44 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
ing the thistle sufficiently to convince myself at least that it is very 
practicable, and attended with but little expense, il pursued with due 
care and preseverance. If no failures had happened in my several 
and yearly attempts, another year would have completed the routine 
of my ploughing fields, but it will now take three-—and as I am less 
than that, from three score and ten, and have a wish to complete 
what I have undertaken, I must be careful to avoid the like errors in 
future. I close this long article with the hope that it may be of use, 
by inducing some of my brother farmers, who have a good stock of 
resolution and perseverance, and a plenty of Canada thistles on 
their land, to try the experiment, at first, if they please, on a small 
scale. I shall be pleased to be informed of the results, and particu¬ 
larly of their success. In the interim, I would inform them that I 
have allotted and set off for the ensuing year, a pretty large job of 
the same sort. The ground on two fields being already once plough¬ 
ed for corn, on which there are patches of thistles in plenty, enough 
to cover three and a half or four acres, of which, provided my health 
is spared, I hope to be able to give a good account at the close of 
another year. A SUBSCRIBER. 
Note. —I would add one more remark, that no grass or weeds of 
any kind, must be permitted to grow on the spots or patches during 
the season of the operation, as they conceal the thistle sprouts, 
which may consequently escape the hoe. I have usually, on spots 
where the thistles were thick and intermixed with weeds, hoed the 
ground well all over as often as was necessary to destroy the weeds, 
and at the same time the thistle was taken off also. 
[ From the Farmer and Mechanic .] 
CULTURE OF SILK. 
The committee appointed by the Hamilton County Agricultural 
Society, for the purpose of preparing some instructions in regard to 
the rearing of the white mulberry tree, and the silk-worm, having 
consulted the most approved works on the subject that could be ob¬ 
tained in Cincinnati, respectfully submit the following brief report 
upon this important department of the American System-— 
That the soil and climate of the United States are well adapted 
to the growth of the white mulberry tree (morus alba,) and the silk¬ 
worm, has been satisfactorily proved by the various experiments, 
which within the last fifty years, had been made upon that subject, 
in different parts of the Union. That the culture of silk in this coun¬ 
try will be found highly profitable to those engaged in it is equally 
certain. Facts might easily be multiplied on this subject, but the 
following are deemed sufficient: 
Four acres of ground planted in mulberry trees, near Boston, have 
afforded enough food, in one season, for the support of as many silk¬ 
worms as produced four hundred and twenty pounds of silk, worth 
three dollars and fifty cents per pound—amounting to fourteen 
hundred and seventy dollars. All the labor necessary in producing 
this result was performed by four girls, whose attention was requir¬ 
ed but for a small portion of the year. 
Before the culture of silk was introduced into the less fertile parts 
of Languedoc, in France, the peasantry were miserably poor,—they 
are now among the richest in the kingdom. In some parts of 
France, a single mulberry tree has been known to yield a guinea 
annually to the owner from the sale of its leaves. When it is recol¬ 
lected that the cultivation of the mulberry tree is neither difficult or 
laborious, and that the collection of the leaves, the feeding of the 
worm, and the reeling of the cocoons, can ail be advantageous per¬ 
formed by women, children, and decreped persons, it will certainly 
require no arguments to induce the farmers of the Miami country to 
turn their attention to the culture of silk. The results of this bu¬ 
siness are much more immediate than is generally supposed. By 
procuring, during the present season, a supply of eggs, and feeding 
the worms upon the leaves of the common black mulberry of our 
woods, which are found to be a pretty good substitute for the white, 
a return in profits may be had next year. If the seed of the white 
mulberry be sowed this season, the young trees will next year afford 
leaves for the worms. 
There are three modes pursued in the cultivation of the white 
mulberry tree: The first is, to sow the seed broadcast, and, when 
wanted for food, to mow down the young trees annually, commencing 
on the second year. The second is to transplant them from the 
nursery, and suffer them to attain the size of trees. The third, and 
perhaps more preferable mode, is to sow the seed in drills, and allow 
the shrubs to attain to the height only of three or four feet, which 
may be done by cutting off the top limbs, the tender parts of which 
will answer as food for the worms. More mulberry foliage may be 
produced in this way, from the same quantity of ground, than can 
be obtained if it were occupied by full grown trees. The labor of 
gathering the leaves is also much less than is required after the 
trees have attained their full size. 
From the experiments made in France, it has been ascertained 
that ground which has a sandy or gravelly soil, is best adapted to 
the growth of that kind of mulberry leaves which affords the finest 
quality of silk. The leaves of those mulberry trees which grow in a 
very rich soil are found to be too luxuriant and too full of juice for 
the production of the better kinds of cocoons. 
The mulberry seeds may be sown at any time from the last week 
of April until the first week of June. The safer plan is to sow the 
seeds at different periods, say the last of April, the middle of May, 
and the first of June. When the ground is properly dressed and 
drills prepared, the seed is to be sowed after the manner of sowing 
lettuce seeds, and should be covered with fine light dirt. 
Those of the young shrubs which it is wished should attain the 
size of trees must be transplanted from the drills the second year, 
and the most suitable time for this removal is immediately after the 
fall of the leaf in autumn. The side buds should be stripped off, 
leaving only such as are necessary in the formation of a suitable 
head lor the tree. At the time of removal of the young trees, they 
should be cut off within seven or eight inches of the ground, and if 
they do not shoot well, the first year after they are transplanted, 
they should be cut in a similar manner the following season. The 
ground around the roots of both those in the drills and those trans¬ 
planted, should be dressed several times a year, which will greatly 
assist their growth. It is advisable to plant out a few of the trees 
in sunny situations, that a supply of the leaves may be had for the 
worms of such eggs as may happen to hatch before the usual sea¬ 
son. 
The heads of such as are intended to attain the size of trees, 
should be hollowed out in a manner that will render it easy to col¬ 
lect the leaves, and such branches as may be broken m that process 
should be carefully removed. It may be proper to remark, that in 
France the cultivation of the mulberry tree for the sale of the leaves 
is a separate business from the rearing of the worms; and it is par¬ 
ticularly recommended to the farmers of the Miami country to lose 
no time in filling some portion of their farms with this valuble tree, 
inasmuch as the day is not distant when the demand for its foliage 
will give them annually a handsome profit. It has been ascertained 
that the second crop of leaves which comes out after the first have 
been stripped off for the worms, furnishes a nutritious food for sheep, 
and is eaten by them with greediness. When intended for this ob¬ 
ject, the leaves should be stripped off a little before the time they 
would naturally fall, and laid by for use in the winter season. This 
experiment is worthy of a trial by our farmers, inasmuch as, after the 
first year, the mulberry tree required little or no attention, thus an¬ 
nually yielding a supply of food, without any cost save that of ga¬ 
thering it. 
Silk —The raising of silk properly commences with the hatching 
of the worms. This will take place when the mulberry foliage is 
sufficiently matured for their consumption ; or when the spring is 
advanced enough to make the temperature from 70 to 80 deg. of 
Fahrenheit. The first preparation to be made for them is that of a 
dry, airy room, or small building, in which stages of a convenient 
height and breadth for feeding them should be erected. Care should 
be used to exclude the enemies of the worms, viz: cats, poultry, 
rats, mice, and ants, from the room and stages in which the worms 
are placed. The former may be excluded by ordinary precautions, 
and the ants by keeping hot lime around the posts of the stages.—- 
The eggs must not be brought out for hatching till the weather is 
settled ; and if afterwards there should be a change to cold, a little 
fire may be kept in the room, to preserve the temperature at its 
proper height. The eggs when brought out, may be laid on the 
stages or tables, and no smoke, or effluvium of any description, per¬ 
mitted to enter the apartment, as the worms are very sensitive. 
When the worms first appear they will be black: those which are 
red are bad, and should be thrown away, for they will produce no co¬ 
coons. 
In/our days most of the worms will be hatched, and those which 
come out after that time are generally too weak to produce silk.— 
The productions of each day should, when large quantities are rais¬ 
ed, be kept separate, in order that they may form cocoons at the 
same time. When they are first hatched, they must be fed with 
