146 
THE CULTIVATOR 
used will be of the most rude construction. Here we 
have every inducement for the invention of labor-saving 
machinery, and our vast extent of unoccupied territory, 
and our almost unlimited capacities for obtaining the 
means of subsistence, will continue this inducement for 
ages yet to come. 
The inventive genius of our people has shown itself 
in every branch of business in which they have ever en¬ 
gaged. As soon as any kind of business is understood, 
so that they can see what is required, improvement in 
the process, and the substitution of machinery for hand 
labor, is sure to commence, and go on till it reaches the 
ultimatum of perfection. 
I have lately visited the silk establishment of Mr. Jno. 
W. Gill of Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, in this state, 
and having obtained from him and his superintendent, 
Mr. Fox, some facts which may be useful to the public, 
I herewith offer them to you for publication. 
Mr. Gill commenced the silk manufacture in 1838, 
though for the first two years his operations were not on 
a very extended scale. He has since that time been con¬ 
stantly enlarging his business and improving the quality 
of his fabrics; while at the same time great improve¬ 
ments have been, and still continue to be made, in the 
construction of machinery. As fast as a knowledge of 
the business is acquired, improvement in the machinery, 
by which a saving of labor is effected, as well as the man¬ 
ufacture rendered more complete, commences and pro¬ 
gresses. 
I present a brief summary of the improvements which 
Mr. Gill has adopted. The items were furnished prin¬ 
cipally by Mr. Fox. 
By the use of what Mr. G. calls his “ Improved Feeding 
Tent,” there is a saving in building of 75 per cent. This 
“ tent” is very cheap and simple, and answers the pur¬ 
pose admirably. It is made by setting up in the ground 
three ranges of posts, of suitable length to give sufficient 
height, (common cheap scantling do well enough,) and 
making a shed roof, by laying on boards or plank, and 
fastening them with weight poles. The sides are rough 
boarded to within five or six feet of the ground. Strips 
of canvass, or any cheap cloth, so fastened as to admit 
of their being raised up or let down at pleasure, consti¬ 
tute the remainder of the covering. The hot sun is thus 
excluded, and air readily admitted by throwing up the 
canvass on the shady side. Range the tent north and 
south, and in the forenoon leave the west side open, and 
in the afternoon the east side. 
2. By the use of an improved apparatus for feeding, 
called the “ Silk Worm Ventilating Cradle,” a saving is 
made in the labor of feeding, cleaning, &c. of at least 50 
per cent. This ‘‘cradle” is a very novel but simple and 
cheap apparatus, for which Mr. G. has obtained a patent. 
It will undoubtedly take the place of all other modes of 
feeding silk worms. The cradles are twelve feet long, 
a foot and a half wide at bottom, and five feet wide at 
top. At the bottom is a trough, which is set in three 
large rockers. To this trough is fastened one end of the 
lath, which constitute the sides of the cradle. Over the 
top of the trough, is placed a rack to support the worms. 
Straw, or small twigs of the mulberry, properly placed, 
may take the place of the rack. This may be said to 
constitute the bottom of the cradle, and here the worms 
are placed when they have attained sufficient size to be¬ 
gin to feed with branches. They are not again changed 
—as they increase in size and are brought upward by the 
accumulation of branches, the gradually increasing width 
of the cradles affords them ample room—the cradles be¬ 
ing so graduated that the same number of worms which 
will cover the bottom when they are young, will just fill 
them when they are full grown. By rocking the cradles, 
the excrement of the worms, and all filth, falls into the 
trough and is washed out by turning in water at the end. 
The rocking also effectually changes the air about the 
worms, and eftects a healthy circulation—hence title of 
“ventilating cradle.” Mr. Gill assures me that he has in 
no instance lost on this plan, five per cent of the worms, 
from the time they were placed in the cradles till the 
cocoons were made. In fact, he offers to let any one 
have his patent for one-half the extra quantity of cocoons 
that can be made on this plan, over the quantity which 
can be produced from the same number of worms fed on 
any other j)lan. The worms spin their cocoons among 
the upper branches, which are perfectly clean and afford 
every facility for spinning. Each cradle of dimensions 
given, will accommodate about 10,000 worms. Their 
cost is about $2 a piece. 
3. “ By using,” says Mr. Fox, “ the principle of Dr. 
White’s throwing machine for the first twist, in our new 
machine of 150 spindles, we save over 25 per cent in the 
preparation of the thrown article.” This most valuable 
machine, which Mr. Fox, who was bred to the silk 
manufacture in Europe, thinks is superior to any thing 
of the kind in the world, performs five operations at 
once, viz: reeling, winding, twisting, doubling, and fin¬ 
ishing for sewings or organzine. Mr. I ox states that 
“ a female of 14 to 16 years of age, can keep in constant 
operation one of these machines of 150 spindles, and twist 
silk varying in quality, from 4 to 16 fibres, from 16 to 40 
lbs. per week. (It is proper to remark that this machine 
has been brought to its present high perfection, in a 
great measure, by the ingenious labors of Mr. Ezekiel 
Harris of Mount Pleasant.) 
4. Mr. Gill has an “ improved Rejinear for cutting and 
repeating cards to any pattern, for the French Jacquard 
looms_for machines varying from 100 to 1200 cards, and 
performing six operations over the European kind.” 
5. Mr. Gill has also an “ improved mode of putting 
flowers on silk goods without the use of a tissue shuttle. 
whereby a saving is effected in the manufacture of bro¬ 
cades to the amount of 25 per cent.” 
Mr. Gill has now in operation nine looms, viz:—one 
velvet loom, one satin do., one nett do., one figured do., 
one plain dress silk do., one handkerchief do., one for 
Florentine and Mantua, and two for gloves, under shirts, 
drawers, and stockings. He employs in the factory 20 
hands, besides one engineer and two machinists. In ad¬ 
dition to these, he has 12 females in various families, 
employed in spinning silk tow from the damaged and 
“ cut out” cocoons. In the mulberry grounds and co¬ 
cooneries, there are employed from 6 to 10 hands. He 
raised last year 76 bushels cocoons—expects to raise.this 
year 96 to lOO bushels. Cost of cocoons last year, ex¬ 
clusive of interest on capital invested in 30 acres of land 
devoted to the mulberry, &c. $2 40-100 per bushel. The 
cost will this year be considerably less, as he is enabled 
by the more general use of his improved modes of feed¬ 
ing, to make many more cocoons with the same labor. 
Mr. G. has heretofore fed chiefly with the Italian and 
Multicaulis mulberry, but is intending to try the Canton 
another year. This variety is considerably used at Eco¬ 
nomy, Pa., where there is quite an extensive manufacto¬ 
ry of silk fabrics, under the general supervision of Miss 
Gertrude Rapp. I visited this establisment two or three 
years since. I believe they made six or seven thousand 
dollars worth of goods there last year. 
In regard to the best food for worms, Mr. Fox, who 
has had much experience in the business, and is a man 
of remarkably close observation, advises to use the Italian 
mulberry for the first and last stages. If there is not suf¬ 
ficient foliage of this variety to furnish the entire food 
of the worms, about half Multicaulis may be safely used 
with the Italian, from the second moulting till a week be¬ 
fore spinning. Use no Multicaulis for the first and last 
stages, if a sufficiency of the other can be had. Mr. 
Fox’s recommendation is seconded by several others 
who have fed with the Multicaulis and other varieties 
of mulberry. 
Mr. Gill made and sold last year, between nine and ten 
thousand dollars worth of silk goods. This year he 
hopes to manufacture twelve or fourteen thousand dol¬ 
lars worth. Upon the whole, he has been very fortu¬ 
nate in the prosecution of this enterprise. But he has 
had some advantages which are within the reach of only 
a few. He has an ample capital, which has enabled him 
to manage to the best advantage in the purchase of stock, 
payment of labor, &c.; to provide at once the best ma¬ 
chinery, and to wait without inconvenience, till he could 
so far establish the business that profits would be real¬ 
ized; and lastly, his good fortune has been more conspicu¬ 
ous than perhaps in any thing else, in securing the servi¬ 
ces of the two Messrs. Fox, senior and junior. The tho¬ 
rough acquaintance of these men with the silk manufac¬ 
ture, their knowledge of machinery, and tact in business 
management, have been of very great benefit. In all 
these things, however, Mr. Gill has had advantages for 
successfully engaging in the silk business, which but few 
can have, and hence it is, as was remarked in the former 
part of this article, that without some special encourage¬ 
ment from the government of either the states or nation, 
the people will be debarred from entering into the busi¬ 
ness, from their general inability to incur the risk inci¬ 
dent to commencing the experiment. 
Mr. Gill pays his operatives good wages. Girls of 8 
to 10 years of age get a dollar a week, and those of 14 
to 16 get a dollar and fifty, to a dollar and sixty-two cents 
per week, they boarding themselves. Their work is 
light, and they make short days; working only ten hours 
at any season of the year. This gives considerable time 
to be devoted to other labor, or to books. So that judg¬ 
ing from this example, we need have no fears that the 
introduction of the silk manufacture will be injurious to 
the body or debasing to the mind. 
I send you herewith, a small sample of one of the co¬ 
lors of the silk ordered by the government from Mr. 
Gill, for the purpose of making a flag for our Chinese 
Embassy. The flag contains 152 feet crimson, (like the 
sample sent,) 15 inches wide; 126 feet white, same 
width, and 2| yards mazarine blue, 45 inches wide, for 
StRl*S* 
I consider it not only a high honor to Mr. Gill, to be 
the manufacturer of the first silk fabric ever sent from 
this country to China, but it is an honor also to our 
Buckeye state, that he is one of its citizens! The quality 
of the fabric, you will perceive^ is such as will show the 
Celestials that the barbarians of our ne\v country are at 
least beginning to practice the arts of civilization. 
Sanfoxd Howard. 
Zanesville, Ohio, Aug. 3, 1843. 
SCRAPS AND PATCHES. 
Messrs. Gaylord &. Tucker— I was highly gratified 
to see in the July Cultivator, a notice of an “ Agricultu¬ 
ral Institute,” which was under contemplation by the 
Rev. B. G. Noble of Bridgeport, Conn. I sincerely 
hope that Mr. Noble w'lll meet with such success that he 
will be able to go forward at once with this noble en¬ 
terprise. I have for some time past thought of the great 
importance of such a school, and I should be very glad 
myself, did circumstances permit, to attend such a school 
for one or two years. And I would recommend to our 
young men who mean to lake up agriculture for their 
future business, and should their means allow, to avail 
themselves of this “Institute,” and there learn the great 
business of farming, and also the other bi’anches of a 
good education. 
Under the head of “ Foreign Intelligence,” you say 
that you have been often tempted to commence a Fo¬ 
reign Journal of Agriculture, which should embrace all 
the most important papers of the foreign magazines. I 
think, as you do, that such a magazine, if well conduct- 
ed, would meet with succees. The high price which 
foreign agricultural journals come at in this country, 
place them out of the reach of the great mass of our 
farmers. But could a republication of the cream of these 
journals commence in this country, we think it could be 
afforded at half the original price. For instance, Black¬ 
wood’s Magazine is republished in the form of the New 
World, and is afforded at $2,00 a year, whereas the ori¬ 
ginal publication costs five or six dollars a year. The 
mass of reading which these journals contain, would af¬ 
ford a rich treat to our farmers, and I hope that you will 
continue to think of this subject, and lay it before your 
readers, as I have no doubt but that you would meet 
with such success as would enable you to commence it 
at some future day. 
I was sorry to notice in the June Cultivator, the death 
of James M. Garnett. In his loss, the cause of agricul¬ 
ture in particular,, has lost a great friend and advocate. 
And the readers of the Cultivator too, will miss his pa-, 
pers, and particularly those signed “ Commentator,” 
which have been so ably written. Since the death of 
Judge Garnett, I have thought that some one of your nu¬ 
merous correspondents, who has had age and experience 
in every branch of agriculture, should step into “ Com¬ 
mentator’s” shoes, and act as a reviewer of the articles 
in the Cultivator, from month to month. I hope that 
some one will think of this matter, and act accordingly. 
What has become of your correspondent, L. A. Mor¬ 
rell, the sheep breeder? I have not had the pleasure of 
seeing his name in the present volume of the Cultivator. 
Yours truly, L. Durand. 
Derby, Conn., July 31, 1843. 
CRUSHING CORN—CORNSTALKS. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— I do not intend pass¬ 
ing another winter without a corn and cob crusher. Du¬ 
ring the winter of 1840-41, I hauled my corn to a bark 
mill, run it through, and then hauled it ten miles to a 
grist mill, and got it ground coarse, and never but in one 
instance did I get my grist without going twice for it. 
This you will say was paying dear for the whistle, and 
so it was; but I thought it paying dearer still, to see my 
working cattle voiding unmasticated, full one-half the 
corn they ate. 
In 1841-2, I hauled my corn to a steam mill in town, 
and paid one-sixth for toll, besides paying $5 to get the 
thing started; and I foddered 26 head of cattle and young 
horses on cornstalks, cut up at the roots before frost, on 
to which, after being run through a patent cutting box 
and well wet, was put from two to four quarts per day 
to each head, of corn and cob meal. My cows gave 
milk all winter, and nearly up to calving; and all my 
neat stock, with one or two exceptions, would, if any 
accident had happened to them, have been ready for the 
butcher. 
I saved $400 in wintering my stock, admitting hay to 
be worth $14 per ton, which was the case here that win¬ 
ter. I have a portable horse power which I think will 
turn the crusher, and stormy days in winter, my help can 
he employed in grinding, instead of keeping under the 
feet of the women, who must necessarily be employed 
about the house. Yours, truly, J. W. Smith. 
Maumee City, O., 1843. 
P. S. Will the gentleman of “Hereford Hall,” please 
favor me and the public, through your paper, with the 
particulars respecting his mode of raising calves, and es¬ 
pecially the manner of making flax seed jelly, from the 
besinning until it is ready to feed. Will ground oil cake 
do as well? J* W. S. 
BREAKING HEIFERS. 
Messrs. Editors— When I sent my last article to the 
Cultivator, I intended to let my pen rest awhile: but no¬ 
ticing an article in your last no. on the subject of “ Break¬ 
ing Heifers, he.” it occurred to me that my experience 
might aid a little on that point. Your correspondent is cor¬ 
rect in saying that a “ deep milker maybe of little value 
to the dairy, if inclined to kick over the pail as soon as 
you get it full.” Some two or three years since, I had a 
thorough trial with a kicking heifer; it was not only a 
thorough but a sore one, as some of the blows inflicted on 
my person, caused pain for near two months. Various 
means were resorted to to break or coax her to good be¬ 
havior, but none proved effectual. Being determined 
not to yield to the slavery of tying a cow at every milk¬ 
ing, she was given up as a hopeless case. Having • 
number of valuable heifers, and recollecting the remark 
that “ an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” 
I began at an early day, a course of gentle handling and 
imitation milking; hoping that when they should come 
in, the breaking process would be accomplished. And 
this I found to be the case—my hopes were fully realized. 
Perhaps the like result might not follow in every in¬ 
stance ; but there can be no reason to doubt that in nine 
cases out of ten, the above course would prove success¬ 
ful. One of my neighbors intimates to me, that in giv¬ 
ing you an account of what I considered the remarkable 
growth of a pear tree in a single year, that I was under¬ 
stood to say the tree grew 30 feet perpendicular! That 
would be a wonder, truly! The fact, as intended to be 
expressed, was that the aggregate of all the branches 
amounted to that. Respectfully yours, 
Clinton, N. Y., July, 1843. G. Butler. 
