16 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
statistical facts in relation to the silk business in our 
country. But a few of these we shall present, for the 
consideration of the candid. 
1. That silk can he raised with perfect ease, that our 
climate, from north to south, is admirably adapted to 
the constitution and health of the worm, far better than 
that of Europe, and to the growth of the Mulberry tree 
in its different varieties, has been satisfactorily proved 
by thousands of experiments. While in Europe, owing 
to the humidity of their climate, nearly one-half of the 
crop of worms usually die from disease, and they are 
obliged to have their cocooneries nicely regulated in 
their temperature by the thermometer, here, owing to 
the dryness and warmth of our atmosphere, with proper 
care, scarce a worm dies from disease; and a building 
of the cheapest construction—any out-house, shed or 
bax-n—answers perfectly well for a cocoonery. That the 
silk made in this country, is of the very best quality, for 
fineness, lustre and strength, equal to any in the world, 
has been decided by competent judges. Specimens of 
raw silk have been sent to European manufacturers, and 
pronounced by them to be superior; and in our own 
manufactories it is much preferred, and receives a high¬ 
er price, by a dollar or two on a pound, than the foreign ar¬ 
ticle. There is no more mystery or difficulty in raising 
the worms, than in raising chickens; children, females, 
aged and infirm persons are competent to the work, and 
it requires no more skill to reel the silk from the co¬ 
coons, than any of our intelligent females may acquire 
with a little practice. Persons have succeeded perfectly 
well, even to the reeling and spinning of the silk into 
beautiful sewing silk, who never saw a silkworm or a 
cocoon before, and who had no other instruction than 
what they had derived from silk publications. If, then, 
abundance of the raw material, of the best quality, may 
be produced without any difficulty, what should hin¬ 
der us from becoming a silk growing country, and from 
manufacturing it, not only into sewing silk, but into all 
the variety of silk stuffs used by our people ; and thus 
save the millions which are annually drained from us, 
topay foreigners for raising and manufacturing our 
2. Silk may be raised with profit. There is no branch 
of bdsiness which yields so large profits on the capital 
invested and the labor bestowed. It requires, indeed, 
but a small amount of capital to go into it extensively; 
a few acres of land, a few trees to begin with, and the 
necessary fixtures for feeding worms. Hence it is ad¬ 
mirably adapted to the small farmer, and persons of lim¬ 
ited means. It is peculiarly of a domestic character, and 
may be pursued with profit in the family, by employing 
the children and females, without detriment to other 
branches of the labor of the farm. As a practical illus¬ 
tration of this, we will mention a fact stated in one of 
our silk periodicals. A Connecticut farmer, the past 
season, “ hatched out some worms to be attended by his 
three children, who were going to school every day, and 
they gathered leaves and fed the worm in the morning 
before leaving home—returned at noon to feed them a- 
gain, and at night completed the feeding for the day.— 
The worms had no attention but what was given by 
these children, and the silk, when reeled, was,sold for 
one hundred and seventy-five dollars. This was more 
than the farmer made from an excellent dairy farm, 
(on which several crops were cultivated besides,) 
from any other one crop to which his attention was di¬ 
rected.” That silk, from the common white Italian 
Mulberry, may be raised with profit, has long since been 
demonstrated in Connecticut, where, in the town of 
Mansfield, originally one of the poorest agricultural 
towns in the state—the land so poor and broken that 
our farmers would hardly take it as a gift, and be oblig¬ 
ed to cultivate it—the culture of silk has, for half a cen¬ 
tury, formed the chief source of the wealth and prosper¬ 
ity of its inhabitants. Silk, to the amount of many thou¬ 
sands of dollars, has been raised in a single year. The 
farmers are above-board, out of debt, with money to lend; 
and their daughters have something comfortable laid by, 
to present their husbands when they marry, as a mar¬ 
riage gift, in the form of money at interest, the product 
of their own labor in feeding the silk worm and reeling 
and spinning its tiny fibre. Who would not value such 
a wife, not only for her solid charms, but for her habits 
of industry, her spirit of independence, and her knowl¬ 
edge and skill in a branch of business which is destined 
to be the source of incalculable blessings to our country? 
But the introduction of the Chinese Mulberry, (the 
Morus multicaulis and the Canton) has produced a new 
era in the silk business in the United States; and by its 
tested superiority over every other kind, and its rapid 
and extensive propagation and distribution through the 
land, is hastening the period when we shall be a sillc- 
growing country. Its large, nutritious and abundant 
foliage, and the consequent great saving of labor in pick¬ 
ing the leaves, (a saving of nearly nine-tenths,) and its 
immediate fitness for use, greatly enhance the profits of 
the silk culture. Fears have been entertained that it 
would prove too tender for our climate ; but, placed on 
a high and dry soil, not very rich, it stands ev r en our se¬ 
verest northern winters. But even Avere we obliged to 
take the trees up every fall, as Ave do a crop of potatoes, 
and plant again in the spring, it Avould yield an ample 
return of profits in the crop of silk. A field of Morus 
multicaulis, cultivated in this way, would require but 
little more labor than a crop of corn. The high prices 
which the tree has commanded have resulted from the 
conviction of its great value for producing silk. It stands 
upon its own intrinsic merits, upon the solid basis of 
silk. We are not in favor of making large estimates; 
but at the lowest, the profits of the silk culture with the 
multicaulis, are ample—greater than can be realized 
from any other agricultural pursuit. By actual experi- 
ment, it has been demonstrated, that from 50 to 100 lbs. 
of silk may be raised from an acre of ground the first 
year, planted about as thick as you would plant corn or 
potatoes; at an expense of not more than $2 per pound. 
This silk, reeled, is now worth $6 per pound in its raAv 
state, or $10 if converted into seAving silk. Even at the 
past and present high prices for the tree, a very large 
per centage may be realized the first season, by the crop 
of silk that may be raised. An intelligent dealer in the 
Morus multicaulis has informed us, that he had made 
sales to a considerable amount this fall, at fifty cents a 
tree, on a credit, and that he had given purchasers the 
choice, either to pay the whole in money, or half the 
amount in money, and the other half in the crop of silk 
Avhich could be raised the first year, by feeding as many 
worms as the trees would supply with leaves ; the pur¬ 
chaser thus making fifty per cent, on his investment the 
first year. A number of sales of this kind he had made : 
and in one instance, the farmer—(who had had some 
experience in feeding worms)—sitting down with his 
pencil and paper, and making a calculation, chose to pay 
him the Avhole in cash. The groAving and sale of the 
Morus multicaulis, has by no means been all specula¬ 
tion. Large permanent plantations have been made, 
for raising silk. Whatever have been the motives which 
have influenced those who haA^e gone into the business, 
it has resulted in good to the country: it has awakened 
attention to the subject, and enlisted a deep interest, far 
and wide, in our citizens ; it has elicited much light and 
knoAvledge, experimental and practical; called forth the 
inventive energies of our people, in the construction and 
improvement of silk machinery, and by the rapid multi¬ 
plication and diffusion of the tree Avhich forms the food 
of the silk worm, is putting it in our power soon to be 
independent of Europe. We prophecy that in ten years 
we shall raise, if not manufacture, our own silk, and 
that in. fifteen years, raw silk will form as important an 
article for foreign exportation, as does now our cotton ; 
and this without encroaching upon, or diminishing our 
other great staples. Instead of, as now, being tributa¬ 
ry to Europe, she shall be tributary to us, for the mate¬ 
rial Avhich will form her finest and most beautiful silk 
fabrics; and the millions of specie, Avhich have been 
drained from our country—the life’s blood of our com¬ 
merce—to pay our foreign debt, producing national 
bankruptcy and ruin, shall flow back into our coffers, 
and circulate freely through every artery of trade, giv¬ 
ing health and vigor to the whole. By some, we may 
be deemed visionary, and pronounced a false prophet. 
Be it so. Whoever lives Avill see. Our anticipations of 
the future are not formed from fancy, but from fact — 
from a careful and attentive examination of the subject, 
and observation of the progress of the silk culture in our 
country. We judge of the future from a knowledge of 
the past—from what has already been done, and is now 
doing. 
3. And what, it may be asked, has been accomplished ? 
We answer, the feasibility and profitableness of the silk 
culture has been satisfactorily proved, as we have shown. 
Thousands, through the whole length and breadth of 
our country, have engaged, or are preparing to engage, 
in the business. Immense numbers of worms have been 
fed Avith perfect success the past season; no less than 
400 cocooneries have been erected, and preparations are 
making to feed Avorms on the most extensive scale the 
coming season: hundreds of acres will be planted with 
the Morus multicaulis, not for the purpose of specula¬ 
tion in the sale of the trees, but for raising silk. Soci¬ 
eties have been organized for the promotion of the ob¬ 
ject, and recently a National Society, at Philadelphia, 
at the head of which are some of the most distinguished 
men of our country: Legislative bounties have been 
granted in several states, to encourage the culture of 
silk, and we trust our own Avill not be behind her sister 
states in encouraging, by legislative aid, the noble en¬ 
terprise. Several manufactories have been established, 
and are in successful operation, producing fabrics which 
our Avives and daughters need not be ashamed to Avear, 
and Avhich only want a supply of the American raxv ma¬ 
terial, to rival the silks of Europe. With these cheering 
facts before us, is there not ground for the most favora¬ 
ble anticipations ? Who that is acquainted with the gen¬ 
ius and character of our people, for enterprise and perse¬ 
verance, can doubt, that with the impulse now given to 
the silk culture in our country, its onward course is to 
a high destination ? 
4. And is there an American bosom, in Avhich dAvells 
one spark of patriotism and philanthropy , but that Avould 
most ardently wish this ? 
As statesmen and political economists, is it a wise pol¬ 
icy in us to pay out millions to other nations for that 
Avhich Ave can just as Avell produce ourselves? To run 
in debt to Europe for a single article, to an amount far 
exceeding all our exports, Avith the single exception of 
cotton, 18 or 20 millions of dollars per annumto make 
the balance of trade against us, and thus impoverish our¬ 
selves to enrich others ? 
As philanthropists, can we do otherAvise than give our 
best wishes and cordial aid to a branch of industry which 
Avill give employment and a comfortable support to thou¬ 
sands in our land, whom poverty, misfortune, age and 
infirmity have placed in necessitous circumstances ; to 
the children of the poor in our large toAvns and cities, 
Avho are groAving up in idleness and vice; to females 
who are dependent upon the painful and precarious la¬ 
bors of the needle for a scanty subsistence, and to the 
aged and ipfirm, who are disqualified for more labori¬ 
ous employment ? In the just language of the editor of 
the Silk Farpier, “ In all our large cities, where female 
suffering is the most intense, and in every agricultural 
district of our Avidely extended country, the blessings at¬ 
tendant on the progress of the silk culture, will fall with 
grateful beneficence upon this dependent and neglected 
portion of our population. A child of twelve years old, 
or an aged person, unable to follow any laborious em¬ 
ployment, will attend during the feeding season to as 
many Avorms as will make twenty-five pounds of raw silk . 
The same individual will reel a pound of silk per day. 
Cannot the reader of this recall to his remembrance 
some destitute family—some widow Avith a numerous 
group of suffering children—to Avhom a domestic em¬ 
ployment of this kind would indeed be a blessing ? Or 
some lonely and aged female, too feeble for labour, too 
good for the poor-house, Avliom a steady fire-side occu¬ 
pation at the silk-reel, might lift up into the sunshine of 
grateful independence ? Considerations of this kind ex¬ 
pand the sympathies of the human heart, and make the 
subject as interesting to feeling and philanthrophy, as 
it ought to be to private interest or commercial enter¬ 
prise.” 
There is but one point more on which we wish to of¬ 
fer a remark; and that is, the benefit that would result 
to the silk culture, by laying a duty on foreign silks .— 
This benefit Avould immediately be felt; it would give 
a neAV impulse to the silk business, check the influx of 
foreign silks, and the consequent draining of our coun¬ 
try of its money—enable our manufacturers to compete 
with those of Europe, and establish the silk culture on 
a firm and immovable basis. It is certainly the true 
policy of a government to cherish its home industry, to 
encourage its OAvn manufactures, by protective duties. 
We hope that Congress, consulting the true interests of 
the nation, Avill take the subject into early consideration, 
and lay at least a moderate duty on foreign silks. In 
the mean while, let the friends of the cause make knoAvn 
their Avishes, by memorializing that honorable body, to 
whom is confided the interests of the nation. With this 
remark, we leave the subject to abler pens; hoping that, 
though Ave may not have thrown any new light on it, 
nor convinced a single sceptic, we may at least have 
presented the subject in such a view as to ensure the 
favorable consideration of all. 
W. W. B. 
Hammondsport, Dec. 3, 1839. 
Union of the Cultivator and Genesee Farmer. 
Messrs. Editors —The great utility of agricultural 
periodicals, circulated among the farming community, 
is a fact which none but those Avho refuse to read them 
will question; and it is believed, so far as I am acquaint¬ 
ed, that “The Genesee Farmer” stood first, and was 
more pre-eminently useful, than any other of the vari¬ 
ous publications of the kind in the country. It was so 
considered by myself, as Avell as by many others. It 
Avas better adapted to the agriculture of western New 
York. The editor was a resident among us,—was ac¬ 
quainted Avith our soil and climate ; and Avhat was more, 
he knew from personal observation wherein we failed 
in good management. And when I first heard that my 
old and tried friend, my counsellor and director, was 
soon to stop his friendly visits, I Avas sorry. I did very 
much regret that the days of the Genesee Farmer were 
numbered, and Avould be shortly finished. Yet one re¬ 
flection on this matter gave me some consolation, tOAvit, 
that the whole life of this noble philanthropist,—all his 
acts and deeds—all his counsels, warnings, admonitions 
and recommendations, from his first breath to the ter¬ 
mination of his useful life, are in my possession. These 
I can peruse and re-peruse, and thus will I yet draw, 
from his useful instructions,many valuable admonitions 
in my noble calling. 
But on more mature reflection, I considered that, al¬ 
though my old friend was to be consigned to the tomb, 
yet, since he is to rise again, though under another name, 
and to reside in another city, he will come among us a- 
gain with the same spirit, and with the same partiality 
to our profession. Since it is to be only a transmigra¬ 
tion,—since he is to re-appear Avith all his excellence of 
matter, and more of it,—with possibly more talent, 
knowledge and vigor, I am satisfied Avith the arrange¬ 
ment. And I hope the new publication will prove as 
advantageous to the editors and publishers, as I am sure 
it, will to its readers. 
Importance of Good Fences. 
It is an old maxim that’“ Experience is the best school¬ 
master ;” and it is only by practical experience that we 
are to become established in the best course of agricul¬ 
tural improvement. I am aware there are certain fixed 
principles Avhich may be learned from books, and Avhich 
always remain the same in all countries and in all ages ; 
yet to knoAv how to apply these principles, is the result 
of experience. I am now 49 years of age, though it is 
but seven years since I commenced my agricultural life. 
During these seven years I have read much and reflect¬ 
ed much, made many observations,and performed much 
labor. Though I have but begun to learn the secrets of 
this great and most important calling, and am thus but 
poorly qualified to instruct my brethren of the same 
profession, yet, with your leave, I will offer a few hints 
which are the result of my hitherto short agricultural 
experience and observation. 
And first, I have learned the importance of good fen¬ 
ces. It is in vain, and worse than in vain, to plant and 
sow, having but a poor enclosure of the field. There is 
