THE CULTIVATOR. 
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as you require, you must still sit at the pan with the 
wisp, catching other fibres; for if the reel is turned with 
the proper rapidity, it will require you to be constantly 
attaching new fibres to supply the place of those that have 
broken, or exhausted cocoons. The fibres are readily 
attached to the thread as it is running, by merely throw¬ 
ing the ends of them on the running thread, which im¬ 
mediately adhere by means of the gum. 
The number of fibres in the thread depends upon the 
purpose for which the silk is intended. For sewing silk 
of' ordinary quality, about fifty fibres may be reeled to¬ 
gether; and then the threads will require to be doubled, 
so that from one hundred and fifty to two hundred fibres 
are contained in an ordinary thread of sewing silk. For 
coarse broad goods, the same number may be reeled; hut 
for the finer goods, gauzes, &e. five to ten fibres only, or 
for the finest, only two fibres are reeled together. 
If the learner has followed the above instructions, he 
has probably been able to get quite a skein or hank of 
raw silk on his reel. I am sorry to disappoint him, but 
must tell him, it is good for nothing. I was desirous of 
enabling him to get the knack of catching the fibres; attach¬ 
ing them to the running thread; of learning the proper 
temperature of the water; and giving him a little expe¬ 
rience in merely winding off a parcel of cocoons, that he 
might become acquainted with the outlines of the art, 
and get the use of his tools. As said before, the silk reel¬ 
ed merely as above, will generally be worthless—it re¬ 
quires more care. 
If the Piedmontese reel be used, two threads, of ten to 
twenty or thirty fibres each, are attached to the reel at 
the same time, and kept constantly of the same number 
of fibres. The proper number of fibres is. obtained as 
before directed; brought together, drawn through the 
hand to clear them of motes and filth, and then drawn 
out to see that they run well; then pass them through the 
eye of the plate, pass the two threads three or four times 
round each other, separate them and pass them through 
the eyes on the vibrating bar, thence to the bar of the 
reel; as soon as they are attached to the latter, let the at- 
tendantturn the reel rapidly, and the reeler return to the 
pan to provide fibres for those cocoons that become de¬ 
tached or exhausted. 
It will keep the reeler pretty busily employed in catch¬ 
ing fibres, and dexterously throwing the ends upon the 
thread as it passes up, to keep the proper number of co¬ 
coons running in both threads. Keep a basket of cocoons 
by your side, and put in fresh ones to supply the place 
of those already in the basin, from time to time, as they 
are exhausted. Take care that there be not too many in 
the basin at the same time, nor too few; as in the former 
case, some of them will become too loose, and in the 
latter the reel must stop till the fresh ones are soaked 
enough to run freely. Observe the following rules 
strictly:—Whatever be the number of fibres you begin 
with, keep that number steadily in the thread, that it 
may be uniform and even; change the water as often as 
it becomes foul, and always use perfectly clear rain or 
river water, letting it stand for a time before use, that 
the sand, if any be in it, may settle before putting it in¬ 
to the pan. Well or spring water is generally too hard 
for the purpose. Avoid all carelessness and slovenliness 
—and remember that care is money, in reeling silk. Let 
it be borne in mind, that the value of silk is increased or 
diminished by the manner in which it is reeled, very ma¬ 
terially. One reeler will make his day’s work in reeling 
worth five or six dollars, while another will only be 
worth two or three dollars, both reeling the same quanti¬ 
ty of cocoons. Hence the value of care and attention. 
Attention to small matters, too, is here of the utmost im¬ 
portance. Indeed, the whole process is but a series of 
small, very small matters, no one of which can be neg¬ 
lected but at the expense of a material reduction in the 
quality of the silk. For example, if the water be too 
hot, the thread will be knotty, from the kinks or burs of 
the fibre that run up ; if it be foul, from allowing the 
shells of the chrysalids to remain in it, the silk will be 
covered with motes; and if the number of fibres be not 
constantly kept the same, the thread will be uneven; all 
which deteriorate the quality of the silk, and therefore 
reduce materially the profit of the day’s labor; but all 
which can be obviated without difficulty, by strict atten¬ 
tion. I need not harp upon this subject longer, I am 
sure. Those who will take the above advice will profit 
by it; those who will not, will be forced to adopt it by 
experience. 
After an ordinary sized skein is wound upon the bars 
of the reel, it is to be taken off, hung up, and another 
skein commenced in the same manner. The reel gene¬ 
rally has two or more aspels, and when a skein is° full 
the asp el or running part of the reel is taken off the frame 
and set aside to dry the silk, after which it is taken from 
the bars, placed upon a swift, and wound on to bobbins; 
when any number of the bobbins may be combined, call¬ 
er doubling, and twisted together on a common spin¬ 
ning wheel, to make sewing silk. 
If it be intended for sale in the state of raw silk, the 
skeins are to be carefully twisted and doubled, and thus 
brought into a compact form, tied with a string, and thus 
packed up for market. 
For sewing silk, a sufficient number of bobbins are to 
be combined to make one thread of sewing silk, twisted 
°n,a common wheel, reeled off into hanks, the latter 
twisted partially, and folded by takingtwo or three turns, 
as in preparing common yarn for dying, put into some 
perfectly clear rain or river water, in which a quarter 
of a pound of good country soap to the gallon of water 
has been dissolved, and simmered over the fire three or 
four hours, or until the silk is perfectly freed of its gum, 
and becomes white. It must then be taken out, rinsed in 
hot rain or river water, and then in cold water. In this 
operation, great care must be observed to dip it gently* 
drawing it to and fro in the water, so as not to get the 
silk tangled, or in a snarl. It is then to be hung up to 
dry; after which it may be doubled and twisted into sew¬ 
ing silk. It should never be put up into large skeins, as 
it is apt to get tangled. One hundred threads is a good 
sized skein. If the whole work has been properly done, 
the silk will be beautifully white, with a rich gloss. 
G. B. Smith. 
morneatic (Srcoitontg. 
CHEESE COLORING. 
It takes a wise man in these days to determine what 
he eats and drinks. According to Ackum and Donovan, 
there is scarcely an article of food that is not adultera¬ 
ted, counterfeited, and imitated; some inferior article, 
less costly and valuable, being substituted for the origi¬ 
nal one. “ Bread is the staff of life,” but the baker well 
understands making- beautiful loaves out of other mate¬ 
rials than pure wheat flour. Potatoes, Plaster of Paris, 
Soap, Alum, &c. &c. are used, some of them to add to 
the weight of the loaf, and some of them to give the re¬ 
quisite whiteness and flavor to inferior or damaged flour. 
Yankee corn meal is transported to the West Indies, and 
is soon returned as first rate ginger, a sprinkling of that 
material being added to justify the advance in price. 
The sweepings of the floors of pepper and spice houses, 
mixed with a little of the powdered material, £ to swear 
by,’ is nicely packed in papers, or bottles, and sold to 
benefit the stomachs of consumers. Who shall unfold 
the abominations that are ushered into the stomach, where 
ready prepared chocolate, paper packed coffee, and simi¬ 
lar matters, are incautiously ventured upon. A man sits 
down at the table of one of our principal hotels, runs 
over the catalogue of French made dishes placed before 
him, and selects to his liking. Let him not dream, while 
he wipes his mouth and blesses his stars that he was so 
lucky in his choice, that he has been gormandizing on 
the flesh, the pastry, or the dessert, that invited and 
tempted his appetite. He has been eating, alas, he 
knows not what. There is no part of an animal, that the 
magical powers of an Ude cannot convert into whatever 
dish he pleases; and from the last joint of the tail to the 
jelly of the nose, all is precious in his eyes. A skinned 
rat makes a capital squirrel; worse things than a cat, 
have been eaten for hares or rabbits; and Gen. Gaines 
declares that horse flesh, if not too old, makes first rate 
roast beef. 
And our drinks too? Who is safe that ventures beyond 
water? Beer, it has been demonstrated in courts of law, 
is not that immaculate fluid it was once considered. 
Quassia, cocculus indicus, &c. &c. have usurped the 
place of hops and malt; and water, not always as pure 
as the springs of Helicon, is used for their decoction. 
The wine bibber quaffs his champagne, and thinks of the 
vine covered hills of France. Poor fool, a year has not 
elapsed since the fluid he is imbibing was coursing 
through a green gooseberry, or, as is more likely, a Nor¬ 
folk globe turnep. The guzzler of port defies the world 
to deceive him. His eye and his taste are infallible. The 
cobwebs, the crust, the cork, cannot be imitated; and he 
pronounces on the position of the vineyard, the bank of 
the Bouro, and the year of vintage, as he holds the glass 
alternately to the light and the lip, with an air of infalli¬ 
bility. Alas for human certainty! A New Jersey Har¬ 
rison crab furnished the liquor for its base; and in a 
wine cellar not perhaps a hundred rods from the domi¬ 
cile of the wise man, the logwood, and sugar, and bran¬ 
dy, were added, and the processes of clarification and 
bottling completed. The truth is, the man is cheated. 
Milk, the only substance God has created for food and 
for nothing else, how does this fare in the rage for adul¬ 
teration? We regret to say there is scarcely any thing 
used as food, that is treated more scurvily. The citizen 
of the country whose cows revel in clover, and whose 
fragrant pails of pure milk are deposited in bright and 
cool pans; who eats strawberries gathered by liis own 
rose lipped and bright eyed daughters, in cream from 
his own dairy, has never dreamed of the thousand im¬ 
purities and additions made to the milk used by the re¬ 
sidents of cities; additions so adulterating its quality, 
that a respectable farmer’s hog would turn away from it 
as an imposition. Milk can be made to order as well as 
a blanket, and the process is as well understood. Chalk, 
and starch, and a little gum, and a few similar matters, 
carefully stirred with pump water, makes very respecta¬ 
ble milk; at least about as good as that drawn from the 
swill guzzling and diseased animals, fed from the distil¬ 
leries and breweries. We have not yet heard that any 
one has been successful in making cheese out of this 
manufactured milk, but this is no proof that it will not 
be done, as in making articles that simulate food, meta¬ 
morphoses more strange than that almost daily occur. 
Confident we are, that if any method of making such a 
mass adhere could be devised, means would speedily be 
found to give it any desired flavor or color, from Parme¬ 
san to Cheshire, and not excepting the inoculating pro¬ 
cess with the epicurean varieties of the green mold. 
We have been led to these observations, by the peru¬ 
sal of a paper of considerable research and pretension, in 
the London Farmer’s Magazine, from the pen of George 
Whitley, on cheese coloring. To all the processes for 
coloring cheese, Mr. Whitley, and we think with rea¬ 
son, is a declared enemy. So long as dairymen confined 
themselves to annatto, there was at least assurance that 
151 
if the coloring did no good, it could do but little harm; 
and the cheese eater felt no apprehensions that he was 
swallowing poison, a point on which he is not now quite 
so clear as is desirable for healthy digestion. According 
to Mr. W. the preparation of cheese coloring has become 
a regular and extensive branch of manufacture; and sin¬ 
gular as it may seem, the compounds vended, while they 
derive the most of their value from the little annatto they 
contain, are sold at a cost far exceeding the common 
price of that article. Not less than 50,000 dollars are 
annually paid in the two English counties of Cheshire 
and Gloucester, for cheese coloring, money which is 
worse than thrownaway by the farmers of those cheese 
making districts. Mr. W. has been successful in obtain¬ 
ing the recipes for a number of the most celebrated of 
these cheese coloring preparations, which are given in 
the essay before us. The first, and probably the first in¬ 
vented, is as follows:—“Old bricks finely powdered; 
starch; turmeric powder; Spanish annatto; train oil. 
Mix to form a mass.” Powdering bricks, was doubtless 
too much like work for the color venders, and hence in 
the later recipes, the brick powder is omitted altogether. 
We give two of these later ones. Nos. 2, and 5, as spe¬ 
cimens of the whole. “ Turmeric powder; potash; 
Spanish annatto; soft soap. Mix to form a mass.” 
“Quick lime; potash; Spanish annatto; chalk, or in lieu 
of it, pipe clay; train oil. Mix to form a mass.” 
From the chemical nature of these ingredients, and 
from the experiments made upon them, it appears rea¬ 
sonable to infer that their action upon cheese must be 
very decided. Rennet is a peculiar acid, and when these 
alkaline ingredients, such as lime and potash, are added 
to the milk in coloring it, their effect in preventing the 
full action of the rennet, must be more or less felt. There 
will also be more or less of a combination between them, 
and the butter of the cheese, which will result in the for¬ 
mation of soap, or a saponaceous matter, materially af¬ 
fecting the quality of the manufactured article. This 
could not be the case where annatto alone was used. 
One thing is certain, the alkaline addition is fatal to the 
formation of the “true, rich, green mold,” so much 
prized by cheese amateurs, and so essential in determin¬ 
ing the quality of the article. 
We have said above that we disapprove the whole 
system of artificial coloring. Cheese when well made, 
will acquire speedily all the color that can be desired, 
and the best cheeses we have ever tasted, have been 
those made without any coloring preparation. It is true, 
with the aid of these mixtures, the fraudulent dairyman 
can use the skimmer freely, knowing his ability to imbue 
the purest and palest “white oaks” with the richest 
hue; and provide saponaceous material enough to make 
the mass soft and adhesive, one of the best indications 
of a rich old cheese. 
Onxrbim anb tlje ©rxijarir. 
TRANSPLANTING FRUIT GARDENS. 
Among the strange things of the present day, is the 
inconsistency between the want which nearly" all feel 
for delicious fruit, and the absence of a correspondent 
exertion for a supply. Indeed, a large portion of 
our population seem perfectly rabid for the produc¬ 
tions of our orchards, and to gratify their appetites, 
do not hesitate to resort to the wretched and mean 
expedient of stealing. And the sober and honest por¬ 
tion, who will please excuse me for naming them in the 
same paragraph, show the esteem with which they re¬ 
gard it, by the peculiar and strong expression of pleasure 
on their faces, when fine fruit is presented to them. Who 
would not be more gratified by receiving from his friend 
a peck of fine early peaches, or of excellent and delicious 
apricots, than a present of a peck of corn, or of a basket 
of potatoes? Is it not then most passing- strange, that of 
all the occupants of the soil, the fruit trees stand the worst 
chance? The farmer is willing to enclose effectually, to 
plant yearly, ar.d cultivate thoroughly, his field for pota¬ 
toes and corn; and woe to the intruder, two-legged, or 
four-legged, feathered or nnfeathered, who visits it for 
plunder! But fruit trees, though to be planted but once, 
are done so with reluctance; to hoe or spade them but 
once a year is regarded as a burdensome labor; and all 
kinds of intruders, from cattle to browse the tops, and 
mice to gnaw the roots, are suffered almost as a matter 
of course. Who can explain this paradox? 
To the many intelligent cultivators who are exceptions 
to these remarks, it is hardly necessary to say that it is 
inconceivably better for fruit trees to stand in constantly 
cultivated soil, which is occupied by such crops as beans, 
turneps or potatoes; or where it is absolutely needful 
that they stand in a grass field, the grass should always 
be kept as short as possible, and the trees spaded round 
every month through the season, to a distance of at least 
three feet on each side. It is also well known that very 
large holes for setting the trees in when they are trans¬ 
planted, by affording to the roots a broad deep bed of 
loose and fertile earth, is of the greatest importance. 
But the digging of holes six or eight feet in diameter, 
and a foot and a half deep, and the constant subsequent 
culture of the trees by hand labor, may seem too formi¬ 
dable to farmers in moderate circumstances. 
To obviate these objections, the following course may 
be pursued, and the labor of the common mode of tho¬ 
rough transplanting, and after culture, in a great measure 
avoided. The land to be allotted to the" fruit garden, 
having been properly enclosed, the rows may be laid off 
at a distance ot a rod and a half to two rods apart; and a 
