the business, their sales have been so rapid, that few if any of them, have more of through-bred animals on hand, than are necessary for their own immediate purposes. That the business has been a source of considerable profit to them, and will continue to be so, cannot be doubted; but they have not received more than a just reward for their enterprise, and the care and attention they have given to the important subject of improving our breeds of cattle. It is a matter in which every farmer, and posterity, are deeply interested. As a mine of the richest ore is more valuble than one which contains nothing but the meanest metals, so is an agricultural country, stocked with the finest breeds of domestic animals, wealthy above that which possesses none but the unimproved scrub races.

The cow above stated, purchased by Mr. Allen, is one of superior form and size; the calf, we have also been told by good judges of stock, has rarely, if ever, been exceeded in appearance by one of his age.

ON THE PROPAGATION OF SILK-WORMS.

To the Editor of the Farmers' Register.

"The moths which come out the first day are called grass-moths. The last of all, are called mo-gno, (that is to say: the last butterflies.) Neither of them ought to be kept. Only those which come out after the second day should be taken. The sheets of paper must be spread upon the cases of a shelf, then the males and females come close together and copulate. When the evening comes, the male butterflies must be taken away, and the females placed on sheets of paper, leaving an equal distance between them. The eggs which are found in lumps ought to be thrown out."-(Chinese_Treatise on the culture of silk, published by P. Force.)

"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 two soon, and before they have discharged a viseid humor, of a yellow reddish color, which prevents their fecundity. They discharge this humor in one hour after they come out of the cocoons."-(Essays on American silk, by J. D. Homergue.)

I have practiced the method described by the Chinese writer, five times, and have uniformly had the eggs well fecundated. The eggs may fail to become fecundated, not only for the viscid humor mentioned above, but also by delaying the

I have read with pleasure and profit, the essays of Mr. Gideon B. Smith, on the culture of silk, recently published in the Farmers' Register. But there is an objectionable passage in No. 2 which I hope Mr. Smith will consent to alter or sup-union until the eggs are formed, and the females press, when the essays shall be published in pamphlet form.

are ready to deposit them. Copulation may take place after this, but it will avail nothing. The The language used about the writers of a po- moths usually come out of the cocoons between lite, hospitable and scientific people is uncourteous, sun-rise and 10 A. M. Those which copulate and the theory maintained erroneous, and calcu-about that time, should be spread out in pairs, lated to do harm. I should not use such posi- where they cannot be disturbed by males seeking tive language, if I had not investigated the sub-union with the female, until 4 P. M. The males ject with unusual care. must then be taken away, and the females left quietly to deposit their eggs.

The energy of the males is far from being ex

I will now contrast the passage from Mr. Smith's essay with quotations from the Chinese and French writers and the result of my own ex-hausted when the females are satisfied, and if not perience since the spring of 1836.

Mr. S. says "the recommendation of the French to separate the moths after they have been coupled six hours, is perfect nonsense, and ia one of the ridiculous refinements that refined people have tried to apply to the silk-culture, without the shadow of utility to recommend them, and only remarkable for the great additional labour and perplexity with which they encumber the business. Like all the other fooleries of the French, I tried this, and got for my pains no other result, than a loss of about one-third of my eggs, which were not fecundated, as might have been expected. Let the moths remain together until they separate of themselves, and all your eggs will be good."

Nothing it seems to me, short of infallible certainty can justify the spirit and turn of this quotation; and to arrive at such certainty it is obvious that more than one or even two experiments are requisite. The subject is too important to be despaiched in this hasty and peremptory style. It will appear from one of the following quotations, that Mr. S.'s failure to get good eggs may be accounted for without pronouncing a practice sanctioned by the combined experience of France, Italy and China, to be "perfect nonsence" and a a ridiculous foolery.

taken away, such is their anxiety for re-union,
that the females will be harassed, and confusion
and disorder will be the consequence. Such at
least, has been my experience; let others exa-
mine the subject carefully, and report the result
of their observations.
Your ob't servant,

LAYTON Y. ATKINS.
Stafford County, Va., Dec. 31st, 1838.

Marl was first applied, as a manure, in Roxburgh, by Lord Minto, as a proprietor, and by Mr. Dawson, as a farmer, about the year 1753; the former using his own shell-marl, which was not then to be had for sale, and the latter claymarl; the former at the rate of 30 carts, the latter at the rate of 330 carts per acre. So soon as roads of communication were opened, lime immediately superseded the use of clay-marl (of which such enormous quantities needed to be applied;) though the county yields no lime, and the distance to it extends from 16 to 30 miles. Since the year 1772,

shell-marl has been exposed to public sale; and since it was thus procurable by farmers at large, its application is becoming more general. From 20 to 25 carts, such as already specified, are given to the acre, of this shell-marl, in a dry state: it loses, in drying, a fifth of its bulk wet from the pit. The effects of marl are observed to be not immediate, but lasting: crops from marl are a fortnight later in ripening than those from lime, and the grain of less weight by one-tenth, in equal measure.

Lime is rather preferred even to shell-marl, its quicker operation suiting better with the short tenure of a tenant's possession. It is applied at the rate of six carts to the acre, in hight soils; and of eight, ten, or sometimes sixteen, in clay soils.

From the Magazine of Horticulture.
THE ROHAN POTATO.

This celebrated potato will be very extensively cultivated the coming season. It is one of the most extraordinary varieties for productiveness ever known; nor are its eating qualities inferior. Though not held up to be equal to the forty-fold, the Mercers, and other well known kinds for the table, they are, nevertheless, equal, if not superior, to many of the potatoes which are to be found in our markets. For stock there is probably no crop that can be raised more productive. Twelve hundred busbe's to the acre can probably be grown, if the statements of Judge Buel and others can be relied on, who have raised them. During the past dry summer, side by side with other kinds of potatoes, the produce was as ten to one. The severe draught affected the crop in a great degree, yet the produce was immense. St. Helena potatoes, a variety in considerable esteem, did not produce a crop that would pay the expense of digging, in the same ground where the Rohan afforded thirteen pounds to one planted. In our notices of vegetables, which will appear in our next number, we shall add some additional facts, relative to their growth, produce, and importance to the farmer.

From Loudon's Gardeners' Magazine.
CROSS FECUNDATION OF PLANTS.

cumstance of some of the Bengal hybrid roses having been destroyed altogether by last winter's frost, while others have been only partially injured; and hence, also, we discover the reason why the progeny of Rhododendron catawbiénse, Rhod. máximum, R. caucásicum,&c., fecundated by Rhododéndron arboreum, have stood the last winter, scarcely, if at all, injured; while the progeny of R. pónticum, fecundated by R. arboreum, has invariably been killed down to the ground, or totally destroyed. While the loss of some hybrid arbutuses is to be accounted for on this principle, the mode of producing, by cross fecundation, a number of others which shall be nearly as hardy as the common species, is clearly pointed out. In short, the confirmation of the general principle, that, in cross fecundation, the constitution of the female parent prevails in the progeny, is, we think, the most important gardening feature that has transpired during the past year.

It has long been known, that, among plants raised from seed, whether the parent has been cross fecundated, or otherwise, there is frequently considerable constitutional difference in the progeny; some being hardier than others, and some being earlier or later than the average of the species, of coming into leaf or flower. These differences in seedlings may be seen on an extensive scale, in every hawthorn hedge and oak wood; and, in a more limited way, they are exhibited in seedlings of different sorts of evergreens, such as the arbutus, Quercus Flex, Portugal laurel, Magnolia grandiflòra, &c. The causes of this difference never have, and, probably, never will be, discovered; but, nevertheless, any facts which bear on the subject are worthy of record. Thus, it has been found that the severe frost of last winter produced a much more injurious effect on the narrow-leaved varieties of Rhododendron ponticum, such as R. p. salicifolium than on the varieties with broad leaves. The same remark applies to the narrow-leaved varieties of Magnolia grandiflora, M. g. lanceolata having had the foliage more injured than any other variety.

It is worthy of remark, that all deciduous trees and shrubs of the colder parts of North America, that had ripened their wood, have escaped wholly unhurt; while some natives of Siberia, such as Lonicera tatarica, though, when in a dormant state, they are capable of resisting the most severe cold of the British winter, were, from being in a growing state when the severe frost The effect of the preceding winter on hybrid suddenly took place, severely injured. Even the plants has led to some interesting results respect-evergreen magnolia of North America, M. graning cross fecundation. It is known to scientific diflora, in places where it was exposed as a stangardeners, that, in the case of hybrids generally, dard tree, in the free air of the climate of London, the progeny takes the constitution of the female only had its leaves injured, and that, in most parent, while its characteristic features are those of places, but partially; the buds having broken out the male. Hence, it might have been foreseen, that in the course of the summer, in every case that a cross between Rosa semperflorens and the Ayr- we have seen or heard of. On dry gravelly soil, shyre rose, the latter being the female parent, in Hertfordshire, such as at Totteridge and Cheswould produce a much hardier progeny, than if the hunt, even the leaves of standard evergreen magcrossing had been reversed. It might also have been nolias have escaped without the slightest injury; anticipated, that a cross between the tree rhododen- thus placing the hardiness of this fine tree beyond drons of Nepal and the Rhododendron pónticum of all doubt. Most of the beautiful species of Mathe temperate parts of Asia, the latter species be- honia (evergreen berberries), from California, ing the female parent, would produce a much more have also stood the winter, without their beautiful tender progeny, than a cross between the Asiatic foliage having sustained the least injury. Garrya tree rhododendrons and those of North America, elliptica, an evergreen from California, proves to the latter being the female parent. Hence, we are be of the same degree of hardiness as the comable to account for the apparently anomalous cir-mon laurustinus. Aúcuba japonica, like many

and beauty, and limits the use of the finer yarns, which are chiefly used for these articles. As an instance of this, we may state, that one of our customers informs us, he frequently pays from 9d. to 1s. per yard, upon his finest muslins, for picking out the nitters, one by one with a needle, after the goods were woven-an expense which is equal to from 10s. a 30s. upon each pound weight of muslin. Our experience has proved that the softer and more silky the staple, the more easily it is nittered; and, as the spinners possess no means by which nitters can be removed from the cotton when once formed, the only means of remedying the evil, is to prevent their formation.

To this point, therefore, the attention of the grower should be strongly directed. All unnecessary handling, whipping, tossing, or shaking of the cotton, ought to be avoided. It should be as well cleaned as possible, but yet free from stringiness, and the fibres be left in the loose and disentangled state they appear in when just separated from the seed. If this were attended to, it would materially improve the appearance of fine yarn, and remove the never ceasing complaints of the fine muslin manufacturers, and we are persuaded, tend to increase the consumption of fine cotton goods.

Any reform you can bring about in this matter will be a benefit to trade, and oblige, Yours, &c.

The committee, to whom was referred the letter of a respectable house in Manchester, England, engaged in the manufacture of fine sea-island cotton, respectfully report, that the matter to which their notice has been directed, is one of deep importance to the grower of that valuable staple production. If, in consequence of his neglect, or want of skill, a pound of muslin, which would otherwise command its full price, is depreciated from 10 to 30 shillings, duly and interest obviously impel him to the providing of a remedy at once prompt and efficient.

that preparation, except perhaps in the isolated instance hereafter to be noticed, is not the cause of the nitter. In confirmation of the opinion, putting aside the conclusive facts adduced, the different processes through which the cotton passes, whilst in the hands of the planter, need only to be briefly adverted to. After the stained is separated from the white, the latter is thrown, in small parcels, into a whipper, in order to extract the dirt and to throw off the short and weak fibres, which, if allowed to remain, would detract very materially from the value of the crop. This machine, constructed of wood with round wooden teeth, is turned by the hand. Unless the door of the whipper be closed, which is never done, the egress of the cotton is quickly effected. After this operation, the cotton is ginned and then taken to the moting house, where, on a frame of wood work, it is gently shaken and partially opened by the hand. When clean, it is received by the packer, who, with a wooden instrument, compresses it into a bag, weighing, when finished, from 300 to 400 pounds. In these various, but necessary, modes of treatment, in not one of which any violence is used, the committee feel persuaded, that the staple sustains no injury whatever. It is well known that every description of cotton, except the finest qualities of sea-island, before it is converted into fabrics, is subjected to numerous operations, all of which are performed by machinery. From the willow, which, by its revolving spikes, tears open the matted masses, succeeded by the scutching machine, in which the cotton is beaten by metallic blades, revolving on an axis at the speed of from 4000 to 7000 revolutions in a minute, other machines with iron fingers, teeth and wheels, follow, so that it may almost be said that, without the aid of human hands, the vegetable wool "is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, drawn, roved, spun, wound, warped, dressed and woven."

Now, although it is represented, that the superior qualities of black-seed cotton are not thus Through the politeness of Messrs. Browns and wrongly treated, yet, as they are "opened and Welsman, three samples of cotton, being speci- cleaned by being placed upon cords stretched on a mens forwarded from Manchester, were received wooden frame, and then beaten by women with from Messrs. Gourdin, Matthiessen & Co. These smooth switches," the committee are at no loss to samples are endorsed as follows:-"No. 1, illy perceive how the complaints of the manufacturers got up and nittered," "No. 2, illy got up and par- by their own act may be increased. This last mode tially open," "No. 3, well got up." In examin- of cleansing the raw material was very generally ing the "nitters" in No. 1, through a microscope pursued by the planter a few years ago. Were that magnified one thousand times, they were he now to resume that ready method of preparing discovered to be, in general, of a globular form, his crop for market, he is satisfied, that whilst his and to consist of filaments of cotton, with inter- time and labor would be saved, the fabrication of stices of various diameters, readily reducible in fine goods would be likely to incur an additional size, by pulling the long threads attached to the expense of no ordinary magnitude. By using mass. This, however, could not always be done, switches, it is nearly certain, that the weak fibres as the knot of fibres, constituting the nitter, was, are broken into minute parts and with the natuin many instances, too strongly formed. The com- rally short and rotten, intermix and become enmittee next proceeded to the examination of sam- tangled. Although, therefore, the imperfection ples of seed cotton. In about a pound, personally of staple, which is the special subject of this regathered by one of them, from fully matured port, is undeniably common to the cotton plant pods, produced from healthy plants, no nitters under peculiar circumstances, the committee inwere observed. In the same quantity, picked cline to the opinion, that that imperfection can be from diseased stalks, which bore defective fruit, several were seen. These were subjected to the test of the microscope, and precisely the appearance that characterized those taken from the ginned cotton in No. 1, was exhibited. Repeated inspections since, have produced no marked variation in the general results. The committee, therefore, with confidence, deduce the inference,

created by artificial means, and from experiments instituted by them, is engendered by the different processes through which the cotton goes in its conversion into cloth, as already particularly described. That the nitter, however, is occasionally formed through the want of foresight on the part of the planter, when his crop, from adverse seasons, or other causes, is defective in texture, is

highly probable. The filaments of unripe cotton, are transparent cylindrical tubes. When ripe, even before the capsule bursts, the tubes collapse in the middle, forming semi-tubes on each side, which give to the fibre, says Mr. Baines, in his able treatise on the cotton manufacture of Great Britain, when viewed in certain lights, the appearance of a flat ribbon, with a hem or border at each edge.* Unripe cottont is finer than that which has attained its full age, but is deficient in the other essential attributes of a perfect staple, strength and length. Some of the filaments, indeed, are not the eighth of an inch long, and un-pearance of cotton is not always, or even mainly, til several days after the opening of the capsule, are found doubled or curled, full of watery and oleagenous particles; the cotton is wet to the touch and is of a brown hue. In this state, unless dried in the sun, it becomes more or less mouldy; the superfluous oil from the seed, which ought to have escaped, is diffused through the mass; the color soon changes; heat is generated; and the staple, originally strong, is quickly perceived to be materially affected. Hence, it is not surprising, that in immature cotton, distinguished, as it is known to be, for its delicacy of texture, variableness in length, and want of pliability, when subjected to the mildest mode of treatment to free it from extraneous matter, the threads should cross and mix with each other; thus forming artificial nitters. Within a few years, the action of the sun, with a view to the desiccation of the wool, has been sedulously avoided by, perhaps, a majority of our planters. The daily gatherings are spread in houses, or under scaffolds erected for the purpose, and thus the drying process, if a few exposures in that way is worthy of this appellation, is conducted. That the practice is radically wrong, for the reasons already assigned, the committee firmly believe. Damp cotton, also, can neither be ginned nor cleaned but with difficulty: this of itself is a serious objection, to which may be added the indubitable fact that, from its too unctuous properties, the floating dust of the atmosphere tends to its discoloration.

method of preparation, unless the cotton be judiciously dried; and that the means to which the manufacturer is obliged to resort, are evidently calculated to bring about the same results.

Of these samples, Nos. 1 and 2, which are "illy got up," are lumpy and stringy, of a deep yellow tinge, and weak and uneven in fibre. The cottons, from which these are taken, it is likely, were never dried: it is still more probable, that they were the product of a scanty harvest. No. 3 is of natural color, open, and, in texture, strong and long. It is necessary here to remark, that the stringy apthe fault of the planter. It arises principally from the same cause to which the nitter is referable; the imperfectness of the staple, or the immaturity of the fruit. This was especially true the last year.

From these observations, it will appear, that

nitters are either natural or artificial, and that both are primarily to be traced to a defective staple, arising from diseased plants; that the artificial nitter may be generated even by the common

To two considerations, pertinent to the matter under review, it may be proper to advert. In every field, no matter under what sinister circumstances the crop has grown, there are small sections in which the plants come to perfection and bear healthy fruit. From these, the cotton that is picked is marked perhaps by every characteristic of the best staple, yet, almost from necessity, it is thrown into the general bulk. Again, in harvest season, the laborer cannot stop to examine, if he had the ability to know, the variant qualities of the cotton he is engaged in gathering, but promiscuously the bad, the fair and the good, are blended. This is unavoidable. Subsequently the stained is separated from the white, but the weak and strong continue together; a part only of the most deficient of the former, being afterwards detached by the whipper.

On the immediate topic of inquiry, the committee ask leave to conclude with the following suggestions:

for

three or four hours, as its dampness may seem to 1. The necessity of dying cotton in the sun,

indicate.

2. Select seed for planting, not with a view to superiority of staple, but the production of sound cotton. For that purpose, choose from healthy stalks those pods that are fully blown.

3. The first pickings should be set apart, and not mixed with the general crop. The fibre is weak and short. The same course ought to be pursued with cottons gathered after a storm or much rain.

"The twisted and cork-screw form of the fila- 4. Cotton ought to be thoroughly cleansed bement of cotton, distinguishes it from all other vegeta-fore it is carried to the gin. If it be well done, ble fibres, and is characteristic of the fully ripe and the after-labor will be trifling, and the fault of mature pod. This form and character the fibres re-over-handling avoided. Too much pressure on tain ever after, and, in that respect, undergo no change the roller gives to the cotton a matted appearance; through the operation of spinning, weaving, bleaching, printing, and dyeing, nor in all the subsequent if the pressure is unequal, it will be stringy. domestic operations of washing, &c. &c., till the stuff Before closing their report, the committee would is worn to rags, and then even the violent process of offer a few reflections, not irrelevant, they trust, reducing those rags to pulp for the purpose of making to the occasion. For many years the sea-island paper, effects no change in the structure of these crop has scarcely repaid the toil and perseverance fibres."-From the difference between the elementary incurred in its production. From highly unprofibres of cotton and flax, the latter being transparent pitious seasons, the ravages of worms, and the tubes, cylindrical, and articulated or joined like a cultivation of a plant, peculiarly delicate and uncane, it has been incontestibly proved, that the mum-fruitful, it may in verity be said, that it is annually my cloth of Egypt was linen.

By immature or unripe cotton, is meant cotton, that, from unfavorable seasons, &c. &c., is made to open prematurely. The pod, about half the size of the full grown boll, becomes black, and, as soon as it has been hardened by the atmosphere, bursts and discloses the imperfection of its fruit.

a subject of congratulation with the planter, if his necessary expenditures do not exceed his profits. Except 1826, when the exportation was about six millions of pounds, from 1833 to 1835 inclusive, the production was less, by from one to seven millions, than at any former period since 1821.*