ment of duties on importation into London. A bounty was also offered for the production of silk, and a man named Ortolengi, from Italy, was employed to instruct the colonists in the Italian mode of management. A few years before the Revolution, considerable quantities of raw material began to be raised, which was said to be equal in some cases to the best Piedmont silk, and worked with less waste than the Chinese article.

In Carolina, the culture was undertaken by the small farmers. In 1766, the House of Assembly of this province voted the sum of £1,000 towards the establishment of a silk filature at Charleston, under the direction of Mr. Gilbert.

In Connecticut, attention was first directed to the rearing of silkworms in 1760. Dr. Aspinwall, of Mansfield, from motives of patriotism, used his best exertions to introduce this important branch of rural economy. He succeeded in forming extensive nurseries of the mulberry at New Haven, Long Island, Pennsylvania, and other places. Half an ounce of mulberry seeds was sent to each parish in the colony, with such directions as his knowledge of the business enabled him to impart. In 1783, the legislature of Connecticut passed an act granting a bounty on mulberry trees and raw silk. It may be here stated, to the honor of Connecticut, that she is the only State in the Union which has continued the business without suspension, and probably has produced more silk, from the time of her commencement up to the year 1830, than all the other States.

In the year 1769, on the recommendation of Dr. Franklin, through the American Philosophical Society, a filature of raw silk was established in Philadelphia by private subscription, and placed under the direction of an intelligent and skilful Frenchman, who, it is said, produced samples of reeled silk not inferior in quality to the best from France and Italy. In 1771, the managers purchased 2,300 pounds of cocoons-all the product of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The enterprise was interrupted by the Revolution. A similar undertaking was again attempted in Philadelphia in 1830, under the supervision of M. J. D'Homergue, and cocoons were brought in abundance to the establishment from various parts of the country, and so continued for some time afterwards; but, for want of capital, the enterprise failed. A manufacture for making bolting-cloth of Georgia silk was established at Wilmington, in Delaware, prior to 1796. In about the year 1831, the project of rearing silkworms, and establishing filatures of silk, was renewed in various parts of the Union; and the subject was deemed to be of so much importance, that it not only attracted the attention of Congress, but afterwards received encouragement from the legislatures of several States, by bounties offered for all the raw silk produced within their limits for certain periods of time. The business soon began to be prosecuted with extreme ardor, and continued for several years, resulting in the establishment of several nurseries of mulberry trees, and ending in the downfall of the famous "Morus Multicaulis speculation," in 1845.

The amount of raw silk exported from Georgia in 1750, was 118 pounds; in 1775, 138 pounds; in 1760, 558 pounds; in 1766, more than 20,000 pounds; in 1770, 290 pounds; from South Carolina, in

1772, 455 pounds. In the year 1765, there were raised on Silk Hope plantation, in South Carolina, 630 pounds of cocoons; in Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1793, 265 pounds of raw silk; in 1827, 2,430 pounds; in 1831, 10,000 pounds; in Connecticut, in 1844, 176,210 pounds; in the United States, the same year, 396,790 pounds.

According to the census returns of 1840, the amount of silk cocoons raised in the United States was 61,552 pounds; of 1850, silk and silk cocoons 10,84 pounds. From the above, it is obvious that the production of cocoons has decreased, since 1840, 46,789 pounds; an since 1844, 382,027 pounds.

FERTILIZERS.

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE

Statement of GEORGE P. FISHER, of Dover, Kent county, Delaware.

Our most approved plan of manuring is to cover as much of the cornfield, in the spring, as we can, with barn-yard manure; and then to sow guano, at the rate of 300 pounds to the acre, on the residue of the field, turning it under deep with the plough. If the corn-field is a clover sward it should be turned in the fall and well limed, and the manuring done in the spring as above, except that the spring ploughing should not be more than four inches deep. The wheat field is generally all manured with guano. Bone-dust is used only to a limited extent, in consequence of its great scarcity. Phosphate of lime was used by a few of our farmers last spring for corn, and the result was even better than that obtained from Peruvian guano. Poudrette was tried here several years ago, but totally failed. I tried one experiment, on a small scale, with two barrels; taking a piece of very poor land and manuring it for corn in the hill, with a handful of poudrette, according to the directions. Until the time for making the ear, the effect of the poudrette could be discovered as far as the corn could be seen, but it made no ear at all.

For the benefit of others who might possibly try a similar experiment, I will here give the result of one tried by myself in the year 1850. In the spring of that year, having a poor field of thirty-six acres which I wished to put up very rapidly, I sowed it with oats for turning under with the plough in July, and again in September. A part of the oat crop looked so tempting at harvest, that I cut them and turned in the residue and the stubble of that part I had cut. A very fine crop of green oats came on about the last of September. I then applied six tons of guano on the whole field, and also sowed my seed-wheat, turning it under at one ploughing, together with the guano and the green oats. I expected I should harvest some 600 or 700 bushels; but, to my great surprise and grief, as soon as the wheat came through the ground

it was attacked by myriads of little green lice-almost precisely similar to those which infest the roots of corn sometimes in the spring-and they never left it till that part where the oats had not been cut was entirely destroyed, and there was not a fourth of a crop of wheat on the stubble ground.

Statement of ANTHONY M. HIGGINS, of St. George's, New Castle county, Delaware.

In about the year 1830, lime began to be introduced, against much skepticism as to its utility. It is now universally used, and may be regarded by our farmers as the principal element in the success already attained. It is deposited by lime boats, from the Schuylkill, along the banks of the Delaware and other inlets, in vast quantities, at a cost of from 12 to 14 cents per bushel of stone or quick-lime. No farmer has occasion to haul his lime further than five or six miles from a landing.

Statement of JOHN M. LESLEY, of Danville, Vermilion county, Illinois. There is no guano, lime, nor bone-dust in use here, that I am aware of. In fact there is no manure used but muck and straw, which are spread as evenly as possible on the thin portions of the soil, where, after remaining for a while, they are ploughed under and left to rot. Wherever manure is used freely, the crops produced are in proportion to the amount applied.

Statement of MICAJAH BURNETT, of the United Society of Shakers, Pleasant Hill, Mercer county, Kentucky.

In gardening, when the earth is every year deeply ploughed and frequently stirred and exposed to the rays of the sun and action of the air, the use of well-rotted manure is indispensable to the keeping up of the fertility of the soil. And even in field crops, let the rotation be what it may, where the land is to be ploughed and worked every year, an exhaustion will take place, which can only be supplied by the application of manure; thus, in a rotation of six years, allowing three years to clover and the next three to other crops, our experience goes to establish the fact that, under this system of management, properly and judiciously carried out, the land will improve in its fertility and productiveness.

Statement of WILLIAM UPTON, Jr., of Dixmont, Penobscot county, Maine.

But little manure is used here as yet, excepting that of the domestic animals kept on the farm; though plaster, lime, and swamp muck are somewhat used. The latter is applied by many in the natural state, with apparently little benefit resulting, though it is valuable, even in that state, as a manure for potatoes in the hill; indeed, it is almost the only manure that can be safely used for that crop since the rot has prevailed.

Statement of F. C. CLOPPER, of Woodlands, Middlebrook, Montgomery county, Maryland.

The article of guano has become indispensably necessary to the production of remunerating crops of wheat and corn on our worn out fields. It is therefore of great importance to us that there should at all times be an ample supply in the market, of the best quality, and at the lowest price at which it can be afforded. Peruvian guano, which is generally preferred, as I understand, is under the sole control of the government of Peru, or her age ts, and therefore is no more nor less than an odious monopoly. Governments, like individuals, are prompted to action by motives of interest. Now, it is to the interest of us farmers to procure the article as cheap as we can; but, at the same time, it is of equal importance that it should be pure and unadulterated. In this particular, it strikes me that we are more likely to get it unadulterated under the present system, than if it were open to an indiscriminate scramble at the islands, as it is for the interest of those furnishing the article that its character should be maintained. The slightest deterioration would diminish the demand for it. Yet, at the same time, it is equally evident, that if the government price were reduced from $46 per ton to $35, they could readily dispose of double the quantity that has ever reached our shores in any one season. It is, therefore, worthy of their consideration, whether their interest would not be promoted by

such a reduction.

Pure Peruvian guano, at the present price, is cheaper to the farmers, and more desirable in this section of country, than to have an unlimited amount of barn-yard manure placed at their disposal gratuitously, provided they have to transport and apply it at one mile distant; time, labor, and expense of teams, making the difference. Not that I would discourage the use of stable or barn-yard manure, for it is invaluable as a permanent renovator; but the use of guano will furnish the means to increase the quantity, and therefore enhance the value of that article.

Statement of DAVID BRUMBAUGH, of Marsh Run Mill, Washington county,

Maryland.

The main source of manure in this county is the barn-yard, where the straw, corn-stalks, and refuse of all kinds are collected; but a very great defect is often found in the location of such yards, being on the side of a steep hill, where much of the liquid portion of the manure is entirely washed away and lost.

Guano has been used in small quantities, principally on wheat, and, I think, with good effect. It is rapidly gaining favor with the farmers on what is called "Salisbury Ridge." It has almost a magic influence, increasing the crop two-fold, if not more. Some seasons, on the best land in the county, I do not think the effect so great, as the straw is increased too much for the quantity of the grain.

I have frequently used as a fertilizer on my land what is called "pond mud," being one among the many materials which nature has provided for the use of the husbandman in the labor of permanently enriching his soil. It is found in many localities along running streams.

Statement of WILLIAM BACON, of Richmond, Berkshire county, Massachusetts.

The super-phosphate of lime is a new article among our farmers; but an establishment for its manufacture has been got up in our neighborhood the last season; and from the limited experiments made within the short time it has been in market, it promises to rank among the most effectual of fertilizers. For turnips it is highly valuable, sown on when they first come up. It is fatal to all the insect tribes, both above and below ground, which are often so injurious in their ravages on the crop, and gives a cleanly and luxuriant growth, that cannot be realized from any other manure. It is also valuable for all crops on which I have seen its application; but as the supply of it can never be equal to the wants of all, it is best to give it to those which are most benefited by it.

Lime is extremely valuable for lands which have acquired too much acidity, whether they rest on a limestone formation or not. But the extreme high price it bears, from 25 to 30 cents per bushel, forbids the use of it to any considerable extent. The refuse of the kilns is readily bought up at cheap rates, and usually applied to land in compost with swamp or pond muck, or turf from the highway, which, when thoroughly worked, is productive of great benefit as a top-dressing on grass lands, and frequently ploughed crops. The ashes from these kilns, like house ashes, are in high demand for the compost heap, or immediate application to the land, where their effects are strongly marked and long visible. They are obtained at from 8 to 10 cents a bushel.

Gypsum is used in good quantities both on grass and ploughed lands, on such soils as are found adapted to it. On any land that will produce clover or winter grain, its effects are highly beneficial, but greatest when applied with yard or compost manure. It seems desirable to have some decomposable substance to act with it, in order to realize the greatest benefit. Hence the good effect of manure in some form in connexion with it. If sown upon grass lands, it cannot be done too early in the season, provided a calm atmosphere favor the operation. Indeed, I have sown in autumn, in order to realize its effects fully the following year on meadows. On spring grain it should be sown as soon as the first leaf is plainly formed. In the experience of some farmers, if sown and harrowed in with the grain it is most beneficial. So we see that no certain rule can be adopted for its application, and that the observation and judgment of each farmer must direct for his own premises. I have found that where we have manured corn in the hill, a gill of plaster with the manure was worth a third more than when applied after the corn was up, yet the reverse of this might be the case in other experiments. I have also found that a sprinkling of plaster thrown over our manure once a month through the winter, added greatly to the value of the increase, and gave it greater action the following season.

Statement of JAMES L. MINOR, of Jefferson City, Cole county, Missouri. We have never used manures to any great extent in Missouri, except what is obtained from the barn-yard and stable. The farmers of one