east ( Cecydomia tritici ) is par¬ 
tially in the west, as far at least as Ontario, and that 
it has there committed ravages upon the wheat crop, 
without having attracted notice. The complaint there 
has been genera], that the product has fallen short of 
the grower’s expectation, to a greater extent than 
could be accounted for by the apparent depredations 
of the Phalcera of Mr. Gaylord. The true grain-worm, 
of which we have so often spoken, is seldom if ever 
found in the wheat head at harvesting, or in the barn. 
It falls to the ground before harvest. If when the 
grain is yet in nnlk, an upright head be selected, and 
the thumb and finger passed along it, it will be per¬ 
ceived that there is a partial, and sometimes a total 
deficiency of kernels. On opening the sheath of 
these abortions, or empty grain cells, the worm will 
be found in the envelope, sometimes to the number of 
a dozen. They either destroy the entire germ, or, if 
the kernel has partially formed when they begin their 
work, it has a very shrivelled and worthless appear¬ 
ance, having been evidently deprived of the nourish¬ 
ment destined to bring it to perfection. 
Whitmarsh’s Silk Manual. 
“ Eight years experience and observation in the cul¬ 
ture of the mulberry tree, and in the care of the silk¬ 
worm.” <fc. is the title of a duodecimo of 156 pages, 
just published by S. Whitmarsh, of Northampton. 
There is probably no individual in the United States, 
who has had a better opportunity of noticing all the 
varieties of the mulberry, and the various processes 
in the silk business, in France and Italy as well as in 
America, than the writer of this little work. This, 
taken in connexion with his eight years experience in 
the business, must have qualified Mr. W. for the task 
he professes to have undertaken, that of furnishing to 
the farming interest plain and simple instructions, 
adapted to our country, for the culture of the mulber¬ 
ry and the management of the silk worm. Mr. Whit¬ 
marsh concurs with us in the opinion, that this busi¬ 
ness belongs particularly to the farmer and planter; 
and that in their hands it will ultimately become one 
of great magnitude and wealth to the Union. And 
we concur with him in recommending farmers to 
plant the mulberry, in the full assurance that they 
will be wanted—if not by the owner, by some neigh¬ 
bor who will find an interest in buying the foliage. 
It is not our intention to review this work. We 
propose merely to state some prominent facts, which it 
asserts, and to refer to the book for the reasons, and 
for general directions. 
No particular species of the mulberry is preferred. 
Too much consequence has been attached to the size 
of the leaf; and he seems inclined to prefer the white 
fruited varieties. Mr. W. is in error in classing the 
black mulberry among our indigenous varieties. The 
black (Nigra of botanists) is a native of Europe, 
and more sensitive to the cold of our winters than 
the multicaulis. He recommends poor dry soils, 
where the leaves will be richer, and the wood mature 
better, than on rich or wet grounds. The leaves 
should be stripped from trees but once a year. Se¬ 
veral crops of worms may be fed in a season, but not 
from the same trees. This is undoubtedly correct. 
The leaves are improved by the age of the tree. No 
kind of mulberry under cultivation can be produced 
from seed; that is, no seed can be depended on to 
produce trees like its parent. Of this fact we should 
require more proof before we should be disposed to 
give it our unqualified approbation ; but if true, it 
will soon explode the venders of seed of the genuine 
Canton, multicaulis, &c. at four and five dollars the 
paper. We are not inclined to think it correct in re¬ 
gard to the white or Brussa, the seedlings of which we 
think bear a uniform resemblance, in their wood and 
foliage, to the parents. Where both parents are of 
the same species, the progeny, in the vegetable as 
well as the animal, are not likely to take a new form. 
We commend the work to the silk culturist. 
ii None so Blind as those who won’t See.” 
That man who won't profit in his farming operations, 
by the palpably better practice of his neighbor, is brand¬ 
ed, by common consent, an idler or a dunce; and his 
case may be considered one of hopeless obstinacy. He 
virtually scouts at the means which Providence has 
placed within his reach for the great purpose of his 
being—the improving his condition and benefitr.ing 
others. He is like the noxious plant, which encum¬ 
bers the earth, to benefit no one—except to exhibit, 
in strong colours, the contrast which exists between 
the useless and the useful—between industry and 
indolence—between the good and the bad, in human 
affairs. He who aids, in any honest way, to multiply 
the comforts of life, to enlarge the sphere of useful 
knowledge, and to elevate the character of society— 
has at least the consolation—and it can onlv be ac¬ 
quired from practice—that he has used those faculties, 
which Providence has given him above the brute, for 
the purposes for which they were intended—the good 
of mankind. While he who will not improve and em¬ 
ploy the high faculties of his nature to advance human 
happiness, may be likened to the turtle, which delights 
in mud and water, and cares only for itself, or to the 
carnivorous beast, which feeds and fattens upon the 
life-blood of the brute inhabitants of the forest. 
We have been led into this train of rather serious 
reflections by the perusal of a letter before us, from 
Mr. W. Bache, which, although stating nothing but 
what is common in every district, gives the objections 
of his neighbors against endeavoring to improve in 
their business through the example of those who ex¬ 
cel them in practice. 
“ If you will publish a work on law, physic or divini¬ 
ty,” says our correspondent, “ I will undertake to get 
farmers to subscribe to it, because those are subjects 
well calculated to be treated on in books, and farmers 
would think they might learn from them something 
which they did not know before; but to instruct them in 
the art of farming, who never learnt any thing else from 
their infancy, nor their fathers before them, how ridicu¬ 
lous! There are others, however, that offer reasons ra¬ 
ther more plausible. These improvements, say they, 
are very fine, to be sure ; and if I lived in an old settled 
country, I should be very fond of taking such papers; 
but what good will they do us ? They are not calculat¬ 
ed for a new settled country. We have to farm as we 
can. We already know a great deal more than we can 
practice. Their improved ploughsand cultivators would 
make but poor work among our stumps. It would’nt 
be very easy draining land through roots. Why tanta¬ 
lize us with the wonderful effects of bone dust and lime? 
Our ground is strewed over with the one, without any 
possibility of getting them ground, and of the other there 
is none within fifty miles, and who can afford to put lime 
on land, every bushel of which will cost him fifty 
cents. It is true, I see some things in that Cultivator 
you lent me, that if I had the money I would have, or 
do ; but we han’t the capital necessary to do these things, 
and must wait till we have. There are others, how¬ 
ever who like to know what is going on in the world 
in their own profession, and feel encouraged to hope, by 
what others are actively doing, that some time or other 
they may be able to do the same, or better, themselves. 
Of such characters, we have a few even in Wellsborough, 
and I have the pleasure of sending you the names of the 
following nine, as subscribers,” &c 
O’ James Wickham, of South Westerlo, Albany 
county, is desirous to hear from his brothers and sis¬ 
ter, Ebenezer Wickham, Benjamin Wickham and 
Abigail Wickham. 
