SF
-NRLF
1 T
MANUAL,
CONTAINING
DIRECTIONS FOR SOWING, TRANSPLANTING AND
RAISING
OF THE
MULBERRY TREE;
TOGETHER WITH
PROPER
THE SAME BY
AS ALSO,
FOR THE <
f of
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
CALCULATIONS SHEWING THE PRODUCE
AJVD PROBABLE EXPENSE
OF CULTIVATION OF FROM ONE TO TEN ACRES,
AS TBSTBD BV AOTWAI, BBSWI.TS.
BY EDWARD P. ROBERTS,
KDITOR FARMER AND GARDENER.
NOT FOR OURSELVES BUT FOR OTHERS.
•NTED BY SA»DS * NEILSON,
jy. E. corner of Baltimore and Charles-streets.
1885.
PREFACE.
In the compilation of this Manual, the au-
thor has spared no time which he could snatch
from his daily avocations, in reading various
authors and essays on the interesting subject
of the culture of silk, and he takes occasion
here to say, that, for the facts, directions, and
instructions, which may be found in it, he
is indebted to articles in the Encyclopedia
Jlmericana; Lardner^s Cyclopaedia; the Ed-
inburgh Encyclopedia; Kenrictfs Orchard-
ist, the observations on the silk worm by
William B. Buchanan, Esq., published in
1828, the treatise on the culture of silk, pub-
lished by Gideon B. Smith, Esq., in 1830;
the essays on American silk, published in 1830,
by John D^Homergue^and Peter S. Dupon-
ceau, Esqs. ; Cobb's Silk Manual, published
in 1831 ; Nicholson's Farmer's Assistant ; «#
brief treatise of the culture of Silk, published
in Boston, in 1 831 ; The Trade and Naviga-
tion of Great Britain, considered, by Joshua
Gee, published in 1760; the letter from James
Mease, transmitting a treatise on the rearing
of silk worms, by Mr. De Hazzi, of Munich;
and the manual of the secretary of the treasury
on the same subject ; both of which last works
were printed by Congress, in 1828; the vari-
ous articles respectively in those excellent
periodical journals, Fessendeti^s Silk Manual
and Practical Farmer ; The Silk Cullurist ;
" The Silk Worm ;" essays in the Farmer's
Register, and various other periodicals. —
From all of these works, he has derived the
most valuable information; but from the two
compilations printed by Congress, and the
treatise by Gideon B. Smith, Esq., he has re-
ceived the most light with respect to the cul-
ture of the Mulberry, and he feels that he
should not obey the dictates of his own feel-
ings did he not particularly acknowledge the
historical facts he derived from the excellent
and scarce work by Joshua Gee, Esq., as
connected with the early silk culture in A-
merica. To the treatise communicated to
Congress by Dr. Mease, and the letter of the
Secretary of the treasury based thereon, he
owes not only the arrangement, but in most
instances the language also, in which the
instructive part of his work is dressed ; nor
should he pass over noticing the immense ser-
vice he has derived from personal interviews
with his intelligent fellow townsman, Gideon
B. Smith, Esq., and he feels it due to candor
to observe, that wherever he has- had to recon-
cile the clashing of opinions, he has turned to
his sensible and judicious little work, as a
common mediator, and never without receiv-
ing the most able assistance. The work of.
Count Dandolo which forms the superstruc-
ture of the two congressional documents, pre-
viously noticed, is so full upon every head
connected with the subject, that after reading
every thing within his command, the editor's
only difficulty seemed to be to separate what
might be termed the purely scientific and phi-
losophical parts, from those of a more practical
character, with a view of presenting to the
agricultural community, a Manual, wherein all
might derive the necessary information to car-
ry on the silk culture in its every branch and
department, from the sowing of the Mulberry
seed to the reeling of the silk. How far he
has succeeded he will not pretend to say, but
shall leave that to others to determine — being
content, himself, in the declaration — that he
labored with a singleness of intention, to pro-
mote what he considers a great and growing
interest of his country.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OP THE
OP
SILK
REPRESENTATION
OF THE
DIFFERENT AGES OF THE SILK WORM.
You're spinning for my lady, worm,
Silk garments for the fair ;
You're spinning rainbows for a form
More beautiful than air;
When air is bright with sunbeams,
And morning mists arise
From woody vales and mountain streams,
To blue autumnal skies.
MONTGOMERY,
NON SJBI SED AMIS.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.
1. The egg, or the development and birth of the caterpillar.
2. The silk worms during the first age, till their first moulting.
3. Rearing of the worms in the second age.
4. The worms in their third age.
5. The rearing of the silk worm in the fourth age.
6. Of the rearing of the silk worms during the fifth age, until the completion of the cocoon.
7. A species of silk worm, of a dark grey colour, with singular marks.
8. The cocoons.
9. Two open cocoons, or cocoons with their grubs. The upper one contains only the shell of a
developed chrysalis; but in the lower is seen the immature chrysalis, with the skin of the late
moth.
10. A cocoon from which the butterfly is near emerging.
11. A cocoon from which the butterfly has already escaped.
12. Two butterflies in the act of coupling.
13. The female moths laying eggs.
14. Raw silk of a yellow or white colour.
15. Represents the excremental substance of the silk worm, in its first and last age.
HISTORICAL SKETCH,
OF THE
CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.
IN the third number of the present volume
of the Farmer and Gardener, the editor an-
nounced his intention of compiling a Silk
Manual. Since that time he has devoted
much of his leisure moments in reading such of
the various authors who have written upon the
subject, which were accessible to him, and
gleaning from them such things as appeared to
him to be necessary to be. known by persons
desirious of entering into the silk culture ;
and in the course of his readings, so many
circumstances of deep interest were developed
to him, that he thought it was due to the sub-
ject that the Manual should be preceded by
a brief historical sketch of the silk worm, the
origin of the silk manufacture, its introduc-
tion into Europe, and of its more recent in-
troduction into America. But as his limits are
circumscribed what he may say on the occa-
sion, must be considered more in the light of
an abstract, than of a historical view.
The deep and absorbing interest, which per-
vades every section of our country, at the pre-
sent moment, and the spirit of inquiry, which
is every where abroad, upon the subject of the
Mulberry and silk culture, seemed to require
that the public curiosity should be gratified,
and its wants met in a way to direct that in-
quiry into profitable results. Than America,
stretching as it does from the Atlantic, across
an almost boundless territory, to the Rocky
Mountains, there is, perhaps, no country in the
world more happily adapted, by the advan-
tages of climate and soil, to the culture of the
Mulberry, which is " native born" with us,
the nurturing and feeding of the worm, or for
the making and manufacturing of the silk. With
those natural advantages, possessed by us in
so pre-eminent a degree, when the enterprise
and genius of our people are considered, it be-
comes a matter of surprise that a business of-
fering so many inducements of pleasure and
profit, should have remained so long unim-
proved, and especially too, when so much
pains were taken by the government of the
mother country, to direct the attention of the
colonists to it from the period of its earliest
settlement, to just before the war of the revo-
lution. But that surprise must cease to oper-
ate, intensely, when the desire inherent in our
nature, of prefering present to prospective
gains is considered, and also, how natuial it
was for our forefathers to prefer the cul-
tivation of tobacco, a production which afford-
ed them an annual return, to that of the Mul-
berry and silk, whose avails to any considera-
ble extent, in the then state and knowledge of
the business, could not be looked for, for seve-
ral years. Thus situated, and desirous of rea-
lizing, at the end of each revolving year, the
fruits of their labor, they adhered to the culti-
vation of the " bitter weed," and their children
followed in their footsteps, until it became al-
most as cherished in their affections as house-
hold gods, and formed the chief staple of seve-
ral of the colonies. But it has thus happened
that adherence to its culture has so exhausted
the soil of its fertility, that many of its owners
have been driven to the necessity of departing
from the haunts of their childhood;, or of en-
tering into other systems of husbandry. In
this state of things, the editor desires to be an
humble co-adjutorin directing public attention
once more to the silk culture, in the hope that
he may, in part, be instrumental in placing the
means within the acquisition of all, of improv-
ing the soil on which they dwell, and thus re-
lieve them from the painful alternative of go-
ing in search of strange lands. Influenced by
such considerations, he was induced to under-
take the present task, and with * this hasty
outline of his object and intentions, he will
10
proceed in the discharge of the duties which
have thus devolved upon him. In giving the
history of the silk culture, it is not his purpose
to enter upon the natural history of the worm
itself: however interesting that might be to
naturalists and men of science, the honest yeo-
manry of the country entertain no great curiosi-
ty in the premises. rn~ iU~ ~ :i :~ ~ — " — *
perfect indifference
To them it is a matter of
how many antennae and
pectinated fillets the worm may possess, suffi-
cient it is for all purposes of profit, that it. is
known to fabricate a beautiful thread of finely
attenuated texture. He will, however, do
what is infinitely better — endeavor to teach
them, in a plain and unostentatious way, all
things necessary to be known to enable them
to lay hold of the business with a certain
prospect of large profits. With these pre-
fatory remarks, he will venture on that part
of his plan connected with the oiigin, rise, and
progress, of the silk business.
The silk worm, or catterpillar, is called
lombyx from the Greek word signifying sound.
There were two kinds amongst the Greeks,
the one a hairy catlerpillar, the other the silk
worm proper, as known at the present day.
The real silk web was first known, as far as
history gives an account, in ancient Serica, a
part of the Chinese Empire, beyond the 35th
degree. Forests of Mulberry trees there grew
and the worms colonising themselves among
them for centuries, fed upon their rich foliage
of his subjects. The Empress, as became her,
together with the women of her household,
gathered the silk worms from the trees, pla-
ced them in the imperial apartments, caused
them to be supplied abundantly with leaves
from the Mulberry forests, and kept clean.
The result of this experiment was, that it was
soon found the c jcoons raised within the impe-
rial apartments, were infinitely superior in
quality, and more numerous and richer in silk
than those raised in the open air, where they
were exposed to the injurious effects of the
changes of the temperature of the air, and
where they were, also, exposed to the depre-
dations of their natural enemies, serpents, ants
and spiders.
Similar exertions for the domestic culture
as we are told, were made by the succeeding
Empresses, so that it became the principal
occupation of the Empresses, and the apart-
ments of the imperial palace were given up to
it. From the highest rank of females, it came
at last to be exercised by the whole fair sex,
and ultimately gained such favor, that it turn-
ed to be the principal source of the wealth of
China, and the fair sovereigns of the Empire,
did not content themselves with the rearing of
the worms, but attended also, to the card-
ing and weaving of their finely spun webs.
The original promotress of the art in China,
the Empress Si-Leng-Chi, taught her women
undisturbed by man, who, if he had so design-
ed it, might have gathered the precious thread
and provided himself with clothing, without
much labor. The worms were permitted,
however, to remain long untouched and the
beautiful article of their fabrication continued
for centuries alike unprofitable and neglect-
ed.
In the reign of the Emperor Houng-Ti, a
new era commenced in the culture of Silk.
The worms were then, for the first time, shel-
tered and carefully attended to. The history
of China, as our author says, mentions, that
700 years before Abraham, and 2,700 years
before the Christian era, Houng-Ti, "the Em-
peror of the earth," who reigned for more
than a hundred years, taught the Chinese to
construct houses, carts, ships, mills and other
useful things of a similar kind, and persuaded,
moreover, his first and legitimate consort, Si-
Leng-Chi, to attend to the silk worms, and to
try several experiments, in order to increase
their utility ; wishing as he said, and as a good
monarch Raturally would, that his wife, the
Empress, might also contribute to the welfare
not only to convert the new material into
clothing stuffs, but to embroider them with
representations of flowers and animals.
In order to encourage the rearing of the
worms, and the weaving and manufacturing
of silk, the Emperor, the learned classes, the
princes, courtiers and Mandarins, and in short,
all who were sufficiently affluent dressed in
satin or damask. Subsequently, silk became
an article of exportation, and found its way
into all the other countries of Asia, and ulti-
mately to Europe. The caravans were seen
going from the coasts of China to those of
Syria, usually occupying as much as two hun-
dred and forty-three days on the journey.
The Phoenecians finally found their way to the
East of Europe.
The Greeks, it is affirmed by writers, de-
rived their first knowledge of silk from the
military expeditions of Alexander into Persia
and India, and Jlrislotle called the attention of
his country to it as early as three hundred and
fifty years before Christ.
When this fabric was first introduced among
the Romans, owing to itsv-high price, the
chains only were of silk, and the filling either
11
of linen or cotton, and may therefore be call-
ed half silk stuffs; but a general outcry soon
arose, even against the half silk stuffs, under
the pretence that they were too expensive
and too womanish. Even as late as the reign
of the Emperor Tiberius, seventeen years af-
ter Christ, it was ordered '•'•that no silk dress
should henceforth disgrace a Roman city" In
the reign of Marcus Aurelius, in the year 173,
such attire was only worn by the ladies of the
highest rank. The Syrian voluptuary, He-
liogabulus, it is stated, was the first who wore
a dress wholly composed of silk, in the year
218; but in the year of our Lord 270, Jlure-
lianus denied to his wife, Severa, such a dress,
colored with purple. "Let us not," said he,
"exchange gold for spider's web, — and indeed,
at that epoch, silk was of the same value with
gold, being exchanged weight for weight.
The Persians enjoyed for centuries the
monopoly of the trade in silk ; but after their
subjugation by Alexander, three hundred
years before the birth of Christ, Greece and
Rome became participants of the trafic ; and
such was the anxiety of the Romans to trade
with a people who were competent to the
production cf so beautiful an article, that the
Emperor ^Marcus Jlntonius sent ambassadors
to China to negotiate a more direct commer-
cial intercourse, and a second embassay was
despatched with the same view in the year
272, the results of which were more favora-
ble. The price of silk remained, however,
so high, and it rose so much in the estimation
of the Romans, that Justinian made anothei
attempt soon after he ascended the throne to
obtain a more certain as well as an increased
supply. Julian also, subsequently made £
similar effort but failed. The preachers o
the doctrines of JVes/or, who were exiled by
the government of Byzantium, fled to India
Their patriarch, who resided in Persia, sen
missions, and established convents and bishop
ricks in every direction. And it is related o
two of his monks, who had been employed as
missionaries in some of the Christian churchei
which were instituted indifferent parts of In
dia, having penetrated into the country of th<
Seres, had observed the labors of the silk
worms, and become acquainted with the art o
working their production into a variety o
elegant fabrics. Aware of the solicitude o
the Europeans on this subject, they repairet
to Constantinople, and imparted to the Empe
ror Justinian the secret which had hithert(
been so well preserved by the Seres, that sil!
was produced by a species of worms, th
eggs of which might be transported with
afety, and propagated in the dominions. By
ic promise of a great reward, says the ac-
ount, they were induced to return and brought
way a quantity of the silk worm's eggs in
le hollow of a cane, and conveyed them safely
o Constantinople about the year 555. These
vere hatched in the proper season by the
varmth of a manure heap, the worms fed
vith the leaves of the Mulberry tree, and
lieir race propagated under the direction of
be monks. The insects thus happily produced
rom this caneful of eggs, were, it is affirmed,
he progenitors of all the silk worms of Eu-
ope and the western part of Asia. Vastnum-
ers of these insects were soon thereafter
eared in different parts of Greece, and par-
icularly in the Peloponnesus. The monks
laving also made themselves masters of the
art of manufacturing silk, the business was
conducted under the auspicies of the Emperor,
and for his exclusive benefit; but the imperial
monopoly could not long continue, and man-
kind, gradually, became possessed of the pre-
vious insects, after the death of Justinian, in
he year 565. The people of the Peninsula,
and of the cities of Athens, and Thebes, en-
oyed the profit of the culture and manufac-
ure of silk for upwards of 400 years, and the
Venetians during the continuance of their
commercial glory, distributed the products of
iheir industry over the western parts of Eu-
rope. Things remained thus until Roger, the
Norman, King of Sicily, after his return from
the second crusade, in the year 1146, invaded
Greece and captured a great number of silk
weavers, who were carried off and settled in
Palermo, the capital city of the conqueror.
By order of the King, the Grecian prison-
ers taught his Sicilian subjects to raise and
feed silk worms, and to weave the various va-
rieties of the silk stuffs, and so well did they
profit by their instructions, that in twenty
years, the silk manufactures of Sicily elicited
the warmest commendations from most of the
historians of the age.
The Saracens had before this time engaged
in the manufacture of silk. Lisbon and Al-
meira and the island of Majorca, were famous
for their silk fabrics. Louis XI of France and
his son Charles VIII made attempts to intro-
duce the manufacture, but the honor of success
belongs to Henry IV.
As early as the year 1455, mention is made
of a company of silk women in England, and
the business had become so important in 1504,
as to receive a prohibitory statute in its favor.
In 1561, queen Elizabeth, or as she was more
familiarly termed, the good queen Bess, re-
ceived a present of a pair of black silk stock-
ings, with which it is stated she was so well
pleased that she never afterwards wore any
of another material.
In 1608, James I, who had several times
recommended the manufacture from the throne,
addressed a long letter upon the subject, writ-
ten with his own hand, to the Lord Lieuten-
ants of every county in the kingdom, to whom
Mulberry seeds and plants were sent for dis-
tribution, together with a book of instructions ;
but notwithstanding his earnest wishes on the
subject, it was not until the latter part of his
reign that he had the pleasure of seeing the
business permanently established. Since then
to the present, the manufacture of silk has
been carried on extensively in England ; but
owing to the humidity of the climate, she nev-
er has been, and never can become, extensive-
ly or profitably engaged in the culture of the
Mulberry and the management of the worms,
and of necessity is compelled to seek the raw
material in France and other silk raising
countries. The ultimate success of the silk
manufacture in England, arose chiefly from
an act of religious persecution in France in
1685, when by the revocation of the edict of
Nantes, all the Protestants were driven from
France, and settled in England, where they
commenced the silk business. The introduc-
tion oF'the silk throwing mill by Sir Thomas
Lombe, of Derby, in the year 1719, greatly
promoted the manufacture by the increased
rapidity imparted to the process of preparing
the raw material.
Having thus incidentally named Sir Thom-
as Lomhe, it may not be uninteresting to men-
tion a fact connected with the family, which
will go far to shew the difficulties with which
the introduction of this business was first in-
troduced into England, and how jealous were
the Italians of permitting all knowledge con-
nected with the manufacture of silk from es-
caping from their country. There were three
brothers, Thomas, Henry, and John Lombe,
the first who was sheriff of London on the oc-
casioa of the coronation of George the II., in
1727, was knighted. About this time, the Ital-
ians had introduced great improvement in the
art of throwing silk, and rendered it impossible
for the Lombes, who were engaged in the silk
throwing business at London, to bring their
goods into the market upon any thing like terms
of equality with the Italian. The younger
brother was a lad at the time, and by the laws>
of the Italians it was made death for any one
to discover any thing connected with the silk
manufacture: with this addition, the forfeiture of
their goods, and their person and name to be
painted on the outside of the' prison walls,
hanging to the gallows by one foot, with an
inscription to remain as a perpetual mark of in-
famy. These severe and degrading penalties
would, one would think, have been a barrier
to the curiosity of almost any one; but it
had no dreads for young Lombe. He proceed-
ed to Italy, and after various ineffectual at-
tempts to procure drawings and an insight in-
to the business, he at last ingratiated himself
into the good opinion of a priest, who confess-
ed the family to whom the silk factory belong-
ed ; through his interest he obtained employ-
ment in the mill as a fillatoe-boy to superin-
tend a spinning engine. Whilst others slept
he was awake and diligently employed in his
arduous and dangerous undertaking. He had
possessed himself of a dark lantern, tinder
box, wax-candles and a case of mathematical
instruments. In the day time, these were se-
creted in the hole under the stairs where he
used to sleep, and no person ever indicated
the least curiosity to ascertain the extent of
the possessions of young Lombe, who had so
far disguised himself as to present the appear-
ance of a most wretched being. By this
means he obtained drawings of every part of
the machinery, and through means of his
friend the priest, he conveyed them to Eng-
land in piece meal, in bales of silk. These
originals are still preserved in the Derby mills.
After Lombe had completed his drawings he
waited until an English ship was on the point of
sailing for England, when he left the works. and
hastened on board. His absence excited sus-
picion, and an Italian brig was despatched in
pursuit ; but the English vessel, being the bet-
ter sailer of the two, escaped.
There are other mills more recently erect-
ed at Derby on similar principles, which
greatly surpass those of the Messrs. Lombe,
in grandeur and efficiency, but the old mill
continues to be regarded as the chief object
of interest, being the first established of the
kind, and associated with so romantic an in-
cident in the life of one of its first proprie-
tors.
This brings us to that part of the history of
the culture which relates more immediately
to our own country.
The culture of silk in America first com-
menced in the state of Virginia, the attention
of the settlers being called to it by the British
13
government, in the 20th year of the reign of
James I. Having unsuccessfully attempted to
introduce it into his own kingdom, in Europe,
he was the more desirous of doing so in his
transatlantic possessions, in order that his
manufacturers at home might draw their sup-
plies of the raw material from his colonies in
America. With the view of furthering his
object, which had now become quite a favo-
rite with him, silk worm eggs, Mulberry trees,
and printed directions were early sent to Vir-
ginia, to encourage the silk culture, and as the
king had "understood that the soil naturally
yieldeth stores of excellent. Mulberries," he
gave special instructions to the Earl of South-
ampton, to urge the cultivation of silk in the
colonies in preference to tobacco, " which
brings with it many disorders and inconve-
niences." In accordance to which, the Earl
wrote a letter on the subject to the governor,
and council of Virginia, in which he desired
them to compel the colonists to plant Mul-
berry trees. In 1 623, the colonial assembly
directed that they should be planted; and in
1656, the culture of silk is described as the
most profitable commodity for the country,
and a penalty of three pounds of tobacco is
imposed upon every planter who should fail
to plant at least ten Mulberry trees for every
hundred acres of land in his possession. A
premium also of 4000 pounds of tobacco was
at the same time given to a person as an in-
ducement to remain in the country, and pro-
secute the trade in silk; and the following
year, a premium was offered of 10,000 pounds
of tobacco to any one who should export
£200 worth of the raw material of silk, and
5000 pounds of the same article to any one
who should produce 1000 pounds of wound
silk in one year. The act coercing the plant-
ing of a given number of trees was repealed in
1656, and renewed two years thereafter; but
the system of bounties and penalties was con-
tinued until 1666, when, owing to the success
of the culture they were deemed unnecessary ;
but in 1 6 1 9 it was again renew ed ; and subse-
quently entirely ceased.
While Sir William Berkeley was in Eng-
land, on the occasion of his reappointment as
governor, in conversation with the King, his
majesty strongly recommended the culture of
silk, and as an inducement to the colonists to
attend to his advice, mentioned " that he had
formerly worn some of the silk of Virginia,
which he found not inferior to that raised in
other countries."
The encouragement given by the colonial
Legislature, had the desired effect, a spirit of
generous enterprise and emulation was infus-
ed into the minds of the agriculturists of the old
dominion, Mulberry trees were generally
planted and the raising of silk worms
was made a part of the business of many of
the farmers. Indeed, so zealously did the
larger planters and farmers enter into it, that
many were found to come forward and claim
the premium offered by the Legislature; and
among these was a Major Walker, a member
of that body, who produced satisfactory testi-
mony of having 70,000 trees growing in the
year 1664. The eastern part of the state
abounds with the White Mulberry trees at
present, thus offering the inhabitants the
means of promptly taking up the silk culture,
as a part of their system of husdandry.
In that excellent and scarce work, entitled
" The trade and navigation of Great Britain
and Ireland, by Joshua Gee," published in
1760, there are numerous evidences of the
deep and pervading interest which was then,
and had been long felt by the government of
England, to introduce the culture of silk into
their colonies. One of these relates to the in-
terest taken by James I., and as it is a little
different, rather in form, however, than sub-
stance, to the version already given, we will
transcribe it.
"King James the first concerned himself
much in trade ; yet in imitation of Henry IV.
of France, (who was wonderful assidious in
promoting all sorts of manufactures, and
among the rest, that of planting Mulberry
trees, and raising silk,) made some essays to-
wards such a design here, and he and his
courtiers seemed to be very fond of the under-
taking, and letters were writ to Virginia to
promote that manufacture. Some small pro-
gress was made there and letters passed be-
tween the planters and gentlemen here; but
as soon as they thought they had engaged the
planters to begin upon it, instead of promoting
it heartily, and sending some able and skilful
persons to direct the undertaking, they threw
all upon the planters, and that noble design
came to nothing, whereas that of France suc-
ceeded to the immense profit of that king-
dom." p 3. 6th ed.
If any proof were wanting of the adaptation
of our country, in climate and soil for the silk
culture, it is to be found in the pages of this
work, the edition of which now before us is
75 years old. In page 20, in a chapter on
" Trade between England and Carolina," Mr.
Gee remarks: —
14
u Carolina lies in as happy a climate as any
in the world, from 32 to 36 degrees of north-
ern latitude, the soil is generally fertile ; the
rice it produces is said to be the best in the
world ; and no country affords better silk than
has been brought from thence."
Again, in p. 22, he remarks :
" As Carolina is likely to become the pro-
perty of the crown, the rich grounds that lie
under the Apulachean hills, and through Vir-
ginia, etc. are inviting places for raising silk."
And in p. 104, &c. we have the fol-
lowing strong proof of the great interest felt by
the government of Great Britain, not only for
the culture of silk in this country •, but of the
then existing favorable opinion as to the prac-
ticability of it. Mr. Gee says:
" If care was taken to cultivate and improve
the raising of silk in our plantations, Carolina,
Virginia, ^Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
would produce the best of silk, and as fit for
organzine as any in the world; for these
countries produce vast numbers of white and
other Mulberry trees, which grow wild and
spring up almost every where in great abun-
dance, which looks as if nature had called us
thither to propagate that manufacture ; and if
put on foot, would in time be of as great ad-
vantage to this nation as any employment in
the plantations ; for as I have already observ-
ed, the manufacture of silk is a most profitable
undertaking, where the land and air is proper
for raising it."
" The vast riches of China, by this manu
facture is sufficient to demonstrate the great
advantages thereof; and the extraordinary
treasure the Duke of Savoy draws into his
country by silk, which is made in that little
principality of Piedmont, as I have already
observed, is also another instance ; we may
judge, if he draws above two hundred thou-
sand pounds a year from England, what his
profits are which he draws from Holland, and
other places where the manufacture is carried
on to a very great degree."
* **"# * * # #
"Very great things may be expected by
our encouraging and promoting the manufac-
ture of silk in our colonies. * * * * No
part of the world better [suited to the silk
worm] than is our colonies ; no silk cleaner
more glossy, of a better body, nor fitter to an-
swer the use of the fine thrown silk we have
from Italy, than the small quantity of silk tha
has been imported from thence." [The Ameri-
can colonies.] *******>
" We are told by a gentleman of good in-
telligence, the whole charge of making a
a pound of silk in China, does not stand in
above five shillings, and almost any person,
man, woman, or child, may work at it, and
a man or woman, with a child to assist in di-
recting the thread of the silk, may with a pro-
per machine reel from tlie cocoon or silk bag,
one pound in a day."
* * * * " Now I should think the la-
bor of slaves employed in this work, would
produce above twice as much as those that are
employed in planting either sugar or tobac-
co."
These are the opinions of an eminent Eng-
ish political economist, who wrote three quar-
;ers of a century ago, and they go to establish
two points very clearly, that the silk culture
was esteemed, even at that early day, very
lighly by the most judicious thinking men,
and that the peculiar advantages possessed by
our country for the culture, was then well un-
derstood, and duly appreciated by the first in-
telligences of the age.
As early as 1732, upon the settlememt of
Georgia, the culture of silk was also contem-
plated as a principal object of attention, and
lands were granted to settlers upon the ex-
press condition, that they planted one hundred
White Mulberry trees on every ten acres
when cleared. Trees, seed, and the eggs of
the silk worms, were sent over by the coloni-
al trustees, and an Episcopal clergyman, and a
native of Piedmont, were engaged to instruct
the people in the art of rearing the worms and
winding the silk. And in order to preserve
the spirit of the silk culture, and to keep the
views of government present before the people,
the public seal had on one side of it a repre-
sentation of silk worms in their various stages,
with this appropriate motto, "non sibi sed
aims'" NOT FOR OURSELVES BUT FOR OTH-
ERS. By the manuscript proceedings of those
colonial trustees, it appears that the first silk
received from Georgia, was in the year 1735,
when 81bs. of raw silk were exported from
Savannah to England, where it was made in-
to a piece and presented to the Queen. The
exportations from Georgia increased until the
year 1756. During the intervening periods
large quantities of silk were at times ex ported
to England. The exportation of raw silk in
1759 amounted to upwards of 10,000 pounds,
and brought two or three shillings per pound
more than that of any other country. It is
stated that the last parcel brought for sale to
Savannah was in the year 1790.
Attention to the Mulberry and silk culture
15
appears to have been paid at a very early pe- 1 The worms were fed upon the native Mulberry
until the White Mulberry could be reared, and
it is remarked that they thrived well and yield-
ed good silk. While this association was in
existence, many garments were made of silk
reared by its members ; but the war of the
revolution put a stop chiefly to their patriotic
nod in South Carolina by the ladies, with
whom it was a fashionable occupation, and
who were in the habit of sending their raw
silk to England. As far back as 1755, Mrs.
Pinckney, a lady distinguished alike by her
patriotism, and excellently improved mind,
took with her to England a quantity of supe-
rior silk, sufficient to make three complete
dresses. One of these was presented to the
Princess dowager of Wales, another to Lord
Chesterfield, and the third being retained by
her, was a few years since in possession of
one of her daughters in Charleston. Even at
this early period, these American productions
were allowed by competent judges to be equal
to any ever imported into England. The dress in
possession of the daughter of Mrs. Pinckney,
Mrs. Horry, in Charleston, South Carolina,
was in 1809, still in a good state of preserva-
tion, and remarkable for its beauty, firmness
and strength. Though the quantity of raw
silk exported from this country was always
small, yet its quality according to the certifi-
cate of Sir Thomas Lombe, the eminent silk
manufacturer, was excellent, having as much
strength and beauty as the silk of Italy.
In Georgia, at New Bordeaux, a French
settlement about 70 miles above Augusta, the
people supplied much of the high country
with sewing silk during the war of the revo-
lution.
In the year 1770, we see it stated by the
editor of the Genesee Farmer, that a filature
was established in Philadelphia, and premi-
ums announced, and that in the following year,
1771, about 2,300 Ibs. of silk were brought
there to reel. The ladies in particular gave
great attention to the subject. As early as
1770, Mrs. Susanna Wright, at Columbia,
Lancaster county, made a piece of manlua, 60
yards in length from her own cocoons ; and
that, to give eclat to these colonial designs,
the Queen of Great Britain gave her patron-
age by appearing in a court dress made from
American silk. Grace Fisher, a minister
among friends, made considerable silk stuff:
a piece of which was presented by governor
Dickinson to the celebrated Catharine Ma-
cauley. It is also stated that many ladies be-
fore the revolution wore silk dresses of their
own fabrication.
In the year 1771, the culture of the silk
worm commenced with considerable spirit in
the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
and a society was formed for that purpose.
labors, and suspended, in a great measure, the
culture of silk. Some few of the more per-
severing of the members of the society, still
continued the culture on a small scale, pro-
ducing from year to year a sufficiency of sew-
ing silk for domestic use. In 1790 Nathan-
iel Aspinwall, of Connecticut, made a patri-
otic effort to revive the Mulberry culture
in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
and planted, and caused to be planted, thou-
sands of trees in those states, for which good
service, his memory deserves to be embalmed
in the grateful recollections of his countrymen.
Among those gentlemen who took an active
part in starting the culture in Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, in 1771, Doctor Franklin
and Dr. Cadwallader Evans stood conspicu-
ous, as they did in all other good works with-
in the range of their influence.
During the last few years a spirit has been
revived in the state of Pennsylvania to engage
in the silk culture, and particularly in the
neighborhood of Philadelphia, where several
large establishments are projected and being
projected. One of the great obstructions in
the advance of the silk culture in this country,
from the earliest attempts to establish it, has
been the want of a market for the sale of the
raw silk, either in cocoons, or when reeled ;
and another is, the idea which prevails of the
immense difficulty of reeling it to advantage ;
but both of these have ceased to operate ;
markets in the eastern cities, offering fair re-
munerating prices, are already established for
any quantity of raw silk in any state in which
it may be offered, and the simplicity of the
newly invented reel of Mr. Gay has brought
the art down to the level of almost any capa-
city. For ourself we have ever looked upon
the difficulty of reeling as being much more
imaginary than real, and the success of the
lady of whom we spoke a few weeks
back, who, with an old thread reel, managed
to disengage the web from the cocoons and to
make as excellent sewing silk as we ever be-
held, shews that we were correct. We have
been taught, from our youth up, that no diffi-
culties are insurmountable when opposed by
willing hearts and industrious hands, and we
have scarcely ever seen an instance in which
the truth of the position was not fully estab-
lished.
At Economy, Pennsylvania, near Pitts-
burgh, the culture in all its branches, from
the feeding of the worm to the manufacture oJ
the silk is extensively carried on by those
worthy gentlemen and public spirited men,
the Messrs. Rapp, and we have seen specimens
of the silk wove there, which were no less
beautiful to the eye than elastic in quality.
Mr. Joseph Ripka of Philadelphia has a
flourishing plantation containing ten acres of
Mulberry trees on the Point-no-Point road,
and intends entering into the silk culture on a
large scale; and a Mr. Upton, also of Phila-
delphia, has been engaged in the silk manu-
facture, but to what extent we are unable to
say.
In Maryland the culture of the Mulberry
and silk worm has for many years been con-
ducted on a small scale by individuals. We
have seen many specimens of fine sewing silk,
and have been informed that several ladies in
the lower part of this state on the Western
Shore, as well as others on the Eastern, have
succeeded in fabricating very pretty speci-
mens of silk cloth. Among those in our own
city who have taken a lead in this business,
we should not omit to mention the names of
Mrs. Kesiah Norris, Mrs. Flax, Mr. Wm.
B. Buchanan, Mr. Gideon B. Smith and Mr.
J. Y. Tompkins. The three latter individuals
have largely contributed by their intelligent
and praiseworthy labors, not only to keep
alive the spirit of enterprise, but have thrown
much light upon the subject. Mrs. Norris
too, deserves especial notice, being of late
years, perhaps the first one to engage in it in
this quarter ; and had she not been cut off in
the midst of her usefulness, we have no doubt
she would long ere this have brought the manu-
facture to perfection. Some years before her
death she and her husband had settled upon a
small estate near Baltimore, and commenced a
plantation of the Mulberry, with the view of
carrying on the business, and just as those
trees were beginning to yield food for her
worms, she was stricken to the earth. It does
not appear that any one else in Maryland, so
far as our researches have gone, ever under-
took it as a branch of husbandry, and this is
the more to be wondered at, as no state in the
Union is more happily situated for conducting
it to advantage. Her climate and soil are both
peculiarly adapted to the culture of the Mul-
berry ; she has a great proportion of light,
sandy, gravelly and dry .lands, which years of
exhausting culture have rendered almost use-
less for other agricultural purposes, that could
be profitably occupied in this culture. These
circumstances would seem to point out with
unerring certainty the policy of entering into
the silk culture, not only to Maryland, but to
every other state in the Union similarly situa-
ted, and without intending or wishing to be un-
derstood as being invidious, we might mention
as kindred states, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South
Carolina, as well as parts of Georgia.
In Connecticut, attention to the culture of
silk commenced about the year 1760, by the
introduction of the White Mulberry tree and
eggs of the silk worms, into the county of
Windham and town of Mansfield, from Long
Island, New York, by that patriotic citizen
and enterprising agriculturist to whom we
have before alluded, Mr. N. Aspinwall, who
had there planted a large nursery. He also
planted an extensive nursery of the trees
in New Haven, and was active in obtaining
of the Legislature of the state of Connecticut,
an act granting a bounty for planting of the
trees. The premium was liberal, being ten
shillings for every hundred trees which should
be planted, and preserved in thrifty condition
for three years, and three pence per ounce for
all raw silk which the owners of trees should
produce from cocoons of their own raising
within the state. After the necessity of a
bounty upon trees had ceased, one was
granted on raw silk manufactured within the
state. An old statute continues in force, which
requires skeins of sewing silk to consist of
twenty threads each two yards long.
It may not be amiss here to mention as an
act of justice, that in England the most intense
anxiety existed to further the culture of silk
n this country, nor was this praiseworthy so-
icitation confined to the King or his ministers;
ndividual associations fully participated. The
satriotic society in London for the promotion
of arts, #c. paid several hundred pounds ster-
ing between the years 1755 and 1772, for
Dremiums for planting Mulberry trees, and for
cocoons and raw silk made, to various per-
sons in Georgia, South Carolina and Connec-
ticut.
After the war of the revolution, the business
of the silk culture was renewed and gradually
xtended; and it is recorded that in the year
1789, 200 Ibs. of raw silk were made in the
town of Mansfield, in Windham county, Con-
necticut. In 1810, the value of the sewing
17
silk, made in the three counties of New Lon-
don, Windham, and Tolland, was estimated
by the U. S. Marshal, at $28,503, but the
value of the domestic fabrics made from the
refuse silk, and worn in these counties is not
taken into the account; and it is affirmed that
they may be fairly estimated at half of that
sum. In 1885, it is stated that the silk culture
had increased so much in Windham county as
to be double what it was in 1 8 1 0. In the let-
ter of the Hon. Ambrose Spencer of Albany,
of New York, to S. M. Hopkins, Esquire, of
Geneva, of the same state, dated the 7th
April, 1835, he introduced the following as
facts, on the authority of the Burlington Free
Press : that raw silk was produced in the town
of Mansfield, Connecticut, to the amount of
over $6O,OOO in 1834; and that the
county of Windham produces five tons of silk
annually, valued at $5<MMMIO, and that if
reeled would be worth double that sum. This
statement the judge fully believes is substan-
tially true. Whether the other counties en-
gaged in its culture in Connecticut have been
blessed with an equal ratio of increase, we have
no present means of ascertaining; but from
the general reputation for sagacity and thrift
of the people., we rest assured that there has
been no standing still in the prosecution of a
business offering so many inducements of
pleasure, interest and profit. In 1828, the
Hon. Zalmon Storrs stated in answer to a cir-
cular addressed to him by the Secretary of
the treasury, " that three-fourths of the fami-
lies in the town of Mansfield were engaged in
raising silk, and make annually from o to 10,
20, and 50 Ibs. in a family, and one or two
have made each 100 Ibs. in a season ; it is be-
lieved that there are annually made in Mans-
field and the vicinity from three to four tons.
The farmers there, considered, at the period
of which we are speaking, the amount receiv-
ed for their sewing silk as so much clear
gain, as the business did not interfere with the
regular farm work of the men, or the domes-
tic duties of the females, upon whom with the
aged and youthful members of the family, the
care of the worms, and the making of the
sewing silk chiefly devolves."
A new factory has just been erected at.
Hartford, called the Connecticut silk factory,
with a capital of upwards of 40,000 dollars;
the building is 120 feet long by 44 feet wide,
two stories high, with a basement story. This
factory has about 100 silk looms with ma-
chinery, the whole to be operated by a steam
engine of 8 or 10 horse power. For want of
3 '
raw silk, the company has been compelled td
go into the manufacture of Tuscan straw,
gimps, fringes, tyc. articles in which but lit-
tle raw silk is incorporated. A circumstance
which shows that the demand is very far in
advance of the supply: and another is going
into operation at Concord ; the latter estab-
lishment has commenced the cultivation of
the Mulberry.
Mr. Harvey Johnson, in a letter to the edi-
tor of the Silkworm, states, that his father as
far back as 50 y^ars ago planted " 2000 trees
and carried on the silk business in Connecti-
cut for a number of years, that though it was
difficult to find workmen who understood dye-
ing, weaving or manufacturing, they made a
number of pieces of cloth for women and men's
wear, one piece of handkerchiefs, and a num-
ber of pairs of stockings, some knit and some
wove, and some pairs of gloves, and he has
still a pair of gloves which he believes were
made 35 years ago."
Societies having for their object the intro-
duction and extension throughout the respec-
tive counties, of the knowledge and practice of
raising Mulberry trees, of feeding and manag-
ing silk worms, and reeling silk from the ca-
coons in the most approved methods, have
been formed in the counties of Hartford, New
Haven, Middlesex and Fairfield. In Nor-
wich a company has been formed, who have
planted 1,000 trees, and fed the last season
1 20,000 worms.
The Legislature with a most laudable de-
sire to promote the interests of the state, have
passed a law giving a bounty of one dollar for
every hundred Mulberry trees properly plant-
ed and cultivated until they are five years old,
and also fifty cents for every pound of silk reel-
ed in the present improved mode ; and still fur-
ther to extend its fostering care to this pecu-
liar branch of industry, in chartering the Ex-
change Bank, they rendered it obligatory upon
that institution to furnish every county i-n the
state, applying therefor, with 8 Ibs. of Mul-
berry seed, and also wish eggs of the silk
worm not exceeding 100,000; one reel for
the purpose of reeling the silk, as also a per-
son capable of teaching the art and mystery of
raising the Mulberry, and reeling the silk,
which service is to be continued for five
years.
The edhorof the Silk Culturistsaysthathe
has in his possession several samples of beau-
tiful changable silk made in Berlin, Connec-
ticut, in 1791, by Mrs. Elishama Brandr.gee,
taken from dresses now in the family of Mr.
18
Brandegee, one of her sons, who says he
helped to pick the leaves to feed the worms,
and|that the silk was reeled by his mother and
wove in that town. The fabric is even and
the surface is smooth and lustrous, the colors
bright and fast. The sample of one dress is
wove of red and black, and was intended for
a present to the lady of General Washington,
but for some cause not remembered was never
presented to her.
In all the other New England states, with
the exception of Maine, perhaps, more or less
attention has been given to the silk culture.
In Massachusetts great attention has been
paid to it within the last few years, and the art
of manufacturing the article has, perhaps,
been brought to greater perfection there than
in any other part of our country. Mr. Cobb,
of Dedham, in the vicinity of Boston, began the
cultivation of the Mulberry tree in 1826, and
since that time, notwithstanding the nature of
the soil, which is not the most favorable, has,
extended his operations so much as to be able
to bring his manufactured silk to the Boston
market to the amount of about one hundred
dollars per week." Mr. Cobb's factory has
lately been merged in a new company, with a
capital of $100,000, called the New England
Silk Company, whose sole object is the manu-
facture of silk under the superintendence of
Mr. Cobb. Another company has been form-
ed with a capital of $200,000, and have al-
ready commenced the erection of a factory
for the manufacture of silk at Northampton,
and it is their intention to supply themselves
with food for the worms from a plantation of
their own Mulberry trees. In the county of
Essex, it is stated that some years since, in
consequence of the recommendation of the
agricultural society, several farmers planted
the Mulberry tree very extensively, and that
there are at this time growing there, in full
vigor, upwards of 100,000 trees, which would
yield silk amply sufficient to supply that coun-
ty with silk, besides being a supply for expor-
tation.
Capt A. Holcomb, of Sterling, Mass., has
a fine orchard of Mulberry trees now 10 years
old, upon which he fed his silk worms the
present season.
The Legislature of Massachusetts, in a
just spirit of enlightened patriotism, has passed
a law granting a bounty of 50 cents for every
pound of silk reeled or thrown from cocoons
raised in that state. This act is to continue
in force for two years, and will doubtless
tend to stimulate the farmers of that state to
enter into the culture of silk with all becom-
ing zeal, as this bounty will at least cover the
expense of reeling, and thus enhance the profit
to the grower. Having alluded to the profit
of the culture in the state of Massachusetts,
we shall mention a fact which we find in the
Silk Worm, a most excellent and well con-
ducted monthly publication, edited by S. Bly-
denbwgh,, of Albany, New York. It is there
given as being comprised in the " Instruc-
tions" upon the silk culture, issued by the
Hamilton county agricultural society of Ohio,
last year.
" Four acres of ground planted in Mulber-
ry trees, near Boston, 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 $1,470. All
the labor was performed by four girls, whose
attention was required but a small portion of
the year." This fact contains one of the
most powerful arguments in favor of the cul-
ture which we have yet seen. We find four
girls — farmers' daughters, or helps, as hired
persons are called to the eastward, — success-
fully attending to four acres of Mulberry
trees, gathering the leaves, feeding the worms
and performing all the labor incident to the
business, and what is the result? Why at
the depressed price of $3 50 per pound they
made silk enough to bring $1,400, or $350
to each hand : now if the present price which
prevails in Massachusetts, $4 per pound from
the purchaser, and fifty cents from the state,
had then prevailed, each of those females
would have averaged $472 25, or the whole
have made, in the aggregate, $1,890, and in-
dependent of the state bounty, the J20 Ibs. of
silk would have brought $1,680, or $420 to
each of the females engaged in the feeding of
the worms. And as on an average 3,000
worms, completing their cocoons, will make a
pound of silk, there were but 1,260,000
worms fed on these four acres, whereas that
quantity of land is competent to produce
leaves enough to support 2,160,000 worms;
thus it is evident, that the produce here re-
corded is far from being a large one, for had
the orchard been planted to the extent of the
capacity of the ground, 720 Ibs. of silk might
just as readily have been raised as the 420
Ibs.
In this state, several laboratories, or as
the silk worm houses are familiarly called,
cocooneries, have been established, and more
are contemplated. Amongst the most important
19
of these, we would mention those of Mr.
Whitmarsh, Dr. Seeger and Dr. Stebbins. i
That of the first named gentleman is calcula-
ted to accommodate nearly jive millions of
•worms, but at present his number does not ex-
ceed eight hundred thousand. The capacity
of Dr. Seeger's is but for 16,000, and that of
Dr. Stebbins for 20,000: but the companies
to which we have before reverted will have
still more extensive ones, as their means of
supporting worms may be developed. The
number of large establishments, is, however, no
criterion to judge of the magnitude of the
silk business in this state ; for almost every
farm-house is or soon will be, a greater or
lesser laboratory, each farmer making the silk
culture a branch of his system of husbandry,
which is mainly attended to by the women
and children, who are thus made the most
productive portions of each establishment.
In the state of New York no large results
have as yet taken place, though for several
years an active spirit of inquiry has been very
laudably kept alive by the enterprising agricul-
turists; and during the late war the culture
was carried on to some extent by Mr. Samuel
Chidsey, Cayuga county, who manufactured
during that period sewing silk to the amount
of $600 per annum; and this gentleman also in-
troduced the culture of the Mulberry into the
town of Scipio, on its first settlement. The
success which have attended the exertions of
their neighbors, has, however, a wakened a feel-
ing of emulation, and associations have already
been formed, and are forming, for the purpose
of extensively carrying on the business. A com-
pany is already in operation at Poughkeepsie,
at the head of which is the Hon. Mr. Tall-
madge, U. S. Senator, and a society has be"en
established in the. city of New York with
similar objects. The silk business has been
recommended to be introduced into the Peni-
tentiary, so that the state will soon bepome
interested in its success, and although we
doubt the propriety of bringing the labor of
convicts into competition with that of the
honest husbandmen of the country, in so beau-
tiful and delicate a business, we have no doubt
that good may grow out of what we view in
the light of a wretchedly short-sighted expedi-
ent.
In Rhode Island, the business is becoming
popular, and a company is already in exist-
ence at Providence, who have a plantation of
30,000 trees, from four to five years old, from
six to eight feet high. Of the productiveness
of the trees of this plantation, we have seen
some very sanguine calculations, such as that
each tree, for the next five years would aver-
age half a pound of silk, making in the ag-
gregate 1 5,000 Ibs. of silk: this, in our belief
is greatly beyond what those trees would
produce even at 20 years old, and at present
by at least in the proportion of 2£ to 1. The
highest estimate of the quantity of foliage
produced by trees of the age of the above, is
30 Ibs. which would only support 600 worms
during the feeding season, and as it takes 3,000
cocoons to make a pound of silk, it would
take 2| of these trees to make a ^ pound,
so that 6,000 pounds is much nearer the
amount of their probable yield than 15,000,
as assumed in the statement whence we take
this.
In Vermont and New Hampshire many far-
mers' wives and daughters have fed worms
for several years as matter of curiosity more
than of profit ; but within the last few years
they are beginning to turn their attention to it
as a lucrative business, having the past spring
been engaged in arranging 4heir orchards,
and although less favourably circumstanced
as to climate than the other New England
tates, there is no question that the enterprise
of the people of these states, will, at least,
succeed in maktog it a profitable branch of
their system of agriculture.
In Maine, as far as we can learn, little or
nothing has been done •, but it is not to be pre-
sumed that a hardy, industrious and intelligent
population like that of Maine, will sit with
folded arms and see the palm of victory borne
in triumph by their neighbors, without at
least placing themselves in a position to con-
tend for the rich prize.
In Kentucky and Ohio, many individuals
have been for some years engaged in hatch-
ing small numbers of eggs, and feeding the
worms, In the latter state a very efficient
society has been formed with a view of col-
lecting and disseminating information. In In-
diana, where the Agricultural Societies are
invested with chartered rights, and where
from the very nature of the enactments which
give them being, they must exercise a health-
ful influence, the business of the Mulberry
and silk culture is especially taken up by the
General State Board, as a matter of primary
concern, and we have no doubt the happiest
effects will spring from their praiseworthy
exertions. In Illinois, while inhabited by
the French, silk is said to have been raised by
that notable people; but to what extent we
have no present means of ascertaining ; nor
are we able to trace the period when the cul-
ture was arrested. Many of the trees, how-
ever, we are told, remain, and it would be an
easy matter to multiply these, and commence
anew this profitable branch of business. No
one who knows the enterprising character of
the people of the west can presume, that they
will leave so good a chance of emolument un-
improved, when they have so many facilities
within their possession for entering into the
culture under most favorable auspices.
We have thus briefly sketched the princi-
pal facts as they have been placed within our
reach, and without pretending to have given
any thing like a full view, we merely claim
for what we have written, the desire of fideli-
ty, which has never been absent from our
mind for a solitary instant.
In closing this branch of our labors, we
must be indulged in a few remarks expres-
sive of our hopes, that a feeling and an inter-
est has already been aroused, which will not
slumber until the triumph shall be complete.
We are doubly solicitous on this head, be-
cause we see in the success of the silk cul-
ture, the surest means that philanthropy could
desire, for sustaining the thousands and tens of
thousands of poor women and children, whose
support is now stinted and precarious ; be-
cause we see in it too, a radical cure for an
evil which is sweeping the inhabitants from
the old settlements with a force which almost
threatens depopulation to many neighbor-
hoods; and lastly, because, it will afford the
pecuniary ability of improving the other por-
tions of each estate on which its culture may
be introduced. To several of the old states,
it offers the only available resource for politi-
cal safety, — the only guaranty against those
encroachments which never fail to follow in
that train of evils that befal the weak in the
vicinity of the pmoerful. There is no truth
more firmly enforced by history, than that
peace and independence, is only to be expected
where the ability to repel and punish aggres-
sion is enjoyed. It should, therefore, be the
policy of small powers living in close vicinage
with large ones, to keep a careful prospective
eye about them, in order that their more po-
tent neighbors may not be provoked by their
weakness to contemplate their subjugation ;
for the history of the ancient Republics con-
firms the melancholy truth, that power, in the
view of nations, is but another word for right;
that the ties of consanguinity and the claims
of common origin, offer no barriers to that
unchastened ambition and unbounded desire
of conquest, which is indulged in by most
states, towards their weaker neighbors.
MULBERRY CULTURE.
AT the beginning of the culture of silk in
Europe, the Black Mulberry, Morus Nigra, was
principally used; but upon mature experience
it was found that the Morus Jllba, the white
Italian Mulberry, was better adapted to the cul-
ture. This however must be considered rela-
tively only, and as alluding exclusively to a com-
parison between these two particular varieties,
and it must be considered too, as having relation
to a period long before the Morus Multicaulis,
the broad silky leaved, new variety, of the Chi-
nese or many stalked Mulberry, was introduced
either into Europe or America, that being on-
ly within the last ten or twelve years known
in either country. It may, therefore, perhaps, be
proper to express our opinion of it, and this we
shall do with perfect integrity of purpose. Like
most of the exotic trees of China origin, which
have been introduced into America within
the last few years, sufficient time has not yet
elapsed to test whether it will become accli-
mated or not. The last severe winter, however,
would go very far to settle the question, if the
fate of all the trees planted in our country were
known, for it may be fairly affirmed, that no
winter, within the recollection of living witness-
es, has ever been more intensely cold than it was ;
nor were there ever one better calculated to test
the ability of foreign trees to withstand frosts.
What effect it had upon the Morus Multicaulis,
then, becomes a matter of deep moment, of pro-
found and absorbing interest. It it known that
the whole tribe of Mulberries are tenacious of
life, and will, where but the least chance is giv-
en them, support vitality ; sometimes, indeed, in
despite of the harshest and most neglectful treat-
ment, they willlive on lo shew to those by whom
they have been thus rudely treated, how uncon-
querable are their powers of preserving exist-
ence. And so far as our experience goes, and
as we have been able to derive any information
upon the subject, the Morus Multicaulis does not
form an exception to the general rule. In most
of the eastern states, where this beautiful tree
has been introduced, it suffered greatly from
the frosts of last winter; generally being killed
down to the ground. Dr. Stebbins, the intelli-
gent Secretary of Hampshire County Agricultu-
ral Society,ofMassachusetts,in theaccount of his
inspection of several establishments where it was
grosvn, states, " that he had examined a standard
tree of the Morus Muliicaulis, which was set in
an exposed situation, and has withstood the se-
verity of the three last winters, as uninjured as
an elm or oak, or any of the most hardy for-
est trees. It has attained about its greatest
height, 8 feet, and is in full life to the extremity
of the topmost shoot. The grass that has grown
about the roots, therefore, has not been much
disturbed by hoeing, and in consequence acquir-
ed hard wosd, the very result wanted by the cul-
tivator of the Chinese Mulberry. In the New
England Farmer, Vol. Xfl, page 393, in an arti-
cle by Mr. William Kenrick,it is observed: — "this
Mulberry braves the most rigorous winters of
France, not having suffered in the least even du-
ring the severe winter of 1829 — 30. I have ta-
ken particular pains to ascertain how they have
fared in the extreme north of that country, and
have very lately been informed by letter from M.
Eyries, a gentleman from Havre, that they have
supported well, during ten years the most rigor-
ous winters of the north of France." Again he
says :—
" Very late in the spring of 1833, more than a
hundred young trees of the Morus Multicaulis
were set out on the place of S. V. Wilder, Esq.
in Boston, Worcester county, Mass. The soil
springy, the exposition cold and sloping to the
north ; Mr. Joseph Breck, a distinguished bota-
nist, having especial charge of these plants, has
lately very critically examined them. Thus un-
favorably situated and unprotected, they have
borne the last winter, 1833 — 34, without injury,
except only the top of the twigs. Mr. Breck is
persuaded that they are even hardier than the
common White Mulberry, since some hundred of
the latter which stood very near were killed half
way down to the ground by the same winter.
Another correspondent of the same Journal,
who writes under the signature of R. advances
the opinion, and "cites facts to maintain his be-
lief, that the Chinese Mulberry is more hardy
than many of our orchard, or even forest trees,
but may be killed when young, if planted in a
rich moist soil."
In North Carolina, we learn from an esteem-
ed friend and valuable correspondent, Mr. Sid-
ney Weller, that his trees "endured the severe
frosts very well. The only injury is, that the
top ends of some brandies have been killed."
In the lower part of Virginia, where some of the
JVforu* Multicaulis have been introduced, we
have understood they were killed to the ground.
In the vicinity of Baltimore they shared a
similar fate. But it is a fact worthy of being
borne in mind — of being well considered, — that,
in every instance where they were killed to the
ground, the Morus Multicaulis snooted forth
with the earliest vegetation of the spring, and
grew most vigorously. We passed through a
nursery of two thousand of them in the early
part of September, that had been killed to the
ground last winter, which were then about 8 feet
high, bearing a most luxuriant crop of the most
beautiful, broad) and silky leaves, from the earth
to the very verge of their topmost shoots, and
presenting at a short distance the appearance of
a dense and inseparable body of the most attrac-
tive foliage we ever beheld. We have been the
more minute in our notice of this variety of the
Mulberry, because of the deep interest which
has been awakened, in every part of the country,
to the importance of the silk culture, and of the
character for superiority, over every other of the
same family, as food for worms, so universally
conceded to it by every one. To those who
may enter into the business extensively, where
labor is a primary object, the leaf of this tree,
does, most certainly, possess an advantage of im-
mense value ; having no coarse fibres, the worm
consumes the whole of it, leaving no offal what-
ever, whereas the leaves of the White Mulber-
ry have at least one-third, in stems and gross fi-
bres, that cannot be consumed ; which is, of itself,
equal to one-third the labor in the gathering ol
the leaves and feeding the worms — an object o!
great moment, as we have before remarked, with
those extensively engaged in the culture : but it is
said that wortns fed upon the leaves of the Mo-
rus Multicaulis afford a better silk than those
fed on the leaves of the Morus Alba, the White
Italian; that it ia more elastic and of richer
texture ; if these be facts, and we do not pretent
to gainsay them, they are strong : and indeed, when
taken in connection with the saving- in food
insurmountable arguments in its favor. We hav
however seen Italian silk made from worms fe
from the White Italian Mulberry, incomparablj
superior to any China silk we ever beheld; in
saying this, we would not wish to be under
stood as in the least desiring to undervalue th
intrinsic excellence of the Morus Multicaulis
for our opinion is most decidedly in its favor. I
it can be made to accommodate itself to our se
vere frosts, there can be no two opinions enter
tained as to its superiority ; and that it may b
so accommodated, we are equally sanguine. Th
nursery of which we have just been speaking a
containing two thousand trees, which were frost
ed to the earth last winter, is situated in a ric
sandy-loam bottom, too moistr we think, for
the more delicate exotics, and this we believe,
is one great reason why the ravages of the frost
were so universal with this interesting Chinese
stranger. And if \ve are right in our conjecture,a
remedy is of easy application : — nothing more be-
ing necessary than the transplantation of all Mul-
berry orchards upon hi'l sides,well protected from-
the bleak winds of winter, either by woods or
board fences — and we need scarcely remark, that
the soil should be dry, sandy, stony, or gravelly —
of this, however, we shall speak more fully in ano-
ther place. While we aie upon this particular
branch of our subject, we would suggest that all
ifficulties with respect to the cultivation of the
Morus Multicaulis might be obviated by plant-
ng a portion of each orchard with the White
la/ian Mulberry. Thus would each culturist
ie ensured in a supply of leaves from the latter
under any adverse circumstances which might
>ccur. The probability is, from all past experi-
nce, and particularly during the last winter, that
he roots of the Morus Multicaulis will survive
any destruction of its branches from cold, and
as it springs up freely in the spring, it would on-
y be necessary to secure a supply of leaves un-
il the new shoots would be sufficiently matured
o be deprived of their foliage, without endan-
gering the roots. This could be readily effected
through hedges of the Morus Alba. By such an
arrangement, all apprehension of evil conse
qnences from the destruction of the former would
be obviated. If the Morus Multicauhs were
not killed, the early, as well as subsequent feed-
ing could be carried on from it ; if killed, the Mo-
rus Alba would come into supply its place un-
til the new vegetation of the Chinese justified
food being gatherered from it, so that, in either
event, the supply of leaves would be secured.
We might here be content; but in order that
every possible light may be thrown upon this
part of the question, one, indeed, involving so ma-
ny considerations of moment to the future pros-
perity of the culture, we copy the following ar-
ticle entire from Kendrick's Orchardist — edition
1833, page 2*6 to 291.
MORUS MULTICAUI.IS.
A tree of ornament from China — A fruit tree
— a new and most valuable species of Mulberry,
for the nourishment of the silk worm, which is
represented, as possessing such decided superiori-
ty over all others, as to be speedily substituted
for them in every region of the globe.
This tree has not yet to my knowledge borne
fruit in America. It was even unknown in Eu-
rope as a fruit tree, till in 1830, for the first time,
it produced its fruit in France. The fruit, ac-
cording to M. Audibert, was produced in great a-
bundance ; it was long, black, and of sufficiently
beautiful appearance ; its taste very good, having
a taste intermediate between the red and black
mulberry. The tree is very vigorous and upright '
in its growth. The leaves, in a light, friable,
rich, and humid soil, are large and cordiform, but
in a dry and arid soil, they are of less size, elipti-
cal, and without the heart-shaped indentation ;
their breadth is stated to be six inches, and their
length eight; but in rich soils they are sometimes
eight inches in breadth, and ten in length, or
even more. They are curled or convex on their
surface, of a deep shining green, and eminently
beautiful.
Some account of this plant so lately introduced
to Frajxce and to Europe, is contained in the Silk
Culturist, No. 2, a valuable work published by
Dr. Felix Pascalis, of N. Y. It is contained in a
letter to the author from Havre, and is as follows.
" Samuel Perrottet, a member of the Linnrcan
Society of Paris, employed by Government as a
travelling Botanist, returned to this port after a
voyage of thirty-four months. He brought with
him eighty-four boxes of various dimensions,
containing one hundred and fifty-eight species ol
living plants, to the number of five hundred and
thirty-four individuals. All these productions
had been procured in the seas of Asia, or gather-
ed on the coast, or in the lands of Cayenne. From
the commencement of the present century, there
had never before been so vast an importation
one so extensive in number, for rare genera, spe-
cies, and families, and vegetable productions, or
their seeds. All of them passed under my exam-
ination, and they rather appeared to have come
out of a green house than from a ship.
" In this immense collection was the Morus
Multicaulis, thus called by Perrottet ; for the firs
lime ascertained to be the real Chinese Mulberry
Morus Jllba Sinensis, of which every silk grow
er and culturist should endeavor to multiply the
species. It has been deposited in the Royal Gar
den. Monsieur Perrottet says that it grows will
many shoots from the roots, with tender stems
and large foliage, of a much more nourishing na
ture than the European mulberry.
" Chinese inhabitants assured him, that to thi
tree, the disciples of Confucius are indebted fo
the prosperity and solidity of their empire.
"The Morus Multicaulis is already propaga
ting in France and probably will be substitute
and preferred to all the other varieties. Amonj
the other qualities of the plant, it is affirmed i
China, that a less quantity of this foliage is re
quired for the precious insects, than of that whici
we are obliged to provide for them. Monsieur P
has left the tree in Cayenne, where it is now
flourishing in dry and barren soils."
Remarks on the culture and uses of the Moru
Multicaulis by M. Perrottet, Agricultura
Botanist, and Traveller of the Marine an
Colonies — From the ' Jlnnals of Fromont.''
"The Morus Mullicaulis, which we notice
for the first time in the Jlnnales de la Societie
"innenne de Paris for 1824, appears to have
riginated in the elevated regions of China; from
hence it has been disseminated throughout the
ow plains near the sea shore. It is believed it is
ultivated in all parts of that vast empire, where
culture of the silk worms is an object of
ommercial importance. From Canton it was in-
roduced into Manilla and all the Islands in the
Asiatic Archipelago, where it was only cultivated
or ornamenting gardens. The Chinese are en-
itled to the credit of this introduction, who in
emigrating from their country have from motives
f industry, endeavored to multiply it, that they
might render it useful to them, in the new coun-
ry of their adoption.
"The fortunate discovery of this precious shrub
occurred in the garden of a Chinese cultivator at
Manilla, who, after having informed us of its pro-
jerties, and the important purpose for which it
was used in his own country, yielded to our so-
icitations and sold us two bushels for ten Spanish
piastres, assuring us that he had introduced it in-
to Manilla, where it had been considerably extend-
ed.
"In August we brought it from Manilla, the
capital of the Phillipine Islands, and first intro-
duced it into the Isle of Bourbon, from thence in-
to Cayenne and France. At a later period it was
sent from Cayenne to Martinique,and from France
to Guadaloupe, and also to Senegal, where it has
been considerably multiplied. The numerous
plants which are already disseminated in the di-
vers climates of Africa, America, and Europe, have
been all produced from the two individuals, which
we procured at Manilla.
* * * " Among the number of mulberries now
cultivated by the Chinese, for the education of
silk worms, the Morus Multicaulis appears to be
the most esteemed of all, not only for the facility
with which it is propagated and grows, but still
more for the essentially nutritive property which
the leaves possess. We have been enabled to
verify this important fact during the five years
which we passed in Senegal. * * * The charac-
ters which essentially distinguish this mulberry
from the other varieties, are those which result,
1st, from the remarkable property which the
roots possess of throwing up numerous small flexi-
ble stalks, without forming a principal trunk ; 2d,
from the remarkable development which the
thin, tender, and soft leaves speedily acquire, and
the promptitude with which they are renewed ;
* * * and 4th, and lastly, from the extraordinary
facility with which the stalks and branches strike
root, as cuttings, without particular care, even be-
fore they have acquired a ligneous consistence,
* * * "Besides the advantages which we hare
already named, we may still add, that they are ad-
mirably calculated for forming regular plantations-,
it Hot being natural to grow tall or form any
trunk properly so called ; they can be placed very
near without an injurious effect; and by heading
down the stalks annually near the ground, a rich
vegetation is produced, with a complete develop-
ment of vigorous branches and leaves ; and final-
ly it is easy to multiply them by thousands from
the roots in the course of a year, and to form vast
and regular plantations of them the second. But
a few years then are sufficient to obtain consider-
able fields of them in full vigor, sufficient to sup-
port an immense quantity of silk worms, and that
•with the greatest facility, as they are reproduced
in a manner almost indefinite. * * * Regular
plantations of it can be formed without difficulty,
by planting the shrubs at a distance of six or
eight feet from each other, a space sufficient for
the extension of the branches, to facilitate the
culture and for collecting the leaves. This last
operation is so much facilitated by the flexibili-
ty of the stalks, that a child is sufficient for
furnishing the food of a large establishment of
silk worms.
CLIMATE, SOIL, &c. — * * * "This species
will be readily acclimated in Europe ; because it
originated in an analogous region as to climate, to
that which we inhabit. It appears not to suffer
from the excessive cold of the northern, or the in-
tense heat of the intertropical regions ; for the
plants deposited in the gardens of the govern-
ment at Cayenne, acquired in the space of eight
months a truly remarkable development, and at
the time of our departure from that colony, in
June, 1328, they were clothed with leaves of an
extraordinary size. Those also which we culti-
vated at Senegal, although situated under a dry
and scorching sun, and planted in an arid soil, of-
fered an appearance sufficiently satisfactory, but
they had acquired less development in all respects,
than those which have vegetated under the humid
climate of Guiana. It appears expedient then,
that plantations of this mulberry should be made
upon a humid rather than a dry soil, to obtain in
all respects a satisfactory result.*
* * * * " Besides, this mulberry braves the
most vigorous winters. We saw on our arrival
atHavre, in July last, in the field of M. A. Eyries,
plants, which had endured, in the open ground,
the winter of 1828, and which appeared vigorous
and beautiful."— Thus far M. Perrottet.
On this last and other points, let us now hear
the testimony of M. Poiteau in the AnnaUs
d? Horticulture, 1830.
"By the information which we receive from all
quarters, it appears, that this mulberry is destined
to replace the common white mulberry, every-
where, for nourishing silk worms ; its property of
*[Thisis contrary to the present experience so
far as the quality of the silk is concerned. — Ed.
Farmer and Gardener.]
continuing low and bushy, so that the leaves can
always be gathered without a ladder; and the
large size, abundance, and tenderness of the leaves
cannot fail to give it a decided preference. It has
been sufficiently ascertained, that they are eaten
with avidity by the silk worms, and that the silk
which they form is of the first quality. This
mulberry has not suffered in the least from the
rigors of the last severe winter.
"The zealous traveller, who has given to
France, America, and Africa, this precious plant,
has acquired a just claim to public gratitude, and
it is not only easy, but proper, to give him at this
time a proof of it, by affixing his name to the
tree which has given him celebrity, and which
will contribute so much to the prosperity of
French industry." * * * Note to the Perrottet
Mulberry, (Morus Multicaulis.}
M. Audibert is also decidedly of the opinion
that the best mode of cultivating the Morus Mul-
ticaulis, for the support of silk worms, is in hed-
ges with low stock. M. Barthere of Toulous in
the South of France, who has considerably ex-
tended their cultivation, fully coincides in the
same opinion ; and is confident that in grounds
and vineyards which could hardly give two per
cent, this tree will now ensure ten per cent.
This tree, according to M. Perrottet and Dr.
Deslongchamps, is easily propagated either by
layers, by cuttings, or even by cuttings of a single
eye, placed beneath the surface and shaded from
the noonday sun.
The experiments instituted at Paris by Dr. Des-
longchamps, have confirmed all that had been pre-
viously asserted respecting the quality of the silk
produced by this plant ; he has further stated that
the cocoons, made by the worms fed only on this
plant, are even rather heavier.
Dr. Felix Pascalis in an article in Silliman's
Journal of Science for July, 1830, after informing
us that in the preceding March he had received
two plants of this mulberry from France, has ad-
ded— "After the discovery of this plant, a doubt
no longer exists, that two crops of silk may be
raised in a single season."
At Madam Parmentier's Horticultural establish-
ment, two crops of silk were produced in the
summer of 1832. The first were fed promiscu-
ously on the Morus Multicaulis, Morus Mba,
and other mulberries. The cocoons thus produc-
ed were about two-thirds white and the remain-
der of an orange color. A suitable portion of
these cocoons were collected for seed, having no
regard to color: — These being subjected to the
hatching process, produced a second crop the
30th July. These last were fed exclusively on
the Morus Multicaulis : they passed through the
different stages of their larva existence in the short
space of 26 days. The cocoons which were ob-
tained from this second crop were of a much lar-
ger size than those of the first crop, but what is of
more consequence they were of the whiteness of\ from the inconvenience of the hot season.
snow, and have a most beautiful shining appear- ™rL:'~ »*-«— »«•-"- —
ance. (See New England Farmer, vol. xi. No. ii.)
At Madam Parmentier's in 1831, I witnessed the
silk worms feeding with avidity on the leaves of
the Morus MuUicaulis, and was informed that
they had left eleven other species of mulberries to
feed on this. At that place we are also informed,
the Morus MuUicaulis has withstood the rigors
of the last six winters, uninjured and unprotected.
Although being possessed of an active and pro-
longed vegetation, it is not to be expected that the
unripened wood of the tender tips, should always
escape.
I introduced this plant to Massachusetts in the
spring of 1831, from the Messrs. Prince of the
Linnaean Botanic Garden, Flushing ; I also receiv-
ed plants of the same from Madame Parmentier's
of Brooklyn, L. I. and I have also received them
from France from M. Andre Michaux, author of
the American Sylva."
Having dwelt so copiously upon the Morus
MuUicaulis, it is but fair that we should speak a
little in detail upon the Morus Alba, as that
must, for some years yet, form the great reliance
for food for the worm.
The White, Italian Mulberry, or the Morus
•fllba, of Linnaeus, is a native of Asia, and was
introduced into Italy, by some of the survivors of
the last crusade. Oliver de Serres relates
that the French who accompanied Charles the
eighth, in his invasion of Italy, in 1494, being
struck with the abundance of the trees in that
country, and with the profit derived from the
culture of silk, caused it to be introduced into
France. It is mentioned as a very singular in-
stance of the longevity of this tree, that in 1802,
Faugas de Saint Fond, saw the original one,
around which M. Lachaux, to evince his re-
spect for this monument of agriculture, and pa-
rent of the White Mulberry trees in France,
had built a wall, there are several species of this
tree, and numerous varieties, the result of culti-
vation, soil, climate and the play of nature. The
forms of the leaves are extremely variable. Mr.
Jludibert an experienced cultivator in France,
The
White Italian Mulberry, moreover, not only
grows more rapidly but has a more abundant fo-
liage, and the leaves are more delicate and more
nutritive ; whence the silk becomes handsomer
and of better quality. But there is a considera-
ble difference in the quality of White Mulberry
trees Count Dandolo, the great silk rearer of
Italy, considers those best that grow in Lombardy,
under the name of Folia Giazzola, and Folia
Doppia, the leaf of which contains five different
substances: 1st, the fibrous substance; 2d, the
coloring matter; 3d, water; 4th, the saccharine
substance $ and 5th, the resinous substance.
The saccharine matter is the most essential part
in the nourishment of the silk worm.
As botanists place the White Mulberry tree in
the class of dioecious plants, or such as have bar-
ren or male flowers on one individual, and fer-
tile or female ones on another of the same spe-
cies, it is thought by some that it would be con-
venient to plant exclusively, male Mulberries,
which they say afford the advantage that, not on-
ly on stripping them, the berries do not embarrass
the operation, or cause a diminution of its pro-
duct; but that the worms in their last age, are
not exppsed to be fed on leaves afFectcd by the
glutinous substance of the berries, which would
injure their health. Moreover the male trees
keep for their foliage all their juices ; whence
their leaves are in greater quantity, and of a bet-
ter quality ; we, however, believe that there is
more fancy, — more theoretical pride — than well
grounded opinion in this, and therefore reject it,
resting under the firm conviction that no injury
whatever can result from the presence of fe-
males among the males of the tribe*
SOIL AND SITUATION.
The nurseries, as well as the large and small
Mulberry plantations, require a sunny exposure,
and spots well sheltered against strong cold winds.
Therefore, declivities, or hill sides, descending
towards the east or southeast and secured by
woods or groves, are proper; as also, all spots
protected by artificial plantations and buildings.
says, ll that the same tree will have leaves divi-
ded into several lobes, when young, and, when
it becomes old, they will be entire. Others have
the second crop of leaves differently formed
from the first ; some again have entire leaves
in the spring, and lobed leaves in the autumn.
Hence it is extremely difficult to assign positive
characters to the different varieties, particularly
when they shew no diversity in appearance, ex-
cept in the shapes of the leaves. Its superiority
over every other variety of the Mulberry excep
the Morus MuUicaulis, consists in this : It
cloathed with leaves fifteen or twenty days ear
Her than the others — the silk worms, therefore
come quicker
4
to maturity and are preservec
The trees should never be planted in marshy
or low ground ; 1st, because they would be more
exposed than on elevated situations to the inju-
rious influence of cold and frosts, and 2dly, be-
cause worms fed from leaves gathered from trees
in such situations, owing to the superabundance
of aqueous matter in them, do not yield silk ei-
ther as lustrous or tenacious, and 3dly, from the
absence of saccharine matter, the worms are not
so healthful, nor do they give as rruch silk.
Next to the soil described, a calcareous sandy
clay is to be preferred. A heavy clay, or fenny,
marshy earth, are especially unsuitable, because
in such situations the bark becomes covered with
moss, and the trees are slow in their growth, lia-
ble to diseases of the heart, and to be killed by
the intense cold of winter, when the plant is
young, and before its exterior coating and wood
becomes hardened.
A single remark with respect to the soil will
be sufficient. If it be not in good tilth, it should
he manured in the hole, if in standard trees, or
inthedrill if in hedge rows, with acompost com-
piised of one-eighth lime, three-eighths mould or
decomposed leaves from the woods, one-fourth
stable manure, half rotted, and the remaining
fourth, leached ashes, to be prepared in a heap,
and suffered to remain to mellow three or four
months, to be turned up and mixed two or three
times in the course of the process. If after the
young trees should be set out, a long continued
drought should occur, they should be watered
two or three times a week.
VARIETIES OF THE WHITE MULBERRY.
The white Mulberry is a tree not known by its
fruit. Two varieties bear white berries, one red
and another black, and trees have been known
to bear different kinds of fruit on the same tree.
METHOD OF SAVING SEED-
As the fruit ripens, the tree should be shaken
every morning, and the fruit that falls gathered
with that which may have fallen of itself. Put the
fruit into a tub and press and rub it till the ber-
ries are completely worked into a common mass.
They should then be washed in water until the
pulp is completely separated from the seed. Du-
ring the process of washing, the water must be
repeatedly changed, and in pouring off the dirty
water, the seed which swims must be suffered
to escape, as it is not good. When the seed is
thus perfectly cleansed and separated, it must be
spread on cloths in the shade to dry. When
perfectly dry, it should be put up in bottles, well
corked, which should be kept where they would
never be exposed to light, air, or dampness. The
White Mulberry seed are of an obtuse triangular
shape, and of a dull, dark yellow color, and ve-
ry full of oil.
MODE OF TESTING SEED.
Soak it in hot water a few hours, when the
seed which is really good will sink to the bottom,
the worthless will continue to float on the sur-
face, the latter must be thrown away as it will
not vegetate.
PREPARATION OF SEED BEDS — TIME OF SOWING,
&C.
1. To sow an ounce of seed, prepare a bed
50 feet long and 4 feet broad. Manure it well
with a compost composed of one-third stable
manure, one-third ashes, and one-third decom-
posed leaves from the woods, or garden mould ;
dig deep, pulverise finely, and then lay the bed
off in drills 12 inches apart, J or \ of an inch
deep; sow the seed as thick as you would that of
onions, or parsnips; cover with rich mould, press
the mould down gently, but sufficiently to cause
the seed to come into contact with the earth ; and
should the weather be dry, water the seed bed
every other evening, it will assist in promoting
the germination of the seed and the vigorous
growth of the plants.
2. The best lime for sowing the seed is from
the 1st of April to the beginning of May; and,
indeed, in favourable situations, if sown as late
as the beginning of June, they would succeed ;
but if sown in the spring, the earlier the better,
as the plant will thereby have time to grow to
such a size, anH the bark become so well har-
dened, as to offer something like a guaranty to
their getting over the-first winter, which is deci-
dedly the most critical period with the young
plants. If you should determine upon sowing in
the spring, turn up your plant-bed deeply the
preceding autumn, and let it remain in a rough
state, to derive advantage from the fertilizing ef-
fects of the winter's frosts, manure in the spring,
dig it again, pulverize and rake fine, lay off as
above directed in drills, and sow your seed.
Should it not be convenient to sow in the early
part of the season, you may do so with perfect
security in the first week of August ; your bed
to be thorough!) perpared, by being well man-
ured, turned over with the spade two or three
times, and pulverized and raked well. Whether
sown in the spring, or summer, the bed must be
kept clean of weeds,the ground to be stirred occa-
sionally between the drills, receive a watering of a
weak solution of soot and water, diluted barn-
yard water, or soap suds once a week, or fortnight ;
and, in dry weather, twice a week in addition
with water, it being important to push the growth
of the young plants the first season. The wa-
tering should not be carried on after August.
By pursuing this nourishing and forcing course,
you may urge your plants so far forward as to be
able to transplant the stronger ones into nurse-
ry beds the ensuing spring after sowing the
seed. The fruit of the White Mulberry when
ripe, if put in the ground whole, in drills, will
vegetate immediately, and if the plants be kept
iveeded, and treated as directed above, will be
sufficiently advanced to stand the winter with
the aid of a slight covering. The first fruit of
this tree ripens about June.
The seed should be soaked forty-eight hours
in a solution of soot and hot water before sow-
ing, drained through a sieve, rolled in plaster and
then sowed. An ounce will yield from 5,000 to
8,000 plants.
The first winter the plant-beds must be cover-
ed with long stable manure, leaves or straw, to
be confined with imall twigs of pine or ever-
green. Matting will also answer as a covering.
This should be put on as soon as the black frosts
come, and kept on until the middle of the ensu-
ing April ; to be then removed cautiously, so as
not to expose the plants too suddenly to the in-
jurious effects of the bleak winds, or frosts of the
spring. In covering the plants, care must be ta-
ken not to smother them.
3. The second year, if not removed before
the plants must be removed into the nursery
rows or beds, which must be prepared a.s for any
other crop. The ragged roots being taken off and
the tap root shortened, the plants must be plant-
ed out 1-2 inches apart in rows three feet apart,
the earth to be well trodden around the plant.
As before, the earth'must be kept open and free
from weeds, and be watered, as directed, in dry
seasons.
4. It may be laid down as a general rule, that
the plants when a foot and a ha'f high are (it to
be transplanted into the nursery. They should
be taken up with great care, without injuring the
roots and divided into classes, planting those of
a size together. In transplanting them, their
roots should be a little shortened, and all tender
fibres, which may have been injured by the frost,
should be cut off.
5. At two years old, the plants may be plant-
ed out into hedges, at 18 inches apart in rows
six feet wide. The ground should be prepared
as before directed, and some good rich mould
put into the holes,to be pressed around the plants.
If intended to be planted out as standard trees,
20 feet square apart would be a good distance;
but in that -use, the plants should not be trans-
planted until they are about an inch in diameter.
In either case they will require trimming and
topping, and if kept as hedges should be treated
as other hedges are.
6. In every instance before planting in hed-
ges, or standard trees, the ground should pre-
viously have had the benefit of a meliorating
crop, as potatoes, carrots, parsnips, &.c. so that
the soil may have been put into the best pos-
sible condition for their reception, and in setting
them out, the holes or hedge rows, in which they
may be placed, should have the advantage of
a good rich compost, such as we have prescribed
for the seed beds.
7. Standard tress should not be placed out
permanently until they have attained a height of
seven or eight feet.
8. Whether the Morus JLlba or Moras Multi-
caulis be planted, we believe that the hedge form
will be found to be the most advantageous as well
as convenient mode ; the same given quantity of
land will produce at least forty per cent, more
leaves planted in hedges, than in standard trees,
the labor of gathering leaves is fully one-third
less, and the vegetation is much quicker, and
these it will be admitted, are considerations of
primary moment ; besides these advantages, the
trimming which the hedges will annually under-
go, will necessarily impart a more acceptable and
delicate quality to their foliage. A few standard
trees should be kept on every estate, and parti-
cularly where situated in the interior, for the
purpose of keeping up regular supplies of seed,
and of making that of leaves doubly secure:
plants destined for standard trees should always
be selected from among the handsomest and
straightest plants.
MANAGEMENT OP STANDARD TREES.
When the plants are grown to the size of one
inch in diameter, and from 7 to 8 feet high, they
are fit to be planted out in the field where they
are permanently to remain ; make the holes suf-
ficiently large to admit the roots without diffi-
culty or crowding. The roots should be trim-
med, then press the earth around them as it is
filled in the hole. The transplantation may ei-
ther be done in the spring as soon as the frost
is out of the ground, or in autumn just after the
fall of the leaf. The latter period is preferred
by Mr. Smith, in order to let "the small fibrous
roots which convey nourishment to the tree have
time to prepare for their functions by the vegeta-
ting season the next spring." In planting out
standard trees, leave all the buds which the
young trees have pushed out on the top, till the
following spring, when none are to be left but
three or four branches to form the head of the
tree — these should be so left as to form a circle
round the stem, and that the interior of the tree
may be kept open, all buds as they appear on its
aody should be pinched off for a few years. For
several years, the head of the young tree should
be thinned out, cutting off such branches as cross
others or take the lead of the rest; thus equili-
>rium in growth, and beauty in appearance, will
be effected. Every spring the young trees should
be dre«sed two or three feet around the trunk;
and stakes should also be placed by each at the
irne of planting to ensure straightness, and pre-
rent the ill consequences of being too muchagi-
ated by the wind in the early period of their
growth.
MANAGEMENT OF HEDGES, &.C.
Make your hedge rows, as before directed, 6
eet wide apart, plant the young trees 18 inches
apart, taking care that the two lowest buds be in
he direction of the line, (which should be
drawn straight) the plant to be cut down to
these two buds about half a foot above the
ground ; by the ensuing spring these buds will
have become two beautiful branches, when one
of them is to be pruned down to one foot and
always on one side of the plant; the branches of
the opposite side to be left untouched, but to be
bent in the direction of the hedge towards the
lopped branches, and fastened to them with wil-
low withs so as to form an arch. The third
spring the plants will have branches to form a
;e, when they must be cut about two feet
from the ground, leaving the branches below
that point untouched and entire. When plants
die, replace them by layers from an adjoining
one, as the introduction of new plants hardly
ever succeed. The hedge should never be per-
mitted to grow higher than 6 feet, so as to keep
it within a convenient height for gathering the
leaves. After the leaves have been gathered,
the hedge should be pruned, and particularly of
such branches as may have been injured or kill-
ed, as also each spring, in the beginning of April,
the dead branches must be pruned from the liv-
ing wood with sharp hedge shears, and it should
be endeavored at these prunings to give form to
the hedge.
OF THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.
What we have said above concerning the
transplantation of the Mulberry, has relation to
the Morus Jllba species, and we now propose to
give some brief directions with relation to the
space to be occupied by the Morus Multicaulis,
both in the hedge and standard tree form.
If in hedges, they should be planted 3 feet a-
part in the row, the rows to be six feet asunder.
If as standard trees, they should be planted in
rows 8 feet wide, the plants 8 feet apa< t in the
row.
This species of the Mulberry partakes more of
the character of the shrub than of that of the
tree, and, therefore, require less room when
planted as standard tree?, and more in hedge.
With the difference as to distance above de-
scribed, the treatment of this tree must be the
same as the Italian Mulberry.
Having the subject of the Morus Multicaulis
again before us, we feel it due alike to ourself,
to the public, and to Gideon B. Smith, Esq., to
state, that in a recent conversation witli that
gentleman, he gave it as his opinion, that any
one desiring to enter into the silk culture as a
business, must abandon every idea of cultivating
any other kind than this, as from its superior fit-
ness,in every respect, to the feeding of the worms,
it would be impossible that any one growing any
other kind could compete with those who fed
with it ; that as there are no offal from coarse fi-
bres, fully one-third of the labor of gathering
will be saved, there being in the other mulberry
leaves of fully that amount of coarse matter
which is not consumed by the worms. He says
further, that the leaves of the Morus Multicaulis
yield a finer silk, more delicate in texture anc
brilliant in gloss than any other kind. Than th<
opinion of Mr. Smith, none better need be re
quired, on a matter where he has'had experienc<
to form that opinion upon, and, therefore, we
should always be cautious in differing on such
points with him ; but when we look at the bril
liant results of the Italian culturists and manu
facturers, we are half tempted to believe tha
the Morus Jllba makes good-enough-silk, though
n economy of labor the Morus Multicaulis is
ncomparably the superior of all others.
DISTANCE OF HEDGE ftOWS.
With respect to the distance between the
ledge rows, we are aware that some are of the
opinion that they should be sufficiently wide to
admit a cart to pass through while the leaves are
)eing gathered, we object to it for these reasons,
irst, because the pressure from the horse and cart
would so beat down the intervening spaces as to
lave an injurious effect upon the vegetation of
he trees, and secondly, because the hedge rows
would be liable to be injured by the horse and
cart. We think it better that the leaves should
)e gathered in large baskets, to be conveyed
herein to the cart which should be conveniently
itationed for that purpose.
OF MODES OF MULTIPLYING.
The means of propagating the Mulberry are
various, viz: — from seed which is the best, as
ireviously described, by grafting and budding ;
"rotn layers, cuttings and suckers.
GRAFTING.
It may be done on the stocks in the nursery, or
on the small limbs of trees. The proper season
for it is just before the leaves begin to open in
spring. The head of the stock must be cut off
sloping, and a slit made sloping the opposite way,
deep enough to receive the scion, which should
be cut like a wedge, with the outside thicker
than the inner. The rind of the scion must ex-
actly join the rind of the stock. The slit should
be opened by a wedge of hard wood; the scion
should then be gently put in its place and the
stock closed. After this the whole must be daub-
ed round with a mortar made of a mixture of
loam and fresh horse-dung, so as completely to
exclude the access of air; and this mortar must
be surrounded by tow or old cloths to prevent it
from being washed away. The scion should be
covered nearly to the top with this mortar, and it
should also extend two or threeinches downwards
round the stock. In place of this mortar, For-
syth recommends a plaister made of pitch, tur-
pentine and beeswax.
BUDDING.
Provide yourself with a sharp knife, with a fiat
thin haft, and some bass-matting, or corn husk
strings; let these be soaked and in readiness.
Then select a smooth part of the stock as high as
you intend budding : make a horizontal cut across
the stock as deep as the firm wood, and then
from the centre of it make an incision downwards
about an inch ; then take the haft of your knife,
and raise the skin on either side of the incision.
Then take your knife and cut your bud, which
is done in this way. Take your knife, place it
about half an inch below the bud, cut slightly in-
to the pith or wood, so as to go below the heart
of the bud, cut upwards to the same distance I
beyond the bud, then cut the bud out, trim off the
leaves, insert your bud by raising the rind and ;
shoving it down so as to close both sides of theskin
on it, joining it closely to the upper edge or hori-
zontal cut. Then take your bass or corn husk ,
string, and bind it close around every part, ex- i
cept over the eye or bud, which is to be carefully
left out and preserved, and continue it a little
above the horizontal cut, not binding it too tight,
but sufficiently so to keep the parts close, ex-
clude the air, sun and wet ; finish by making the
ligature fast. At the expiration of a month loos-
en the bandages. In the March following, the
heads of all those which have taken, must be cut
off just above the part where the bud was insert-
ed.
LAYERS.
Having dug the ground well and made it light,
take some of the most flexible and free growing
shoots, slit the shoot underneath a joint or bud,
up the middle, and about an inch long, or a little
better, according to the size and nature of tbe
layer, forming a sort of tongue, laying the part in
the earth and raising the top upright so as there-
by to separate the tongue of the slit from the oth-
er part and keep it open; peg the shoot down
with a two pronged stick, leaving about 6 inch-
es out of the ground, in an erect position, then
cover up with a rich mould, pressing down the
earth. The shoots should be layed down in Ju-
ly and August and may be taken up or cut off
the ensuing autumn, or following spring, when
they sho lid be planted out.
CUTTINGS.
Cuttings should be taken off with a sharp knife
from, shoots of the previous summer's growth.
They should be from 6 to 15 inches in length,
and should, in all cases where practicable, have a
portion of old wood attached to the end to be
put in the ground. Let them be planted in a
nursery bed, well manured, in rows 18 inches
apart, the cuttings 9 inches asunder. They
should betaken from the tree between the falling
of the leaf in the fall and the swelling of the bud
in the spring. In planting, they must be placed
two-thirds their own length in the ground, great
care being taken to press the ground well around
them. In dry weather they must be watered well,
say twice a week, be always kept clean of weeds
and have the earth stirred two or three times in
the course of the summer and spring. The cut-
tings when taken from the tree should be wrap
ped up in a matting, or put away in dry sand in a
dark cellar, and kept until the opening of spring,
when they should be planted out, in somewhat a
slanting position. If attended to and forced by
occasional waterings with suds or the draining^
of dung, they will be fit to transplant the second
spring thereafter, either in hedges or orchards.
SUCKERS.
These should be separated from the parent
plant early in the spring, each with some roots;
if of sufficient size, they may immediately be
placed in their permanent position; if not let
them be put into a nursery bed, two feet apart,
where they are to remain until their size indi-
cates the propriety of the removal. They must
in either case be treated as seedlings or cuttings
with respect to being kept clean and watered.
EARLY SUPPLY OF LEAVES.
In order to provide against every possible casu-
alty from frosts, and to secure an early supply of
leaves for the worms oil their first hatching, the
culturist should place a hedge in some warm sit-
uation, say a southern exposure, well protected
from the northern and western winds, and in the
spring, early, they should have a covering of
plaited straw or matting to protect them from the
frost at night. As the worms in their first feed-
ing consume but little, this hedge might be lo-
cated on a garden border, and as it would only
be used for a few days, it would during the rest
of the season form a very pretty ornament to the
garden : seed might also be sown broadcast or in
drills, in a forcing border, or hot bed, to be in
readiness to meet the first calls of the worms
'or food. There are also other resources to
which the agriculturist might resort for the early
'ceding of his worms, whenever their hatching
may anticipate the leaf of the Mulberry. Let-
tuce, Dandelion, the White Raspberry, and the
dry leaves of the Mulberry, of the preceding
year, reduced to powder, moistened lightly with
water, have all been found to answer the pur-
pose of temporary feeding; but the use of either
hould only be adopted in the event of the hatch-
ing of the worms before the appearance of the
Mulberry leaves, which should be sedulously
guarded against, by carefully keeping the eggs
in such a temperature and location as will de*
lay the corning forth of the worms until there is
a regular supply of food to sustain them.
DIVISION HEDGES.
Where ground is an object, the White Mul-
berry might be made to perform the place of di-
vision fences ; if planted along the fences and
wattled in with the rails, in a few years they
would form not only a very beautiful but a per-
manent living-fence, as when they once fairly
take a start, it is impossible to eradicate them,
even with the aid of the grubbing hoe and the
pick axe; for trees which had been cut down up-
wards of twenty years have been known to throw
up young shoots every spring, thus manifesting
a tenacity for life which render them invaluable
as live-fences. It has been ascertained that if
the Mtilburry be protected from cattle for two or
three years, all further protection will be unne-
cessary, as the biting off of the young twigs in
30
spring by cattle, is ratlicr a service than a disser-
vice. Hedges intended for the joint purpose of
fences and food, should be trimmed as before
prescribed, and be kept. at about 6 feet high.
PRUNING,
It is said by some that a judicious pruning of
standard Mulberry trees should take place every
three orfcur years; but we incline to the belief,
that to render it proper, at any time, the necessi-
ty for removing unnecessary limbs or branches
must exist, and of this, the cuiturist must i.eces-
sarily be left to judge for himself. In the spring,
say about the beginning of April, all dead branch-
es or limbs ought to be removed from the living
wood, care being observed to let the taking oli'
of th.€ branch or limb, be done with a sharp in-
strument, so as to leave a smooth surface, which
should be smeared over with a mixture of three-
fourths fresh cow-dung and one-fourth chalk,
moistened to a proper consistence.
It may be assumed, in addition to the pruning
above recommended, that always after the gath-
ering of the leaves of the season shall have been
done with, all the branches that may hare been
damaged in the operation, and all the dead ones,
ought ti> be lopped off, as well as those the vege-
tation of which seems too low; and those the
vegetation of which on the contrary is tooluxuri-
ent, ought to be restrained in that propensity
or trained in an oblique direction, which is a
means of restraining- atoo rapid growth: they ought
not to be left to grow to an excessive height, nor
to spread too far. The branches which obstruct
the development of the head, or hang too much
down, should be shortened; and lastly those that
have been thrust out of their natural direction,
during the gathering of the leaves, ought to be
set right again. As a general remark it may be
safe to add, that they should be treated in the
main as fruit trees are.
GENERAL REMARKS,
AS TO THE MODE OF MULTIPLYING.
We have given succinct directions with respect
to the various methods by which the Mulberry
may be propagated ; but, as a general rule, we
should prefer the growing of the tree from seed
to any other form, and in this opinion, we are
backed by the experience of that eminent Italian
cuiturist, Count Dandolo. He says:
"The leaf of the [seedling] tree, contains the
proportion of both the nutritive and silky sub-
stances. J have, says he, ascertained the follow-
ing facts:
1. That 14^ Ibs. of wild Mulberry leaves, will
produce a pound and a half of cocoons; while
20f Ibs. of the leaves of the grafted Mulberry,
are required to yield the same quantity.
2. That 7| Ibs. of cocoons, proceeding from
silk worms fed on leaves of Wild Mulberry give
about 14 oz. of very fine silk ; whilst generally
the same weight of silk worms, fed with the
leaves of the grafted Mulberry, only yield eleven
or twelve ounces of silk.
3. That the silk worms fed on the wild leaves,
are always brisker and have better appetites.
The result is, that, taking two trees of equal
age and vigor, the grafted tree yields 50 Ibs. of
leaves, and the wild tree only 30 Ibs; the
weight of nutritious substance will be nearly
equal in each."
To this authority may be added that of M.
Martleroy, an experienced cuiturist in France,
who found that silk worms fed with the leaves
of the seedling Mulberry tree, were more healthy,
vigorous, and less subject to diseases, than those
which are fed upon the leaves of the grafted
trees.
The term " wild trees" as used by Count Dan-
dolo, must be understood, in every instance, to
mean trees raised from the seed, being used in
contradistinction to those propagated by the oth-
er appliances of the trade, used in the propagation
of valuable plants, and in addition to these rea-
sons, we believe the seedling will be found to be
more thrifty, luxuriant in foliage,and longer lived.
Indeed, with such facilities as are possessed
in our country for multiplying the Mulberry tree
from seed, no inducement exists to a resort to
any of the numerous other methods of propaga-
tion. It may, perhaps, be said that seed of the
Morus Multicaulis cannot at present be obtain-
ed in America, arid that recourse must, of course,
be had to those other means of multiplying that
species ; that, for the time being is true ; but
then, we think it more than probable, that by the
time the spring opens, seed will have been pro-
cured from the European markets, and that in a
very few years, seed will be obtained in our own,
from trees already growing here.
AS TO THE TIME OF SOWING SEED.
In our variable climate, it is almost impossible
to fix any thing like a day for the sowing of seed
in the spring; for it is out of the question, to
calculate with any d< gree of certainty, upon any
considerable number of successive days of con-
genial temperature. Under such circumstances,
all we can do, is, to prescribe general rules of gov-
ernment; and in the furtherance of our views,
we would say — that the seed should be sown as
early in the spring as the ground and weather
will permit. Say, in winters and springs of or-
dinary mildness — in the more southern state$,
about the Is* of April — in the western, from the
15th of April to the 1st June—\n the middle
states from the 1st of April to the 1st of May,
in forward springs — in backward springs, from
the 15th of April to the 15th of May, and in
the northern and eastern states, from the 1st of
May, forward during that month, as may be indi-
cated by the weather.
31
AS TO SOIL.
It may not be inopportune here to make a few
general remarks upon the subject of soil. Al-
though the young trees for the first year or two,
would be evidently improved in their growth by
being placed in rich dry loamy soil, yet all expe-
rience proves that the plant after it shall have at-
tained a few years of age, grows luxuriantly in
every kind of soil. Mr. Smith has seen the tree in
every variety of soil, from the poorest to the rich-
est, and has been able to observe no other differ-
ence in its foliage than a more firm texture in
that which grew on poor land, than in that reared
on rich; and it is uniformly admitted that a dry,
stony or sandy soil, is preferable to a rich one.
Here a remark presents itself to our mind,
which we feel bound in duty to make. It is
known to every intelligent man, that in each
county of most of the old states, there are thou-
sands and tens of thousands of acres of worn-
out lands, which are either grown over with
scrubby oaks, or pines, or covered with that em-
blem of a heart-broken soil, the sedge-grass. Such
fields, — barren and worthless as they may seem
in the eye of one who has been used to looking at
fields dressed in their brightest and rno-t luxuri-
ent array of verdure,— may all be converted into
sources of wealth, by being formed into Mulberry
plantations or orchards; by simply manuring
the young plants in the drill, in case of hedges,
or'in the holes in the event of standard trees,
with rich compost or loam, or even by manuring
with half rotten stable or barn-yard manure ; and
it should be recollected, that when once started
in this way, the young Mulberry will require
scarcely any thing further from the hands of
the cultivator, but to keep it clean and watered,
as may be seen in our remarks under the
preceding heads. All the subsequent manuring
whether they be planted in hedges, or in stand-
ard trees, which they will require, will more than
repay him by their yield for all the labour he
may put upon them. A crop of potatoes, oc-
casionally, well manured between the rows, fol-
lowed by clover, which can be cut one year and
ploughed in the next, will be all that will be ne-
cessary to secure to the trees, permanent, vigor-
ous growth, and plentiful produce of foliage.
AS TO MODE OF CULTIVATION.
As we have before remarked, we prefer the
hedge form, and would keep no more standard
trees than might be necessary to secure supplies
of seed, to meet contingencies.
PERIOD WHEN LEAVES MAY BE FED.
The trees should not be deprived of their
leaves until the fourth year, and then they should
not be entirely stripped ; on the following year,
however, and the succeeding ones, they may be
treated as old trees, and all the leaves be taken
off when required for the food of worms ; an
acre in the hedge form, would, we believe, fur-
nish sufficient foliage, after the fourth year, to
support the number of worms requisite to pro-
duce the quantity of silk, which forms the basis of
the calculations to be found under the proper head.
It is best, however, not to be too anxious in pull-
ing them before the plant has received some so-
lidity, and been placed in a situation to withstand
any violent demand upon its powers of production,
as by judicious attention for a year or two, and a
proper consulting of the demands of nature, the
tree will receive such an impetus as will ensure
to it a long life and luxuriant foliage.
Some of the culturists in the eastern states,
are of opinion that leaves may be gathered at two
years old, provided those near the end of the
branches are left and the main stem be not
touched. Our opinion is, that such practice is
contrary to nature, and cannot be justified upon
any principles connected with reason or a just
economy of vegetable life. "Leaves," it has been
very happily said, "bear the same relation to trees
and plants, as the lungs to the bodies of men and
animals. A leafless tree dies soon ;" and,
therefore, that "not more than half of its leaves,
or at most two-thirds of them should be strip-
ped."
YIELD OF FOLIAGE — PROFIT OF THE CULTURE,
fcfi.
It is impossibe to ascertain with any thing like
accuracy the quantity of leaves which an acre
of Mulberry trees will yield ; but still we can
approximate sufficiently near to found a calcu-
lation upon it. We will here array some of the
various authorities upon this branch of the sub-
ject.
1. It is stated in the Memoir submitted by
Mr. Bailiff Hout, of Manheim, to the Agricultu-
ral Society of the Grand Dutchy of Baden, that
a White Mulberry tree, 20 years old, planted in
a proper soil, produces on an average, two quin-
tals of foliage, (200 Ibs.,) and that seven quintals,
700 Ibs., are required for 40 Ibs. of cocoons.
2. It is computed by Mr. D'Homergue that
each tree [standard] at 6 years of age will yield
30 Ibs. of leaves, which he proposes should be set
at 6 feet square apart, properly cultivated and
nurtured.
3. The Editor of this Manual, assumes the
following, it being the best result at which his
mind could arrive, after the most careful exami-
nation of various authorities — that is, that a tree,
as a standard, four years of age, well cultivated,
will yield 20 Ibs. of foliage, that at 6 years of
age it will yield 30 Ibs., and that if planted in
hedge-form, an SLTG of land will yield an
amount of leaves when six years of age more than
equal to the support of 540,000 worms, that is
he believes that each tree at 4 years, will yield
4 bis. of leaves, and at 6 years will yield 7 Ibs.
of leaves, and that its capacity to yield will in-
crease by the time the hedge shall have attained
its twentieth year, 100 per cent., tint is, that the
acre will, after the expiration of that period,
yield a foliage competent to the sustenance of
upwards of a million of worms, and this will not
be doubted, when it is considered that the acre in
hedge-form, six feet wide apart and \\ asun-
der in the rows, will contain 4,840 plants — as 6
X 1| is equal to the square of 9, and that being
divided into 43,560, the number of square feet in
an acre, gives 4,840, as :
9)43.560
4,840 No. plants on an acre 6
feet by 1 1.
Mr. Frost, of Massachusetts, fed 1,500 worms
on 75 Ibs. of leaves, which precisely corresponds
with the average of food as laid down by Count
Von Hazzi, of Munich. He pays :.
On an average twenty thousand worms require
in the 1st period 5 Ibs. of leaves
2d
3d «
4th "
5th "
15
46
139
795
Ibs. 1,000
And he observes, further, that
" Until lately, twice as much would have been
consumed in Germany, in consequence of the
errors which attended the rearing of worms, their
feeding, the economy of the leaves," &c-
Count Dandola estimates that about 37 Ibs. 12
oz. will feed 1,000 worrng, but we take the larger
number, as we wish to make a liberal allowance
for wasteage and other contingences.
4. Mr. Fitch speaks of a full grown tree,
which yielded food for worms, which made four
pounds of silk, and as 3,000 is the general av-
erage for a pound of silk, there must have been
12,000 fed on this one tree.
Mr. Fitch also states, that an acre of full
grown trees, set one and a half rods apart, will
produce 40 Ibs. of silk.
4. Mr. Tufts confirms this calculation, but does
not state the distance at which the trees stood
from one another.
6. Mr. Storrs says, that a full grown tree will
feed 6,000 worms, which will produce one and a
half pounds of silk. An acre of trees will pro-
duce 60 Ibs. of raw silk in one season.
7. Mr. Smith states, that a full grown tree will
feed 5,000 worms.
8. Mr. R. Falley, now of Ohio, had 18 Ibs. of
silk from about 100 trees, part of which were
young, in Massachusetts,"
9. It is stated in the Columbian Magazine,
that in the year 1789, nearly four pounds were
produced from seven trees, and one pound from
eight trees, eight years old, from the seed.
10. According to Count Dandolo, it is a cer-
tain fact, that, if silk worms are well managed
21 Ibs. of Mulberry leaves will be sufficient to
obtain a pound and a half of cocoons, and that in
Dalmatia he obtained a pound and a half of co-
coons from 15 Ibs. of leaves, which yielded a
pound and a half of silk, and he further affirms
hat 97J Ibs. of leaves will produce 1\ Ibs. of co-
coons. For the yield of the trees we take Bai-
iff Hout's estimate, 200 Ibs. of leaves to the full
grown tree.
11. Miss Rhodes could scarcely support ten
thousand worms on the leaves of twelve large
rees in England.
12. According to Lambruschini, 100 Ibs. of
clear leaves will feed worms which will produce
6 Ibs. of silk.
13. Mr. Genet, the former French. Minister to
this country, in his Memoirs on the subject of
silk states, that" A small hedge that will occupy
he twentieth part of an acre, being planted with
jushes not more than three years old will sup-
aly and accommodate 100.000 worms, the pro-
duce of which will be thirty pounds of raw drawn
silk, and if the whole acre is planted in the same
way, the produce will be six hundred pounds,
which if merely spun into sowing silk would
amount at the present price of American sewing
silk at Albany, [then] three dollars per pound, to
" ,800."
14. Mr. Daniel Bradley, of Marcellus, New
York, estimates that an acre of ground will yield
foliage enough for a million of worms, and that
some go so far as to say that it will support two
millions.
15. On the authority of the Hamilton County
(Ohio) Agricultural Society, as we have before
stated, it is affirmed that four young ladies in
Massachusetts, gathered as many leaves off of 4
acres in 1833, as fed worms which made them
420 Ibs. of silk, besides attending to the domes-
tic concerns of the household.
16. The late Mr. Parmentier, of New York,
a distinguished Nursery-man and Horticulturist,
stated that an acre of Mulberry trees, when full
grown, would yield foliage enough to feed worms
that would produce 490 dollars worth of silk.
REMARKS UPON THE PRECEDING.
We have prepared in a succeeding page, a ta-
ble, shewing the produce per acre, according to
the respective statements and data of the several
persons given under the preceding head, and in
order that the reader may understand the princi-
ples upon which our several calculations are
made, we will briefly explain each, as they res-
pectively stand in numerical order.
No. 1. Mr. Hout states that a tree 20 years
old will yield 200 Ibs. of foliage, and we calcu-
late, as 108 trees, 20 feet square apart, can stand
on an acre of ground, the acre will yield 21,600
Ibs. of leaves. Again he says, 700 Ibs. of leaves
will produce 40 Ibs. of cocoons, and, therefore,
21,600 Ibs. will produce 1234 Ibs/, then, as 0
33
Ibs. of cocoons are equal to 1 Ib. of silk, so is
1234 Ibs. equal to 137 Ibs.
No. 2. This is calculated upon the same prin-
ciple as the first branch of the above, with this
difference, that the 6 feet square assumed by Mr.
D'Homergue, will give 1210 trees to the acre
— the square of 6 being 36, that divided into
43,560, the number of square feet contained
therein, gives 1210 as the quotient.
No. 3. Our own calculation is based on a sim-
ilar principle.
No. 4. Mr. Fitch's statements do not accord
with each other, and we have, therefore, under-
taken to reconcile their discrepancies. In the
first place, he speaks of having seen a. full grown
tree that afforded food for worms, which made
4 Ibs. of silk : then he tells us that an acre of
full grown trees set a rood and a half apart, will
produce 40 Ibs. of silk. Now as a rood and a half
is 24 feet, 75 trees can beset upon an acre, and
unless Mr. Fitch has two measures for his full
grown trees, he is not consistent with himself,
as, 75 such full grown ones as he first describes,
would yield 300 Ibs. of silk, instead of 40. The
first tree he names must have fed 12,000 worms;
but if we calculate that his subsequent ones are
competent to feed 5,000, the most generally re-
ceived number, the 75 must have produced 125
Ibs. of silk. It struck us however as most fair
to take the average of the three, and we accord-
ingly made our calculations upon that data.
No. 5. Mr. Tufts baring avouched Mr. Fitch's
statement, we have made the same calculations
for him.
No. 6. Mr. Storrs estimates that it will take
4,000 worms to make a pound of silk; this is
much too high; 2,400,2,542, 2,700 and 3,000
have severally done so; but he has even set the
produce of an acre at greatly below what his ex-
travagant estimate would make it. We believe
we make a liberal allowance for contingencies,
when we assume 3,000 as the number compe-
tent to give a pound of silk ; we have, therefore,
found our average, by calculating the pound at
that ratio ; at Mr. Storr's 4,000, and then at his
60 Ibs. per acre.
No. 7. We take Mr. Smith's estimate of the
capacity of a full grown tree, and Mr. Bradley's
for the measure of that of the worms, and thus
arrive at the result in the table.
No. 8. We take this as we find it, though it is
evidently made with too much looseness to enti-
tle it to the least consideration, and but that we
wish to show both sides of the picture, we would
not give it.
No. 9. Here too, there is much looseness;
but to prevent cavil have placed the trees 20 feet
square apart, and thus find a result much below
what the data would justify.
No. 10. Count Dandolo gives data for three
calculations, and as his great experience in the
business, enlightened mind, and mathematical
exactitude in all that he does, entitle his state-
ments to every consideration, we have made caV
culations for each and taken the average, viz :
171, 184 and 240=5 9 5 aggregate — average 198|,
and we are pleased to find that this is 17^ Ibs.
more than our own; for from the familiarity of this
distinguished gentleman with the business, the ut-
most reliance may be placed on his estimates; be-
cause they are the results of actual practice.
No. 11. Miss Rhodes' experiments being
made in England, where the worms will not labor,
should not be taken into the account ; for Eng-
land has long since abandoned the culture, hav-
ing given it up as utterly impracticable owing to
the humidity of the climate;— but as our object
is truth, we give it for what it is worth.
No. 12. This is a high-pressure calculation,
which never has been, and, in our opinion, never
can be realized : we are, therefore, disposed to
think that, in the translation, the word "silk" has
been substituted for that of "cocoons" — with
this changed version, it would approach much
nearer practicable results.
No. 13. This author is also too high, in our
opinion, though he has several good authorities
to back his calculations withal.
No. 14. This a little too sanguine also.
No. 15. This being an actual result, is of
course, to be taken for its actual amount, and
although less than an acre is capable of produc-
ing by nearly a hundred per cent., it is a most
wonderful product, all things considered.
No. 16. This, in our opinion, is much below
what can be realized from an acre properly cul-
tivated.
Recapitulation. — A table shewing the probable produce per acre ac-
cording to the estimates and data furnished by the 16 different
persons enumerated therein, made upon the principles as explain-
ed in the preceding remarks-
I.S
I-®
Value
°-5
91
Names of the Parties.
lo'lj
S<5 3 -
of Silk
per
Amounts.
il
a g.25
pound.
i
Mr. Bailiff Hout,
137
$*
$548
2
Mr. D'Homergue,
242
4
968
S
The Editor,
180
4
720
4
Mr. Fitch,
155
4
620
5
Mr. Tufts,
155
4
620
6
Mr. Storrs,
146
4
584
7
Mr. Smith, as explained
180
4
720
8
Mr. Falley,
18
4
72
9
Columbian Magazine,
61
4
244
10
Count Dandolo, aver.
198
4
792
11
Miss Rhodes,
27
4
108
12
M. Lambruschina,
1296
4
5184
13
Mr. Genet,
666
4
2664
14
Mr. Bradley,
333
4| 13Sli
15
4 Massachusetts' ladies.
105
4
4-10
16
Mr. Parmentier,
490
I Totals.
3989
T6.08H
Total of all the estimates, $ 16,084
Average product per acre, $1005
34
We now propose to make a few calculations, in
order that the reader may more fully compre-
hend the table just given, and those which may
follow.
It is computed by Mr. D'Homergue, that a tree
6 years old, will yield 30 Ibs. of foliage, and that
they may be planted 6 feet square apart, which
would give us 1,210 trees on an acre, there
being 43,560 square feet in an acre, as
6
6
Square of 6, 36 ) 43560 ( 1210 No. of trees on
36 an acre at 6 ft. square apart.
75
72
36
36
Thus then, if there be 1,210 trees on an acre,
yielding 30 Ibs. of leaves to the tree, they will
give foliage enough to support 726,000 worms,
and as 3,000 cocoons will yield a pound of silk,
so will the gross number give 243 Ibs., as for ex-
amples :
1210 trees on an acre,
30 Ibs. foliage to each tree,
36,300 Ibs. of leaves on an acre.
It has been proved by the actual experiments
of several silk culturists, indeed, we might say,
by universal experience, that 50 Ibs. of leaves
will support 1,000 worms during the feeding
season.
The question may be therefore thus stated :
If 50 Ibs. of leaves feed 1,000 worms, how
many worms will 36,300 Ibs. of leaves feed.
If 50—1000—36,300
1000
5,0)36,30000,0
726,000 worms.
Again, if 3,000 cocoons make a pound of silk,
how many pounds will 726,000 make.
If 3,000—1—726,000
1
3,000) 726,000
Amount raised on an acre }
according to Mr. D'Hom- > 242 Ibs. of silk.
ergue's statement,
Gross value of an acre in
silk culture,
per Ib. present
selling price
We have no doubt, ourself, that this amount
might be realized, and even mere, from an acre
in the silk culture, properly attended to, in the
hedge-form, but as we do not wish to excite over
sanguine expectations, we have assumed data
even less than that justified by the actual experi-
ments, or rather practical business results, of
Count Dandolo, one of the most intelligent
among the Italian silk culturists. The following
examples will show the amounts produced by
that gentleman, according to his statement, as per
No. 10 in the table.
There being 108 trees on an acre, each bear-
ing 200 Ibs. of leaves, the whole will yield 21,-
600 Ibs. of foliage, as
108 number of trees on an acre
200 number of pounds per each tree
21,600 Ibs. the produce of an acre.
As Count Dandolo says, that 21 Ibs. of leaves
will yield 1 J Ibs cocoons, so will 21,600 Ibs. of
leaves give 171 Ibs. of cocoons; as
If 21 \\ 21,600
2 3
3 21) 64800
2) 3035
1542 Ibs. of GO'S.
As 9 Ibs. of cocoons give 1 Ib. of silk, so will
1542 Ibs. of cocoons yield 171 Ibs. of silk; as
If 9_i_i542
1
9) 1542
171 Ibs. of silk.
Again— Count Dandolo has obtained li Ibs.
of cocoons from 15 Ibs. of leaves: this will give
us the following as the product of an acre's cul-
ture.
If 15 11 21,600
3 15) 64800
2) 4320
9) 2160
240
And again— he says, that 97| Ibs. of leaves
35
will produce 1\ Ibs. of cocoons — this .gives u
the following result :
• ' 2
' 2
2
2
2
95
15
43200
15
216000
43200
195) 648000
2) 3323
9) 166J
184 Ibs. of silk.
Product of the several results.
171
240
184
3) 595
Average product of an
acre according to
Count Dandolo,
198 Ibs. of silk at
lb.— $792.
per
Our own calculation is predicated upon the
statement of Mr. Smith, that a full grown tree
will yield foliage enough for 5,000 worms, and
as 108 trees at 20 feet square apart will stand on
an acre, so will that number of trees support
540,000 worms, and as 3,000 will make a pound
of silk, so will 540,000 make 180 Ibs., as per
example:
108 No. of trees on an acre,
5000 No. of worms which one full
grown tree will support,
8,000) 540,000
180 Ibs. of silk raised from an acre,
4
^720 the gross value of an acre.
We will now state an account current, by
which the nett profit of an acre will be clearly
demonstrated, and we beg leave to make this ex-
planation, that, with a view of providing against
all possible contingencies, we have taxed 540,-
000 worms with the expense of the labor of
1,000,000, which will more than cover all draw-
backs arising from mortality among the worms, or
any other unforseen casualties.
I o
c
^ *
•
o
J
8 CO
o o
O CD
-f,^ t -fc^
o is
Having thus demonstrated the practicability of
realizing $565 80 cents, from one acre in the
silk culture, well attended to, on which, howe-
ver, an excess of labor equal to 46 per cent., or
on which the cost of the labor necessary for
1,000,000 is charged upon 540,000 worms,we will
now prepare a table, shewing the nett profits on
from 1 to 10 acres, the same excess of labor
being charged, the object of which, is, to cof er
any contingent demands which may be made
upon the product of the worms, whether by
mortality or otherwise.
s
•S3 JOB 01
| 0 0
0
o
"8 oj
J°
0 G<
00
in
QJ
pnpojj
s^in^
co_
0 S
h- i— i
irT
13 0
« c
•saaoB 6
»j 0 O
- 0 CD
o
c- • -«
*"* •*••
J°
01-
^g;CO CO
i
to G
§ S
pnpojj
irT
•S9JOB g
tc ° °
"o ° *°
o
^ co"
J°
o so
waa. CO CO
CO
S "^
lonpojj
t— G^
in^
•»*8
vn —
Tf
.1 o
•S3JOB i
03 O O
-g O TC
0
CO
co '.3
3 rt
J°
O O5
o
CO
"o *"
ioriDO«u
"^*-^" f^ ^^
C5
c o
•- ^3
urT^
^
GO
•S c
•S8JOB 9
-2 o §
O
CO
-°^o
J°
o m
•<*
05
nT'S
a> in
jonpojj
5*05
rt t2
•saioB 9
O
o
O cd
"-I m
J°
0^
C5
O *
•jonpojj
C°r,f~
CO.
G3
eo
G<
" bD
SB
•S3JOB f
-2 o co
0
CO
s ^
JO
0 oco
GO
CO
**-!
jgnpOJ .J
"^"CD CO
G<
o bo
a
£
eT
5-S
•S3JOB g
« o o
^ 0 CO
o
•«*
g^t
J°
O5
-^ gj
pnpojj
*»•"*
CO
" — QJ
s<
i—*
^^ fe
. ^^ r^l •
O
o o
*S9JOo 5
•<-• o ^?
CO
•5-°
,_. S-t
J°
o co
GO
*+•* £T
^onpojj
=-^eo
^r
*o ^2
•8JOB I
-2 o S
o
co
~tj
&• o
J°
m
1 1
pnpojj
=^=s< m
CO
m
~ 2*
<-» Js
*
C ®
"C '*•'
c^
& **
*s Si
«
o p
S 1
11 f
CXr-^ t-
E^
03 •*-> -*^
2 S «
•<
OU fc
We will now, for the better satisfaction of
the reader who may desire to be thoroughly in-
formed with respect to actual profits, without
the trouble of reducing the data given to calcula-
tion, prepare a table, showing the exact profit
upon 1, 5 and 10 acres in the Mulberry culture,
according to the data furnished by Mr. D'Hom-
ergue, that of Count Dandolo, and ourself, the
actual cost of labor being charged.
A TABLE shewing the actual profits of the Mulberry culture upon 1, 5 and 10 acres, according to the
estimates of Mr. D'Homergue, Count Dandolo, and the Author of this Manual.
Estimate of trie Author
of this Manual.
10 acres.
0 O
O CO
o ei
o eo
0
CO
eo
~O
GO
CO
CO
c
o
•
0 0
O GO
O CO
O i-i
G0~
OJ
rt
O CO
O G*
O GO
e< co
co
CO
Calculation according to
Count Dandolo' s esti-
mate.
CO
fl
3
o
0 O
0 0
0 •-«
o
0
O5
CO
CO
o
rt
'
0 0
o >o
o m
CO Gt
o
GO
erT
cu
0
n
O O
o «
O5 CO
t-
r~o
O5
0
t-
Calculation according to
Mr. D' Homer gue's data.
10 acres.
0 O
0 Tf
C< O5
05^3^
CO
rf
£
t>
2
0 0
0 I-
0 05
co m
O
GO
o
0
E
0
o o:
05 1-4
CO
o
CO
CO
oT
fl
H3 =3 *^
C-«— i >-
tn
0 « »
i- o »
OO &
As we desire to be fully understood upon
this important branch of the subject, we will en-
ter somewhat more at large upon it. We ask
leave then, in the first instance, to remind the
reader that we have assumed the ability of an
acre of ground in Mulberry trees, six years old,
to sustain 540,000 worms. This number is ar-
bitrary, it may be said, and so it is, as also is
that of the yield of single trees ; but they are both
in our estimation low. We believe that if a
standard tree 20 years old, will yield 200 Ibs. of
foliage, it is a moderate calculation to say that
one in the hedge row at 4 years old will give
4 Ibs., and that at 6 it will yield 7 Ibs. Mr.
D'Homergue estimates that a standard tree of
the same nge will yield 30 Ibs., and when we
37
claim less than one-fifth for it in the hedge, we
think we must be thought moderate.
The acre as we have before shown, in the
hedge-form, will contain 4840 trees, which when
4 years old, at 4 Ibs. of leaves to each, will pro-
duce 19,360 Ibs. of leaves, and feed 387,200
worms, as 50 pounds will support 1,000 during the
feeding season.
4,840
4
19,360
1000
5,0) 1936000,0
387,200 worms.
At 6 years old, according to our assumption, the
following will be the result :
4,840 trees on an acre of hedge,
7 Ibs. of foliage per each,
33,880 Ibs. of foliage upon an acre,
1000
5,0) 33,88000,0
677,600
540,000 number of assumed by us.
137,600 excess over our calculation.
It would thus appear evident, that if the trees
at 8 years old should yield the quantity of leaves
assumed by us, an acre of land will afford fo-
liage enough to support 137,600, or one-fourth
more worms than we have claimed for it, which
would, as 3,000 give a pound of silk, make a
difference in favor of an acre in silk culture, over
our preceding estimate, of upwards of 45 Ibs. of
silk, or, at the rate of $4 per lb., of $180.
It may be said, that all calculations which fix
the number of pounds of foliage to be produced
by a Mulberry tree, must necessarily be uncer-
tain, and equally so is the assumption that a tree
will yield food for any given number of worms.
But then in both of these forms we must be gov-
erned by the experience of such culturists as re-
liance may be placed upon. Count De Hazzi,
says, that " it is now exactly known, from long
experience, what quantity of food the worms re-
quire in their several ages, until they have begun
to spin their silk. Twenty thousand worms cor-
respond to one ounce of eggs of our weight, and
they require through all their ages a thousand
pounds of leaves." From 18 to 20 good Mul-
berry trees give, each, one quintal and a half of
leaves, and consequently, from 8 to 10 trees are
necessary for twenty thousand worms. From
the concurrent testimony of almost all the wri-
.ters, from 37 to 50 Ibs. of leaves is consumed
during the feeding season by a thousand worms,
and having taken the largest average, we feel
certain that we cannot at all events be consider-
ed as exaggerating profits.
TABLE OF DISTANCES.
A table showing the number of plants on an
acre at certain distances, there being 43,560
square feet in an acre.
Feet feet plants.
l\ by 6 4,840
l\ by 8 3,630
2 by 6 3,630
3 by 6 2,420
3 by 8 1,815
4 by 4 2,722
6 by 6 1,210
6 by 8 907
8 by 8 686
10 by 10 435
10 by 12 . 363
12 by 12 302
12 by 15 242
15 by 15 193
15 by 20 145
20 by 20 108
20 by 25 8T
24 by 24 75
25 by 25 69
25 by 30 58
30 by SO 40
30 by 40 86
TABLE OF MEASURES.
14 oz. cocoons produce about 1 oz. eggs.
68 eggs weigh 1 grain.
1 oz. contains 22,640 eggs.*
5 ounces, 1 13,200 u
10 ounces, 226,400 "
15 ounces, 339,600 "
20 ounces, 452,800 "
40 ounces, 905,600 "
SO ounces, 1,811,200 "
1,000 worms consume 50 Ibs. of leaves,f
9 Ibs. of cocoons will make about 1 lb. of silk,
3000 cocoons make about 1 lb. of silk.J
800 cocoons make about 1 lb. of cocoons.
A female moth will lay about 450 eggs.
MODE OF GATHERING LEAVES.
Count Dandolo states that much depends, in
regard to a long preservation of Mulberry trees
and hedges, on the method of gathering their
leaves; that it should be done with the greatest
care, to prevent the- trees from receiving injuries.
That caution is so much the more necessary, as
nature has not intended they should be stripped
*The general computation is that an ounce of
eggs will hatch 20,000 worms.
|Count Dandolo says 87 Ibs. will answer.
JThe Precise number depends upon the
quality of the cocoons — 24,000, 2,500, 2,542
and 3,000, have respectively made a lb. of silk.
38
violently of their foliage. It is, says he, essential
that all the leaves should be pulled off, for if any
remain on some branches, they attract the sap
whilst the naked branches are incompletely
nourished. The stripping of the leaves should
not be begun before the disappearance of the dew,
and ought to be concluded before the setting of
the sun. The hand should move from below
upwards, in order to avoid pulling off the buds.
All climbing upon trees must be avoided, and
the best way to gather the leaves, it is suggested,
would be to use a rolling ladder, which consists
of two parts, a wheelbarrow, the legs of which
are to be from seven to eight feet long, straight,
somewhat projecting beyond the wheel, and
connected by four cross sticks; and a ladder six
feet long, which is attached to the wheelbarrow
by a fourth cross stick ; with this apparatus a sin-
gle man is able to carry several bags of leaves.
The end to be placed on the ground must be
pointed with iron. The bags used in this appara-
tus must be hooped, so as to remain open, and
ought to have a hook to be hung on the branch-
es, and care must be taken that the leaves be not
emptied on the ground, it being particularly de-
sirable to keep them clear of dust: when con-
veyed to the wheelbarrow they should be kept
sheltered from the sun. Leaves covered with
a taugh viscous matter, — the honey dew, as it is
called, — are injurious to the worms; they must
be used only in case of necessity, and not then
until they are thoroughly washed and dried.
If the hedge-form be adopted, as it should be,
all the trouble and expense of the rolling ladders,
will be rendered wholly unnecessary. But even
in that event, lightly constructed wheelbarrows,
with deep beds, might very advantageously be
substituted for the cart, as a means of transporting
the leaves from the Mulberry groves to the labora-
tory.
SUPPLY OF LEAVES.
Care must always be taken to keep a good sup-
ply of leaves pulled and stored away in some cool
place, and therefore it is particularly desirable to
have a spacious airy cellar under the laboratory
where you may deposit three or four days supply
of leaves, so as to be prepared against rainy-spells,
as it will not do to feed the worms with wet haves
A brick or stone pavement would be best. —
Should it so turn out, from long continued rains,
that your supply of dry leaves are exhausted, you
must dry those which you may gather wet, be-
fore you altempt to feed the worms with them
This can be done by putting the leaves on clean
cloths on the floor and turning them repeatedly, so
as to let the water escape by evaporation and o
therwise. But such an occurrence may be always
avoided by a judicious exercise of judgment, anc
vigilant watching of the signs, of the weather, by
prudently having a supply in store. Dusty leaves
must not be fed to the worms.
TIME WHEN THE LEAVES ARE PIT FOR FEEDING.
It is important that the silk culturist should
enow when the leaves will be fit for feeding, in
order that he may make the hatching of the eggs
of his silk worms to correspond therewith. We
will, therefore, remark that generally, the leaves of
both the Morus Multicaulis and the Mfirus
Alba would be sufficiently forward to be pulled
n Maryland about the middle of May, to the
vestward a few days later, to the eastward two
,veeks later; and in Virginia (Eastern,) and the
states further south, from 15 to 25 days earlier.
THE LABORATORY OR COCOONERY, &C.
Having thus fully spoken of the Mulberry tree,
and given all the necessary instructions relative
to its culture, from the sowing of the seed, until
he trees are sufficiently matured to justify the
itripping of the foliage for feeding the worms, it
would seem proper that we should say something
about the construction of a laboratory, or co-
coonery, for the accommodation of the worms,
and of the necessary fixtures for conveniently
carrying on their feeding, the preservation of
their health and the profitable employment of
their very notable and interesting labors.
DESCRIPTION OF COUNT DANDOLo's LABORATORY.
My laboratory, says Count Dandolo, is con-
structed to contain twenty ounces of the eggs of
silk worms, or to accommodate 800,000 worms.
It is 30 feet wide, 77 feet long, 12 feet high
in the clear, and when reckoned to the top of the
roof, 21 feet high. There are six rows of tables or
wicker trays, about 2 feet 6 inches in width
each, placed two and two, with four passages be-
tween them, each three feet wide. Posts are
driven in between the trays, and strips of wood
fastened to the posts horizontally, to sup-
port the trays, between which there is a space of
five inches and a half to allow the air to pass free-
ly.
There are 13 unglazed windows with Vene-
tian shutters, outside, and paper window frames
inside ; under each window, near the floor, are
ventilators, or square apertures of about 13 inch-
es that they may be closed by a neatly filled sliding
panne!, so as to permit the air to circulate and
blow over the floor. When the air is not requir-
ed, the paper frames may be closed. The Vene-
tian shutters may be opened or shut at will, [or
substituted for the common pannel shutter.]
When the air is still, and the temperature of the
interior and exterior is nearly equal, all the win-
dow frames may be opened and the shutters
must be closed.
There are eight ventilators in two lines in the
floor and ceiling, placed perpendicularly, opposite
to one another, in the centre of the passages be-
tween the hurdles or trays. They have sliding
pannels made of thick glass to close them, and
to admit light from above. As the air of the
floor ventilators ascends, and that of the ceiling
39
ventilators descends, it must pass through the
trays. There are also six other ventilators,
made in the floor, to communicate with the
rooms beneath. Three of the thirteen windows
are at the end of the house ; and at the opposite
end, are three doors, constructed so as to admit
more or Jess air as may be necessary. These
doors open into another hall, 36 feet long and
90 feet wide, which forms a continuation of the
large laboratory, and contains trays sufficiently
raised to facilitate the care of the worms. In this
hall there are 6 windows and 6 ventilators under
them, nearly on a level with the floor, and also
four ventilators in the ceiling. There are 6 fire-
places in the great laboratory, one in each angle,
and one on each side of the centre, and a large
stove in the middle ; glass oil burners, that give
no smoke, are used to give light at night. Be-
tween the hall and the great laboratory, there is
a small room having two large doors, the one
communicating with the laboratory, the other with
the hall. In the centre of the floor there is a
large square opening, which communicates with
the lower part of the building. This is closed
with a wooden folding door; this aperture is
used for throwing down the litter and rubbish
of the laboratory, and for admitting Mulberry
leaves, which can be drawn up by a hand-pulley.
Such is the construction of the laboratory of
Count Dandolo.
In giving the above minute description of
Count Dandolo's laboratory, we do not offer it as
a model worthy of being adopted by culturists in
the U. States. On the contrary, we think it espe-
cially to be avoided as an example, and for the sim-
ple reason that it is too costly ; but notwithstand-
ing,that we admonish againstits adoption, we think
valuable hints may be derived from it, inasmuch
as it will enable those about to engage in the bu-
siness to see the great principles to be aimed at in
the construction of an establishment, to wit,
" convenience, the preservation of a proper tem-
perature, and the free circulation of air." These
are the great cardinal points to which the Ameri-
can cultivator must attend, whatever may be the
extent of the buildhsg he may construct.
Almost every large estate in the United States
have buildings upon them which might at a tri-
fling expense be converted into laboratories for
the accommodation of the worms. Barns, to-
bacco houses, out houses, may all be so altered
as to answer without at all interfering with their
usefulness for the objects for which they were
originally built. All buildings may be said to
be proper for receiving silk worms^ which have
one or more fire-places, two or more ventilators in
the ceiling, on a level with the floor, and windows
through which light may be admitted to the ex-
clusion of sunshine.
And where no such buildings already exist,
that can be spared for the purposes of the worms,
one at a very moderate cost may be erected
Any one with ordinary enterprise and ingenuity
may go into his woods and in a few days prepare
posts, scantling and clap-boards in sufficient
quantities to construct a house even upon the
most extensive scale. As to the chimneys
and shutters, they will answer every valuable
purpose, no matter how plain, or how coarse, the
materials of which they may be made.
In this country it is recommended that houses
erected expressly for the purpose of raising silk
worms, should be placed in the coolest place's, and
most airy situations attainable, and in the shade
of trees, if possible, because it is always within
our power to increase the heat of the apartment,
when necessary, by means of stoves or fire-places,
but it is not so easy to guard against a sudden
increase of heat in the weather, which might go
far to defeat the labors of the season, if it should
occur in the fifth age, when the worms are nearly
done eating, as will be seen hereafter.
We will now describe the apparatus of the
reverend Mr. Sevagne, which is highly spoken of in
the Transactions of the Society of Arts, Lon-
don. It is recommended on account of the
small space occupied by it, the neatness in which
it enables persons using it, to keep the apartment
clean, and the ease with which the caterpillars
can be fed and their litter removed.
MR. SEVAGNE'S APPARATUS.
" The apparatus consists of a wooden frame,
four feet two inches high, each side sixteen inch-
es and a half wide, divided into eight partitions,
by small pieces of wood, which form grooves, in
which the slides run, and are thus easily thrust in
or drawn out of the frame. The upper slide is
of paper only, and designed to receive the worms
as soon as hatched", the two next are of catgut,
the threads about one-tenth of an inch distant
from one another ; these are for the insects, when
a little advanced in size ; the four lower ones are
of a wicker work, the openings through which
the dung is to fall, being about a quarter of an
inch square. -Under each of these, as well as
under those of catgut, are slides of paper, to pre-
vent the dung of the cocoons from falling on
those feeding below."
"Mr. Sevagne afterwards found that netting
may be substituted with advantage, in the room
of wicker bottoms. The meshes of the netting
were about half an inch square."
"The caterpillars are to be kept in the second
and third drawers, until their dung and litter do
not readily fall through, and then to be removed
to the drawers with wicker bottoms, arid fed
thereon, till they shew symptoms of being aboutto
spin. Each wicker drawer will afford sufficient
room for five hundred worms, when grown to
their full size."
In order to provide against a contingent in-
crease of caterpillars, it will be always best to
40
have a number of spare drawers ready for their
accommodation.
" The feeding frames of the Messrs. Terhoeven,
of Philadelphia county, are four feet square, and
are fixed to upright posts; they have two sets in
one room, with passages between and around
them. This size enables a person to reach any
point of them. Over the shelves, are frames or
shelves placed on elects, and filled with split
rattans at proper distances to permit the litter
from falling through."
It is obvious to us that all costly expenditures,
either in the construction of a laboratory or in
that of the shelves for feeding the worms on, are
not only unnecessary, but would be a wanton
waste of means and time. The great object of an
American culturist should, and doubtless, will be,
to make money — to study utility instead of orna-
ment— profit instead of display, — in a word, the
healthful accommodation and profitable employ-
ment of his worms. If these be his objects, they
can all be attained for a very small comparative
amount, and if they be not, he had better not en-
gage in the business, but leave it to the posses-
sion of those who will enter into it with a view
of benefitting themselves and their country.
To those who shall be thus influenced, there
can be no difficulty either in providing a house
or the necessary fixtures ; for they may be both
provided with the least possible expense : the
plainer and more simple the better. The fact is,
there is a mystery thrown around these matters,
as there are around every thing else in European
works, calculated, if not so intended, to create
difficulties where none exist, and to give to very
simple operations the air of complication. We
will not say that these things are done with a
view of repressing the spirit of competition — of
preventing rivalry — for we have alike too much
respect for ourself and charity for others, to be-
lieve in the existence of motives so unworthy,
unless upon the most indisputable authority ; but
the effect of the elementary treatises of European
origin, upon this, and many other branches of in-
dustry, are so mixed up with unprofitable phi-
losophical speculations, so embarrassed with im-
practicable theories, and the ostentatious display
of learning, as to deter a plain common sense
man from engaging in them. Whereas, when
they come to be stripped of the verbiage, and to be
divested of the fustian, with which they are de-
corated,they are very plain concerns — just such as
an ordinary, enterprising, industrious farmer,
might lay hold of, with decided advantage to him-
self, his family, and the nation at large.
Why need there be such parade about building
a house for the worms to perform their labors in ?
In their native state, the forests of India were their
dwellings, and the canopy of heaven their only
cocoonery, or laboratory. There, there were no ve-
netian shutters, no costly wicker or latticed work
shelves, no hygrometers nor hydrometers, and
yet they lived on mid sunshine and rain and thun-
der and lightning. True they were then in their
wild and native state — true also it is, experience
has shown that since domesticated by man, and
furnished with dwellings, they have yielded more
and better silk ; have suffered less from their
natural enemies : but then, we maintain, the more
simple and plain their accommodations are, the
better. In proof of this, we would mention that
in Italy, France, Bavaria, and other European
countries, where the silk culture forms a materi-
al branch of husbandry, the hovel of the peasant,
the barns, kitchens and all other out-buildings of
the opulent, are each converted into laboratories
for the time being. And such also, is the fact
in the New England states. There, those who
have not the means of constructing cocooneries, as
they there term the feeding houses of the worms,
give them, during the short period of their labors,
situations in their dwellings, barns and every oth-
er place on their respective farms, calculated to
afford room and shelter. In corroboration of
what we have just said, we will quote from Mr.
Cobb's excellent Manual, the observations which
he makes upon this head. He says :
" European laboratories have been constructed
with great care and expense; but however con-
venient these may be, they are by no means ne-
cessary to success in rearing silk worms ; almost
any building will answer for that purpose. I
have reared them myself with success in a barn,
in my cellar, kitchen, and other rooms of rny
dwelling-house, and in the lower story of Tre-
mont House, in Boston."
It was found in France that the cocoons
brought to market by the peasants, raised in hov-
els so full of cracks as easily to be seen through,
and to admit the air freely, were richer and
heavier than those raised in palaces and in the
confined rooms of dwellings in cities.
We infer from all that we have seen and read
upon the subject, that all to be aimed at in the
erection of a laboratory, is, to put up a plain,
cheap, substantial house, sufficiently large to ac-
commodate the number of worms you contem-
plate feeding; to be provided with windows that
will admit the air and exclude the sun; with
fire-places or stoves, as may be most convenient,
so that a proper temperature may be kept up at
all times, and especially when it rains, as damp-
ness exercises a pernicious influence over the
worms, in generating a noxious effluvium, detri-
mental to their health.
Upon the subject of a laboratory or cocoonery,
and the necessary fixtures, we shall further copy
from the excellent essays of our intelligent towns-
man, Gideon B. Smith, Esquire, whose experi-
ence and observation entitle his opinions to eve^
ry possible consideration.
MR. SMITH'S PLAN.
'The fixtures necessary for raising silk worm
are, appropriate tables or shelves, in number anc
size corresponding with the number of worms to
be fed. The best form for shelves that I have
seen is that adopted by my friend, Mr. J. Y
Tornpkins, of this city. It is about 2 J feet wide
by 5 or 6 feet long, made of thin boards, with a
piece 2 inches wide nailed flat on the tipper edge
along the sides and ends, with legs about a foot
long in the corners. The legs do not pass through
the table, but leave a part of the hole on the up-
per side, for the feet of another table to set in.
Thus contrived, five or six of these tables are set
one above another, and are taken down, cleaned,
and again set up with facility. One of these
shelves will accommodate about 500 worms. If
I could suggest any improvement in these shelves,
it would be the substitution of twine net-work for
the board of floors, with slides under them to
catch the excrement of the worms.*
The room or laboratory must, of course, be of
a size proportionate to the number of worms
raised, and should be provided with windows or
ventilators on the north and south sides at least ;
and if one or two ventilators, are opened in the
ceiling it will be of great service. These ven-
tilators, however, should have shutters that they
may be closed at any time when necessary. Fire-
places or stoves should also be provided for use
when necessary. For the accommodation of
1,000,000 worms, a room about 80 feet long and
40 wide would be required. A large establish-
ment would also require a ware-room for the de-
posit of leaves, and this should be large, so that
in wet weather the leaves may be shaken and scat-
tered about for drying. This room might be ad-
vantageously situated above the laboratory. A
cool, dark cellar, will also be useful, for keeping
the leaves fresh in dry weather: — White Mulberry
leaves will thus keep fresh for three days — the
native Mulberry will not keep so long."
NUMBER OF ATTENDANTS NECESSARY FOR A
MILLION OF WORMS.
Mr. Smith says that,
" The number of attendants necessary for
1,000,000 worms will be tioo the first week,
four the second, eight the third, and sixteen to
twenty the remainder of the feeding season ;
one half of which may be boys and girls."
In speaking of his fixtures, Mr. Cobb of Mas-
sachusetts, says :
" I have used three tiers of rough pine boards
fixed upon upright posts, about 4 feet in width,
one above the other, with a space between, of
two and a half feet, affording sufficient room to
*This hint has been improved upon by Mr.
Whitmarsh, as the reader will see in reading the
description of his "cocoonery."
6
41
| pass all around the frame, so that I could conve-
niently reach any part of it."
The plan of Mr. Cobb, the reader will observe,
is that pursued by Messrs. Terhoeven, of Phila-
delphia county, Pennsylvania, and does not differ
at all from that recommended by Mr. Smith.
On the subject of a laboratory and its fixtures,
we will give one other plan, which we copy from
the Northampton Courier. It is that of Mr. Whtt-
mors/j,, which, as we have before remarked, is in-
debted to Mr. Smith for, probably, the best part
of its arrangement ; we allude to the lattice work
frames, which are identical with those of the
Rev. Mr. Swayne.
MR. WHITMARSH'S COCOONERY.
" Mr. Samuel Whitmarsh is erecting an edifice
of two hundred feet in length, east of his house
on Fort Hill, as a Silk House and Cocoonery.
The plan of it is original, and promises the best
results. The worms while feeding, are now
laid out upon boards and benches by those who
rear them, covered with Mulberry leaves, and
when for health and cleanliness they are re-
quired to be moved, it must be done separate-
y.
Mr. Whitmarsh's building is intersected by al-
eys, and on each side tiers of sliding frames or
drawers rise from the floor upwards. These
frames are covered with lattice work of tome.
The top one is laid over with leaves upon which
he worms feed. The second frame about an
nch and a half below, is covered with strong pa-
per or coarse cotton. The stems of the leaves or
offal from the worms fall from the lattice work,
above upon this drawer, and when the usual time
or cleaning them comes, instead of lifting each
separately, it is only requisite to remove the
ower drawer and the cleaning is accomphsn-
The leaf of the Chinese Mulberry, which Mr.
W. will use, is so tender that the worm will de-
vour it all. Sometimes they will fall from the
attice work above upon the paper drawer below,
n that case, when a supply of leaves is laid on
,bove, the worms at once ascend, as the distance
s not too great between them, to prevent their
caching above. This is a great and important
ihange introduced into the method of feeding
.nd cleanliness, saving time and promoting the
health of the worms.
Another improvement to be introduced by Mr.
Whitmarsh, is the aid given the worms in wind-
ing their cocoons. Now, when the worms have
terminated their feeding, easily known by their
movements, branches of trees and bushes are laid
over or suspended above them, and among which
the process of winding is carried on. Conse-
quently, they are much entangled in securing
themselves, and lost to sight, and a great deal of
labour and silk is lost, in the awkward method
of separating the cocoons for use, from the bushes.
42
He proposes, \vlien the worms arc ready to
wind, to transfer them to upright frames, with
twine lattice work, standing about an inch and
half apart. The worms will reach over from one
frame to the other, fasten themselves at each ex-
tremity, and then, in a small compass, envelope
themselves in their cocoons. Every thing is then
clean and compact, and after they have finish-
ed winding, the frames in pairs ran bs put
away compactly, and, when wanted for use, the
cocoons may be easily taken oft'. The building is
well contrived for ventilation, and the reeling, by
steam power, will be carried on in the same edi-
fice. He intends to feed a million of worms
this summer and reel four or five hundred pounds
of silk."
We have been thus particular in developing
the various plans oflaboratories and fixtures, be-
cause it is the only part of the silk and Mulberry
culture which can, in the least, be thought to bear
the smallest resemblance to costliness, and the
intelligent reader will find on a proper examina-
tion, that for a very few hundred dollar? a house
calculated to accommodate many millions of
worms' may be built, and that it is so simple in
its construction as to be within the achievement
of the mechanical skill of most plantation hands
HATCHING THE WORMS.
The time of hatching the eggs is to be deter-
mined by the forwardness of the season, and
should mainly be regulated by the state of the
Mulberry leaves on which they are to be fed and
supported ; for it is a reckless waste of time and
hazarding of prospective gain, to bring them into
being before you are prepared to sustain their
wants. All the authors we have consulted agree
in this, that as soon as the leaves have developed
themselves you may make your arrangements
for stimulating the worms into life. Upon this
head Mr. Smith observes that :
"At the period for hatching, which in Mary-
land, is generally about the 1st of May, the eggs
which are presumed to have been kept in the cel-
lar, may be brought out and spread on paper on
a common table, called the hatching table. The
proper period is always best ascertained by the
state of the Mulberry leaves. 1 consider the best
and most safe time to be that when the leaves
are about the size of a half dollar. The hatching
table may be kept in the common laboratory.
If the weather be mild and warm, the eggs will
begin to hatch in eight or ten days. The first
day or two there will but few leave the eggs.
They need not be attended to. On the third
a considerable quantity will hatch. Some fresh
leaves should then be laid on them, when they
will soon attach themselves to the leaves, and
should be removed on to a shelf and be thinly
spread out. The next day all that have hatched
should be treated in the same way ; and so on
lill they have all hatched, which will generally
he in five or six days. Each day's hatching
hould be placed on separate shelves, and the
whole laboratory arranged into as many divisions
of shelves as there were day's hatchings, that
they may be continually kept separate. This is
important that the periods of moulting and spin-
ning may be as nearly the same with all the
worms on a shelf as possible.
In large establishments a small close room,
with a stove will be very useful in hatching the
eggs, as the temperature may be regulated at
pleasure. But in this case a thermometer is al-
most indispensable, as there would be danger of
too high a degree of heat, which would spoil the
eggs at this season, and the necessary equability
and gradual increase of the temperature could
not be secured without one. In this mode of
hatching by artificial heat, the worms will be
brought out with more regularity and in less
time than in that above described, and therefore it
is preferable in large establishments. The hatch-
ing room should be, when the eggs are carried in-
to it, of about 70° temperature,^ which should be
increased one degree a day till the worms are
hatched. The hatching room will therefore be
of about 80° temperature when the worms are
hatched, and if the laboratory is not then about
the same temperature it should be raised to it,
or nearly so, before carrying in the young worms,
that they may not experience too great and sud-
den a change The leaves maybe torn in small
pieces whilst the worms are small, and the worms
should be led during the first week two or three
times a day, by scattering the leaves over them.
The second week the worms will require food
three times a day, the third, fourth arid fifth, it
should be given them as fast as it is either con-
sumed or becomes withered."
Having thus copied the plain common sense
directions above, we would respectfully state that
Count Dandolo, — and those who have either ab-
stracted or transcribed his plan, for most all the
writers appear to have done either the one or the
other, — recommends that,
" When the Mulberry leaves are about to open,
the cloths upon which the eggs are fastened,
should be put into a small pail of water, steeped
up and down, that they may be thoroughly soak-
ed for nearly six minutes, which will be sufficient
to dissolve the gummy substance by which the
eggs are stuck to the cloth. The six minutes
elapsed, the cloths must be taken out, and the
water allowed to drip from them, by holding
them up for two or three minutes. They should
then be spread upon the table, the cloth to
be well stretched, while the eggs are separated
from the cloth with a scraper. The scraper
should not be too sharp, for fear of cutting the
eggs, neither too blunt, lest it should crush
them." And after the eggs are off" the linen
cloths, they are to be put into a basin aud submit-
43
ted to the operation of another washing, ami
then drained either by means of a sieve or cloth
and dried. &.c.
We have given this not with a view of recom-
mending it, but merely of showing the parade
that is thrown around a few eggs by giving a fac-
titious importance to what does not deserve a
second thought. Where we would ask did the
worms in their native state procure their scra-
pers and persons to use them ? Where did they
derive the water to perform their ablutions in ?
W here let us ask, has science derived the know-
edge of the fact, that the gummy substance
which gives to the eggs their cohesive property,
should be removed? We are not among those
who would reject all improvements upon nature.
it we confess we are of those who believe that
all improvements tending to domesticate such in-
cresting and ingenious artistes as are the silk
worms, should approach as near their mode of op-
eration in their untamed condition as possible.
It may possibly be asked, as we have set our
ace against innovations, where in their native
ioresls, did the silk worm obtain a thermometer?
-By what process did he regulate thtf ternpera-
ure of the atmosphere ? We answer that he did
>t obtain a thermometer any where; nor did he
hnd means to regulate the temperature of the
atmosphere. But these facts do not in the
'east militate against the soundness of our posi-
tion, as from tin; difference in the climate of that
joijutry and ours, what would be wholly super-
tin^ there, would be absolutely requisite here,
t'ere, the equality of the temperature of the at-
>ospuere,renderssuch an instrument entirely un-
necessary—here from the ever changin« charac-
Jf our climate, from hot to cold, from dry to
humid, it is essentially necessary to the preserva-
ion of their health and the successful pro<=ecu-
tion of their labors in all large establishments
e use of fire in stoves or fire-places are for the
two told purpose of maintaining a temperature
ranging from 70 to 80 during the period of
batching: the eggs, and from 65 to 70, afterwards,
up to the completion of their toils, and to preserve
ie atmosphere dry. We do not pretend to affirm
: worms cannot be successfully hatched and
raised without the aid of either stove, fire-place
thermometer: on the contrary, we know thai
the Eastern states they have been so raised
and are continued to be, by probably a majority
the farmers; but we think we are justified in
the opinion that to ensure success, as we have be-
lore premised, to any large establishment, the
cultunst should be able to create an artificial
temperature at all times, so as to counteract the
deleterious influence of sudden atmospheric
transitions, whether from heat to cold or from
aridity to dampness.
Jn maintaining this opinion we but consult na-
ture, m the promotion of the health and comfort
oi this most ingenious insect, and consequently,
ensure a vigorous prosecution of his labors. It
is affirmed by every writer that a certain tempera-
is necessary to be preserved during the pe-
riod of incubation, and if that be necessary, it can
[ only be successfully done in extensive laborato-
ries by means of the instrument named. But
there is also another important object to begain-
! ed. It is known, that, where large bodies are
' brought together in the same apartment, an at-
mosphere is generated, which if not corrected
will prove detrimental to their healthful exist-
ence, and it is a fact equally well known, that
there ^ no more efficient purifying agent than
i he silk worm when congregated together
m large masses make, comparatively, great de-
posites of noxious substances, which, no matter
how much cleanliness may be observed, will be-
come fetid and fill the apartment with vapors of
an offensive and injurious character. It is also
important to expel dampness whenever genera-
ted, and this can only be done by heat ; but then
as the degree of heat must not be pushed beyond
the proscribed point, an instrument is necessary
to designate that point. In small establishments,
the objects pointed out can be attained without
the agency of any SUch instrument, as for in-
stance, the farmer who appropriates but an acre
or two to the culture, would be able to get aloncr
without it, making his feelings and judgment the
criteria with respect to the temperature. In
speaking of the necessity of preserving a dry
atmosphere, we do not wish to be understood as
pushing it to that point of rarification that would
be offensive to a human being; that is to be
equally avoided, and hence when inconvenience
may arise from that cause, the introduction into
the room of a few bowls of water, as is now
practiced in ordinary stove rooms, will be pro-
er to counteract it. We deem this explana-
tion the more necessary as our aim is to unfold,
as far as we can arrive at them, the difficulties as
well as the advantages of the culture, to the A-
mencan people. We shall, we trust, ever be
found too tenacious of our own self-respect, and,
to value the good opinion our fellow men, too
highly, to jeopard either the one or the other by
making misrepresentations in this or any other
branch of husbandry, which we believe could
not be realized; nor will we through fear of de-
terring persons from entering into it, fail from
making what we consider a candid and manlv
exposition of our honest and sincere convictions".
Our objectis not to get the agricultural communi-
ty to adventure into this branch of husbandry
with their eyes shut to it disadvantages— our de-
sire is to lure them to its embrace°by a candid
and open statement i,f facts— we should scorn
ourself, could we bo influenced by other motives
—could we be guilty of concealment. We be-
lieve that the culture is destined, if well prose-
44
ruled, to enrich those who may engage in it, and
\ve feel it our duty to deal in all sincerity, truth,
and fairness, in whatever we may advance up-
on the subject.
If the stoves be employed to produce the ne-
cessary temperature, it is Ihought that they should
not be made of iron, because the heat cannot
be regulated so accurately therein ; but cf thin
bricks, soapstone, porcelain, or tiles. The stoves
made at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, of the latter
material, or the porcelain ones which come from
France, at a price of about ifjJIO, would answer
well, and in order that the heat generated
should be equable, the fuel should be either
fanners' drawn bark or charcoal.
Count Dandolo prescribes that the eggs be
hatched in a small, square, thick pasteboard, or
thin board boxes or trays. For an ounce of eggs,
a box or tray eight inches square is required, and
so in proportion for a greater amount, and these
to be numbered. Besides these, he says, there
should be wicker trays or boxes projecting hori-
zontally from the wall for the boxes containing
the eggs to be placed in for hatching, a flat spoon
to stir the eggs well. This part of his plan, is,
we think, multiplying fixtures and magnifying
difficulties, without any possibility of increasing
the product of the worms whatsoever. Simpli-
city in their treatment, economy in the use of
means, and an approximation to nature, should be
the great objects to be held in view by the Ameri-
can silk culturist.
With respect to the temperature of the apart-
ment in which the worms are hatched, it maybe
instructive to add the observations of Count Dan-
dolo. He says :
" If the temperature of the stove room should
not reach 64°, on the day fixed upon to put in
the eggs, it is necessary to light a little fire, that
it may raise to that degree, which ought to be
continued during two days. If the thermometer
indicate that the extericr air is above 64°, the
shutters should beclosed, and the doors and ven-
tilators opened, to create a draught and cool the
stove room. The third day the temperature
should be raised to 66°, the fourth day to 689,
\hefifth day to 71°, the sixth day to 73°, the
seventh day to 75°, the 8th day to 77°, the 9th
day to 80°, JOth, llth and 12th days to 81°.
The following are the signs of the speedy vivi-
fication of the silk worm :
"The ash-gray color of the eggs grow bluish ;
then purplish ; it then again grows gray, with a
cast of yellowish, and finally, of a dingy white."
Count Dandolo further remarks that:
"When the eggs assume a whitish color, the
worm is already formed, and with a glass, may be
seen within the shell. The eggs should then be
covered with white paper well piered with holes,
the paper to be cut so as to cover them all. To
encourage the worms to come through the holes,
small twigs of the Mulberry, with hut few leaves
on them must be placed on the outside of the pa-
per, the scent of which attracts the worms: tliey
crawl through the holes and attach themselves to
the food. The number of twigs to be increased
as fast as the worms occupy those on the paper,
to prevent their gettin^out of the boxes in search
of food."
"When the worms are red at their first coming
out, it is a sign that the eggs have either been
bad or ill kept over winter,or over heated, that is,
too much forced when laid to hatch. Worms of
this color are good for nothing, and should be
thrown away, since they will not produce co-
coons."
"Few worms appear the first day, and if the
number of them should be inconsiderable, it is
best to throw them away, as it is well not to mix
them with later worms. If not thrown away they
should be kept on separate shelves.
Eggs which have been scraped from the paper
on which they were laid, should bestirred round
two or three times a day. This operation has-
tens their coming forth."
A prude.it cultivator, says Count Dandolo, has
done all in his power, when, on observing the
season favorable, and the bud of the Mulberry
shoots in a proper degree of forwardness he has
put his eggs into the room for hatching ; and if
after they are there, or even after being hatched, a
sudden change of the weather should take place,
and it be desirable either to retard the hatching, or
to depressthe appetite of the worm, both or either
can be effected by lowering the temperature of
the air of the room, gradually to about 68°.
Upon this Count Dandolo remarks:
"This cooling of the air diminishes the hun-
ger of the young silk worm by degrees, and with-
out danger; and by these means the modifica-
tions are prevented, which at 75° would have
brought on the casting or moulting much more
speedily. At 75°, the moulting is effected the
sixth day ; whilst at 71°, it requires six or seven
days. The second moulting, which at 75°. is
wrought in four days, at 69° and 71°, takes six
days for its accomplishment. Thus by foresight
and prudence, the proprietor will be enabled to
gain seven or eight days, which prevents any ill
effect from the unfavorableness of the season ;
and this time gained, it is evident, may be of the
utmost impoitance."
We shall now quote from the essays of Gideon
B. Smith, Esquire, his treatment of the worms
from the hatching of the insect to the comple-
tion of the cocoons. His instructions are the re-
sult of practice, backed by close observation and
a sound discriminating mind. With such lights
as his guide, the culturist cannot well fail to pur-
sue the business with an enlighted economy, and
to find in it a most interesting and profitable pur-
suit.
45
" The period of moulting are, generally,'abou
the 7th, 13th, 19th and 24th days of their age
but these periods are materially influenced b)
the care and attention bestowed on the worms —
some worms will begin to spin on the 25th day
while others will delay their spinning even to
forty-five or fifty days, according as they are wel
or ill attended to. At the periods of moulting
the worms do not eat, and if they all moult to
gether, no feed need be given them ; but shoulc
they not be thus simultaneous in changing thei
skins, those which require food should be sup
plied, even though the others may be disturbec
by it. They are about 36 hours shedding thei
skins.
The ftalians strenuously insist upon cutting tin
leaves fine, before giving them to the worms
but, having tried this plan, I found an objection
to it which induced me to reject it. When the
leaves are cut fine, the worms easily press them
down, and they are lost, having become a mere
carpet for the worms. I therefore, never cut the
leaves after the worms are two weeks old; but
for several reasons, I prefer laying on the whole
leaves, and even the small branches. When laic
on whole, the leaves keep fresh till consumed ;
especially when left upon the small twigs. The
small branches have another advantage — the
worms can climb, and fix upon them, over and
under them, so that the same shelf will accom-
modate many more than when the leaves are cut
fine and they are obliged to remain on a com-
mon level surface. The worms also prefer this
mode, as it approaches nearer to the nature oi
the limbs of the tree.
Every two or three days the shelves should be
well cleared of litter and excrement, to effect
which the worms may be removed in the follow-
ing manner: — lay on either large leaves or twigs
with leaves, and as soon as the worms attach
themselves to them, bear them to a clean shelf;
repeat the operation till all are removed. Some
lay fresh leaves on one side of the shelf, and
leave the worms to go over to them, and clear
off the other side. I prefer the first plan. Very
few leaves will suffice for the first ten days; a
dozen, torn into small pieces will be enough for
each shelf, the 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th days; double
the quantity the next two days. However, it is
unnecessary to attempt estimating the quantity, as
the intelligent attendant will readily discover
what is necessary, and be able at all times to
guard against both stinting the worms and waste
of leaves. They should always have as much as
they will consume and no more. Great care
must be observed that the leaves be perfectly
free from wet, and fresh. When they have been
kept some time, the leaves begin to turn black or
dark colored, and should be thrown away. In
wet weather, the leaves may be dried by taking
them into a large room, spreading them out, and
occasionally shaking them up.
Great care should be taken to guard against
mice and ants ; mice devour them with avidity,
and the bite of an ant is almost instant death to the
worm. Isolating the shelves from the walls and
setting the feet in basins of water will protect
them from ants; but the access of mice to the
room must be cut off.
The success of the crop depends upon the
cleanliness of the shelves, and purity of the air
in the room, especially in hot, and more particu-
larly in damp weather. If the excrement and
litter be allowed to accumulate, fermentation and
putrefaction soon commence, and the conse-
quence will be fatal to the worms, especially in
hot, damp weather; besides, the worms at all
times thrive better when the shelves are kept
clean, and nothing but fresh leaves allowed to re-
main about the worms. To guard against impu-
rity of air, which is the greatest enemy the silk
worm has, a small quantity of chloride of lime
should always be kept in a plate in some part of
the room. It is a cheap and most effectual pre-
ventive of this cause of disease in worms, as well
as a powerful remedy for the tripes, and other dis-
eases that have become epidemic. It is generally
sold at the drug shops at 18| cents a pound, and
four pounds will be sufficient for the largest la-
boratory. A couple of spoonfuls may be put in-
to a plate with about a gill of water, and should be
replenished every three days.
Where proper cleanliness and due attention to
ventilation are observed, there is little to be
dreaded from hot weather. Nevertheless, in ve-
ry hot weather all the means at hand should be
availed of for the reduction of the temperature of
the room ; for worms will thrive best in mod-
erate temperature. But ice, or sprinkling the floor
with cold water, should never be resorted to, as has
been recommended; for the vapor thus produced
will do more injury than the heat. When conveni-
ent, the laboratory should be shaded with high trees
on the south side. An open, high piazza to shield
the south front of the house from the sun's rays will
also be of service. Opening; the windows and doors,
and the ventilators in the ceiling, will then be all
that can be done to cool the room; and this should
never be neglected, in hot weather. There is much
more danger from cold than heat; and on the
slightest appearance of a cold night, fire should be
made in the fire places or stoves, and replenished as
often as necessary. The temperature should be
cept as equable as possible, and sudden changes
guarded against. For this purpose a thermometer
vill be useful; but the senses of the attendant will
>e a sufficient substitute if care be observed. I do
[o not pretend to give degrees of temperature most
uitable for silk worms; for although we can in-
irease the heat, it is not easy to reduce it in a large
oom, when the surrounding atmosphere that sup-
)lies the air circulating in it, is of a high tempera-
ture. It may be observed here, that the cool sensa-
tion felt while sitting in a current of air, is no evi-
dence of that air or the place we sit in being of a
lower temperature than the air of a room where
faiere is no such current. The air passing over the
surface of our bodies carries off heat, and thus
causes the cold sensation, while at the same time the
current of air, that "feels cool," is in many degrees
vrarmer than our bodies. But silk worms are
not warm blooded animals, and of course they do
not experience the same relief, having no excess of
animal heat to be carried off. Although many per-
sons have assured me that they had lost many
worms by hot weather, I am constrained to think,
that the heat was not the sole cause of the loss, for 1
have never lost a worm that I could attribute to that
cause. Hot weather will undoubtedly cause the de-
struction of the whole of them, if the litter and ex-
crement be left unremoved ; and I always suspect
some such want of attention in every instance of the
destruction of worms by hot weather. Heat dees
not injure the worms in their natural state, nor will
it in their state of domestication, if they are kept as
free from filth as they are on their native trees.
Keeping the shelves clean, the worms not too much
crowded, the air in the room pure by the use ol
chloride of lime and ventilation, and feeding with
fresh dry leaves, I consider the best and only preven-
tives of any ill effects from hot weather.
Between the 25th and 35th days of the worm's
age they will show signs of a disposition to spin
They will become somewhat of an amber colo
niently lie on the papers may be placed there. This
mode has the advantage of security against ants
and mice, which are very destructive to these insects.
The room should be dark, if possible, while the in-
sects are on the papers, and each sheet should be
filled before any are put upon another, and as soon
a the moths on one sheet are done laying eggs, it
hould then be taken down, folded, and put into a
in box in a cold cellar, uhere all the eggs must be
cept till wanted for use next spring. The moths
are in the form of a grayish white butterfly, and
generally begin to lay eggs in 24 to 36 hours after
eaving the cocoons. The eggs are. at first of a pale
yellow, or somewhat of a sulphur color, but in three
days turn to a light slate color, and subsequently to
a dull brownish slate color. When seen through a
microscope they are speckled. Those that remain
yellow have not been fecundated, and of course are
worthless. Each healthy female moth will lay about
450 eggs, generally, handsomely disposed and firmly
attached to the paper in a circular form, the whole
covering a space about the size of a fifty cent
piece.
Should the eggs be permitted to remain exposed
to the warm weather, they will hatch, and, unless
another crop be desired, they will be lost. This is
the only injury they are liable to from warm wea-
ther. The flies eat nothing after leaving the co-
coons, and die in a few days after depositing- the
eggs. The tin box in which the ejsss are directed to
about the joints of the body, semi transparent,
throw out fibres of silk on the leaves, and wander
about. The brush for the cocoons should now be
provided. The best and simplest that I have been
able to find is the broom-corn. Clear it well from
seed, and cut it from the stalk close to the junction
of the straws: spread out the top in imitation of a
small tree, and set it on the shelf with the top press-
ing against the bottom of the upper shelf to hold it
in its position. It may be set in rows six or eight
inches apart, across the shelf, and over the top
shelf an extra one may be placed for this purpose.
The worms will readily find and climb these little
trees and spin their cocoons in them •, the worms
will be four days spinning their cocoons, and they
will all generally be finished on the 8th day after
they first begin — that is, all of the same day's hatch-
ing. The brush may then be taken down, the co-
coons taken off, cleared of the loose tow, and pre-
pared for reeling.
The cocoons from which eggs are expected must
be spread out in a room, secure from mice and ants,
and in five to ten days the moths will come out of
the cocoons, when the males and females will couple;
they must then be taken by the wings in pairs with-
out separating them, and placed upon sheets of pa
per disposed for their reception, where they are to
remain. There is generally about an equal number
of each sex. I have found the best mode for fixing
the paper for the moths to lay on, as follows: stretch
two pieces of strong twine across the room from vval
to wall, about two feet apart, and another about a
fool over the middle of these. Lay large sheets o
paper (old newspapers will do) over them and pii
them down at each side to the lower twine. The
sheets of paper will then be in the form of the roo
of a house. As many pairs of moths as can conve
be kept, is intended to protect them from mice and
insects. The eggs should be kept in a dry cellar,
as mould and mildew will injure them. There will
be many double cocoons, those which have two or
more worms in them ; these and as many more of
the others as are wanted should be selected for
After clearing- the cocoons of the loose low, such
as are intended for reeling, and cannot be wound off
immediately, must be subjected to some process by
which the chrysalis will be killed, to prevent its per-
orating the cocoon. Heat ia most commonly ap-
)lied. In Europe the modes of its application are
arious. Some bake the cocoous in un oven about
jalf heated for bread ; others apply steam, and others
xpose them to the rays of the sun for several
lays during the heat of the day. There is danger
of scorching the silk in the first mode ; of decom-
)osing the fibres, in th« second ; and, of not perfectly
accomplishing the object in the third. I have found
the following mode preferable to any other, as the
object is perfectly effected without danger to the
siik. I put the cocoons into a tight tin vessel, with a
cover clo&ely fitted; and put this vessel into another
a little larger, containing such quantity of wafer as
will nearly fill it when the other is put into it; the fire
is then applied and the water kept boiling half an
hour, or more, according to the size of the vessel
and until the cocoons in the inner vessel shall have
become as hot as the boiling water. The cocoons
are then spread out in a dry room, that whatever
moisture there may be, may evaporate. By this
mode, the heat can never be raised so high as
to injure the silk, and th6 fibre is not loosened by
moisture; on the contrary, much of the natural
moisture of the cocoon is dispersed. After this op-
eration, the cocoons are ready for the reel or for sale.
All the cocoons that can be reeled in the course of
47
the first week after they are taken from the bush,
may be reeled without this operation; and a con-
siderable advantage is gained by thus reeling them,
as they unwind much easier than when they have
been heated. Cocoons intended for sale, or keep-
ing on hand for future reeling, must be secured
against mice and roaches."
almost every family clean out all the rooms in the
house, except one in which they live during the crop
season ; the worms being produced, they purchase a
quantity of leaves and strew them over the floor,
leaving a small space next the wall that they may
walk round and distribute the leaves ; they then
place the worms on the leaves, who readily attach
It has been our desire from the beginning to I themselves, and they daily throw on such quantities
make our Manual a plain, practical treatise, which as experience teaches them will supply the want of
could be laid hold of by every man, woman and child the worms, and this they repeat until the worms are
who could read-— in a word, which could be under- ready to rise and wind the cocoons, without ever re-
stood and practised by all ; and after reading every moving the offal or straw, and frequently the pile of
thing within our reach, we have selected the above collected matter will reach the height of three or
general rules for the feeding of the worms, and the four feet. When the worms show symptoms of
reader will observe, that there is no attempt at mys winding, they plant branches and bushes immediate-
tery ; no burying of meaning by the unnecessary ly over the collected mass, and the worms rise on
multiplication of words, and to Mr. Smith's plan these, the cocoons are formed and collected, and the
we have nothing to add, save the net-work frames, rooms are then cleaned out and the reeling is com-
which at his suggestion Mr. Whitmarsh has adopt- menced. This manipulation is performed in the
ed. By the substitution of these a great amount of most clumsy manner and with the rudest machine-
labor is saved, and the means of health promoted, ry imaginable, notwithstanding which, they produce
by increasing the facilities of cleansing the worms, the finest silk in the world."
and consequently, of purifying the apartment. Now this Turkish method of attending to the
As to the apportionment of food, that must, in a great worms is simple enough in all conscience ; but it is
measure, be left to the discretion and judgment of so filthy as to be repulsive to our very nature. The
the chief superintendent; for although it has been re- Turks, as every body must know, are proverbial for
duced to a certainty, that a thousand worms will, on their love of ease, for their lazy disposition, and
an average, devour during the feeding season from hence their system of feeding of worms is formed
thirty -seven and a half to fifty pounds of leaves ; yet solely with the view of consulting theirown idle hab-
the quantity to be progressively fed out, must, to a its ; but however much we may condemn it for its
considerable extent, if not altogether, be regulated want of cleanliness, we may learn important truths1
by the wants and necessities of the worms for the from its very defects and deformities. We may
time being. Their appetites must govern in the learn this, that the raising of silk worms is a very
main. Whatever quantity of leaves they consume simple thing, unattended with any difficulty which
cleanly, from one feeding time to another, it is to be ordinary industry and discernment may not over-
presumed has been advantageouslyeaten, and when- come, From what we have read and seen, we de-
ever it shall be found that more has been given than duce these facts, that nothing is wanting to ensure
the worm can consume, the subsequent feeding must success to the culture — 1C?33 but room for the worms,
be lessened in quantity, while on the other hand, if a supply of food for them to eat, regularity, and
they should, between those periods, be any consid- cleanliness in their feeding , proper ventilation of their
erable time without leaves, the ensu ng feeding {apartments, and untiring attention to their wants.
must be increased ; for while it will not do to gorge The general rules laid down by Mr. Smith will be
the worm, neither will it answer to keep him with- sufficient for most readers, but as there may be some
out food for any length of time, as abstinence is that would prefer to see something with respect to
both detrimental to his health, and injurious to the the quantities of food to be progressively given, we
interest of his feeder. will abstract from Count Dandolo's plan all that we
In the eastern states, the feeding of the worms, esteem essential to be known upon this part of the
heretofore, has been carried on with the least possi- business, and we will here remark, that from the
ble trouble, and from what we can learn, with, per- great regard for exactitude of this distinguished
haps, too little regard to cleanliness, to be followed in culturist, the utmost reliance may be placed in his
large establishments, for however well such neglect statements.
may succeed upon a small scale, if you come to car The quantity of food is the proportion given to the
ry it out in a large establishment, much positive worms hatched from 5 OUNCES of eggs, which, ac-
evil will ensue in the death of the worms. Small | cording to our reading, means 100,000 worms, al-
bodies might exist under a system of inattention,
which if followed in an extensive laboratory, would
end in the mortality of the insects, and the pecuniary
loss of the proprietor.
In Turkey, according to Mr. Rhind, "the produc-
tion of silk is confined to cities or the larger towns,
in the vicinity of which the Mulberry tree is chiefly
cultivated ; those trees belong to the Farmers, or
proprietors of the ground, who do not rear the worm
themselves, but during the crop season, the leaves
are collected by them daily and carried into the city
and sold in the market in the same manner as fruit
and vegetables, in such quantities as purchasers
may require. At the commencement of the season
lowance being made for casualties of all descrip-
tions.
HEARING OF THE WORMS IN THE FIUST AGE.
First day. The worms should occupy a space of
nearly 36 feet 8 inches square on the wicker trays
or tables. They should this day receive 3 1-3 Ibs.
of leaves chopped small, dividing their meals
through the 24 hours into four, at intervals of 6
hours each. The worms to be fed regularly four
times a day, and not to give them their food all at
once. Care to be taken in giving the food to widen
the square by degrees.
Second day. On this day 6 Ibs. will be needed.
This will suffice for the four regular meals, the first
48
of which should be the least, increasing them as thej
proceed.
Third day. This day 12 Ibs. of leaves will b
necessary.
Fourth day. This day but 6 Ibs. 12 oz. of leave
must be given, as the quantity must be decreased, a
the appetite diminishes : the first meal 2 Ibs. 4oz.
and the other meals to decrease in proportion as the
quantity of leaves given before, appears not to have
been thoroughly eaten. It is important as th
worms grow rapidly now that they have plenty o
room. At the beginning of this day, many of thi
silk worms begin shaking their heads, which indicate
that they feel overloaded by their covering or skins
Some of them eat little but keep their heads erect
Towards the close of this day, the greatest number
of the silk worms appear torpid and eat no more. As
a general rule, it may be proper to apprise the cul-
turist, that during the time of moulting, the worms
must not be disturbed ; for the process of changing
their skins will be thereby interrupted.
|CJt>The hurdles or trays should be clean-
ed before and after every moulting, until the
fourth age, once during that age, before and after
the fourth or last moulting, and every two days dur-
ing the fifth age.
Fifth day. This day 1 J pounds of leaves chopped
small will be sufficient, to distribute whenever the
worms appear disposed to eat.
Towards the end of this day the worms are torpid :
a few begin to revive.
The first age of the silk worm is generally accom-
plished in five days, exclusive of the two days occu-
pied in bringing them forth.
SECOND AGE.
Nearly 73 feet 4 inches square of the tables or
trays, will be necessary for the accommodation of
the worms from this period to their second moulting.
The temperature should be from 73° to 75°. The
insects should not be lifted from their litter until
they are nearly all revived. No harm will arise
from waiting, even though it should be for twenty
or thirty hours from the time the first few began to
revive.
First day. For this day 9 Ibs. of young tender
shoots, and 9 Ibs. of Mulberry leaves, well picked
and chopped small.
The method of reviving the worms is thus de-
scribed.
When nearly all the worms are roused, and be-
gin moving their heads, and raising up as if they
sought something, those at the edge of the paper
having already left the litter on which they had lain,
preparation should be made to remove them, that
the sheets of paper may be cleaned. The worms
should be removed from those sheets of paper first
when they are perceived to be most revived and
stirring. Some shoots of the young twigs of the
Mulberry tree, with six or eight leaves on them
should be put over the silk worms ; then boughs
should be placed, so that, when spread out, there
may be an inch or two between them. When one
of the sheets of paper are thus covered with silk
worms, another must be begun, and so on until all are
completed. Each, as filled, are to be removed to a
clean tray, sheet or hurdle.
An hour or two after the worms have been thus
removed, they should be given a meal of 3 Ibs.
of leaves chopped small. In the remainder of thia
day, the worms should have in two meals, the re-
maining six pounds of chopped leaves, with an inter-
val of six hours between each. The hurdles from
which the silk worms were removed, will, of course
be cleaned.
Second day. Thirty pounds of chopped leaves to
be divided into four portions, should be given at in-
tervals of 6 hours each ; the two first meals less
plentiful than the succeeding ones.
Tliird day. This day 33 Ibs. of chopped leaves
well picked will be necessary ; the two first meals to
be the largest. The leaves should be distributed in
proportion as they may be wanted, and with atten-
tion. Towards evening some of the worms will begin
to refuse to eat and rear their heads up, indicating
their approaching the period of torpor.
As a general remark, it may be observed, that as
the worms increase in size, the space allotted to
them should be enlarged.
Fourth day. Only 9 Ibs. of leaves will be neces-
sary this day, as the worms will sink into torpor and
shed their skins the ensuing day.
THIRD AGE.
On this day 15 Ibs of the small shoots will be ne-
cessary and the same quantity of picked leaves — the
temperature of the apartment from 71° to 73e du-
ring this age. Their removal to be the same as in
the previous age— the space for their accommoda-
tion 174 square feet. The 15 Ibs. of young shoots
to be the first meal of the worms. When they shall
have eaten the leaves upon the shoots, give them a
second meal of 74 Ibs. of leaves, and the remainder
:o be given at an interval of six hours.
Second day. This day 90 Ibs. of picked leaves
chopped will be needed, the two first meals the
smallest.
Third day. This day 97 Ibs. of leaves are to be
jiven, the two first the largest meals.
Fourth day. This day only about 52i Ibs. of
shopped leaves will be requisite, as the appetite of
he worms always decrease immediately preceding
heir becoming torpid. The first meal to be the
argest and so on to the fourth, that being the last.
Fifth day. To-day only 27-lbs. of picked leaves
must be given them. If, however, they appear not
o have enough, more must be given them. They
>ecome torpid this day.
Sixth day. On this day the worms arouse from
heir torpor and accomplish their third age.
FOURTH AGE.
The worms during this period should occupy a
pace of about 412 feet square — the temperature
tiould be from 68 to 71.
First day. On this day 374 Ibs. of young shoots
nd 60 Ibs. of picked leaves will be needed. After
ic worms consume the leaves on the young shoots,
ley should be given SO Ibs. of leaves, and when
icse are consumed they should have the other 30
)S.
Second day. 165 Ibs. of leaves must be given to-
ay ; the two first meals the lightest and the last the
most copious:
Third day. 225 Ibs. of leaves to day ; the two
rst meals the most plentiful ; the last meal to be
bout 75 Ibs.
Fourth day. 255 Ibs. of leaves to-day; the three
rst meals 75 Ibs. each, the 4th the remainder.
Fifth day. No more than 128 Ibs. of leaves to-
day ; the first meal to be the largest. The worms
become torpid to-day, and therefore, the leaves
should only be distributed on such of the hurdles,
where the worms are perceived not to be torpid.
Sixth day. 35 Ibs. of leaves are enough for to-
day, to be fed to such worms as may require it.
Seventh day. The worms rouse on this day and
accomplish their fourth age.
FIFTH AGE.
First day. The laboratory should uniformly have
63° to 7.0° of heat — and occupy a space of 917
square feet. After the fourth moulting, the leaves
should* consist of the full grown leaves of the old
trees. The hurdles must be cleaned every two days
during, this age. They must have 180 Ibs. of leaves,
90 Ibs. the first meal, the other 90 Ibs. to be divided
into 2 meals at interval of 6 hours each.
Second day. Two hundred and seventy pounds
of leaves to-day ; the first feed 52 Ibs., the other
three more plentiful, the last being 97 Ibs.
Tliird'diiy. The worms will require 420 Ibs. to-
day, to be divided into four feeds; the first should be
of 77 Ibs. of leaves, the last feed should be the lar-
gest, and-of about 120 Ibs. of leaves.
Fourth day. To-day they require 540 Ibs., the
first feed 120 Ibs. and the last 150 Ibs., the other
two 135 Ibs. each.
Fifth'day, 810 Ibs of -picked leaves to be given
the worms this day. The first feed 150 Ibs., (he
last 210'lbs:, and1 besides the regular four meals-,
should the worms devour the'tr apportionment in
less than an hour and a half; they should receive
some leaves in the intermediate time, and should they
appear to require more food than the designated quan-
tity, they must have it, as it is important to give
them whatever they will eat with avidity.
Sixth day. The worms must have 975 Ibs. of
picked leaves to-day, to be divided into five feeds;
the last of whrch should be the most plentiful. If
the worms feed voraciously at this period, and it is
difficult to limit the amount, the culturist will, if it
appears to him necessary, give an extra or interme-
diate feed.
Seventh day. The worms will require 900 Ibs.
of loaves this day; the first meal should be the lar-
gest, and those following should be diminished ;
and should intermediate meals be required, they
must be given, as it will not do to let the worms suf-
fer now. They this day attain their largest size and
greatest weight.
Eighth day. This day 660 Ibs. of leaves must be
given in four meals; tire first of which to consist of
210 Ibs. of leaves.
Ninth day. 495 Ibs. of leaves to be distributed to-
day, as it may be wanted.
Tenth day. Two hundred and forty pounds of
leaves to be given to-day as may be required. The
hours of feeding however, to be left altogether to
the discretion of the culturist, as it is impossible to
anticipate the peculiar necessities of the worms this
day ; and it is equally difficult to ascertain whether
some of the worms may not require feeding the en-
suing day.
This last day they attain perfection , which may be
ascertained by the following indications :
1st. When, on putting some leaves on the wick-
them, and rear their heads as if in Jeafch for some-
thing else.
2d. When on looking at them horizontally, (lie
light shines through them, and they appear of *
whitish yellow, transparent color.
3d. When numbers of the worms which, were
fastened to the inside of the edges, and straightened,
now get upon the edges, and move slowly along, in-
stinct teaching them to seek change of place.
4th. When numbers of worms leave the centre of
the wickers, and try to reach the edges, and crawl
upon them.
5th. When their skins become wrinkled about
the neck, and their bodies have more softness to the
touch than heretofore, and feel like soft dough.
6th. When their rings draw in, and their green-
ish color-changes to a deep golden hue.
7th. When in taking a silk worm in the hand, and
looking through it, the whole body has assumed
the transparency of a ripe yellow plum. Whr-n
these signs appear in any of the insect*, every thing
should be prepared for their rising, that those worn.sr
which are ready to rise, may not lose their strength
and silk in seeking for the support they require.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RULES.
The reader will have perceived that to each day
of the feeding season, a given quantity of leaves
has been allotted by the diary above. This quanti-
ty in general will, doubtless, prove correct ; but then
the judicious, observing culturist, must not rely. on
these prescriptive aHowances, but exercise his own
judgment from day to day, with respect both to the
quantity of leaves to be given, and the time when,
the worms should be fed. Circumstances over
which he can have no' control, may operate to
make the appetites of the worms keener at one time
thin at another \ this will be indicated by the avidi-
ty with which they will consume their food. When-
ever theculturist discovers that the worms have eaten
all the leaves given them, sooner than usual, he
must give them an additional supply to stay their ap-
petites till their regular hour of feeding, as it is in-
jurious to let them remain for a long time without
nutrition.
The culturist will also regulate the space occupied
by the worms on the feeding shelves, as they may
grow in size, it being a desirable object always to
give them ample room. As we have before urged
upon his consideration, he will'at all times take care
to have the apartment, of a large establishment, of tl.e
proper temperature, as much depends upon it for the
success of the labors of his worms; a sudden transi-
tion from heat to cold, as well as dampness, injuri-
ously affect them.
While care must be taken not to let the worms
remain too long without food, over feeding must be
equally guarded against. This being the case, the
sensible culturist will at once perceive the necessity
for bringing his own powers of discrimination and
observation into play, and that, therefore, all that
the teacher can do is to give general rules, leaving
their application and modification with the culturist.
It may be laid down as an unerring principle, that
the more leaves the worms consume with avidity,
and in a healthful condition, the more silk will
they yield. Count Dandolo recommends chopping
of the leaves throughout the whole period of feed-
ers, the insects get upon the leaves without eating ing; Mr. Smith, however, and other American feed-
7
50
ers, think it wholly unnecessary after the two first
weeks.
During; the time of moulting: or changing of their
skins, the worms must not be disturbed.
The hurdles, or shelves on which the worms are
fed, should be cleaned before and after every moul-
ting, until the fourth age, and then, as we have be-
fore urged, once during that age, before, and after,
the fourth or last moulting, and every two days
during the fifth age.
The worms of different ages should be fed on
shelves by themselves, as those of unequal ages and
inequality of sizes, do not thrive so well when pro-
miscuously fed together.
Care must he observed in picking the leaves for
the worms during their two first ages, such as pick-
ing off the twiss and stalks of the leaves, and to
•clean them of all hard and useless parts.
As a general rule it may be proper to remark,
that the chief superintendent will always be able to
ascertain whether a healthful atmosphere be pre-
vailing in the apartment, by the fact, that if it be so,
he will be able to breathe as freely in the laboratory
as in the open air, and feel no other difference than
what may arise from the heat in the interior apart-
ment. When any difficulty of breathing exists, it
should be remedied, and may be easily done by the
admission of fresh air from without, and by burning
some straw or shavings in the apartment. The
burning of shavings, in all cases where the air of the
room is damp, is recommended, as from the brisk-
ness of the fire, it much sooner distributes its heat
through the apartment, and thus corrects the humid
condition of the atmosphere.
The culturist will not omit to keep plates of chlo-
ride of lime, say three or four, distributed through
the apartment, as it is, possibly, one of the best cor-
rectors of impure air wilhtn the power of science to
apply, and therefore eminently promotive of health.
While the sun is pouring its rays upon the win-
dows of tho laboratory, the shutters should be closed,
the ventilators of the apartment kept open. The
windows also, to be kept open from evening till sun-
rise, unless the weather should be very damp or wet.
PREPARATION FOR FORMING THE COCOON HEDGE, &C.
With respect to the accommodation of (he worms
with conveniences for spinning their cocoons, we
would barely refer the reader to Mr. Smith's plan,
to be found in page 46, with (hese additional remarks :
that should the culturist adopt the net work frame,
for the purpos'1, brush-wood of all kinds will be su-
perfluous. In Europe bundles of twigs of chesnut,
hickory, oak or of birch, such as brooms are made
of, are used. As soon as it is observed that the
worms want to rise, the faggots or brush-wood
should be put against the inside wall above the trays,
of the most convenient size, — leaving fifteen inches
between each bundle or faggot. The twigs or top
branches of the bundles should touch the lower part
of the tray above that on which it is placed, and
by being bent down by the tray above, form a
species of arch, to be given such an angle or incli-
nation as not to be too sharp to prevent the worms
from retaining their position firmly with ease. The
branches shoHld be spread out somewhat like fans,
BO as to permit the air to penetrate freely. Before
hurdles or trays should be well cleansed, and the
litter removed out of the laboratory. The cabins
or arches formed as above directed should be about
two feet from one to the other. When the cabins
or arches are nearly laden, should there remain any
silk worms on the trays, shelves or hurdles, a small
branch may be put against them, and thus prevent
their lying too thick together.
Two things are particularly to be attended to:
the first is, to put those worms near the cabins or
arches, which are perceived to be ready to rise;
and the second is, to give a few leaves to those
worms that are still inclined to eat. It will, therefore,
be necessary in a large establishment to place this
part of the business in charge of a careful person or
two, as long as the worms feel a disposition to eat;
if but a mouthful, they should be indulged. It often
happens that after the great majority of the worms
have risen, that a portion will remain on the hurdles
without manifesting any disposition either to eat or
rise, appearing motionless. These should be re-
moved to a clear, dry place, where they may enjoy
a temperature of 73°, and have fresh leaves distri-
buted over them, when they will speedily revive and
descend and weave their cocoons. If they should
need it, bandages of straw might be placed through
the branches to act as couches or supports to the
more feeble worms.
As soon as the worms have all risen, the hurdles
must be cleansed without delay.
When the worms manifest a disposition to rrse,
the temperature of the laboratory should be careful-
ly maintained between 63° and 7'1°, as any violent
agitation of the air, or sudden change at this par-
ticular period is detrimental to the worms. Care
also should be taken to keep the air dry; and the
chloride solution well kept up. Worms which may
fall after having risen, should be placed in
another situation among the more feeble ones. All
diseased and dead worms should be removed imme-
diately, and all offal should be also removed, as noth-
ing tends more readily than a viliated atmosphere
to occasion a fermentation of the dirt and leaves.
The due observance of cleanliness, purification of
the room, and equable circulation of air, contribute
no less towards the health of the worms, than to the
profit of (he culturist. A too dry, or too warm
atmosphere, are both to be avoided, as the tenden-
cy of each is to dry up the worms and produce-con-
traction of the skins.
It may not be amiss here, to emphatically state, —
the worms must have sufficient room to perform
their labors in ; they must be regularly fed, kept
clean, and the air of their apartment preserved alike
from excess of cold or heat, or from too much aridi-
ty or dampness — in a word, cleanliness and com-
fort must be consulted, and when these shall have
been attended to, the whole mj'stery of profitably
feeding worms, will have been not only fully com-
prehended, but mastered.
VARIOUS STAGES AND APPEARANCES OF THE WORMS.
Towards the end of the 5th day the worms are
torpid : a few will begin to revive.
After the first moulting, the silk worm is of a dark
ash color and shows motion : the rings that compose
the worms mount for spinning their cocoons, the its body stretch and shrink more freely than before.
51
The worms when first hatched take 56,626 to make
an ounce; after the first moulting 3,840 are sufJti-
cient to make up that weight ; thus in six days the
worm increases fourteen times its own weight : at
first it is but the twelfth of an inch long. On the
eighth day it becomes torpid.
On the 9th day, the worm becomes of a light gray,
the hair hardly to be perceived by the naked eye,
and becomes shorter; the muzzle, which, in the
first age, was very black, har.J and scaly, becomes
immediately upon moulting white and soft; but af-
terwards, again grows shining and black as
before. As the insect grows older, at each moul-
ting, its muzzle hardens ; because it needs to saw
and bite larger and older leaves. Its size is in-
creased to half an inch, and part become roused on
this day and part on the 10th. On the 14th day
they go into torpor again; just preceding this state,
the insect seeks free space to slumber in, rearing its
head upwards. When on the point of sinking into
torpor, they completely void all excrementitious
matter, and there remains in their intestinal tube a
yellow lymph alone. When the worms prepare for
the 3d and 4th moulting, the ventilators must be
opened.
On the 15th day, the worms begin to rouse, and
thus accomplish the third agei The head and body
are much enlarged since the casting of the skin.
On the 20th day, the worms become torpid : rouse
on the 22d day. After this moulting, they are of a
darker color, grayish with a red cast, but continue to
whiten.
By the 30th day of their being fed, the worms be-
gin to advance towards maturity, which may be
perceived by their yellow color, which increases
from ring to ring. Their backs begin to shine, and
the rings lose their dark green color. The ad-
vance to maturity is also evinced by diminution of
bulk, and by their seeking to fix themselves on the
edge of the shelves or hurdles, to void Ihe sub-
stances with which they are loaded. When these
signs are apparent, the offal and excrement must be
cleaned off' and removed, light fires raised, and the
apartment fumigated.
On the 30th day, the yellow hue of the silk
worms grows deeper, their backs shine more, and
in some, the rings assume a golden appearance, the
uiuzzle becomes a brighter red.
On the 32d day, they generally attain perfection,
which may be known by the following indications :
1. When on putting leaves on the shelves the
worms get on them without eating them.
2. They appear of a whitish yellow, transparent
color.
3. The worms get upon the edges and move
slowly along, instinct urging them to seek a change
of place.
4. Their rings draw in, and their greenish color
becomes a deep golden hue.
Their skins become wrinkled about the neck, and
their bodies have more softness to the touch than
heretofore, and feel like soft dough.
6. In looking through the worm, the whole body,
it will be seen, has assumed the transparency of a
ripe yellow plum.
When these signs are manifest, it is time for them
to mount.
VARIOUS QUALITIES OP COCOONS,
Dandolo says the cocoons may be divided into two
general heads or classes ; the white and the yellow. In
the yellow we meet with all the shades from a bright
yellow, diminishing, at last, to while : some few are a
pale green.
There are he says nine different qualities, which
he thus describes :
1. The good cocoons arc those which are brought to
perfection and are strong, hard, of a line grain, and but
little or riot at all spotted.
2. The pointed cocoons arc those of which one of the
extremities rises up in t* point, uno are difficult to
reel, because when the thread comes round to the
hole, it is, of consequence, broken, and the whole con-
tains nothing but ends.
3. The cacalons are a little larger than the others ;
yet they do not contain more silk, because their con-
texture is not so strong.
4. The doupion, or double cocoons, are so called, be-
cause they contain two, and sometimes three worms.
They interlace their threads and make the silk called
doupion.
5. The soufflons are imperfect cocoons, the contexture
of which is loose, sometimes to that degree that they
are transparent, and bear the same proportion to a
good cocoon, as a gauze to a satin. These cannot be
wound.
6. The perforated cocoons are so called, because
they have a hole at one end ; for which reason they
cannot be wound.
1. The calcined cocoons are those in which the worm,
after the formation of the cocoon, is attacked with a
sickness, which sometimes petrifies it, and at other
times, reduces it to a fine white powder, without in the
least damaging the silk. On the contrary, these co-
coons produce more silk than the others, because the
worms are lighter. They are to be distingusbed by the
noise the petrified worm makes when the cocoon is sha-
ken.
8. The good choqueltcs consist of those cocoons m
which the worm dies before it is brought to per-
fection. They can be distinguished from the others,
because they do not rattle when shaken. They pro-
duce as fine silk as the others; but should be wound
separately, as they are subject to furze out, and the
silk is neither of as bright a color, nor so strong as the
rest.
9. The bad choquelte is composed of defective cocoons,
spotted or rotten : many of them may be wound togeth-
er, but make very foul, bad silk of a blackish color.
HOW TO JUDGE A COCOON.
To judge whether a cocoon be good, observe if it be
firm and sound : if it has a firm grain, and the two
ends round and strong and capable of resisting pressure
between the thumb and the finger. The cocoons of a
bright yellow, yield more silk than the others, because
they have more gum. Pale cocoons leave less gum,
lose less in winding, and take a better white or pale
blue.
GATHERING OF THE COCOONS.
Strong healthy worms, in three days and half
from their time of moulting, will complete their cc-
coons, and this period may be shortened by increas-
ing the temperature of the apartment. On the
other hand their labors are prolonged by a colder
temperature than has been fixed, as also by feeble
health. Transitions from heat to cold, as well as a
vitiated atmosphere and sudden draughts of wind be-
fore the cocoons are sufficiently advanced to afford
them shelter, are injurious. The cocoons will be
fit to be taken off from the 7lh to the 10th day I
The gathering must be commenced below and con-
tinued upwards, and the cocoons that feel soft should
be kept by themselves. \Vben the cocoons are de-
tached. the down or floss, in which the silk worms
hare formed the cocoons, should be taken off.
The floss silk ought also to be collected and kept
separate.
CHOOSUTO TUB COCOONS FOR THE PBODCCTIOJf OF
EGOS.
About two ounces of eggs, which will yield, allow-
ances being made for accidents, 40,000 worms.
The small cocoons of a straw color, with hard ends
and fine webs, and which are a little depressed in
the middle, as if tightened by a ring or circle, are
to be preferred. There are no certain signs to dis-
tinguish the male from the female cocoons; the
best known are the following :
The smaller cocoons, sharp at one or both ends,
and depressed in the middle, generally produce the
males ; the round full cocoons, without ring or de-
pression in the middle, usually contain the females.
Ac, however, all marks may fail, an extra number of
the best should be taken for eggs, and when the
moths come out, the males and females being easily
distinguished, an addition, should there be a defi-
ciency of either sex, can be made, from the double
cocoons, to the defective side- In the seed cocoons,
however, the double ones are to be avoided, and on-
ly to be resorted to, to supply a deficiency.
By shaking the cocoon close to the ear, we may
generally ascertain whether the chrysalis be alive.
If it be alive and loosened from the cocoon, it yields
a sharp sound, when dead it yields a dumb one,
and is more confined in the cocoon.
If white silk be desired, the choice must be made
among the white cocoons exclusively. The cocoons
intended for seed should be stript of the floss, that
the moth may not be embarrassed when it first ap-
pears, and the cocoons thus sorted, should be laid
separate. It is recommended by some writers, that
the selection of cocoons for seed should be from
among those thai were spun the earliest, but we
hardly think that can be considered essential. The
cocoons when selected for seed should be spread out
thin, and in from two to two and a half days the
moths vill come out, when they should be placed in
pairs, male and female, on the paper arches to be
formed across the room, as described by Mr. Smith
in page 46, and there permitted to couple and lay
eggs. Each healthy female will lay about 450
While the moths are coupling they should not be
disturbed by noise, but be permitted to enjoy each
other's society in quiet; the room should be dark-
ened. and its temperature kept at from 66° to 73*
If there be an excess of males, they must be
thrown away ; if of females, males must be allottee
to them, which have already been in a state of uni-
on. The male ought not to remain united more than
six hours ; after the expiration of that time they
should be gently separated. As the males are dis-
united, they must be pat upon the frame to be in
readiness to attend to ihe calls of any females that
may require being served : the preference, of course
to be given to the most rigorous.
KILLING OF THE CHRYSALIDS.
The killing of the chrysalids must be attended to as
<oon after the scathe ringoft he cocoons a* possible, to
jrevent their being pierced by the moth, whereby
he web would be injured. Each silk pod consists
of one single thread, the length of which varies from
900 to 1,300 feet. We have already given Mr.
Smith's plan for effecting this part of the process,
and we will now state the several other modes pursu-
ed in Europe,
The Italian method simply consists in exposing1
the grub in the cocoons to the ardent heat of the
sun, during three days, when the thermometer is
at SS« 2 Fahr. from 10 o'clock, A. M. until 4
o'clock, P. M
The French plan is to put the cocoons into an
oven in a bag, with the temperature standing at SS*
2 Fahr. The oven being shut and the bags fre-
quently stirred, the grubs are killed within 4 hours.
In Germany they are killed by steam proceeding
from boiling water. A kettle of boiling water being
prepared, fixed in the wall, a clean basket is then
placed over it upon two pieces of wood ; cover the
basket with three or four folds of woollen cloths that
the steam may penetrate completely. The water
in the pot must be kept boiling for three hours,
which will be sufficient to kill the chrysalids, which
can be ascertained by opening one of the cocoons.
They must then remain undisturbed until the fol-
lowing day, when they will have been sufficiently
hardened to be removed, being then fit for reeling
or for sale. Suffocating with brimstone, or tur-
pentine oil, are sometimes adopted ; but we think
neither are to be recommended.
The process of killing the chrysalids, should be
gone through with, within twelre days after the com-
pletion of the cocoons, and the sooner '.hereafter the
better.
PRESERVATION OF THE EGGS.
Collect the papers on which the eggs are laid,
when quite dry, fold them up and put ti:em away in
tin boxes, in thin layers. They should be kept
in a dry, cool cellar, or some other cool place, where
the temperature does not exceed 65° nor descend
below the freezing point 32° — where water will not
freeze.
Being thus placed, they may remain there until
the following spring, when the time to hatch
them shall have arrived.
PROPORTION OF EGGS TO COCOONS.
The relative proportion of eggs, depends very
much upon the care and attention that may be paid
to the feeding of the worms, the degree of nutrition
in the leaves, the vigor with which they may have
fed, and the degree of health maintained during the
feeding* season. The cocoons are like all other
crops, some heavier, and some lighter than others. In
Tuscany, 150 cocoons have made a pound. In the
early settlement of Georgia, 200 cocoons from
worms raised in that state, weighed one pound ; but
these were extraordinary cocoons, and, therefore,
cannot fairly be taken as the basis of a calculation ;
because it has severally taken, in other places, 208,
240,262,297,271,306,328,490 and 600 to make
a pound. We have adopted as our ratio 300, which
with ordinary care, we think may be assumed as a
53
«fe one. With respect to the gross quantity of
silk produced from an ounce of eggs, there is the
same difference : all depending upon the assiduity and
energy of the culturist. who, as he wills it, may
either produce 40 or 120 pounds of cocoons. In-
stances have been given, and are well authenticated,
where, in an establishment in which 6 ounces were an-
nually batched for 10 consecutive years, the average
dampness; but all these, except the defective im-
pregnation, may be guarded against
It is maintained that no disease will occur, if the
temperature of the place where the moths are kept,
be maintained between 68* and 70°, when the
apartments are dry and free from vitiated air, and
when the eggs are carefully kept Low marshy
places are unfavorable, as beat and moisture is
yield* to the ounce of eggs was 100 pounds of, highly injurious to their healthful existence —
coceons, or 11 1-9 pounds of raw silk. Now if the
CAsualties had reduced the worms down to our stand-
ard of 20,000 to an ounce of eggs, and that is about
the fair average number, then an acre would pro-
duce 305 pounds of silk. This is a very large
yield, and of coarse should not be relied upon, or
at all events no one should be disappointed at a
greatly-diminished production, though we bj no
means would discourage the hope, that even a larger
produce might not be raised in either Neir Jer-
sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Maryland, Virginia,
.1 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisi-
ana, Alabama or Mississippi
Our table, it will have been perceived, sets 22.640
egzs as the number contained in an ounce ; this is
arbitrary, having deducted nearly 33 per cent as the
presumed loss.
E5EM1E5 OF SILK WORMS.
Red Ails. These are deadly insects to silk
worms. To prevent their attacks, the posts con-
taining fixed shelves ought not to touch the ceiling,
nor must the shelves reach the walls, and their legs
should either be smeared with Molasses, or placed
in basins of water, or perhaps both would be best.
The smaller varieties of birds are rery food of
them, bnt as these would not enter while there are
persons in the apartment, there is not much danger
to be apprehended from them.
Fowls, nice, rah, weazles, lizards and spiders, are
also their enemies. If the apartment be infested
with mice and rats, they most be trapped and killed:
from weazles and lizards not much need be feared,
and as for the spider, though a deadly and destruc-
tive foe, the broom most be made to render him his
quietus.
DISUSBS OF THE WORMS.
It may be assumed as a sound proposition, that
nearly all the diseases to which this noble insect are
subject, arise from^/bol air, or from an trregvbr or
overheated apartment; from exposure to sodden at-
mospheric transitions; from too close crowding;
from the too great accumulation of filth, and from
improper food. There may be eases where the ex
citing cause of disease springs from some particular
condition of the air, against which prudence, fore-
eight, and art, cannot avail And as it is useless to
speculate upon that over which we hare no control,
and which depends upon eontingenees that may or
may not occur, let us rather torn oar attention to
those enumerated diseases* the cause of which we
know.
DISEASES FROM DETECTS I3T EGGS.
When the eggs are too thickly heaped together
they become heated even at a low temperature, aw
the" embryo becomes injured: there are also other
causes which injuriously affect the eggs, such as the
imperfect impregnation of the eggs [dubto,] and
high dry situations are always the best, both for
the worms and the Mulberry.
DISEASE FROM IMFCRITT OF THE AIR OF THE LABORA-
TORY.
It is surprising to find bow large a portion of me-
phitic air disengages in a large establishment, par-
ticularly in the fourth and fifth ages from the silk
worms. The damp stagnates in it, the transpira-
tion is cheeked, the dung and fitter undergo the
process of fermentation and emit noxious exhala-
tions.; the skins of the worms become relaxed, and
disease follows in a few hours, and hence the neces-
sity of using the means, which we have before attuv-
ded to, of ensuring a renewal of pure air by the ex-
pulsion of the heavier, and replacing it by fight,
fresh, exterior air. The burning of shavings ist tiM
fire places or stoves, or the fumigation «f the apart-
ment, are the most efficient means; indeed they are
the only ones to be relied upon. It may be weB to
re mark here. th%! if c'.e'ir.lintis be ob~erv«d, U wiJI
scarcely ever be necessary to apply other
than the solutions of chloride of fine; and to be
candid, we believe this agent the best under any
circumstances. Its affinity for pt
natter is proverbial ; nor is it less so with ,
og vegetable substances. Count Dandolo, howev-
er, has the following recipe which he
being eminently active as an anti-putreseent a-
gent:
Take 6 ounces common salt, mix it wefl with S
ounces of oxyde of manganese : put this mixture hi
strong bottle with 2 ounces of water, cork H wefl.
Keep this bottle in a part of the laboratory farthest
from the stoves or fire places. In a phial put
li Ibs. of sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol,) and keep it
near the bottle, with a small wine glass and an
iron spoon. Put in the wine glass two-thirds of a
spoonful of oil of vitriol, pour it into the huge bottle,
and there will issue a white vapor. Move the bot-
tle about the laboratory, holding it up high to let
the vapor spread through the air. When the va-
por ceases, cork up the bottle and replace it Du-
ring the fifth age of the worms, it is good to repeat
this fumigation three or four times a day. During
each successive repetition, the quantity of oil of vit-
riol may be diminished. The quantity slated is
sufficient for a laboratory of 5 ounces of eggs.
The necessity for the use of this remed j may al-
ways be known by the presence of an unpleasant ef-
fluvia in the room, or a cloiencn of the air and
difficulty of breathing.
The fumigation tntmH always be renewed after
each "E****«"C nf the hardies or ihclvti, and in
moist damp weather.
The use of oil of vitriol, is, as the reader is sen-
sible, subject to its dangers. If dropped upon the
dothes or skia, it wifl burn, and its vapor if inhaled
too closely, wovld he in jurious. The way to guard
54
against its bad effects, id to hold it above the head,
and thus avoid its searching, dangerous and un-
pleasant exhalations. Should the mixture in the
bottle harden, dilute it with water.
The following is given as the good effects of fumi-
gation :
1. It destroys unpleasant effluvia : 2. it diminishes
fermentation: 3. it neutralizes the effects of mias-
mata and deleterious emanations : 4. it revives the
silk worms, by means of the gentle stimulating ef-
fect of pure vital air:---and 5thly, it influences
the goodness of the cocoon. This fumigating pre-
paration would cost about 30 cents.
Disease frvm change of food. Ifthediet of the
worms aftev being fed on one kind of leaves, or food
of any kind, be changed to another more congenial
to their appetites, great danger is to be apprehend-
ed from their eating to bursting ; the feeder, must,
therefore, use his judgment in feeding them spar-
ingly at the onset.
Diseases also arise from a peculiar constitution and
from sudden changes of the air ; but these can be easi-
Jj guarded against by observing what we have already
said on this subject.
PARTICULAR DISEASES.
The passis. This disease appears aftor the first
moulting, when the worms advance unequally in
growth : they are observed to be short, thin and with-
out vigor or appetite : it is ascribed to their being too
much heated in their earl} state. The remedies consist
in separating them from healthy worms, putting them
in another apartment, well ventilated, giving them ten-
der leaves, and in preserving them in an uniform tem-
perature, a little higher than that in which the healthy
ones are kept.
Tlie Grasserie. This disease appears towards the se-
cond moulting, and in the third or fourth ages. Its
cause is ascribed to the food being too substantial or
nourishing for the young worms, occasioning indiges-
tion ; hence they swell, theirbodies become opaque and
of a green color, and their skins tear from the least
touch, and sometimes, spontaneously from over disten-
sion. Theirbodies are alsocorered with an oily, viscous
humour which. transudes the skin. If this be the cause
it is an easy matter to prevent the occurrence of the
disease, by feeding the young worms through the first,
second and third ages, with young tender leaves.
The Lueette. About the fifth age, silk worms are at-
tacked with a disease called lusetteorclairette, from the
shining appearance of their bodies. Their heads also
increase in size, and they ultimately die without form-
ing their cocoons. The cause is neglect in the regular
supply of leaves. The means of prevention as well as
cure are easy. Regularity in feeding effects the first,
and separation of the silk from healthy worms, and the
supplying of the invalids with food in a gradual manner,
so as to restore them without subjecting them to an
opposite disease arising from a too sudden repletion, is
the last.
The yellows. This disease appears towards the end
of the fifth age, when the worms are filled with the
silky fluid and are about to spin. It proceeds from ex-
posure to sudden intense heat, and its symptoms are
yellowness and swelling of the body, an enlargement
of the rings, an appearance of the feet being drawn up
from the puffiness of the surrounding parts. They
cease to eat and run about, leaving stains of a yellow
fluid, which exudes from their bodies. The yellowness
first appears round the spiracles or breathing holes,
and gradually diffuses itself over the body. It may be
called a dropsy of the skin, arising from the infiltration
of the nutritive Quid through every part of their bodies,
and they soon become soft and burst. The acid humour
issuing from them, will kill any worms that touch it.
This disease has its origin in indigestible food and ex-
posure to cold during rainy weather. The diseased
worms must be removed to a separate apartment, where
a change of air, aided by fires, may cure them. Oak
leaves fed to the worms in two instances effected a
cure.
The muscardine or numbness. This disease shews it-
self in the fifih age, by black spots in different parts of
the worm. These spots afterwards become yellow, and
finally red, or the color of cinnamon, which is diffused
over the whole body ; tho worm becomes hard and dry,
and is covered with a white mould. The remedy is fu-
migation and admission of fresh air.
The tripes, or mart blanc. This disease appears gene-
rally during moist or rainy weather, but is sometimes
produced by the confined exhalations of the worms
and their litter. The symptoms are, the worms be-
come flaccid and soft, and when dead, preserve the
semblance of life and death ; but they soon turn black;
and become putrid. The remedies are — the atmosphere
of the apartment should be warmed, and made to cir-
culate by lighting brisk fires in the chimney ; and by
the removal of the diseased worms to another room.
This is a most formidable array of diseases, but the
discriminating reader will have perceived^ that they are
in fact nearly one and all the suine disease, assuming, to
be sure, somewhat different types and forms, but all re-
ferrible to the same general causes, viz :— impure air, too
contracted room, exposure to sudden atmospheric transitions,
to irregular feeding, over feeding, stinted feeding, and to
improper food : so that afterall, there is not one^esciting-
cause in the whole catalogue of diseases, that is not
perfectly within the control of the culturist, and, there-
fore, if his worms suffer by sickness, the fault is with
himself; for there is not one of those maladies which,
may not be prevented by proper attention to feeding and
temperature. There is nothing more simple in all its
bearings than the management of the worms, if the
proper vigilance be resorted to, to preserve them in the
possession of health ; but if negligence and wanton
neglect be indulged in, these causes will assuredly prove
destructive to the interests of the culturist, in the genera-
tion of disease and production of mortality among his
worms. For ourself, we regard the diseases enumerated
as of little account, because in the vigilance, energy,
and good sense, of such of the American people as
may engage in it, we behold the sure guaranties that
nothing will be jeoparded or lost by want of attention
and care. Indeed, we hold these diseases to be of such
trifling account, that did we not desire to deal with per-
fact ingenuousness, we should not have named one of
them, as we believe they are formidable only in name,
and may all be prevented by following the rules pre-
scribed.
VARIETIES OF THE SILK WORMS.
Count Dandolo describes the following distinct varie-
ties of silk worms, viz :
1. Silk worms of three casts or moultings. The eggs of
this kind are to be found in Lombardy ; the worms and
cocoons are two-fifths smaller than thoseof the common
sort. Their cocoons are composed of finer and more
beautiful silk than the common cocoon, are better con-
structed, and according to weight yield a greater quan-
tity of silk ; require four days less care than the com-
mon worms; are strong and hardy, and promote a sav-
ing of time, labor and money.
2. Large silk worms of four casts. These worms are of
a very large quality, the eggs were obtained in Friuli ;
they yield a much larger cocoon than the common
species ; 150 of the large sort weigh a pound and a half,
while it requires 360 and upwards of the ordinary co-
coons to weigh as much. The silk is coarser and not
55
near so pure, and the worms five or six xlays later than
the others in attaining their full growth, and in rising,
than the common silk worm.
3. Worms that produce white silk. This species was
introduced into France about fifty-two years ago, from
China, but was not much cultivated until about 24
years past, and is much prized.
Count Dandolo says, that he has raised a large quan-
tity of these, and found them in all respects equal to the
common silk worms of four casts. That if he reared silk
worms for the purpose of spinning the silk himself, he
would cultivate only the silk worms of three casts,
and those that produce white silk, as preferable to all
others, and every year would choose the very whitest
and finest cocoons, to prevent the degeneration of the
species.
The following varieties may also be added to the
number :
4. In Windham county, Connecticut, there is a small
pale white worm, which it is said eats but twenty
days, and produces fine white silk, though in less
quantity than either the common large pale white, or
dark colored worm ; but it has the good quality of re-
taining its clear while color, and does not turn white
by washing or by exposure to sun and air. These
worms also produce two crops. •
5. Jl dark drab colored icorm. This variety is very
common in the U. Stales, and are called "black" — they
live longer and make more silk than the large white
worms.
6. Silk worms of S cropt. At the silk establishment
of the British East India Company at Jungepore, Den-
gal, Lord Valencia, besides the common annual silk
worm which gave but one crop, found two others ; the
one commonly reared, and supposed to be indigenous,
is called Dacey, producing S harvests — also another,
but greatly inferior, called the China, or Madrassa,
which yields S times a year.
The following instances we copy from the Treasury
Manual, to show that two crops a, year have been raised
in the United States ; and to use a very trite adage, what
has been done, may be done again, — therefore, \ve
incline to the belief, that it is within the power of a vi-
gilant culturist, residing in those States, in which the
heat of summer continues long, to make double crops ;
but then, we question much, whether any calculations
should be predicated upon such results, as they must
necessarily depend for success upon circumstances, in
our eccentric climate, too uncertain to rest any well
grounded hopes upon.
" In the month of March, 182G, Mr. Seth Millingfon,
Prairie Haul, St. Charles Co., Missouri, received a few
silk worm eggs from Philadelphia, which were kept in
an upper room without a fire, and hatched early in
April : they were fed the first week on lettuce, after-
wards on the leaves of the White and native Mulberry
tree, and came to maturity, within from twenty-four to
thirty days, and spun their cocoons before the 12th
of May.
On the last day of May and first day of June, the moths
came out and laid their eggs on paper, which was loose-
ly rolled up and placed in an open room. Within 8 or
10 days from the time the eggs were laid, they began to
hatch, and before the 15th of June, nearly one-twen-
tieth part had hatched ; and the worms were heallhj,
fed well, grew more rapidly and came to maturity in
a few days less time, than the first crop. They wound
their cocoons on the first day of July; or the last of
that month, and first of August, the moths came forth
and laid their eggs, which were placed in the, same
room as the first eggs. On the 12th and 18th of
August, these eggs were hatched. The worms came to
maturity and spun their cocoons in less time than the
first, viz : before the middle of September, the moths
came forth and laid their eggs in the first days of Oc-
tober."
"Messrs. Weiss and Youngman, of Bethlehem, Pa.
raised two crops during the year 1825. The worms of
the second crop appeared more vigorous and healthy
than those of the first ; they also produced large co-
coons, the silk of which was of a belter quality.
" Two attempts, however, by Messrs. Terhoeren, of
Philadelphia county, Pa., in the years 1826 and
failed."
We have now arrived at a branch of th6 culture of
the most vital importance to the success of the whole,
and we feel especially solicitous to lay before the rea-
der a frank exposition upon this head. It is the supjfOs-
ed difficulty of reeling that has hitherto deterred hun-
dreds from entering into the business, and, indeed, to-
that cause, together with the want of a market, may be
ascribed the snail-like march it has hitherto made to-
wards being adopted as a component part of the hus-
bandry of the country. Much difficulty too has been ex-
perienced in the obtainment of reels. This latter cause,
however, has ceased to exist, as reels of the most sim-
ple structure are now to be had at moderate prices,
and a knowledge of the use of these is so easy of acquisi-
tion, as to hive stript this particular part of the culture
of all the repulsiveness with which it was formerly sur-
rounded. Those who enter into the business with a
view of prosecuting it on a large scale and of combi-
ning them anufacture of silk with it, will not need to be
instructed ; but the farmer or planter who may have
entered into it merely as a branch of his system of
husbandry, will require to be inducted into the mode of
preparing his silk for market. And we would advise all
such to submit their cocoons to the process of reeling,
because in so doing they will impart a greatly enhanced
value to the article, and we would especially recom-
mend them so to do, as the requisite labor may all be
performed by the females of their respective families,
who will be enabled through a labor no less interesting
than useful, to greatly add to the aggregate amount of
the productions of the country, and instead of being
burthens upon those upon whom they may be depen-
dent, will become at once among the most profitable
branches of every farming establishment. Nor is the
labor of reeling the less valuable, because it can bo
performed at periods of leisure ; but as we would ad-
vise in almost every other matter, so in this, the co-
coons should be reeled as speedily as possible, and es-
pecially those that are defective, as they will deterio-
rate by being permitted to remain unwound for any
length of time.
Before we enter upon the description of the process
of reeling, we would respectfully offer a word of advice
to each and every person who may contemplate enter-
ing into the business. It is this.
Those who may commence the silk business as a
branch of their respective system5' of husbandry, after
having sown their Mulberry seed, should procure a
small quantity of silk worm eges, with which we ad-
vise, that they should practice upon our instructions.
Should they do so, this good will result from it — by the
time their orchards of Mulberry are fit to feed from,
they will have become perfect masters of the manage-
ment of the worms, the cocoons and the method of reel-
ing the silk. Jf we are asked, where they will get the
leaves from with which to feed the worms, we answer,
in most cases, even the first year, they will be able to
abstract a sufficiency of leaves from the Mulberry
plants, without injury to them, to feed the few worms
necessary to be fed as a school. Five hundred or a
thousand eggs would be sufficient to commence with,
and these could be afterwards multiplied, so that, by
ihe time the orchards were of sufficient age for strip-
56
ping, the party might hare tho requisite number of
eggs on band, without further cost, to feed all the
leaves lie might raise. The 'intelligent reader will dis-
eoVer at a single glance fhe object we have in view,
and will doubtless, improve upon our suggestion. Our
anxiety to get our countrymen to enter liberally into
Ihis culture, arises from the honest conviction enter-
tained by us, that it is more profitable than any thing
else within the range of the agricultural calling, and
because we behold in it the certain means of employ-
ment to the thousands and tens of thousands of desti-
tute females, who are now dragging out a precarious
livelihood throughout our wide spread country, and be-
cause we also behold in it, an antidote for that spirit
of desolating emigration, which is driving the honest
and enterprising from the haunts of their youth, to dis-
tant lands, rand depopulating the members of that gal-
lant confederacy, which achieved our freedom. Thus
influenced, it will 'be readily perceived, we were solici-
tous that success s'hould attend those who should be in-
duced to adventure in the silk culture, and hence it is,
•we advise all to acquire a thorough knowledge of the
art, by practising in the way we recommend — a wcy
which, while it embodies every advantage of a fchool
of experiment, comparatively costs nothing.
METHOD OF KEELTNO.
A person charged with the business of reeling the co"
coons, whom we will suppose to be a woman, must be
provided with a basin of soft, hot water, to be kept at
the proper heat, by being placed upon a small earthen
or iron furnace, containing burning charcoal ; she
must have a small whisk of broom corn, or of birch
twigs, cut sharp at the points, and being seated behind
the basin, she must throw into the water a handful or
two of cocoons of the same quality ; press them gently
tinder the water for two or three minutes, in order to
soften the gum of the silk, and thereby to loosen the ends
of the filament?. She is then to stir the cocoons Trith
the end of the whisk or birchen rods, as lightly as pos-
sible, barely touching the cocoon«, as should they be
roughly struck, the fibres of the silk instead of coming
off singly, will clinjr together in lumps, which prevents
it from winding off. She will continue the stirring un-
til one of the fibres or filaments adheres to it, when dis-
engaging it, and laying aside the whisk, she is to draw
the filaments towards her, until they come off quite
clean from the floss or coarse silk, which always sur-
rounds the cocoon, and the fine silk begins to appear :
then, breaking off the thread and collecting the floss first
taken off, she will run the thread through one of the
holes in the iron plate, and proceed to get, and at-
tach, others in a similar way, until a sufficient number
is obtained to make the thread of the required firm-
ness; a second thread is formed the same way, and
passed through the adjoining hole : the two threads
are then crossed several times around each other, and the
ends of each passed through the guide hooks of the
traversing bar, and on the contrary side to the hole in
the iron plate, through which it had been previously
passed. They are then to be carried from, and made
fast to, one of the arms of the reel. The points of at-
tachment of the two threads will be regulated by the
recler, who should have smooth fingers, as roughness of
the skin will cause great embarrassment. If, there-
fore, the skin of the reeler's fingers be rough, they should
be rendered smooth by being rubbed with fand paper,
or dog fish skin. Roth threads being fastened to the
reel, it is to be turned with a rr gular and even motion ;
at first tlowly , until the threads are found to run freely
and easily. The crossing of the threads is essential to
their perfection, and must not be omitted. The fric-
tion of the threads removes any inequalities and rough-
ness upon them, and insureg strength, uniform thickness,
As soon as the pods begin to give the thread freeljT,
the reel is turned with a quicker motion. While" the
reel is turning, the spinner must continually add fresh
fibres to each thread as fast as she can find the ends,
not waiting till some of the number she began with are
ended, because the internal fibres are much thinner
than those constituting the external layers ; but must
constantly prepare fresh ends, by dipping the whisk
among fresh cocoons, of which such a quantity must
be occasionally thrown into the basin as will suffice to
supply the two threads which are reeling, but not
more ; because by being too long soaked in the hot wa-
ter,, they would wind off in burrs. The eocoons thrown
in, must be often forced under the water, that they
may be equally soaked. The supplying fresh ends, is a
business which every woman who can spin will fully un-
derstand. She will know, when the cocoon is exhausted,
or its fibres break, she must take the end of another fi-
bre and throw it lightly on the one that is winding and
roll them between the thumb and the finger, gently
pressing them together, so as to cause a juncture of the
threads. The adroitness in adding fresh threads can
only be acquired by practice ; but by proper attention,
that peculiar tact, so necessary to success can easily be
acquired.
If the pods leap up often, tFie motion of the wheel
must be slackened, and if the threads come off in burrs,
it must be turned quicker. Of this, the spinner, who has
her eyes upon the balls and thread, must, as she sees
occasion, apprise the reeler, and at the fame time, the
fire must be increased or diminished1, that the reel be
allowed a proper motion, which ought to be as quick as
possible without endangering the breaking of the
thread, or huir^ing the spinner, so that she cannot
add fresh cocoons as fast as the old ones are ended.
The quicker the motion of the wheel is the better the
silk winds off-, and the better the end joins to the
thread.
Every care must be observed to avoid the breaking
of the whole thread or single fibres, as every such oc-
currence greatly retards the operation.
In preparing fine silk, in Cevervne?, a famous silk dis-
trict of France, the cocoons are not wound off entirely,
so as to leave the pellicle of the chrysalis bare ; first —
because the additional fibres retired, to be added,
when the first and strong part of the fibre is observed to
be spent, might make the compound thread too stout,
and would thus cause a waste of silk ; secondly, be-
cause the fibre of a cocoon which has been entirely
wound off, besides being weak, also abounds in knots,
which would cause it to break in winding, and injure
its uniformity, in which the goodness of the thread main-
ly consists. Therefore, in winding fine silk, when the
cocoon has given off three-fourths and a half of silk, it
must be replaced by another cocoon : the remainder of
the first cocoons are to be set aside, and theirsilk add-
ed to that of an inferior quality. When the first par-
cel of cocoons is nearly finished, take out with a ladle
all those on which some silk has been left ; let them be
opened, the chrysalids taken out, and the shells put in
a basket, with the coarse fibres first pulled off with the
hands from the cocoons, which were ordered to be laid
aside. Those cocoons which are partly wound off,
must on no account be permitted to remain in the ba-
sin ; for they will obscure and thicken the water, and
injure the color and lustre of the silk, which can then
be used only for dark colors ; — besides this, the consist-
ence of the silk is injured, and waste ensues in the
winding. The shells must be added to the manure
heap ; and as a general rule, it may be laid down as es-
sential, that the water in the basin must be changed
whenever it becomes discolored.
The softest water must always be chosen for reeling
and cylindrical form, which would otherwise be flat. ' I °f tne silk, and although its precise temperature can.
57
not be laid down, because that, in a great measure,
must depend upon the composition of the silk of the co-
coons, which cannot be nscertained until the reeling has
commenced. Such is the difference in cocoons, that while
some can be reeled from water heated from 160B and
indeed less, others will require a temperature of 200°.
Some point between 150 and 190 is probably the right
one, but what that point is can easily be ascertained,
as whenever the cocoons yield /reefy, it has been already
found, and the heat of the water should be maintained
at it. By immersing the thermometer in the water at
any time, the precise required heat can be determined,
and may be preserved at that by submitting the water
repeatedly to the test of the instrument. The water
should never exceed 200P, and never that or any thing
like it, unless absolutely required by the condition of
the cocoons, and in order to arrive at the exact heat
wanted, the increase should be gradually carried for-
ward. There is no mystery at arriving at this point —
all that is requisite is attention : with this the person
engaged in reeling will be able to graduate the tern-
perature with the least difficulty.
When the spent cocoons leap up and adhere to the
iron plate, they must be immediately taken away, else
by choking the passage, they will endanger the break-
ing of the thread.
When the reel hag remained any time idle, the thread
between the basin and the wires or Yampins, must be
vfet to cause the thread to run easily. Keep also the
teeth of the wheels, and the mortises in which the
traversing bar plays, wet, to ensure regularity and ease
to their movements. In winding the good cocoons, some
defective ones will be found among them, which will
not wind off, or are full of knots. These must be taken
out of the copper, and be kept by themselves ; they are
called bassinats, and are to be wound apart as coarse as
possible : they make afoul silk.
The breaking of the fibres is principally owing eithrr
to bad cocoons, viz: being ill formed owing to the
worms being disturbed during their spinning :— or the
fibres may break by an improper regulation of heat in
the water : first, when it is not sufficient to make them
wind off easy ; or, second, when it is too great, and oc-
casions burrs, which may stop at some of the holes
through which the thread runs. Cocoons also which
have two worms enclosed, will perpetually break. The
whole thread may also break, by burrs stopping at the
holes of the plate or by the reels being turned by jerks.
It may be fastened like the fibres, by laying the parts
on one another, and giving them a little twist. To
avoid the breaking, occasioned by burrs, the rampins
should be just so wide as to let them easily pass.
It would be convenient for the spinner to have a lit-
tle stick erected close to the side of the basin, to hang
her wisk on, and also a sharp fork, with which she
may draw away the spent cocoons, or such as being
near spent, stick in the holes in the plate : and as the
whisk will frequently take up more ends than are im-
mediately to be added, and as the spinner will some-
times have occasion to employ both her hands, the brush
will, at that time, conveniently hang by the basin,
while the cocoons, which are attached to it, remain in
the water, and the ends will be in readiness as they are
wanted. When the cocoons rise to the iron plate, they
are to be drawn down between the fingers of the snread
hand.
If the spinner be under the necessity of leaving off
work for any length of time, the cocoons should all be
raised with a skimmer out of the water, till her return,
otherwise by oversoaking they would run off in burrs ;
but it is best to continue the reeling without interrup-
tion, and let fresh, but equally experienced persons
succeed those who are tired.
As the heat of the water of the basin will require to
be varied according to the ease or difficulty with which
8
the different sorts of cocoons give off their silk, the
spinner should always have some cold water within
reach, in order to cool that in the basin quickly, when
the silk comes off too easily, and in burrs. The water
is also necessary for the woman managing the cocoons,
to cool her fingers, and to sprinkle the iron bar when it
becomes heated. Some light wood, chips or shavings,
should also be at Hand to increase the heat quickly,
when the cocoons do not yield their silk readily. The
water in which the cocoons are heated must be pure,
soft nnd clear of sand or settlings.
When the cocoons are first put in the water, if the
silk rises thick upon the brush, or gets in lump^, it
is a eign the water is too hot : if the thread cannot be
caught, the water is too cold. When the cocoons are
in play, if they rise often to the holes in the iron plate,
the water is too hot •, if the cocoon do not follow the
threads, it is too eoW.
Keep nn equal number of cocoons working at each
end of the hasin in order to preserve the thread of silk
to an equal size. When there are fewer on one side
than the other, the silk becomes smaller at that side,
and the thread will break. Therefore, throw in the co-
coons one by one, and never throw two at a time.
It will be seen by observing the position of the thread
upon the reel, that the ditlerent layers do not lie paral-
lel to, nor upon, but across one another. This is owing
to the mechanism of the apparatus, and is particularly
contrived to effect this object ; which is essential to the
perfection of the process, and one to which the ac-
knowledged superiority of the Italian silk is to be as-
cribed. It is effected by the seesaw or horizontal mo-
tion of the traversing bar, and is produced by the dif-
ferent number of the teeth in the pinion of the axle,
and in the wheels at the ends of the shaft, and in the
pinions on the top of the post, which catch and work
upon one another. Without this crossing, the thread",
from their gummy nature, would inevitably adhere, and
render the subsequent windings and twistings of the
silk very difficult ; causing the threads frequently to
break, and when joined to form knots, which, in weav-
ing, cannot pass through the reed*, apd hence injure the
beauty of the stuffs. But the mechanism mentioned of
the traversing bar, prevents the threads lying over
each upon the other, upon the reel, until after it has
made many revolutions. It is stated by Borgnis in the
Traite de Mechanique, that the silk fibres of the cocoons
are spun in zigzags, like those formed by the silk reel,
and, consequently, the operation of the reel is an imita-
tion of nature, of which the industry of the catterpillar,
instructed by her, is the prototype.
Count Dandolo, says, that it is a well known fact, that
of two reelers, each reeling 7 1-2 pounds of cocoons of
the same quality, one will obtain only six ounces and
a half, or, perhaps still less, while another will turn off
eight ounces.
A woman experienced in the business, with a girl to
turn the wheel and attend the fire under the cauldron,
can, with ease, reel off one pound of silk per day, con-
sisting of four or five cocoons of the most perfect.quali-
*y-
When a desired quantity of silk has been wound on
the reel, pick off all the loose silk; then take a little
handful of the coarse silk, and after washing nn.5
squeezing it, dip it in cold water, and rub over the silk
on the reel, stroking up also the silk with the palm of
the hand : then turn the wheel with a II possible veloci-
ty, with open windows, if the reeling has been done in
a room for eight or ten minutes to dry the silk pffertiv
ally; which done, take it off the reel, put it i,n a Hry, airy
place, but not in the sun. This is done to clear the
silk and give it a gloss.
When one reel is taken off, another should be p"t on,
that the work may not be delayed. Every winding ap*
paratus must have two reels.
58
In preparing tho dupions for winding off, more arc
put into the basin at once than of the finest kind. Thev
must be first well cleaned from the floss on their out"
sides. The water also must be boiling hot ; and as the
silk they yield is of a coarser quality than the other, anc
has a good deal of the floss upon "it, the person who
turns the reel must take the opportunity, while theom
who manages the basin is preparing the cocoons fo
winding, to clear and pick off the loose silk from tha
which is on the reel. The dujiions intended for ordina
ry sewing silk, are to be wound from 15 to 20 cocoons
The rest may be wound as coarse as possible, that is
from 40 to 50 cocoons. These serve to cover and fill up
in coarse stuffs, and are likewise for seuing- silk. Th<
good choquettes arc to be wound according to the use
they are in tended to be put to, but not finer than from se
ven to eight. The badchoquettes may be wound from 15 tc
20. The satin cocoons, so called from their resemblance
to satin, require water only moderately hot. The pro
per heat will be found by observing the manner in which
the silk comes off from the first of them which are pu
into the basin ; and, as already said of cocoon-
generally, if it come off thick, cold water must be add-
ed, until the proper temperature be attained. They
must not be allowed to remain long in the water, and
there should be only a few of these cocoons put in a
a time. The water for the dupions and choquettes mus
be changed four times a day.
It may, perhaps, be profitable to give the views o
others, upon this particular branch of the business, as
it is the process of reeling which imparts so much to
the value of the silk. If done indifferently it may no
be worth more than four dollars per pound ; but if wel
and skilfully executed, it may be worth from six to se
ven dollars per pound according to the demand and state
of the market.
London says :
"The cocoons, or produce of the worms, as soon as
completed, are either reeled off or sold to others to be
reeled. The silk as formed by the worms is so fine
that if each ball or cocoon was reeled separately, ii
would be entirely unfit for the purposes of the manu-
facturer. In the reeling, therefore, after the cococns
are cleared from the floss, the ends of several are
joined and reeled together out of warm water, which
softening their natural gum, makes them stick together
so as to form one strong smooth thread. As often as
any single thread breaks or comes to an end, it is sup-
plied by a new one, so that by continually keeping up
the same number, the united threads may be wound to
any length. The single threads of the newly added co-
coons are not joined by any tie ; but simply laid on the
main thread, to which they adhere by their gum ; and
their ends are so fine as not to cause the least percepti-
ble unevenness in the places where they are laid on.
Care should be taken in the operation that the silk
when reeled off may consist of a smooth thread of equal
t-hickness and strength ; but of a round form, having
the small threads of which it is composed as equally
stretched and firmly united as possible, and that the
several rounds as they lie on the reel should not be
glued together. When the skein is quite dry it is ta-
Jjen off the reel, and a tie is made with some of the re-
fuse silk on that part of the skein where it bore upon
the bar of the reel, and another tie on the opposite part
of the skein, after which it is doubled into a hank, and
usually tied round near the extremities, when it is laid
by for use or sale."
Mr. Kenrick in his Silk Grower's Guide, states that
"the use of the reel requires dexterity and practice.
The cocoons, after being cleared of the floss, and
thrown by handaful into basins of pure soft water,
placed over small furnaces of charcoal. When
the water is almost at boiling point, sink the cocoons
with a whisk of broom corn under water for two or
three minutes, to soffen the gum and loosen the fibres.
Then moving the whisk lightly, the filaments will ad-
here to it, and may be drawn off till the flossy »i)k is
unwound, and the fine silk comes off. A sufficient num-
ber being collected, the reeling begins. If the pods
leap upwards, the reel must be slackened ; if the srlk
comes off in burrs, you must turn faster ; if thewateris
too hot, they furze in unwinding, and the fine lustre of
white silk is injured, and cold water must be added. It
requires long practice dexterously to attend to the
splicing on the fibres, to keep up an even thread, as the
silk grows continually finer to the end of the co-
coon."
Mr. Cobb, a practical culturist and extensive manu-
facturer gives the following as the method of reeling
cocoons and manufacturing silk in Connecticut. " A
large kettle set in a furnace, or in an arch, is filled with
water, and fire is kept under it; and when it is about
to boil a quart of cocoons is thrown into it," &c ; and
after describing other preparatory measures, he says-,
"Keeling is then commenced on a common hand reel
(such as is in common use in families in New England
for reeling yarn from the spinning wheel,) and the silk
fibres run off about as fast and with as little difficulty as
yarn from a spindle. Some of the cocoons run off be-
fore others, and when on this account the thread be-
comes too small, all the fibres are broken off, and what
is reeled is tied up by itself on the reel, and another
quart is then thrown into the kettle ; the ends are col-
lected and reeled in the same way as before, and each
separate piece is tied by itself. When the reel is full,
the pieces are all tied together, taken off, and imme-
diately dried."
"Most of the silk is manufactured into sewing silk,
and twist in the following manner : it is immersed for
a few moments in boiling water, taken out, put on
swifts and spun or twisted, on a common wool wheel,
beginning at the large end of the piece, that is at the
end which was reeled nrst ; and when it becomes too
small, which is the case when one-half or two-thirds
is run off, the small end of another piece is added to it,
and thus they are twisted together. It is then spooled
directly off the spindle, a sufficient number of spools is
put into a small spool frame to make thread of a proper
size, which is twisted again and cleansed by boiling in
strong suds for three hours, then dried and colored.
Undergoing this process it shrinks about one-half in
weight: after this, for sewing silk, it is doubled, twist-
ed and reeled on a reel two yards long, and is divided
into skeins of twenty threads each, as the statute of
the state requires. If it be calculated for twist, it is
made three threaded, twisted, and done up into sticks
with a small hand machine, and is then ready for the
market. The floss or tow, as it is called, is boiled in
strong suds for three hours, dried, picked, carded, and
spun on a common wool wheel. The yarn is woven into
cloth, usually worn by the women for every day gowns ;
and sometimes manufactured into strong and durable
carpets.
Those cocoons that the grubs have pierced are boiled
as above directed : the end that is not pierced is cut off;
they are then spun on a linen wheel like worsted, begin-
ning at the end cut. It is then twisted together, three
threaded and knit into stockings.
The imperfect cocoons, and all that will not reel, are
boiled, carded, spun and manufactured in all respects
ike floss, but they make nicer and finer cloth."
We have been thus full upon this part of the subject,
"or the reasons before assigned by us, that it is by
means of the reeling, &c. that a large portion of the
irofit of the culturist arises. Indeed it may be said
hat those who are now engaged in the culture of
silk, have to look to it for fully 25 percent, of their pro-
it, and hence it becomes doubly important that it
liould be well done.
MODE OP MAKING SEWING SILK, AND SILK TWI3T IK CON-
NECTICUT.
Ths following is the method followed in Connecticut
as recommended to the secretary of the treasury by
Daniel Bulkley, Esquire.
" The raw silk is first spooled on bobbins, the num-
ber of which is in proportion to the size of the intended
thread from the first spinning, and, to facilitate the op-
eration, they are put into warm water. The silk is
again spooled, taking two or three bobbins, according
to the size of the intended thread. After being spun,
it is reeled into skeins, each of forty yards in length,
or half a knot of the country reel, as required by a law
of the state. About twenty-five of these skeins are put
together, like a skein of cotton or woollen yarn. They
are then boiled, adding a small quantity of soft soap, or
ley of wood ashes, to cleanse them from the gum, they
are then ready for dying.
Silk twist is spun in the same manner, except that it
is always of three cords. The winding of twist is done
on a machine imported from England."
We have a small establishment for spinning by water,
with a machine similar to a throstle frame of a cotton
mil). The silk is first spooled by hand on bobbins,
which are placed on the top of the frame ; the thread
of raw silk passing from it under a wire through a
trough of water, then through rollers to the spindle.
A single frame may contain from thirty to fifty spin-
dles, and can be attended to by one person. The doub-
ling and twisting may be done by the same frame at
the same time, by giving the bands to a part of the
spindles of a contrary direction. As many threads are
put to a spindle as are required to make a thread of two
or three cords. Silk spun in this way is far superior to
that done by hand. The machine will spin from two to
three pounds in a day. A pound of silk after being spun
and cleansed will weigh about ten ounces, and form one
hundred and seventy skeins; the threads of sufficient
size to sew woollens. If spun finer, it would make
more. It increases little or nothing in weight when
dyed. Silk is sold by the skein ; one hundred of which
will measure one-third more than half a pound of
Italian, or English silk, of the same sized threads One
woman can make from twelve to fifteen pounds
of raw silk, in a season of six weeks."
FREPARiTION OP WASTE SILK.
" All the cocoons pierced by the moths ; those form-
ed with holes at one or both ends; the light cocoons
deemed improper for winding, after the insects have
rbeen cut out, or threshed out, and the pellicles remain-
ing after winding of the silk, are to be collected ; and
if it be wished to retain the yellow color, they are put
in a copper kettle with water, and trampled with the
feet; turning the cocoons, and adding a little fresh wa-
ter from time to time, until it be found that the silk
separates properly, upon tedding it out with the fin-
gers. They are then tied up in a clean cloth, which is
dipped in a clear stream, or water is poured on them,
until it runs off without color, and spread out to dry."
WASTE WHITE SILK.
" Waste silk intended to remain white, is to be treat-
ed in the following manner :
Put the cocoons in a kettle of cold water, and let
them lie 24 hours : then boil them in a copper kettle,
adding a quarter of a pound of soap for every pound of
cocoons : when the soap is dissolved, tic up the cocoons
in a clean cloth, put it in a kettle, and boil until the
cocoons have become white. The water should entire-
ly cover the cloth ; then take out the cloth, and dip it
in a clear stream, or pour water on it till it comes off
clear ; then spread out the cocoons in the sun to
dry.
ON SPINNING INFERIOR QUALITIES OF E1LK.
In every filature, one or more reels are devoted to the
spinming with the carrelet, the inferior qualities of silk,
which cannot be spun on the common reel. The car-
relet, is thus described by M. Reynauld, of Paris. Tlce
frame is larger than the common silk reel, and has
commonly a wheel with four arms. The most essen-
tial difference in the frames, is that of the head pieces.
To these are added a board which carries two or four
bobbins. If there are only two, they are placed longi-
tudinally one above the other. If two threads are to
be wound at a time, two other bobbins are added, and
placed between the other two in the same position. Af-
ter the cocoons have been threshed, a number of the fi-
bres are collected to form a thread, which is passed
through one of the two eyes of the board of the bob-
bins, of the same form as that of the traversing bar of
the silk reel ; then it is wound round both bobbins at
the same time : being first carried to the first and re-
turning round the second, it passess between them, giv-
ing a twist to the part of the fibre which was extended
from one bobbin to the other. The spinner then takes
the same end, and passes it through the eye of the
traversing bar, and attaching it to the wheel, it is set
in motion. If it be wished to wind two skeins at one
time, a second thread is prepared, and attached to the
second pair of cylinders or bobbins, whence it passed
through the second eye of the traversing bar, and then
fixed to the wheel at a proprr distance from the first
end.
The silk called /ram, which is slightly twisted, and
used for the filling of stuffs and for inferior silk for bon-
nets ; the dupions or double cocoons, are also reeled on
the carrelet in France. These latter require softening
in hot water five or six minutes.
In France the coarse fibres taken off the cocoons and
laid aside, are called fantasie ; it is first boiled, then
carded and spun : the best of it is used for filling after
being slightly twisted.'a'nd the inferior for the chain of
stuffs. In' Connecticut ihe coarse thread of the cocoons
are made into a ball, then reeled, boiled in soap and
water, rinsed, dried, cut into one and a half inch pieces,
then carded on cotton cards and spun like wool or cot-
:on.
The pointed cocoons, or such imperfect ones, as are
made by feeble worms, or in cold seasons, when the
.emperature of the apartment is not attended to, are
first deprived of their gum, by being immersed in wa-
ter, or soap and water, dried, and then spun upon the
wheel, and forms an even and fine thread.
In Connecticut, family sewing silk is made from the
good cocoons, from which the moths have escaped. The
shrivelled case of the pupa, and any eggs which may
lave been deposited in the cocoon, are first taken out ;
.hey are then boiled in soap and water, rinsed, gently
iqueezed, dried, an'd spun on a foot wheel. Knitting
thread for stockings and mils, is ajso made from them.
They make the best sewingsilk, by doubling the thread,
reeled from cocoons and twisting it on the common
wheel. The skein is first boiled in soap and water,
and it lies on a dish containing enough soap-suds to keep
t moist, while the process of reeling is going on.
To organzine silk. The thread is first twisted from
/ight to left. The silk in twisting, turns off on other
jobbins somewhat larger than the first. These bobbins
are then to be exposed to the stream of water, to which
have been added two ounces of white, or castile soap,
rthe latter best,) 18 ounces of olive oil and four or five
pounds of wood ashes The bobbins are put in a kettle,
the bottom of which is pierced, and placed on the ves-
sel of water, when it boils with a cloth over it, and
permitted to remain until the silk begins to swell, and
to detach from the bobbins. They are then to be taken
away, and the second throw' or twist given to the
60
threads, from left to right. The combination of these
t«o threads, is called the pearl, as the organzirie looks
Jike a string of small pearls or beads. It is easy to know
t the second throw be perfect, by untwisting part of the
urganzine, and when it is open, or slackening the hand a
Ule, each thread twists round itself in obedience to
the first throw or twist. The water may be filled up as
it wastes, but the ashes, soap and oil. arc to be renew-
ed every day.
MACHINERY.
It is not our purpose to give minute descriptions of the
various reels, looms, and other machinery used in the
preparation and manufacture of silk. Such an occupa-
tion of our pages, we deem wholly unnecessary, be-
cause it is not to be presumed that farmers will desire
to become manufacturers of such implements, and, in-
deed, if they were so disposed, the immunities of the pa-
tent law would prevent them. We shall, therefore,
content ourself with enumerating such of the most
prominent inventions, as appear to us, by their merit,
to demand notice. Indeed, more than this, in the pres-
ent state of improvement, when the spirit of emulation
is emphatically abroad, would be worse than superero-
gatory. Any individual entering into the silk culture,
will, as a matter of sheer prudence, in the exercise of
a sound discrimination, piocure for himself the best of
all such machinery as he may require to carry on such
branches of the business, as it may be his peculiar plea-
sure to engage in ; and with respect to the prosecution of
the business by manufacturing companies, they will not
require to be reminded of what particular kinds of ma-
•chinery, or implements, they will need, their interest
will at once dictate the procurement of such as is best
adapted to the uses, to which they intend to appropri-
ate them.
The brief notice below will suffice for all profitable
uses of the farmer or planter :
1. The silk reel, of Piedmont.i
2. Gideon It. Smith's improved silk reel— being an
improvement upon the above, the operation being great-
ly simplified.
3. Brooks1 patent silk spinning and reeling machine.
This is represented as being a very simple and easy op-
erating machine, and yet one of the most perfect that
has been invented for the purpose of reeling and twist-
ing silk from the cocoons, and manufacturing it into
sewing silk.
4. Gay and Moseky's reel, and silk power loom. The fol-
lowing description of the latter improved machinery
we copy from that excellent and sensibly conducted pe-
riodical, » The Silk Worm," published at Albany, New
York, and edited by Samuel Blydenburgh, Esquire.—
u "™ J 1J?C imProved system of winding silk, invented
by Mr. Gay, many and important advantages are gain-
ed ; but gull it will not altogether supercede the use o
the reel. By his plan the silk is wound on spools from
the cocoons. In this state it is not liable to tatgle as
when in skeins. When once wound in a contiguoui
thread on the spools, it may be kept any length of time
and carried any distance., without injury. It will be
in the same state of keeping, as the spools of cotton
thread, and may always be wound off in the same entir
thread as it was wound on.
When the silk is intended to be sold to the manufac
turer even to the merchant, this is infinitely the safes
way in which it can be preserved. When in the skeii
it is always liable to injuries, either in keeping or in
trasportation.
If the silk is cultivated near to where it is to be manu
factured, the manufacturer can furnish the spools
weighing them «s they are delivered out, and deduct
ing the weight of the spools when returned from th
silk. If it is to go through several hands, the spool
nay be made of an exact given weight, and warranted
ot to weigh more.
The whole process of winding is, by this plan, not
endered much more simple and easy to learn, but is in-
nitely more convenient, as it will be done by a little
mig machine, which will be no inconvenience at the
reside, while the regular silk reel is much more cutn-
TOUS and would scarcely find room in a small dwell-
"g-
But in nearly all cases, where the silk is to be manu-
actured, it will still have to be reeled from these
)obbins, or spools, into hanks or skeins. This, howev-
er, is no objection to winding it originally on spools, for
he saving and other advantages which result from
Beeping and preserving the silk on spools, overbal-
.nce the trouble of two windings."
g#-\Ve take pleasure in stating, that these ma-
hines may be obtained on application to Samuel Bly-
lenburgh, Esquire, Albany, New York.
Speaking of the machinery of Mr.Gay and his partner,
ilr. Moseley, Judge Ambrose Spencer, of Albany, New
York, in a letter to Mr. A. H. Brown, of Frederick
Bounty, Md. makes the following remarks, which
hrough the politeness of the latter gentleman, we are
>ermitted to copy :
" I am personally acquainted with Mr. Gay : he is,
ndeed, a very ingenious man : independent'of the reel
nvented by him and Moseley, he, or they, have sim-
>lified all the machinery necessary for the manufac-
ure of silk, and there is now in operation at Provi-
dence, under Mr. Gay's direction, a manufactory of
silk, the stock in which has sold for more man 100 per
cent. .advance. He sent me a pattern for a vest, equal
to any imported. He finds that the power loom, by
vhich cotton has been woven, may be successfully used
'or the weaving of silk. Mr. Gay is the very man to
^ive or furnish instruction in the art of reeling, and to
establish a manufactory, furnishing all the necessary
machinery."
And in addition to this high encomium upon the mer-
its of Mr. Gay and his machinery, we have seen it
stated, that his red is so simple in its construction, as
that any woman can acquire sufficient knowledge of its
use, in two hours instruction, to become a tolerably ex-
pert reeler.
5. Terhoeven's winding, doubling and twisting machine.
This is represented as a simple machine, invented by
Messrs. Terhoevens, of Philadelphia, used for winding
silk from cocoons, and for doubling and twisting the
thread at the same time.
6. Cobb's reel. This is an invention of Mr. J. H.
Cobb, of Massachusetts, and it is stated to be a most
efficient machine, combining in an eminent degree sim-
plicity with power.
There are many other reeling machines, of European
and American inventions, as well as numerous silk
looms, twisting machines, draw boys, ribbon looms,
looms for weaving plain and figured stuffs, and power
and other looms, and inventions, of one kind or another,
out of number ; but as our work is intended for farmers'
and planters, who, we presume, will scarcely ever car-
ry the business beyond converting the cocoons into raw
silk, we consider that, in noticing the machines herein
recited, we have accomplished all that need be required
by those for whose accommodation we have ventured
to compile this work. Indeed, so far as the interests of
the husbandman is concerned, except lor the purposes
of domestic use, such as sewing silk, knitting of stock-
ings, and the fabrication of an occasional dress for the
females of the family, we should doubt the propriety
of his carrying the silk culture beyond the point of
reeling. Having effected that, we think, he should be
content to transfer the business of all subsequent labor
upon the commodity, to the hands of the manufacturer,
leaving his factor to settle the questions with respect
to who that should he, — or whether he should find for it
a foreign or domestic market,
MAUKKT FOR THE SILK.
The disposal of the silk after it shall have been raised,
being an object of the first importance, it seems oppor-
tune that we should say a word or two with respect to
Ifee markets. By a letter of Judge Ambrose Spencer,
H is stated, that the import of silk amounts to the
value of $10,000,000, <mnu<i%, and as he very justly
remarks, this will increase with our wealth and popu-
lation. Thus we have a domestic market, to this enor-
mous amount, inviting theAmerican husbandman to sup-
ply it. And already various manufactories in the states
of New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massa-
chusetts, have been established, to convert the raw silk
into stuffs of various descriptions, and so confident are
th« calculating people of that intelligent and enterpris-
ing portion of our country, of the entire and triumphant
success of the silk busine-s, that companies and indi-
viduals are in every direction of it, entering with spirit
into the culture and manufacture of silk. Indeed, so
rapid have been the multiplication of establishments
for its manufacture, that the demand for the raw mate-
rial, greatly exceeds the supply, and at the present mo-
ment almost any quantity of cocoons or raw silk, would find
a really and profitable market, in any of the principal
eastern cities. The price of raw silk, we have seen
quoted at $4 per pound, and that of cocoons at §3 a
bushel. We have never counted the number of cocoons
contained in a bushel ; but from haying measured and
counted a quart, we should think that from 4,000 to
5,000, according to their size and perfection, would
make a bushel of cocoons. The only thing like a cal-
culation upon this part of the subject, that we have
been able to lay our hands upon, we found in the very
interesting letter of William B. Buchanan, Esquire, in
which he speaks of 1,500 worms making ah ant three
pecks of cocoons. If kis measure be the correct one, then,
two thousand would make a bushel, but we incline to
think that an average, of any considerable quantity, would
take fully the number assumed by us.
Besides the domestic market just spoken of, France
imports annually between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000
worth of raw silk, and this, too, notwithstanding she is
a silk growing country. And England, owing to the
humidity of her climate, being unable to raise in
worms lo advantage, has to draw all the raw material
for her numerous silk manufactories, from distant coun-
tries, and we have seen the annual average amount
consumed by them from 182 1 to 1828, a period of 7
years, stated at $17,255,368. Thus then, in our home
market, and in the markets of France and England, we
find a demand for raw silk, annually, of about $33,000,-
000, which, as those countries respectfully expand ir
population and wealth, must increase in a corresponded
ratio ; and no one will pretend to affirm, that, if we sup-
ply the article upon as good terms as other nations, w
will not have an equal chance with them in so doing
And here we would ask, what can prevent us, will
our advantages of locality, of climate, extensive do
mains, and soil, from at once becoming successful rival
in every market where the raw silk material is demand
ed ? There is nothing within the range of probability
that can operate unfavorably to our competition, un
less, indeed, it be our own supineness — our culpable ii
difference — our criminal neglect — to add toourproduc
tions, a staple commodity, which will, if prosecute
with vigor and intelligence for ten years, equal, if it doe
not exceed, our exportation of cotton, without interfei
ing in the least with its consumption. As it has been for
cibly observed by Judge Spencer, our import uf silk stu/
already exceed our entire export of breadstuff's. This is a
important fact, because, with the facilities of manufac-
turing already established and being established, we
ave at our own doors, a market greatly exceeding in.
tmmd any supply which for several years the country
'ill be able to furnish, and at prices loo, which offer
rie most generous rewards to the labor of the agricul-
urist.
If it be said that these markets are to the eashoard,
mote from the great Mulberry regions of the middle
nd southern stales, we affirm that agencies for the pur-
hase of raw silk, will rise up in every district and city
f those regions, so soon as the article shall be grown
herein in sufficient quantities to make it an object.
Therefore, no farmer or planter should permit such a
bought to enter his mind, as there is nothing more cer-
ain than that markets and capital will spring up, and be
mployed wherever and whenever profit is to be made,
nterest and emolument, being; with merchants, as
vith every body else, the great ruling motives by
vhich their actions are governed in matters of trade.
DISBANDING OF SILK FROM THE REEL.
The Treasury Manual has the following, and as
ive see it copied by the Silk Culturist, published at
Hartford, Connecticut, by the Hartford county Silk So-
:iety, in the midst of the silk culture country, we take
t for granted that it is the approved method.
" The single fibres of which the thread is composed,
are liable to suffer very different degrees of stretching-
as they are wound from the cocoons. If the cocoons are
not well sorted, this different degree of extension will be
he greater ; and even when they are sorted, they
must still be subject to the same, because some are a lit-
.le longer in the water than others, and, therefore give
heir silk easier ; and also, the weak latter ends of
ome cocoons wind off with the strong first part of
others. The fibres being thus strelched unequally, will
occasion when the skein is taken from the reel too sud-
denly, those fibres which are most stretched to contract
more than the others, by which their union will be in
some measure destroyed, and the thread composed of
.hem rendered less compact and firm, the fibres appear-
ng in several places disjoined from, one another. To
•emedy this, the skein should remain there six or eight
lours, until the unequal exlerision which it suffered in
winding is, by the stretch which it undergoes on the
reel, brought nearer to an equality ; and, until the-
thread, by being well dried, has its fibres firmly united.
When the skein is quite dry, proceed to disband it
from the reel. First, squeeze it together all around, to
loosen it upon the bars ; then, with a thread made of
the refuse silk, tie it on that place where it bore on
the bars of the reel : then slide it off the reel, and
make another tie on the part opposite to the one first
made ; after which, double it, and tie it near each ex-
tremity, and then lay it by for use or sale, in a dry
place. When the skein is finished, there should be a
mark tied to the end of the thread, otherwise it may be
difficult to find it, if it mixes with the thiead of the
skein.
CLEANSING AND UNGUMMING SILK.
" The operation consists of depriving silk of the prin-
ciples which affect its whiteness.
Make up the silk into hunks, that is to say, run a
thread around each hank, which consists of a certain
quantity of skeins tied together. After that, the hanks
are to be united, and several of them to be bound to-
gether, to make up a bundle, the sizes and names
whereof vary according to the nature of the article
manufactured.
After this operation, soap is to be dissolved in water,
heated in a kettle in trie proportion of 15 Ibs. of s»ap
to 100 Ibs. of silk. Cut the soap into small slices to
promote its solution. After the soap has been dissolved,
the kettle is to be filled with fresh water, which should
be pure, free from calcareous impregnation, but not in
unnecessary quantities, in order to avoid increasing the
proportion of injurious salts, and weakening the forci
of the solvent. The proper proportions for this opera
tior^ as ascertained after many experiments on a largi
scale, are 7 or 8 Ibs. of water, to 1 of silk — 1-12 0
1-6 is sufficient for the greater number of colors : for
yellow, unbleached silks, it is necessary to add from 50
to €0 per cent. ; for unbleached white silks, 25 per
cent, of soap. The water being in the kettle, the door
®f the furnace closed, leaving only a few live coals in
it, in order that the bath may be kept quite hot, bul
Vithout boiling ; for Dr. Bancroft says, that silk ought
never to be submitted to a boiling heat, either when
the mordant is applied, or afterwards in the dying op-
eration, as a high temperature, besides injuring the
texture and lustre of the silk, would detatch and sep-
arate the mordant, before the coloring matter could
have combined, and produced an insoluble union with
both. Those eminent French chemists Ttienard and
Roard, also confirm Mr. Bancroft's views.
Whilst this bath is preparing, the hanks are to be put
upon the pegs or pins, and when the bath is ready, the
silk is to be put into it, and left therein, until all the
part dipped is wholly freed from its gum ; which will
be easily seen, by the v/hiteness and flexibility which
Ihe silk acquires when deprived of it. The hanks are
•then placed again on the rods, to undergo the same op-
eration in the parts not yet steeped ; they are then to
!be taken out of the bath, in proportion as they are
found divested of their gum.
The silk, thus ungummed, is to be wrung upon
the pins to remove the soap in it ; then to be dressed,
by being arranged upon the pins and upon the hands,
in order to disentangle it ; then a cord is to be run
through the hanks, to keep them down during the boil-
ing. About 8 or 9 hanks may be placed on a line. Af-
ter this the silks are to be put into bags of strong coarse
linen. These bags are to be put 14 or 15 inches wide
and 4 or 5 feet long,— closed at both ends, but open
lengthwise. When the silk is put in them they mus
toe stitched up — each bag will hold 30 Ibs. of silk.
The silk thus bagged is to be submitted to a similar
«oap bath, as above described, to undergo a boiling for a
quarter of an hour ; when it begins to boil over, it is
•to be checked by adding cold water. The bags during
boiling must be often stirred to prevent the silk from
burning. This operation is performed with silk intend-
ed lo remain white.
BOILING SILK TO BE DYED WHITE.
For boiling silks intended for common colors, 20 Ibs.
of soap to 100 Ibs. of raw silk. The process of boiling
the same, as the first described, with this difference
only, that as the silk is not to be freed from its gum,
the boiling is to be continued three hours and a half,
taking care to fill up from time to time with water.
If the silks are intended to be dyed blue, or iron
gray, sulphur, or other colors, which require to be set
in a very deep white ground, in order to acquire the de-
sired beauty, there are to be used 30 Ib?. of soap to 100
Ibs. of silk, and the boiling to be continued three or
four hours. After being supposed to be boiled enough,
Jet the bags be raised with a stick, placed on a frame,
and examined if there be any parts where the liquid
ha« not penetrated. This is easily ascertained by the
yellow and a certain kind of slime remaining on those
parts. Should this defect be discovered^ the bags of
silk must be again boiled until it be remedied. The loss
in boiling: is about one-fourth in weight.
SULPHURING.
The silks to be sulphured, should be extended on poles,
placed 7 or 8 feet from the ground, in a high apartment
without a chimney, where the air may freely circulate
by leaving the windows and door open. For every 100
Ibs. of silk, take 1 1-2 pounds of roll brimstone, put it
into an earthen pan or iron kettle, at the bottom of
which a layer of ashes is to be placed ; pound the rolte
of brimstone coarsely ; then set fire to it and smoke
the silk during the night. The next day the door
and windows are to be opeaed, to let the smell of the
brimstone escape and dry the silk. If the silk should
not thus be dried, apply live coals in chaffing dishes or
some other convenience.
ALUMING.
After having washed the silks, and divested them of
the soap by giving them a boiling, pass a cord through
them as when they are to be boiled; then take 50 Ibs. of
alum, for 50 buckets of water — (dissolve the alum first
in hot water,) stir it well on emptying the solution of
alum into the tub, and it will prevent congelation.
This bath will answer for 150 Ibs. of silk to be steeped
in it until the solution begins to have a fetid smell. The
silk should not be put in until it is perfectly cold. If
the alum water should appear too weak, more alum is
to be added.
PROCESS OF DYING SILK.
A HANDSOME YELLOW.
^Note. — The following receipts are proportioned to 10
Ibs. of silk previously boiled.]
Take H Ib. of alum
20 Ibs. common Lady's (St. Mary's) Thistle •
•J Ib. wood ashes.
Dissolve the alum in a kettle containing ten buckets
of water, pour the solution into a vat, fix your silk upon
•ods, in the usual way, steep it in the solution, work it
well therein for an hour, take it out, and lay it aside
wet, for further use.
This being done, put ten buckets of water in a kettle,
add the St. Mary's Thistle, and boil it well fora quarter
f an hour, run the decoction through a sieve into a
ail, to separate the coarse parts from it; let it cool, un-
il you will be able to bear your hands in it, steep the
silk in the liquor, work it well therein for half an hour;
then take it out, wring it, and lay it aside, in its wet
state for further use.
The pails or vessels in which you dress the silk with
alum, and in which the liquor is, must be filled, and
kept full, during the process of working it, to within a
few inches of the top; and. should there be occasion to
fill up, or to increase the quantity of liquor with water,
care must be taken not to make it too cool, but to pre-
serve, at all times, a degree of heat, in which the han4
can be barely held. While this is doing, the St. Mary's
thistle must be put into the kettle a second time, with
fresh water, and be boiled again. Then take out the
silk, dip out some of the liquor, in which you had pre-r
viously worked the silk, and add as much of the liquor
of the second boiling to it as Was taken therefrom, so
that the first quantity will be preserved. The liquor
must now, as well as each time before you steep the
silk in it, be stirred well; then steep the silk in the li-
quor again, and work it well therein for half an hour,
The liquor may, in this latter process, be made a little
hotter than it was in the first; but be cautious not to
make it too hot, as the silk would be considerably in-
jured thereby.
During this second process the wood ashes are to be
dissolved in a kettle, into which you have poured some
of the liquor of the second colouring, boiling hot; stir
ihe liquor and wood ashes well, and then let it settle.
This being done, pour some of the clear part of the so-
ution into the yellow liquor, after having first taken
out the silk, stir the whole of it well, steep the silk
n it again, and work it well therein during fifteen min-
utes. At the expiration of this time, or sooner, as you
may deem it necessary, take out a small quantity of the
silk, wring it, and examine whether it has retained the
required colour; should this not be the case, a small
[uantity of the solution of wood ashes must be added to
63
the liquor, the silk steeped in it again, and well worked
in the same, until the required colour be obtained.
A CITRON YELLOW.
Take 1 1-4 Ib. of alum
8 Ibs. of safflour
1-4 Ib. of alum.
Dissolve the alum in a kettle containing ten buckets
of water; then pour the solution into a vat, steep the
silk in it, work it well therein for half an hour, wring
it, lay it by in its wet state, for further use, and throw
away the solution of alum as useless. Put again ten
buckets of fresh water in the kettle, add eight pound
of safflour and 1-4 Ib. alum, let it boil for half an hour,
run the solution through a sieve into a vat, steep the silk
in the liquor, work it well therein a quarter of an hour,
wring and dry it, fix it on the wringing post, wring and
beat it well.
With the rest of the above liquor, a pale yellow may
yet be dyed.
A CITRON YELLOW, which may be heightened to a hand-
some gold tint.
Take 1 1-4 Ib. of alum,
14 Ibs. of safflour,
1-4 Ib. of alum,
Put ten buckets of water in a kettle, add one and a
quarter pounds of alum, dissolve it therein, pour the
solution into a vat, and work the silk in the solution for
about half an hour, wring it, and lay it by in its wet
state, for further use.
This being done, pour ten buckets of fresh water into
the kettle, add seven pounds of safflour, and boil it half
tin tiour, pour the liquor through a sieve into a vat and
work it well therein for the space of fifteen minutes;
then wring and dry it. The yellow liquor is now to be
poured back into the kettle, the remaining seven pounds
of the safflour to be put into it, together with a quarter
of a pound of alum, and the whole to be boiled half an
hour; then pour the liquor through a sieve into a pail,
work the silk well in the liquor for half an hour, wring
and dry it and then beat it well. By the above process,
a handsome citron yellow may be obtained.
A CITRON YELLOW, in a different way.
Take 1 1-4 Ibs. of alum,
7 Ibs. of French berries.
Pi4 the alum into a kettle, with eight buckets of wa-
ter; \vhen dissolved, pour it into a bucket, immerse the
silk in the solution, work it well therein for half an
hour, take it out, and lay it aside for further use in its
wet state, and throw away the solution. Then boil ten
buckets of fresh water, put into it the French berries,
T>oil it for three quarters of an hour, pour it through a
sieve into a bucket, and immerse it in the liquor, work
it well therein for half an hour, wri-ng it, fix it on the
wringing post in the usual manner. To make this color
deeper or brighter, take more or less than the above
quantity of the French berries.
If the liquor, after this process, still retains some of
its yellow properties, it may be used to color ten pounds
of silk, previously prepared in a solution of alum, to a
pale yellow, or to lay at least the ground for a handsome
gold tint.
A CITRON YELLOW, in another manner.
Take 2 Ibs. of alum,
6 Ibs. of Quercitron bark, ground.
Put the alum in a kettle, with ten buckets of fresh
water, dissolve it therein, and pour the solution into a
vat, immerse the silk in it, and work it well therein for
two hours; wring it, lay it aside wet for further use, and
throw away your solution of alum as useless. Then
pour into a kettle ten buckets of fresh water, and put
the ground Quercitron into it; boil this one hour, take
it out, run the decoction through a seive into a pail, im-
merse it into the liquor, and work it well an hour in
the solution ; after which it is to be taken out, wrung
and dried ; fix it on the wringing post, wring it again,
&c., when it will have acquired a beautiful citron yel-
low. The remaining yellow liquor may be used for
other purposes, and may therefore be preserved. I will'
now give the necessary direction for coloring a hand-
some pale yellow, with the above remains of tha
yellow liquor.
A PALB TELLOW.
Take 2 Ibs. of alum.
Prepare the silk with alum, as directed in the fore-
going receipt, and lay it away for further use. Then
warm the liquor, which has been used in the coloring
of the foregoing operation ; put it into a pail, immerse
it in the liquor, and work it well therein, for the space
of half an hour. This being done, take it out, wring it,
fix it on the wringing- post, wring and beat it well,
which will give it a gloss. It is not necessary that silk
should be rinsed in yellow coloring.
Several Directions for Dying with
QUERCITRON BARK.
A CITRON YELLOW.
Take 3 Ibs. of alum, and
1 Ib. 3 ounces of Quercitron bark.
Put the alum in a kettle, with ten buckets of water ;
let it dissolve therein, pour the solution into a pail,
immerse the silk in the solution, and work it well there-
in, a little longer than usual ; take it out, wring and
rinse it, and lay it by for further use, in its wet state ;
put ten buckets of fresh water into a kettle, warm it,
put the quercitron in a bag, and boil it until the
strength is extracted. Then immerse the silk in the li-
quor, and work it well therein a quarter of an hour,
which will produce a handsome lively citron yellow.
A HIGH COLORED YELLOW.
This color may be heightened to its utmost extent of
yellow, by adding a few half ounces of soda, more or
less, according to the deep or bright shades of color
desired, to the above yellow liquor ; but this must not
be done until the silk has been completely saturated
with the yellow liquor of quercitron.
ORANGE COLOR.
Orange color is obtained by adding to the liquor at
the same time with the soda, a proportional quantity of
annatto, and by working it in this liquor until the de-
sired color has been obtained.
PALE YELLOW, OR STRAW COLOR.
Take less alum and quercitron, and dispense altogeth-
er with the soda and annatto.
To produce the many different shades of this color,
proceed with the quercitron in the same manner as di-
rected in the dying of the same colors with turmeric
and wild (dyer's weed.) But you must bear in mind
that one pound of the quercitron, will produce as much
as ten pounds of either the turmeric or wild.
A VERY LIVELY GLOSSY YELLOW.
If you desire to increase the above yellow to its most
lively and glossy hue, take instead of the alum, a solution
of tin, dissolved in a mixture of three parts of the spir-
its of salt, and one part of aquafortis. This solution
must be mixed with twenty times its own quantity of
water, and the silk is to be prepared in a solution of
alum, in the usual way ; but it is not necessary to rinse
it, and it may be colored immediately. The solution of
tin may be preserved for other purposes.
A TURKISH BLUE.
Take 2 1-2 ounces of cochineal,
10 do of aquafortis,
1 1-2 do of English tin and
1-4 do of alum.
The silk must first be colored in a keep, to a medium
blue. This being done, take a kettle containing ten
buckets of water, put into it two and a half ounces of
cochineal, and boil it well for the space of ten
miuutes.
During the above process, dissolve the tin in the aqua-
fortis, according to art,. This being done, pour the
solution, together with 'a quarter of a pound of alum,
into the above mentioned kettle, with ten buckets of
water. Stir the liquor well, and immerse the silk in
the liquor, work it well therein, for about three quar-
ters of an hour ; during which time, it must be kept at a
steady, slow, continued boil ; then take it out, rinse it,
fix it on the wringing post, wring and beat it well ;
•which will restore it to its natural gloss again.
A REAL PINK.
Take 15 Ibs. of safflower,
15 quarts of strong vinegar,
3-8 of an ounce of oil of vitriol,
1 Ib. 14 oz. potash, and
4 ounces of cream of tartar.
Put the 15 Ibs. of safflower in a bag, tie it tight, im-
merse it forty-eight hours in running water ; take it
out, during this time, every six hours ; tread it well
with your feet, to free it of all yellow matter ; con-
tinue this until all the yellow matter has been worked
out of it. Examine it at the expiration of the above
time, to see whether it has lost all its coloring matter ;
if it has not, immerse it a few hours more into the wa-
ter, which will clear it from all yellow matter. This
being done, take it out, put it into a pail, and pour six
buckets of river water upon it.
This being done, put one pound fourteen ounces of
potash in a crock, dissolve it in water, and pour the
clear part of this potash liquor on the safflower in the
tub ; mix it well, and set it by, in a cool place, for six
hours. At the expiration of this time, take out the
.«afflower with its liquor, run it through a sieve into a
•pail, pour half a bucket of water upon it, and press it
out, in order to extract all the coloring matter there-
from ; pour fifteen quarts of vinegar, and three-eighths
of an ounce of oil of vitriol into the liquor.
This being done, take the ten pounds of silk, fix it
upon the rods, put it into the safflower liquor, and work
it well therein, for the space of four hours ; then take
it out, rinse it in running water, wring it well, and lay
it aside for further use, in its wet state.
Lastly. Dissolve four ounces of cream of tartar in
river water, and pour the clear part of this solution into
a tub, with eight buckets of river water ; immerse the
silk, which has before been colored to a light red, in
this solution, and work it well therein for a quarter of
an hour ; take it out, wring it and dry it, and you will
have a handsome pink.
A HIGH COLORED CRIMSON.
Take 1 1-4 Ibs. of cochineal,
1 Ib. of galls,
4 ounces of cream of tartar, and
2 1-2 Ibs. of Roman alum.
Dissolve two and a half pounds of Roman alum in a
kettle, with ten buckets of water ; pour the clean part
of this solution into a vat, immerse the silk in it, and
work it well therein for the space of four hours ; and
rinse it in running water, wring it, and lay it by for
further use, in its wet state ; then put in a kettle con-
taining eight buckets of boiling1 water, the following ar-
ticles :
One and a quarter pounds of finely powdered cochi-
neal, one pound of finely powdered gall-nuts, and four
ounces of cream of tartar. Let the whole boil slowly,
for the space of fifteen minutes ; cool it with two
buckets of water, work it well in the liquor, which
must be kept in continual boil for the space of one
hour and a half ; then take it out, rinse it, wring it, and
let it dry, when the dying will be completed.
For a cheaper color than the foregoing, reduce the
quantity of cochineal, from one and a quarter pounds,
to ten ounces, and substitute' for the remainder, three
pounds persio ;* and proceed with these materials in the
same manner as above directed. This color will differ
from that of the first described process, in no other re-
spect than that it receives somewhat more of a bluish
cast.
A HANDSOME CRIMSON.
Take 3 Ibs. of Roman alum,
1-2 ounce of argol,f
1-2 of East India galls,
25 ounces of cochineal.
Heat eight buckets of rain water in a kettle lake-
warm ; put into it three pounds of Roman alum, dis-
solve it therein, take out the solution and work it well
therein for the space of eight hours.
Take it out at the expiration of this time, wring it
lightly, and lay it by for further use, in its wet state.
To complete this color, heat eight buckets of well or
spring water until it begins to boil ; put into it the follow-
ing articles : half an ounce of argol, and half a pound of
finely powdered East India galls ; let the whole of
these articles boil well for about ten minutes, and run
the liquor through a sieve, into a pail ; then pour the li-
quor back into the kettle, and put into it twenty-fire
ounces of pulverized cochineal ; let it boil ten minutes
more, cool the liquor with half a bucket of water ; im-
merse the silk in this liquor, and work it well therein
for the space of two hours ; during which time, the li-
quor must be kept at a continual boil. This being
done, take it out, rinse it well, wring it strongly, and
dry it.
Then take a kettle, with ten buckets of spring or
well water, and heat it so that you may bear your
hand in it ; work the silk well in this water for half an
hour, then take it out, wring it, and dry it. By this
process, we obtain a very handsome crimson.
A DEEP RED.
Take 1 Ib. of fine galls,
2 1-2 Ibs. of alum,
1-2 Ib. of composition; and
5 Ibs. of madder.
Put into a kettle eight buckets of water, and one
pound of fine galls ; let it boil about fifteen minutes,
or until the strength is extracted ; take it out, run it
through a sieve into a vat, steep the silk in this decoc-
tion, and work it well therein for about two hours : af-
ter which take it out, rinse, and dry it. Then put into
a kettle eight buckets of water, with two and a half
pounds of alum, and a half pound of the composition ;
let these be properly united with the water ; pour
the liquor into a vat, steep the silk in the solution,
and work it well therein for the space of four hours ;
take it out, rinse it, and lay it by in its wet state for
further use.
Lastly. To complete these colors, put in a kettle
ten buckets of water ; add five pounds of madder, and
work the silk well in this liquor, until it begins to boil ;
then take it out, rinse and dry it.
A REAL BROWN.
Take G ounces of annatto,
1 Ib. of potash,
3 Ibs. of alum,
5 oz. of fine galls,
* The cudbear of the English dyer,
t Tartar from red wine.
65
1-4 oz. of cream of tartar,
2 oz. of turmeric, and
10 oz. of cochineal.
Boil a kettle with ten buckets of water, powder six
ounces of annatto, and put it together with a pound of
potash into the kettle, boil for a quarter of an hour, pour
the liquor through a sieve into a tub, immerse the silk,
and work it well in the liquor for the space of two hours ;
then take it out, rinse, wring and dry it. After this, pour
eight buckets of fresh water into a kettle, add three
pounds of alum, and dissolve it therein ; then put the
solution in a vat, steep the dried yellow silk, and work
it well therein for the space of three hours, then take
it out, wring it, and lay it by wet, for further use.
This being done, prepare a kettle with eight buckets
of water, and bring it to boil ; put into it ten ounces of
cochineal, and let it boil for ten minutes ; then cool
the liquor with a bucket of water, and put into it a
quarter of a pound of cream of tartar, and two ounces
of turmeric, and stir the whole well ; then steep the
silk, previously alumed in the liquor, work it well there-
in for the space of two hours, during which it must be
kept at a continual boil. This being done, lake it out,
rinse in running water, wring, and lay it by, in its wet
state, for further use.
This being done, dye it in a keep, [dye tub,] light or
dark as your taste may be, or according to the pattern
which is laid before you.
If you do not wish to make use of the keep, or, as is
often the case in small dying establishments, should
you not possess one, you may apply the indigo color-
ing.
You may likev;ise color it in the liquor of logwood,
which will render it equally handsome, but not of so
lasting a color.
A MEAL CRIMSON, in another way.
Take 2 1-2 Ibs. of Roman alum,
2 Ibs. of fine galls,
1 Ib. 4 oz. of cochineal,
1-4 Ib. of argol, and
8 oz. of spirits ammonia.
Take a kettle with eight buckets of water, put into
it two pounds of fine galls, and let it boil for a quarter
of an hour ; run the liquor through a seive into a pail ;
steep the silk in the liquor, and work it well therein
for the space of four hours, then take it out, rinse,
wring and dry it.
After this, take a kettle with eight buckets of water,
and dissolve in it two pounds of Roman alum ; pour ii
into a vat, steep the silk in the solution of alum, and
work it well for the space of four hours in the same
then take it out, wring it, and lay it by, in a wet state
for further use.
After this, to complete the color, take six buckets o
water, pour it into a kettle, add one pound and four
ounces of fine cochineal, a quarter of a pound of argol
and eight ounces of spirits of ammonia ; let all boi
well together for about ten minutes, then cool the II
quor with two buckets of water, work the silk well in
it for two hours ; during which time it must be kep
boiling continually ; then take it out, suspend it on thi
rods over a vat, pour the liquor from the kettle inli
it, and continue to work the silk in the liquor until i
has become cool, then take it out, rinse it and dry it in
the shade. By following the above directions, you wil
obtain a very handsome crimson.
To turn this expensive cochineal liquor to all possible
advantage, (for it will still have retained some goo "
coloring matter,) pour the above used alum liquor int
it, and heat it again ; which will enable you to colo
many lighter shades, from the rich peach blossom
down to the lightest lilac color. Having used it fo
this purpose, you may take more or less of silk of a yel
ow ground, and color it m it, which will receive a red-
lish yellow from it.
A HANDSOME RED.
Take 8- oz. of annatto,.
1 1-2 Ibs. of potash,
2 1-2 Ibs. of alum,
6 Ibs. of Brazil wood,
5 buckets of sharp vinegar, and
G oz. of composition, composed of the fol-
lowing materials : 1 Ib. of spirits of ni-
tre, 2 oz. of sal ammonia, 6 oz. of
grain tin. The tin and ammonia, are
to be put into a sand stone pot of suffi-
cient capacity ; upon these pour about
12 oz. of water, then add the spirits of
nitre and let the solution take place.
Take for this purpose a kettle with eight buckets of
water, and let it boil.
While this is doing, powder eight ounces of annatto
as fine as possible ; then put it together with one pound
md a half of potash, into the above heated water ; let
he whole boil well for a quarter of an hour} and pour
he liquor through a seive into a pail. SJefip the silk in
his potash and annatto liquor, and work it well for two
lours in the same ; after which take it out, rinse it,
wring and dry it.
Then dissolve one pound and a half of alum in a ket-
tle with eight buckets of water ; pour this solution into
a pail, fix your silk upon rods, and work it well there-
n for two hours; then take it out, wring, and dry it.
When the silk is completely dry, steep the eilk in
warm water, until it has become properly soaked -t then
take it out, wring it, and lay it by for further use.
This being done, pour into a vat five buckets of sharp
vinegar, and six pounds of Brazil wood, and let it stand
for the space of forty-eight hours 5 then take the liquor
out of the vat and pour it into a kettle ; let it boil for
the space of ten minutes ;. then take it out, pour it
through a seive into a vat,i;and through the parts re-
maining in the seive, in the kettle again ; pour three
buckets of water upon it, let it boil well for a quarter of
an hour, and pour the liquor thereof to the other Brazil
wood liquor in the vat.
This being done, pour six ounces of the composition
into this liquor of Brazil wood, and stir it well ; steep
the silk previously soaked in warm water, in the liquor,
and work it well therein for the space of two hours.
Examine at the expiration of this time, whether the li-
quor still contains any coloring matter; if so, take it
out, pour it into the kettle again, work the silk another
time therein, during which it must be kept moderately
warm ; then take it out, rinse it in running water, wring
it, and hang it up to dry. By observing the whole of
the above process, you will obtain a very handsome
red. By using eight buckets of vinegar instead of five,
the color will be considerably improved, and by dispen-
sing with the composition altogether, the color will be-
come darker.
Lastly. If you desire to have this color of a darker
fiery hue, add two pounds of Brazil wood, and one
pound composition to the above quantity, and proceed
in the same way as above directed.
To Color Silk with Quercitron, in another
manner.
A CITRON YELLOW:
Take 2 1-2 Ibs. of alum,
4 Ibs. of sugar of lead,
2 oz. of chalk, and
3 Ibs. of Quercitron.
Take a kettle with eight buckets of water, put into it
two and a half pounds of alum, and dissolve them there-
in, then take out the alum liquor, and pour it into a pail,
'66
and let It become cold, add to It a quarter of a pound of
sugar of lead, and stir it well until united with the so-
lution of alum, then put into it two ounces of chalk,
stir it well, and continue the stirring at proper intervals,
for the space of twelve hours, and sit it by to settle.
Pour off the liquor into a pail, but be careful not to dis-
turb the sediment at the bottom ; steep the silk in the
liquor, and work it well therein for the space of six
hours ; then take it out, wring and lay it by wet, for fur-
ther use.
After this, take a kettle with eight buckets of water,
put into it three pounds of Quercitron bark, and let ii
boil for the space of three quarters of an hour; pour ii
through a sieve into a vat, steep the silk which has been
saturated in the foregoing liquor, composed of alum
sugar of lead, and chalk, in the Quercitron liquor, anc
work it well for the space of an hour ; then take it out
rinse it, wring and dry it.
If you desire a higher colored citron yellow than the
above, add another pound of Quercitron to the above
quantity, and proceed in the following manner :
Saturate the silk, as above directed, in a liquor 01
alum, sugar of lead, and chalk, then take a kettle with
eight buckets of water, boil two pounds of Quercitron
therein, for the space of three quarters of an hour, and
pour the liquor through a sieve into a vat, steep the silk
and work it well therein for the space of two hours ;
after which, take it out, wring and dry it. This will
have given the silk the best of grounds for a good yel-
low color. After this, take another kettle with eight
buckets of water, put into it two more pounds of Quer-
citron bark, and boil it for the space of three quarters
of an hour ; then pour it through a sieve into a vat, and
work the previously coloured and dried silk in the same,
for the space of two hours ; then take it out, rinse it,
wring and dry it.
A HIGH COLORED AND DEEP CITRON YELLOW.
Take 1 1-2 Ibs. alum,
3 oz. of sugar of lead,
1 oz. of chalk, and
8 Ibs. of French berries,
bissolve in a kettle which contains eight buckets of
water, one and a half pounds of alum, pour the solution
into a pail, or which is better, into a cask, and let it
cool. This being done, put into it three ounces sugar
of lead, stir it well with a rake, add one and a half
ounces of freely powdered chalk, and stir the whole
well again and continue the stirring, every hour, for
twelve hours. But^ after the last stirring, the rake must
be taken out of it, to prevent the sediment from being
disturbed, and then let it stand twelve hours. At the
expiration of this time, draw off the liquor ; but be care-
ful not to disturb the sediment, which would otherwise
create stains that are difficult to remove ; pour the li-
quor, thus drawn off, into a vat, work the silk well in it
for the space of four hours, after which, take it out,
wring and dry it. This being done, moisten it with
warm water, rinse it in running water, wring it and lay
it by wet, for further use ; then take a kettle with eight
buckets of water, and at the same time, bruise eight
pounds of French berries in a mortar ; put them into
the kettle, and let them boil for half an hour : then take
out the liquor, and run it through a sieve into a vat.
This being done, steep the silk in the liquor, and work it
well therein for half an hour; take it out, wring and
dry it ; which produces a handsome citron yellow.
With the above used alum solution and French berry-
liquor, you may without any other addition, colour a
brighter citron yellow. The same solution may likewise
be applied with turmeric or weld, in dying.
A KAHKEEJ.
Take 2 Ibs. of fine galls,
1 1-2 oz. of annatto,
4 oz. of potash, and
1-2 Ib. of soap.
Put one pound of finely powdered galls in a kettle of
eight buckets of water, and boil it about ten minutes,
then take out the liquor, and run it through a sieve into
a pail. While thus employed, let half a pound of soap be
dissolved in a bucket of warm water, and pour the so-
lution into the liquor of the galls. Then put into a
crock with water, one ounce of annatto, and four ounces
of potash ; boil it for half an hour, add the one half of
it to the liquor of the galls in the pail, and stir the whole
well. This being done, steep the silk in the liquor, and
work it well therein for a quarter of an hour. Exam-
ine the silk, and should it not have the necessary redness,
add as much of the annatto liquor to it as you may deem
necessary to give the colour the desired tint. Then put
the silk in again, and work it well for a quarter of an
hour ; take it out, rinse and dry it.
The Nankeen coloured silk must not remain long with-
out being rinsed, as this would create stains in it.
A HANDSOME TURKISH BLUE.
Take 1 1-4 Ib. alum,
2 1-2 oz. of cochineal,
3-4 of an ounce of indigo,
3 oz. of oil of vitriol, and
1-2 Ib. of composition.
The silk, after being boiled in soap and water, must
be rinsed in running water, and then wrung and well
beaten. This being done, it must be colored to a hand-
some light blue, in a cold or warm keep; then rinse it
in running water, wring and dry it.
As soon as the silk has become properly dry, it must
be moistened in warm water, wrung and laid by wet,
for further use.
After this is done, prepare a kettle with eight buckets
of water, dissolve in it one and a quarter pounds of
alum, pour the solution into a vat, steep the silk in it an«l
work it well therein for the space of an hour, then take
it out, wring it, and lay it aside, in its wet state, for fur-
ther use.
Lastly : take a kettle with eight buckets of water, boil
it and put into it two and a half ounces of cochineal :
let it boil for about ten minutes ; cool the liquor, with a
bucket of water, and add half a pound of the solution
of tin, and three quarters of an ounce of indigo, which
has been previously dissolved in three ounces of oil of
vitriol, and stir the whole well. This being done, im-
merse the silk coloured blue in the cochineal liquor,
work it well therein, until the liquor begins to boil,
let it boil another hour, during which time the silk must,
however, be continually worked, it must then be taken
out, rinsed, wrung, and dried.
If you desire this Turkish blue to incline more to a
red, take more of the cochineal : if the contrary, take
less.
A HANDSOME GREEN.
Take 2 Ibs. of alum, and
4 Ibs. of Quercitron bark.
Take for this purpose, a kettle with eight buckets of
water, and dissolve in it two pounds of alum ; then pour
it into a tub, and set it by until it is wanted.
While you are engaged in preparing the above solu-
tion, the silk must be colored in a cold keep to a hand-
some light blue, and after being rinsed in a stream,
wring and steep it in the "Above-mentioned alum liquor;
work it well therein*for two hours, then take it out,
wring it and lay it by wet for further use.
Lastly, put four pounds of Quercitron bark into a ket-
INDEX.
ASPINWALL, NATHAN, and MS services, is, ie.
ATTENDANTS, necessary fora million of worms, 41 ; do for an
•kcre. 35.
AUTHORITIES consulted, 3.
B
IK5UNTIES, 13, 16, 17, 18.
BRANDF.GEE, Mrs. 18.
IWCHANAN, WILLIAM B, 3, 16.
UU DOING, 28.
C
CABINS, or hedges for the worms to spin on, 46, 50.
CALCULATIONS of profit, &c. 18, 19, 31, 32, 33, 34,35, 36, 37.
CHRYSALIS?, how to kill, 52.
•CLEANLINESS, essential, 45.
CLKANING and ungtimming, 61.
CLIMATE and soil, 1C, 24, 25, 31.
COCOONERIES, 18, 19, 38, 39, 40, 41.
COCOON'S— quantity in a pound of silk, 37 •
number in do. do. 37 ;
do. in do. cocoons, 37;
yield of, 34 ;
how to form hedges or cabins for, 46, 50
quantities of, 51 ;
how to judge, 51 ;
how to gather, 51 ;
selection of, for eggs, 52 ;
proportion of to eggs, 52 ;
how to kill the chrysalis in the, 46, 52.
COMPANIES formed, 17, 18, 19 ;
CONNECTICUT and the culture, 10;
great value of the manufactures in, 17 ;
factories in, 17 ;
societies in, 17 ;
legislative encouragement of the silk culture, 17.
CULTIVATION of the mulberry, 20, 28, 30.
CUTTINGS— how to multiply by, 29 ; new method of propagating
by, 70
D
DANDOLO'S laboratory, 38.
DELAWARE, 16.
DICKINSON, Grace, 15.
DUSTANCES-table of, 37.
DISEASES and cures of the worms, 53, 54.
DISBANDING of the silk from the reel, 61.
DYING SILK-the whole process of, 62, to 68.
E
EGGS— number in certain quantities of cocoons, 37:
number laid by a female moth, 37 ;
mode of hatching, 42 ;
- cocoons for, 52 ;
preservation of, 52 ;
proportion of cocoons to, 52.
F.NEMJES of silk worms, 45 , 53
ENGLAND — her endeavors to introduce the culture into America,
12, 16.
EVANS, Dr. Cadwallader, 15.
FACTORIES, 17.
FEIJDING— care to be observed in, 49.
FISHER, Grace, 15.
FLAX, Sirs. 16.
FRANKLIN, Dr. 15.
FOLIAGE— time of gathering, 31;
yield of, 31, 32, 33, 34;
supply of, 38 ;
quantity required, 32, 34, 37, 47.
FOOD for worms — early supply of, 22, 29 ;
to be kept dry, 38 ;
when leaves may be gathered for, 31,38
quantity of, on an acre, 34;
apportionment of, 47.
FUMIGATION, 53.
G
GEE, Joshua, extracts from, 13, 14.
GENERAL RULES and observations, 47, 49.
GEORGIA and the culture 15 10
GRAFTING, 23.
H
HATCHING the eggs, 42 ; time for, 42.
HEDGES, how planted, &c. 27, 28; distance of, 27,28; divis-
ion, 29.
HEDGES or cabins for the worms to spin on, 46, 50.
HISTORY of Silk— sketch of the, 9; introduction of the culture
into China, 10 ; do. into Greece, 10 ; do. into Rome, 10 , do! a-
mong the Persians, 11 ; do. into Europe, 11 ; do. into England,
11 ; interesting incidents connected with the Lombes, 12; in-
troduction of the culture into America, 12 ; do. into South Ca-
rolina. 13.
HORRY, Mrs , 15.
HURDLES, or frames, 39, 40, 41,
I
ILLINOIS and the culture, 19.
INDIANA and the culture 19.
INTRODUCTORY remarks, 9.
JAMES I. and the silk culture, 12, 13.
K
KENTUCKY and the culture.
LABORATORIES, 18, 19, 38. 39, 40, 41.
LABORERS, expense and number of, 35, 41
LEA VES— when they may be fed, 31, 38 ;
early supply of, 29;
calculations concerning the supply of, 32, 34, 38;
quantity consumed by given numbers of worms, 33.
34 37;
mode of gathering, 37 ;
yield of, 31, 32, 33, 34;
mode of picking, preparing, &c. 49.
LAYERING, 29.
LIVE FENCES, 29.
LOMBES, the Messrs., 12.
M
MACAULEY, Catharine. 15.
MACHINERY, 15,60.
MAINE and the culture, 19.
MANUFACTURES, &c. 15, 16, 17.
MARYLAND and the culture, 14, 16.
MAUKETS for selling raw silk, 61.
MASSACHUSETTS and the silk culture, 18 -
legislative bounty, 18 ;
great product of 4 acres in, 18.
MODES of MULTIPLYING, 28, 29, 30, 68, 69.
MULBERRY CULTURE, varieties of, &c.— moral and political
effect of, 20, 68 ;
adaptation of certain states for, 14, 69 :
proBts of, 18, 19. 31, 33, 34, 35, 36,37;
me hoil of sowing seed) 26 ;
theMoRUS NIORA, 21 ;
the MORUS ALBA, its culture, fitness to the climate.
&e. 21,25, 26, 69 ; varieties of, 26 ;
tlie MORUS MULTICACLIS, its value, adaptation, har-
diness, £c. 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 41, 69 ; G B. Smith's
opinion of, 69 : his mode of managing cut-
tings, 70 :
distance of planting, 28.
MULBERRY ORCHARDS-roots to be cultivated In, 31.
R
NEW HAMPSHIRE and the culture, 19.
NEW JEHSEY and the culture, 15.
NEW YORK and the culture, 19.
N ORRIS, Mrs. Keziah, 16.
NORTH CAROLINA and the culture, 16, 21.
O
OHIO and the culture, 19.
OKCHAHDS planted, 18.
PENNSYLVANIA and tha culture, 14, 15, 16.
FHILADELPHIA and the culture, 15.
PLATE representing the worms in their different ages, 6 : explana-
tion, 7.
PLANTS, number at certain distances on an acre, 32, 34, 37.
PREFACE, nnd authorities consulted, 3.
PREMIUMS granted in America, 13,16, 17, 18.
PRODUCT and profit of the Mulberry culture, 18, 19. 31, 33, 34
35, 36, 37.
PRUNING, time of, 28: method of, 30.
PURE AIR necessary, 45.
R
RAPP, Mr. and the silk culture, 16.
REARING and treatment of the worms, 42, 43, 44,45,46,47,48,49,
REELS, reeling, <S-c. Gay's, 15, 60.
REELING— simplification of, 15 : process of, 55, 56, 57 ; machinery
frr, 60.
RIPKA, Joseph. 10.
RHODE ISLAND and the culture, 19.
ROOM essential to the worms, 49.
SEEDLINGS— opinions of, 30.
6EKD— mode of saving, 26 : mode of testing, 2G : directions for
Fowinu, 26 : time of sowing, 26, 30 : supplies of, 30.
SEWING SILK— mode of making, 15, 50 : do. of twist, 59.
BILK, mode of cleansing and ungumming. 61 : boiling 62 . sulphur-
ing 62 : aluming 62 : mode of reeling, <S-c. 55 : mode of dying, 02
to 68 : preparation of waste, 59 : do. of waste white, 59 : how
to organzine, 59 : markets for, 61 : method of spinning inferior
qualities of, 59.
61LK CULTURE, its profits, magnitude, &c. 17,18,19,31,33,34,
35, 36, 37: Judge Spencer on the, 17, 69.
81T,K COMPANIES, 17,18,19: do. manufactures, 16,17: great
value of, in Connecticut, 17 ; quantity raised on an acre, 33, 34
35
SILK WORMS— definition of the name of the, 10: early history
and introduction into Europe and America, 10, 13: adaptation
of certain states for the culture of, 14 : method of feeding the,
42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47. 48 : enemies of, 53 : diseases of, 53, 54 : va-
fietiesof, 54.
I SMITH, Gideon B. 3,16,42,09 ; his plan of a laboratory, 41 : his plan
of feeding the worms, &c. 44: his view»of the Morus Multicau-
lis, 28, 69.
SPENCER, Judge— opinions of the Bilk culture, 17: Interesting ex-
tract of a letter from, 69.
SOIL and situation, 24, 25, 31.
SOLUTION for soaking seed, 27.
SOUTH CAROLINA and the culture, 14, 16.
SPECIMENS of American silk, 17.
STATES adapted to the culture, 13, 14, 15, 16.
STANDARD TREES— management of, 27, 31 : distance apart, 28r
32,33
SUCKERING— method of, 29.
SUPERIORITY of American silk, 15.
TABLES, sbcwins the profits of the culture, 33, 36 : do. of distan-
ces of plants, 37 : do. of measures, 37.
TEMPERATURE, 42, 43.
TOMPKINS, J. Y., 16.
TREES, number on an acre, 34, 37.
TURKISH mode of managing the worms, 47.
VALUE of the silk culture in Connecticut, 17.
VARIETIES of silk worms, 54.
VERMONT and the culture, 19.
VIRGINIA— introduction of the culture of Bilk into, 12 : prop-ess
therein, 13 : premiums by the assembly, 13 : interesting anec-
dotes concerning, 13 . Gee's opinions of, 14 : adaptation to the
culture, 16.
w
WASTE silk, 59.
WHITMARSH, Mr., his plan of a cocoonery, 41.
WORMS — number which can be ftd.on an acre, 34: plate repre-
senting the different ages of, 6 : quantity of leat cs consumed by
certain numbers, 32, 37 : mode of hatching and rearing the, 42 :
do. feeding, 42 to 49 : rising of the, 46, 50 : various stages and
appearances of, 50 : enemies of, 53 : diseases of the worms, 53,
54 ; mode of feeding detailed, 47 : mode of feeding in the east-
ern states, 43, 47 ; do. in Turkey, 47.
WRIGHT, Susannah, 15.
ERRATA.— In the 7th line of the first column of the Historical Sketch, insert "as" instead of "w/ucft," so as
to read "as were accessible to him."
In the 37th page, last line of the second column, after the word cocoons read "2,400," instead of "24,000."
Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1835.
BY EDWARD P. ROBERTS,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Maryland.
This book is due on the last date stamped below, or
on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.
\^* *
j"
rjtwi
JUN 1719690 a
nECEueo
JUH 2f69^^w
LOAN OS^T>
M508324
-
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11