THE CULTIVATOR. 
74 
9. 
Do. 
Constantinopolitana, 
Constantinople,. 
.. Constantinople. 
10. 
Do. 
Scabra,. 
Rough,... 
11. 
Do. 
Pennsvlvanica, .... 
Pennsylvanian, . 
•. do. 
12. 
Do. 
Pumula,. 
Dwarf,... 
13. 
Do. 
Indica,. 
Indian,. 
14. 
Do. 
Sinensis,. 
Chinese,. 
15. 
Do. 
Mauritian a,. 
Mauritius,. 
The three last named are stove and green-house plants, and of 
course, too tender for our climate. 
1. The black is peculiar to Europe and Asia, and does not, when 
introduced, stand well our northern winters. It seems from Gen. 
Tallmadge’s letters, published in the Journal of the American Insti¬ 
tute, that worms fed on the black mulberry make the strongest thread, 
and we are left to infer, that Italian sewing silk, which is of the high¬ 
est repute in the market, comes from this species of the mulberry. 
This is given on the authority of an extensive manufacturer of Italian 
sewing silk. 
2. The red mulberry abounds in our woods, in several of the states, 
but is a different species from the black of Europe. Good silk has 
been produced from the leaves of this tree, in Kentucky, Ohio, N. 
York and Pennsylvania, and we have been presented with a beauti¬ 
ful fabric produced from it in the first named state. It is quite 
hardy. 
3. The white is the common kind, well known. 
4. The Dandolo is a new species or variety, discovered in Italy in 
1815, of great promise, and is probably identical with the Italian of 
Sweet, (No. 8,) and possibly with those from Constantinople, &c. 
Its qualities for silk are not fully known; but we believe it to be more 
hardy than even the common white, if, as we suspect, we have a 
plant of it in our grounds. 
5. The multicaulis, we are obliged to persist in saying, is too ten¬ 
der for our climate, north of 42°. We believe all attempts to culti¬ 
vate it here, will end in disappointment. The white and the black 
suffice in the great silk countries of Europe. Gen. Tallmadge tells 
us, after he had traversed Italy and France, and made silk the sub¬ 
ject of special observation and inquiry, that “ we have more of the 
Chinese (multicaulis,) growing than France and Italy together 
and that though the silk from the multicaulis was finer and more 
delicate, it required more skilful and delicate work to wind and 
work it. 
6 and 8. Of these we know very little, except the latter should be 
the Dandolo; and 7 is employed merely as a dye-wood. 
9. We believe to be the same as the Brussa, which is cultivated 
in Asia Minor, and seeds of which have recently been introduced | 
from Constantinople, by Mr. Rand. Great hopes are entertained 
that it will be found useful and hardy, though these hopes remain to 
be confirmed—the seed not having been sown, we believe, till 1834. 
The next three named, (10, 11, 12,) which purport to be American 
species, are not recognized, as we have before observed, by Ameri¬ 
can botanists ; and yet we think that on examination, it will be found, 
that we have more than one indigenous species. 
Having alluded to the letters of Gen. Tallmadge, we make from 
them the following extract, for the benefit of our silk growers :—■ 
“ Finizio is an extensive manufacturer of sewing silk; he makes about 3,000 
pounds a week, which is mostly sent to the New-York market. He is an in¬ 
telligent man, and l found him willing to answer my inquiries; as also were I 
several other establishments, and which mostly confirmed his statement. The 
sewing silks of Naples arc mostly made from the silk grown in Calabria, where ; 
the worm is fed principally upon the black mulberry, and which makes the 
strongest and best for sowing silk. Finizio stated that the worm fed on the 
black mulberry made the strongest thread; that on the while mulberry, finer 
and better for fabrics; that on the Chinese mulberry still finer and more deli¬ 
cate. When asked if the cocoon from the Chinese mulberry required more 
skilful and delicate work to wind and work it, he said it did, and immediately 
produced two skeins, one of which he said was from the black mulberry (from 
a bush, perhaps, eight or ten feet in circumference,) the other from a bush about 
four feet. The lesser bush, he said, was less liable to break the thread in 
winding from the cocoon, and was used in finer silks for fabrics. The black 
mulberry produced a stronger thread, and would bear the larger reel, and was 
principally used in that business. The silk here is mostly made in the coun¬ 
try by families in detail, and much of it reeled there, and in this condition it is 
brought to market. For sewing silk it is doubled as often as required, and 
twisted as much. This process is wholly in a dark room. The silk is worked 
wet, and for this purpose, to preserve a uniformity, the atmosphere is kept 
damp, the day-light excluded, and the work carried on With small hand lamps. 
The machine was turned by men harnessed like mules. I have since been 
out about twenty miles to the silk factory of the king, which is worked by 
water power, and by which the cocoons are also reeled. I stated to Finizio, 
as well as at the king’s factory, that the Italian sewing silk was sold in the 
American markets by its weight, while the American sewing silk was sold by 
the skein; and that one pound of the Italian would have perhaps 250 skeins, 
while one of the American silk would have about 350 skeins. The cause of 
this difference of weight, or why the American sewing silk has a tendency to- 
curl or knot, they could not explain without a sample, but said the weight of 
sewing silk could be diminished or very considerably augmented in the dyeing, 
and that good dyeing required the silk to be well boiled in soap, after which it 
was put into an acid, and was there prepared for the process of the dye, ac¬ 
cording to the color, as desired. The gloss, or dressing, seems to be piodueed 
by beating and twisting on a post, which, with the manual labour put upon its 
finish, it is supposed, prevents its tendency to knot. 
“ 1 asked if the color of the cocoon, yellow or white, gave any difference of 
value, or indicated a sickly worm, and the answer w as that the color was ca¬ 
sual, and the value the same; that a selection of white or yellow cocoons from 
which to get eggs would probably produce a like color; and Mr. Finizio, said 
he had some customers who had so selected and brought him cocoons entirely 
white; and that for white ribbons or fabrics, they commanded a greater price of 
from three to five per cent, though otherwise of equal value.” 
While on the subject of the mulberry, we will mention a new 
mode of propagating or growing it, related to us by a gentleman 
from Michigan. It is to lay the entire plant, while a seedling, in 
the furrow, lengthwise, at a proper distance, and to cover them with 
the plough. The plant sends up a number of shoots, and if left to grow, 
forms what is technically called a stool. We understood our infor¬ 
mant to say, that he had eight acres growing in this way. The 
advantages which this mode promises, are, first, the plant is rapidly 
multiplied; second, the leaves are gathered with greater facility, 
from the dwarfish habits of the plant; and third, and we deem this 
a very important advantage, if the wood is killed by the winter, and 
this is sometimes the case, even in Michigan, and often here, the 
roots are preserved, the dead wood may be readily cut off with a 
bush hook, and new and vigorous shoots, spring up from the base. 
We believe this mode of growing might be profitably adopted in re¬ 
gard to the multicaulis. 
AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS" 
In what way can agricultural premiums be best applied, to pro¬ 
mote agricultural improvement ? is a question which has been seve¬ 
ral times propounded to us, and which we have felt incompetent to 
answer in a satisfactory manner. That our agricultural premiums 
have too often been injudiciously bestowed, is confessed by all; and 
this has tended, in no little degree, to impair their usefulness. There 
j are now many agricultural societies in our country, and others are 
[ being formed; and it becomes a matter of interest to inquire, in 
what, way they can affect the greatest good. Their professed, and 
! no doubt their true object is, to increase the profits of agricultural 
labor, by introducing upon our farms better stock, better implements, 
and better modes of culture. How far this object is promoted by 
encouraging extraordinary expenditure in producing very great crops, 
and very fat animals, may be reasonably doubted ; for such crops and 
such cattle may cost more than they are worth in the market; so 
that neither the owner nor the public are at all benefitted by the 
I experiment. But the man who introduces new subjects of culture, 
which increase the produce and profits of our farms ;—who improves 
! the relative value of farm stock, either in regard to the disposition 
to fatten, to the products of the dairy or the value of the fleece;— 
who invents or introduces farm implements, which abridge labor and 
economise expenditure; or who practises new modes of culture, 
manifestly beneficial to the public ; in short, who makes two pounds 
of beef, grows two bushels of corn or two tons of hay, with the same 
labor and expense, and on the same area of ground, that produced 
or yielded but one before—becomes useful to himself and country. 
He greatly enlarges the means of human sustenance and of human 
happiness. And so far as premiums can be made instrumental in 
producing these results, by exciting industry and enterprise, and 
calling into action the ingenuity and latent talent of our countrymen, 
they constitute a useful and profitable expenditure. 
In these matters, as in most others, experience is the best teacher. 
We correct our errors only as we become sensible that they are er¬ 
rors. The best guide, consequently, so far as climate and object 
correspond, is the practise of societies which have been longest in 
operation, and winch have effected the greatest good. In these par¬ 
ticulars, the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland stands pre¬ 
eminent. It has existed more than fifty years, and increases in vi¬ 
gor and usefulness with its years. We subjoin an abstract of the 
premiums offered by this society the current year, as indicating pro¬ 
minent objects of improvement which might usefully engage the at¬ 
tention of our agricultural associations. 
1. They offer a premium of 50 sovereigns, ($222,) for the best 
geological report and map of any county and district in Scotland, ex¬ 
cept those already reported. 
