THE CULTIVATOR. 
129 
Manufacture of Silk at Auburn. 
Messrs. Editors —I forward you some memoranda on 
Agriculture and other kindred subjects, made during a recent 
visit to Auburn. 
First, of the manufacture of silk in the State’s Prison. I am 
one of those who have long entertained the opinion that not¬ 
withstanding the revenue accruing to the State from the car¬ 
rying on of the common mechanical trades in the Prison, the 
principal is radically wrong. The common objection urged 
against it, viz. the injurious competition which it raises against 
our mechanics, though valid as far as it goes, weighs little in 
my mind, compared with its moral and social influences. Its 
moral effect is to scatter pollution into every work-shop in the 
state, by means of these discharged convict mechanics, who 
we lament to say, (though the fact is perfectly notorious,) in 
a vast majority of instances, go out unreformed men. Every 
parent will judge whether such are fit and safe associates for 
their sons who are apprenticed to mechanical trades. Its social 
effect is to sink down the mechanic in the scale of society— 
and form a line of demarcation between his occupation and 
that of others, who would deem themselves sullied and dis¬ 
graced by the admission of a convict into their ranks. What 
would our professional gentlemen say to a class on law or 
physic, educated by the State, from prison convicts! Now, 
is it to be supposed that reputable and respectable men will 
continue to send their sons into occupations where they will 
be brought into constant association with felons—vicious and 
degraded men—sent there too by the State ? And when 
such men cease to send their sons into the work-shops of the 
mechanic, will not mechanical trades sink into disrepute— 
become an occupation only for those not possessing the pride 
or the aspirations of republicans? But a truce to controver¬ 
sy. I have been hurried into this digression by feelings 
which are the growth neither of a day or a year, but have 
been entertained from the first day I was old enough to form 
an opinton on the subject. 
It was to obviate such objections, principally the first, that 
the experiment of attempting to manufacture silk was intro¬ 
duced into the Prison. We have no class of mechanics en¬ 
gaged in this occupation. The State is made to act as a 
most useful pioneer in introducing a valuable department of 
manufacturing, and directly encouraging a valuable branch 
of industry, by furnishing a home market for the raw ma¬ 
terial. In these points of view, I deem the experiment every 
way a proper and a worthy one, and it was therefore with 
much pleasure I accepted the invitation of the Agent of the Pri¬ 
son, to inspect their operations in this department. It is under 
the supervision of Mr. John Morrison, a Scotch gentleman, 
who was educated to the business in the silk manufactories of 
Paisley, and who subsequently worked in several of the first 
establishments in England and Scotland. The State has not 
engaged in the production of cocoons, though the thing is 
somewhat contemplated, unless the supply should rapidly in¬ 
crease. They are purchased at $3.50 flossed, or $3 with the 
floss on. Convicts are taught to reel the silk, and put it into 
skeins after being colored, and I hesitate not to say that a most 
beautiful article, possessing fully the evenness and strength, as 
well as the softness and brilliancy of the best foreign sewing 
silk, is already manufactured. Mr. Morrison states the grati¬ 
fying fact, in which he says he cannot be mistaken, that the 
cocoons fed in this country produce a better quality of silk 
than any of the French, Egyptian, Chinese or East India 
staples, which he was accustomed to see in the first British 
manufactories. In proof of this he presented me a large 
hank of his own reeling, which he was about to forward as a 
challenge to his friends in Europe,—and which he requested 
me to compare with any foreign article which “could be 
scared up.” Having been always rather sceptical as to the 
success of the silk culture in this country, especially since the 
great morus multicaulis speculation, I determined to sift the 
matter to the bottom. The following are the facts which I 
arrived at, and unless I am greatly mistaken, Mr. Morrison’s 
constant aim was to fall below rather than exceed a just and 
average estimate. To begin at the beginning. Every man 
knows what an acre of good land will cost. This is to be 
planted with multicaulis in rows three feet apart one way, to 
admit a cultivator, and the roots a little more than half that 
distance apart the other way. The slips (for it grows from 
the slip,) can now be obtained for a mere trifle. They are 
not suffered to grow into trees, but are cut down to the 
ground every fall. This makes the leaves better, more 
abundant, and more easily obtained for feeding. It will also 
allow the multicaulis to be cultivated in almost all parts of our 
country —in many where the trunk of even the hardier varie¬ 
ties ofithe mulberry will not survive the winters. One acre 
of multicaulis properly cultivated, (that is worked with a cul¬ 
tivator, and hoed three or four times in the season, like Indian 
corn,) will produce, after the first season, at least 20,000 lbs. 
of foliage. 25 lbs. of silk has been obtained by many per¬ 
sons year after year, from a ton of leaves—but to make every 
allowance for bad seasons, accidents, &c., suppose the pro¬ 
duct of one acre to be but 100 lbs. of silk, or 100 bushels of 
cocoons. These at the Prison price are worth $350! An 
experienced reeler will reel 1 lb. of silk per day. It now re¬ 
quires the labor of two convicts to reel that amount. The 
silk when reeled is readily sold at $5.50 per lb. The actual 
cost of coloring does not exceed one dollar to the pound, to 
which add 30 cents for skeining, and you have sewing silk 
worth $10 per lb !! Let us recapitulate the cost of a pound : 
Cost of cocoons,.$3 50 
♦Reeling,. 60 
Coloring,. 100 
Skeining,. 30 
$5 40 
Market price for sewing silk say,.. $10 00 
Here we have a profit of about 100 per cent to the State, 
and equally within the reach of any man or body of men who will 
embark in the same business. 
Now a word on the subject of rearing and feeding the 
worm. I profess no skill in these matters. But Mr. Mor¬ 
rison, the Agent and Clerk of the Prison, and other gentle¬ 
men with whom I conversed, all of whom spoke from much 
careful observation, and some of them (including Mr. M.) 
from experience, agreed on the point that there is no difficulty 
in any person’s managing the silk worm; that it was sur¬ 
* Done principally in silk establishments by females. We 
estimate it by the price of convict’s labor, calling it two days 
to the pound. 
rounded by no mystery, and required no particular skill; and 
that it required but a trifling outlay of capital. Mr. Morrison 
has fitted up a small cocoonery in the chamber of his house, 
where he is feeding 100,000 worms. The worms are entirely 
fed and managed by two little girls from 12 to 14 years of age. 
A boy of about the same age collects and brings the leaves. 
This is all the labor employed in the cocoonery, and Mr. M. 
thinks the children could take care of as many more. 100,- 
000 worms, well fed, will produce 30 bushels of cocoons, or 30 
lbs. of silk, worth, in its raw state, $ 105. A smart girl, after 
three or four weeks of experience, will reel 1 lb. a day— 
which would swell the produce of 100,000 worms from $105 
to $165!! 
The expense of Mr. Morrison’s cocoonery consists in a few 
shelves of planed boards set up on frames, all of which one 
carpenter could do in one day. The outlay lor eggs amount¬ 
ed to $10, and this need not, of course, be again incurred. 
Mr. M. thinks any comfortable barn or other outbuilding 
would answer the purpose, and that a crop of worms might 
be easily got along with before haying. VV hat say our farm¬ 
ers to this ? I confess my scepticism is “ wearing off" fast." 
I may as well here remark that any person who is desirous 
of obtaining further information, as to the manufacture of silk 
in the Prison, can obtain it by addressing the Agent, Henry 
Polhemus, Esq., post paid. 
Fine Cattle in Auburn and its Vicinity. 
I cannot close, even at the expense of being a little tedious, 
without mentioning some of the herds of fine cattle owned in 
and about Auburn. That collected by Col. John M. Sherwood 
during the past season, comprises some exceedingly choice 
animals. Of the cows I noticed, four were from the herd of 
the late Patroon, Van Rensselaer of Albany. “ Pansey 2d,” 
is a nice, but rather a low-headed cow, and “Laura,” a 
heifer of two, is a beautiful animal, though not handling to 
perfection. Four of the cows were from the yard of Mr. 
Rotch, of Otsego, though two of them were purchased of, and 
one of them bred by another gentleman, Mr. John Alexan¬ 
der, of the same county. All of them with perhaps the ex¬ 
ception of “Diantha,” a yearling, are animals well “known 
to fame” amongst breeders. The old cow “Daisy,” which 
thousands have seen and admired in the yard of Mr. Rotch 
—a cow that has made her 16| lbs. of butter in a week, and 
who has been the mother of a family of short horns, possess¬ 
ing as great an union of milking properties and hardiness of 
constitution, as any ever imported, has now a fine bull calf at 
her side, by Nigel. It is an extremely promising animal. 
“Stella,” a four year old cow, has all the dash and finish of 
Mr. Whittaker’s yard, from which she is immediately de¬ 
scended. “Sylvia,” a two year old heifer out of the preced¬ 
ing, is a study for a breeder! She is about as near perfect as 
flesh and blood can be molded ! There is a heifer calf too, 
“Nora,” of which I should have something to say “in the 
same category,” were it not for the fact that she was from 
my own herd. Of the three bulls, “Archer” is from the yard 
of Mr. Rotch, “ Bolivar” from Mr. Van Rensselaer’s, and 
“Newark” from my own. The two latter are yearlings. 
“Archer” is a magnificent animal. A portrait of him would 
grace, and I presume will grace the columns of the Cultiva¬ 
tor. 
J. B. Dill, Esq., has a couple of short horn heifers, of 
which, had they not been purchased out of my own herd, I 
should have much to say. And I will take the liberty of say¬ 
ing that whoever attempts to beat “ Rose” as a milker, with an 
animal of the same age will “find his hands full." Had Mr. 
Sotham seen fit to accept my challenge, and named a heifer, 
I would have named this one against him. 
A pair of Col. S.’s bays soon carried us over to Skaneateles 
to see the herds of Messrs. William Fuller, Silas Gay¬ 
lord, etc. Mr. Fuller owns the celebrated bull President, 
and the cow Gipsey, bred by the late Patroon, Van Rensse¬ 
laer,—some younger animals, also full blooded, and a large 
number of grades. Several of these are choice animals. 
“President” more resembles “Washington,” the bull origin¬ 
ally imported by Gen. Van Rensselaer, than any other I have 
seen from his herd. Deep, low and massive, his weight, ex¬ 
ceeding 2000 lbs. is supported on limbs of extreme delicacy. 
The foreleg can be clasped below the knee by the fingers of 
a long hand, while at its junction with the body it is nearly 
two feet in circumference. 
Mr. Gaylord’s bull “ Splendid,” now 3 years old, was sired 
by “ President.” We estimated him to weigh fully 2000 lbs. 
He is better in the crops than his sire, and longer from the 
hips to the point of the rump. In the bosom and twist he is 
rarely equalled, but in handling properties he does not, nor in 
fact does hardly any other bull in the State, equal “ President.” 
Mr. G.’s “ Drusilla” has some bad points, but in others she 
would be difficult to excel. I think I never, except in pic¬ 
tures, saw so deep and projecting a brisket. Mr. G. has 
some other full bloods, and many valuable grade animals. 
At Mr. Russel Frost's, Mr. Horton’s, &c. we saw beauti¬ 
ful! grade cows and calves. 
On my return, I inspected Hussey’s grain-cutting machine, 
many of which are now constructed and on hand for sale, by 
a brother of the inventor, in Auburn. They are warranted to 
cut fifteen acres of standing grain per day, and do it well.— 
and it is said they will go much beyond this. They are said 
to give perfect satisfaction, where they had been tried. All I 
can say is, they look as if they would “answer the recom¬ 
mendation.” 
In the vicinity of Auburn and Skaneatelee, I noticed in the 
meadows of timothy a large quantity of dead heads, bleached 
out perfectly white. In some fields there were enough of 
them to occasion a serious diminution of the hay. I was told 
it was general throughout that country. The disease, or 
whatever it is, seems advancing from a southerly direction. 
It had increased for two or three years. On examination, 
the grass appeared to be dead down to the first, and some¬ 
times to the second joint. For the space of half an inch im¬ 
mediately above the joint, the straw is shrivelled up within its 
sheath, as if the juice had been sucked out or suffered to es¬ 
cape by the puncture of an insect. The disease is usually 
attributed to such a cause. Yours truly, H. S. R. 
Cortlandville, July, 1841. 
Good Medicine for Hogs. —The American Farmer furnishes 
the following:—When your hogs get sick, you know not of 
what, give them ears of corn, first dipped in tar, and then roll¬ 
ed in sulphur. ’Tis ten to one that it arrests the disease, and 
restores the pig to health. 
Flan of a Meeting' House—CFig. 67.) 
Messrs. Editors —Would it be extraneous to the cause 
which your most valuable paper is engaged in, should I con¬ 
tribute to its columns the enclosed plan ; a side and front ele. 
vation vie w of a Meeting House ? Many useful drawings have 
appeared in your paper, among which are some good designs 
of dwelling-houses. If those plans are of importance to the 
farming community, as I think they are, not only in contri¬ 
buting to comfort and convenience, but also in appear¬ 
ance, is it not essential that the farmer, after the laborious du¬ 
ties of the week are performed, should have a comfortable and 
convenient place, where he may meet with his fellow-men, 
and with them unite in religious devotions ? And should not 
the temple of the Most High be something more than a log 
cabin, where pecuniary circumstances will admit of a better? 
Even in this enlightened age, appearance has a vast influence 
on the mind of the spectator. Nature and art have been busy 
in decorating what is pleasing to the eye. Behold the sun, the 
moon,and the stars; the architecture of the firmament, the brook 
the rock, the tree, Nature’s richest gifts; the more frequent¬ 
ly we view them, the more beautiful they appear. Art has 
clone much, very much, to relieve the eye from Nature’s land¬ 
scapes. The ship on the ocean attracts notice by her sym¬ 
metry of form and elegance of dress; the splendid palace,’the 
costly carriage, and the gay saloon, they too have admirers; 
but what is more pleasing to the eye of the traveler, than a 
well proportioned and handsomely finished Meeting House, 
of which I flatter myself, the attached plan is a fair repre¬ 
sentation ? Yours respectfully, JOHN CAIN. 
Rutland Vt., August 20, 1840. 
Qualities of Cattle? and Management. 
A part of the stock of a farmer must consist of cattle, and 
the maintainance of these, and their management, must ever 
be an object of great consequence ; and in proportion to the 
numbers which he keeps for sale, in addition to those which 
he employs on account of their immediate service and labor, 
the importance of the subject is increased to him. Whether 
oxen or horses for labor are the most advantageous, is an un¬ 
settled question. On some farms the situation is such as not 
to admit of a doubt but the ox may be the most beneficial. 
Bulls are on some accounts to be preferred to oxen, being 
procured at a cheaper rate, and more hardy and persevering 
in labor. In some cases the question would be decided dif¬ 
ferently ; the activity of the horse is extremely superior to that 
of oxen, and it is more applicable to different species.of em¬ 
ployment ; when dispatch is more required, than moderate 
absolute strength, as in loose soils in the operation of 
plowing, the quickness with which the horse completes the 
business, in comparison to the ox, will give the preference of 
the one to the other. When the team is kept to grass in 
summer, there is a gain in stocking with cattle over horses. 
The great injury done by feeding pastures with horses instead 
of oxen and other cattle, is an injury very material and ob¬ 
vious. 
In the selection of the best breeds" of cattle, many good 
points will not vary materially from those which should be 
noticed in the selection of the horse, sheep and swine. Short 
legged cattle are generally of a good quality, and are almost 
uniformly connected with a good make. Straightness of back 
is another important recommendation; when straight and 
broad, and flat on the loins, an experienced judge will more 
readily decide on their worth. If the carcase be of a barrel 
form both in the fore and hind quarters, it is good point of 
excellence. A curled and loose hide, handling mellow, is an 
indication of a thriving beast. Great notice should be taken 
of the breadth of the bosom, and between the fore legs, stand¬ 
ing quite wide; much in buying is lost or gained by attention 
to this point; it implies not only good symmetry, but strength 
and speed; a good proportion of breadth of breast gives the 
wind, which is very essential to the working ox. At eight 
nine and ten, they are going back in all their points, and in 
their value after seven; and no ox should be kept after 
eight years. 
Steers should be yoked at two or three years old, and light¬ 
ly worked, gradually increasing until four, when they may be 
full worked; they will attain a larger size than if they were 
unworked ; their growth generally finished at six. 
Heifers are generally allowed to come in with calf at two 
years old. The arguments in favor of bringing heifers in at 
two years old are, that they come sooner to profit, and are 
more apt to make good milkers. On the other hand the ar¬ 
gument in favor of bringing them in at three years old is, that 
not being stunted in their growth, they make larger, finer 
cows than those that are suffered to bear calves at a more 
early age. A middle sized cow may afford as much neat 
profit as one of larger stature; much depends, however, upon 
keep; and the propriety of bringing heifers to milk at two 
years old, depends upon soil and situation. As regards the 
best season of putting cows to the bull for the object of milk 
and rearing of the calves, it is a point of importance to have 
them dropped as early as the month of April, as the season 
begins to be warmer. As the young grass begins to come 
