STATISTICS OF SILK.-MULBERRY TREE.

and in 1789, two hundred pounds of raw silk were made in that town. At present, three-fourths of the families in Mansfield are engaged in raising silk, and make annually from five to ten, twenty, and fifty pounds in a family, and one or two have made, each, one hundred pounds in a season. It is believed that there are annually made in that town and the vicinity, from three to four tons of silk.

From the experiments which have already been made, ample evidence exists that the culture of silk may be profitably pursued in the United States to almost any extent, since the mulberry tree grows indigenously throughout the country and it is a fact well ascertained that American silk is decidedly superior to that of any other country on the globe. In France, twelve pounds of cocoons are required to produce one pound of raw silk, while eight pounds are amply suff. cient to produce the same quantity in this country.

Were the culture of silk only equal to our home consumption, an immediate attention to it would be a saving to the country of not less than ten millions of dollars annually, as may be seen by the following

Statement of the value of silk goods imported and exported in the years

1821 to 1825 inclusive.

Yet there cannot be a doubt that a quantity may be annually produced, which shall not only meet the home demand; but, in a few years, leave a surplus for exportation. The most important step towards this state of things is the extensive cultivation of the white mulberry tree, the leaves of which form the proper aliment of the silk-worm.

MULBERRY TREE. All practical writers agree that the proper soils for the mulberry tree are dry, sandy or stony. Indeed, a soil which is of little value to the farmer, on account of its sterility, will answer well for the mulberry tree. The methods of propagating the tree are various. A writer in the New England Farmer speaks as follows of four methods.

First, From the seed; 2d from roots; 3d from layers, and 4th from cuttings. The 1st and 4th can at present be alone generally resorted to in this country. An ounce of good, well cleaned seed, well managed, will probably produce ten or twelve thousand plants. It should be sowed towards the last of April. The ground being properly prepared, by previous ploughing, or digging, and manuring, is to be cleaned, levelled, and divided into beds of four or five feet in width. Drills from six to ten inches asunder, and from one to two inches deep, must then be made by a line. The seed may be sown in these drills dry, or having been steeped two days in water, rub it on pack thread to which

EGGS OF SILK WORMS.-HATCHING THE EGGS.

it will adhere, lay the thread in the bottom of the drill and cover it with earth. In two or three weeks, if kept moist, the young plants will appear. Keep the beds clear of weeds. On the approach of winter it may be well to cover them with leaves. If the seedlings grow the first season to the height of one foot or more, take them up in the spring following, cut the top so as to leave about three inches above ground, cut off the lower part of the root, and set them in nurseries in rows, like other fruit trees, where the following spring they may or may not be grafted, pruned and cultivated, until they become sufficiently large to set in hedges or plantations. Cuttings should be taken from perpendicular shoots, and particularly from those which terminate branches. They should be of the last summer's growth, and from 6 to 15 inches in length. Plant them in shady borders, early in the spring, about two-thirds of their length in the ground; close the earth well about them, and in dry weather let them be watered. After a year, they may be transplanted in open nursery rows, if well rooted.

Another mode of cultivating the mulberry, and one which has been to some extent adopted in New England is to sow the seed broadcast, like turnips in the spring; and in the following season to cut the plants with a scythe when wanted. The mowing is regularly prosecuted every morning, in the quantities required, and unless the season is one. of severe drouth, the field will be cut twice or thrice before the worms begin to wind up.

The advantages of this last mode are stated to be

1. The leaves are gathered with less labor and expense, being cut and taken together like hay, or grain.

2. The leaves are larger and more tender, than on the grown tree, and the worms eat with more appetite and produce more silk.

3. The time of gathering the supply is so short, that the leaves are got with the morning dew upon them, which is deemed by practical men an essential advantage. Other writers say that the leaves when given to the worms should be thorougly dry.

4. More worms can be supported from a given space of ground, and the mulberries are ready after one season, instead of waiting several years for the formation of an orchard.

The importance of the culture of silk will be our apology for giving at some length, directions for the raising of silk worms, for which we are indebted to a valuable work entitled " Essays on American Silk, &c. by John D. Homergue."

EGGS OF SILK WORMS. The eggs of silk worms so strongly resemble the seeds of the poppy, that they may easily be taken for them; and the contrary. In Europe, the latter have sometimes been sold for the former. Pure water, however, is an effectual test; good eggs sinking to the bottom, while poppy seeds and bad eggs will swim. Eggs, which have been washed, should be dried by exposure to cool and dry air. They should be kept in a cool place until the hatching season. Cold does not injure them provided that they do not freeze.

HATCHING THE EGGS. The general rule in Europe is to put the worms to hatch, as soon as the mulberry trees begin to bud. In this country, this happens usually about the 21st of May. Should the

REARING SILK WORMS.-RISING OF THE SILK WORMS.

season of budding, however, be delayed, the hatching should be proportionally deferred.

The manner of putting the eggs to hatch, according to M. D'Homergue, is as follows:-" They should be put in a pasteboard or wooden box, not covered at the top, and the sides not more than half an inch high, so that the worms, when hatched, may easily crawl out, as will be presently mentioned. The size of the box should be suited to the quantity of eggs to be hatched, so that they be not on the top of one another; but they may touch each other. The box should be covered with paper, perforated with holes of the size of a large pin's head, so that the worms, when hatched, may easily pass through them. They are usually hatched in three days, after being put into the box. When they are near coming out, young mulberry leaves should be put on the top of the box, leaving spaces. The worms as soon as hatched, will smell those leaves, crawl up to them through the holes in the paper cover, and begin feeding. Now remove such leaves as are covered with worms, gently, to the table or hurdle, which has been prepared to receive them. It should be added that a warm place should be provided for the eggs to hatch in, where the temperature is at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

REARING SILK WORMS. The worms, after being hatched as above described, are to be laid on wicker hurdles, which are to be kept quite clean. Pine tables will answer well.

During the first day, the room should be kept in the same degree of heat; but, afterwards, as the strength of the insect increases, a lower temperature is admissible. Dry air from the north and west may be let in; but all dampness should be carefully excluded.

The greatest cleanliness should be maintained. In order to clean a table, place another table close to it, on which lay fresh mulberry leaves. The worms will immediately crawl to them, leaving the first table empty. This shifting of the worms, however, should not take place, until after their first moulting. They generally moult, or shed their skin, four times. During the moulting, which lasts twenty-four hours, they lie torpid, and do not feed. They should then be left quiet.

RISING OF THE SILK WORMS. "When the silk worms are ready to make their cocoons, which in this country, generally, is on the 31st day after they have been hatched, a kind of artificial hedge, not above one foot high, must be prepared, by means of some brushwood without any leaves, which is to be fixed along the wall, behind the table on which the worms are. They crawl of themselves in this hedge, which is called rising, and there make their cocoons. This brushwood must not be fixed straight up along the wall, but should be inclined above and below, in the form of a semicircle towards the table on which it is to rest, because the worms always move in a circular direction; and also in order that, if they should fall, they may not fall upon the table or floor, but on some part of the artificial hedge, whence they may crawl up and carry on their work.

It is easy to know when the worms are ready to rise. They crawl on the leaves without eating them; they rear their heads, as if in search of something to climb on, their rings draw in, the skin of their necks

COCOONS KEPT FOR USE.

becomes wrinkled, and their body becomes like soft dough. Their color also changes to a pale yellow. When these signs appear, the table should be cleaned, and the hedge prepared to receive them.

From the moment that the cocoons begin to rise, they cease to eat; they must not be touched, nor their cocoons, until they are picked off, as will be presently mentioned."

PICKING OFF THE COCOONS. "The worms generally form their cocoons in three days after their rising; but they are not perfect until the sixth day, when they may be picked off from the hedge. In Europe this is not done until the eighth day, nor should it be done sooner in this country, if during the six days there have been violent thunder-storms, by which the labors of the moth are generally interrupted. The cocoons must be taken down gently, and great care taken not to press hard on them; because, if in the least flattened, they fall into the class of imperfect cocoons, and are greatly lessened in value.

In picking the cocoons from the hedge, the floss or tow with which they are covered must be delicately taken off, always taking care not to press too hard on the cocoons.

After the cocoons are thus taken down, some are preserved for eggs and others kept for sale."

COCOONS KEPT FOR USE. "In order that the farmer may judge of the quantity of cocoons that it will be proper or advisable for him to put aside and preserve for eggs, it is right that he should be told that fourteen ounces of cocoons will produce one ounce of eggs, and one ounce of eggs will produce a quintal of cocoons.

In selecting the cocoons to be kept for eggs, it is recommended to select the white ones in preference, and keep the colored ones for sale; attention should be paid to having an equal number of males and females, and they are generally known by the following signs: the male cocoons, that is to say those which contain the male insects, are in general smaller than the female, they are somewhat depressed in the middle, as it were with a ring; they are sharp at one end and sometimes at both, and hard at both ends; the female cocoons, on the contrary, are larger than the male, round and full, little or not at all depressed in the middle, and not pointed at either end. They may easily be discerned by a little habit.

It is particularly recommended to take off all the floss or tow from these cocoons, so that the moth may find no difficulty in coming out.

After the cocoons have been taken down from the hedge, those which are intended for eggs should be laid, but not crowded, on tables, that is to say, the males on one table and the females on another, that they may not copulate too soon, and before they have discharged a viscid humor, of a yellow reddish color, which prevents their fecundity. They discharge this humor in one hour after coming out of the cocoons, which is generally ten days after these have been taken down from the hedge; but this may be accelerated by heat.

At the expiration of one hour after the moths have come out of their cocoons, the males and females may be put together on tables or on the floor; the tables or floor ought to be previously covered with linen or

COCOONS INTENDED FOR SALE.

cloth, on which, after copulation, the females lay their eggs. One female moth or butterfly generally lays 500 eggs; the male and female remain about six hours together, during which time they copulate; after which they separate, and the female is 48 or 50 hours laying eggs; but the greatest quantity during the first 40 hours.

From the moment the moths have come out of their cocoons until the females have laid all their eggs, the room must be kept entirely dark; the light debilitates them and makes them produce but few eggs, and the worms that come from them are weak and puny.

When the female moths have done laying eggs, all the insects must be taken away, and may be given as food to the fowls. The eggs must remain on the cloth where they have been deposited during fifteen or twenty days, until they shall have become of an ash or slate color, when they are perfectly ripe, and may be considered as good eggs. Then the cloth or linen must be folded, and kept in a cool and dry place, until it shall be thought proper to take off the eggs, which is done by putting the cloth into pure water, and when thoroughly wetted, scraping gently the eggs from the cloth, taking care not to injure them. When thus scraped into the water, all the good eggs will go to the bottom, and the bad, if any, will swim at the top.

The eggs being thus washed, must be dried in the open air, and when perfectly dry, the best mode to preserve them is to put them into hollow reeds, or canes, perfectly dry, and closed at the two extremities with a thin piece of flaxen or cotton linen well fastened. It is also the best means to transport them from one place to another."

COCOONS INTENDED FOR SALE. "In order to prevent the cocoons from being perforated by the moths escaping from them, which greatly lessens their value, it is necessary to kill the moths. This is generally done by baking in an oven or by steam, but the best mode, which is peculiarly well adapted to warm climates, is to lay the cocoons on linen or cotton sheets, but not too close, or one upon another, and to expose them thus to the heat of the sun in open air, when it is perfectly dry, during four days, from 11 A. M. to 4 P. M. taking great care in handling them not to crush or flatten them, which is of the highest importance. In that time there is no doubt that the moths will be killed.

The processes of steaming and baking are not always safe, because they may be overdone and the silk greatly injured. Yet if the weather should prove obstinately damp or rainy, those processes must be recurred to, but not in dry sunshiny weather, when they can be avoided.

The last thing to be spoken of is the packing of the cocoons to send to market. They must be put in boxes with great care, not pressed too close, lest they should be flattened, and close enough that they should not suffer in like manner by striking hard upon each other in consequence of the motion of carriages or stages. The boxes being dry and well conditioned may be transported by steam-boats; if transported by sea, they should not remain longer than fifteen days on salt water, lest they should become mouldy. On river water, and particularly by steam boats, there is not the same danger. The boxes in every case should be covered with a tarpaulin or good oiled cloth, that they may in no case suffer from dampness or rain.