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6 THE SOUTHERN WORLD, JUNE 1,1882, %ht $$ot[k §£ho$. Milk Culture aa an Industry* Hawkinsville, Oa. Editor Southern World—With pleasure I will say a few words about the rearing and management of silk worms; at the same time 1 will answer many questions asked me by the happy children of the Southern World. In Georgia’s coloni&l days, more silk than cotton was raised and annually exported by her people. As time wore on cotton be came king and silk culture was “numbered among the things that were.” Whatever may be the general opinion, as to the feasi bility'or profits of silk culture in this coun try, the desire for information with a pro pensity to engage in the pursuits as evinced by many correspondents, prove conclusively that there will be no difficulty in getting our people to turn their attention once more to silk culture. The Southern States are pre-eminently adapted to silk rearing, and will yield an abundant feed for eight or nine months in the year, if the trees are properly planted and properly cared for. American grown silk is said to be of supe rior quality to that raised in most other countries. Yet no less than twenty-three million dollars are annually paid to foreign countries for silk. Much of this might be kept at home if proper encouragement was given to silk culture in the United States. If reliable commissioners would agree to handle the silks in such quantities as might be produced by every thrifty family throughout the Union, an impetus would be given to this industry and our manufac tories would soon have sufficient raw mate rial at home and need no importation from other countries. I was badly treated by my commissioner last year, so cannot recom mend them, but I will ascertain where the best prices can be obtained for cocoons and report before ’tis time to make shipments. Now for some plain instructions—You will find the eggs adhering to a piece of stiff paper, just as they were deposited by the silk moths. Place a table or shelf in an out of the way corner of some room, and cover with newspapers. Now place your card of eggs near one end of your table and lay gently on the eggs small pieces of tender mulberry leaves. If the room is warm and well lighted they will begin to hatch in a few days. The eggs, nor the worms, should never be exposed to the direct rays of the sun, and the wind must not be allowed to blow upon them. Move all leaves that have worms on them to the far end of your table and cover with fresh leaves. Keep each day’s hatching separate and you will have but little trouble. The worms should be fed often, but feeding through the night is unnecessary. Always lay on fresh leaves the fint thing in the morning and the last tiling at night. Never feed when the dew is on the leaves, nor when the leaves are wet from rains. If the weather is bad, gather leaves and dry them in the house Never let your worms get hungry; feed tender leaves at first, but as they grow larger, tougher leaves are best for them. Every second morning, after the worms have crawled upon the fresh leaves, take out the old leaves, sweep away the litter and make things neat, for they will not thrive under neglect. As the wormsgrow, you must give them more room—add more tables to your cocoonery if necessary. . Worms hatched from the same batch of eggs will vary in color, from black to a dark gray. The time from the hutching to the spinning of cocoons will vary, from thirty to forty days, owing to the quantity of food, mode of feeding, temperature, etc. The worms go through five ages or moltings. To prepare for each molt requires several days fasting, during which time the worm attaches itself firmly to the leaves, by the abdominal forelegs and holds up the fore part of the body; when the molting is over the worm casts aside its old integuments and after a little rest becomes active and eats most ravenously. When the worms are fully grown and ready to commence spinniug, they stop eating and begin to crawl about in a restless manner, frequently raising their heads up wards. When this is observed, lay small branches full of little twigs on the table, and upon them they will climb and spin their cocoons, though many times they will spin upon the leaves. When the cocoons are finished, select as many as you may de sire to keep for seed. The remainder should be stilled, by placing them in the hot sun for a few days. In about two weeks from those which are not stifled, the silk moth will begin to emerge, and very soon you will be supplied with a new crop of eggs. These you must leave for a several days to dry, then put away in a cool, dark, dry place and keep tor next years use; or if the season is not too far advanced, you can raise another crop.' I can raise three crops in this lati tude. I give eggs to the children who enclose 4 three cent stamps to defray expenses, but sell them at $1.25 per thousand and prepay shipments to any part of the United States. Hoping I have informed your readers un- derstandingly, and wishing success to all, I remain an interested friend, Mrs. J. B. Mitchell. Industrial Notes. Bowling Green, Ky., has an ice factory. Temple, Texas, is to have a $40,000 cotton seed oil mill. McMinnville, Tenn., has a spoke and handle factory. The ice factory at Jackson, Miss., turns out 6,000 pounds of ice per day. A cotton seed oil mill will be in operation at Bailey's Mills, Florida, by October. The Norton Iron Works at Ashland, Ken tucky, turn out4,700 kegs of nails per week. A shingle machine at New Iberia, Louisi ana, is turning out 60,000 cypress shingles daily. The manufacture of electrical machines and telephones, has increased the demand for copper. An exhaustless deposit of excellent sand for glass making awaits development at Fort Pickering, Tenn. The cotton factory at High Point, North Carolina, has 3,000 spindles, making $1,200 to $1,500 per day in yams. At Marysville, East Tennessee, there is a factory which manufactures buttons of mus cle shells gathered from the various rivers. The saw-mills of Lake City, Florida, are cutting immense quantities of timber, which is shipped from Jacksonville to the markets of the world. It is proposed to form a motive power com pany in Baltimore, with a capital of $50,000 to furnish steam to small manufacturers of limited means. The machine shops of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air-Line railroad at Atlanta, em ploy 75 men and are building 25 flat cars of 32,000 pounds capacity. The oil spring, nine miles from Ashland, Ky., flows 180gallonB per day, one-tenth of which is refined petroleum. About 12 feet from it a seam of coal crops out. The Nashville American says that the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company is making a ton of iron and putting it on the cars for less money than, it costs to buy the ore to make a ton of iron at Pittsburg. A factory has just been established in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for making axe, pick, auger, machinists, house-carpenters’ and coal miners’ handles. The building will be 40 by 120 feet, and turn out 300 dozen handles a day. The Eagle and Phoenix Manufacturing Company of Ga., are preparing to build a granite-rock dam across the Chattahooclie river at their mills. When complete it will be the largest structure of the kind in the South. The entire dam is to be of granite- rock, and will be about one thousand feet long and an average of eighteen feet in height, or the same level with the one now in use. The dam will extend from one shore of the river to the other, and will be built just below the old dam. East Tennessee con tains some of the finest timber lands in the United States. Large bodies of black walnut can be found on the mountains, and the time is not far distant when this valuable timber will be brought to market, although much of it is inaccessi ble at present, it being impossible to trans port to the railroads. A man recently re ported having seen, on the line between this State and North Carolina, a cherry tree 5 feet in diameter and 70 feet to the first limb. Also an oak that measured 27 feet in circum ference. What an opening for manufac tories.—[Chattanooga Weekly Commercial. A dispatch from North Carolina Bays: "Senator Don Cameron and Wm. Mahone have decided to invest in real estate and water power at Weldon, in this State, for the purpose of erecting works for the build ing of railroad cars of every description, and for spinning cotton. It is stated that the property of the Roanoke Navigation Company, which years ago built a canal from Weldon to Gaston, is said to be sold soon, by order of the Supreme Court, to the highest bidder. It was sold a few weeks ago, and the sale was set aside and a resale ordered. It is understood that Senators Cam- roh and Mahone have decided to buy that property, and that extensive car works will be immediately put up and a large cotton factory be also erected at Weldon. The canal will be cleaned out and a dam thrown across the river at Gaston, high enough to turn the whole river into the canal. Water privileges from We.don to Gaston will be purchasable, so that the canal may be lined with mills and factories.” Wine* and Minerals. An iron ore mine has been opened near Clifton, Va., of very rich ore. A considerable deposit of specular iron ore has been discovered near Acworth, Georgia. It is strongly magnetic and free from phos phorus and suiphnr. The Mining Review publishes a list of divi dend paying mines. Among the list are Con. Gold Mining Company of Ga., 250,000 shares at $10; $2,500,000 capital Btock; divi dends paid to date $48,000. Findley Gold Mine, Georgia, 200,000 shares at $1; capital stock $200,000; dividends paid to date $450,- 000. Copper Knob Mining Company, North Carolina, 500,000 shares at $2 per share; cap ital stock $1,000,000. dividends paid to date $15,000. Ore Knob Copper Mine, North Car olina, 150,000 shares at $1; capital stock $1,- 500,000; dividends paid to date $210,000. Maj. Edward 8. Hunter, has just closed a contract with the Crozer Steel and Iron Company for supplying it with 600,000 tons of ore. The ore contracted for is red hema tite or specular ore and by analysis shows: metalic iron, 57.14; phosphorus .078, The ore being so low in phosphorus, brings it within the limit for use in making Bessemer steel. E. S. Hunter has been appointed su perintendent of mines and mining by the Crozer company. EAST TENNESSEE FARMERS’ CON- VENTION. The East Tennessee Farmers’ Convention assembled in Staub’s Opera House, Knox ville, Tennessee, on May 9th, and was calle d to order by Hon. J. B. Stokely, President. Five hundred delegates were enrolled. The Convention was welcomed by J. W. Cald well, of Knoxville, and the response made by lion. J. A. Turley, of McMinn. Both were pointed and elegant addresses. Vice- President J. K. P. Wallace was recognized as correspondent of the Southern World, and assigned a desk. The annual address by the President re viewed the progress and condition of the country since the last meeting. It was an able address and created a profound impres sion. After discussion, C. W. Charlton, J. M. Meek, J. H. Crozier, R. P. Loyd and J. K. P. Wallace, were appointed a committee to consider the propriety of calling a State Agricultural Convention to meet in Nash ville. After discussion, Capt. C. E. Dunn, Judge O. P. Temple, Hon. D. W. C. Sen ter, W. F. Morris and R. P. Loyd, were appointed a committee to memorialise the legislature to enact a law creating a State Railroad Com mission. Prof. J. M. McBryde, Professor of Agricul ture in the University of Tennessee, read an instructive paper on “the Purity and Vital ity of Farm Seed." Ho showed how far mers were imposed upon in buying seeds and how they could test them. Vice-President Wallace presented a paper on "What the Farmer ought to Know and the best method of Learning it,” which in duced a discussion lasting half an hour. Prof. S. B. Lockett, of the University of Tennessee, read a paper on "Improvement of Public Roads.” After discussion, a reso lution was adopted endorsing the present public road law as the beginning of a system that will eventually give the country greatly improved roads. The subject of "How to make the greatest amount of Corn per acre,” was discussed by 11. B. Russell, of Monroe county, and Capt. C. E. Dunn, of Jefferson county. Captain Dunn had succeed in producing 110 bushels of corn per acre. He said: "My experience is that thorough and reg ular cultivation will accomplish more than anything else in this direction, and is the only safeguard or remedy for drought—such as we experienced the past season. Break your land from 7 to 10 inches deep and well harrow, and if good land, lay off the rows 3 feet 8 inches wide, and drill in the corn between the 15th of April and 10th of May. After it has come up harrow again and thin to one stalk to every 12 or 15 inches, plow three or four times with bull-tongue and double shovel plow, and lay-by the crop on or before the fint day of July. If it should be planted in ordinary land 3 feet apart each way and one stalk to the hill, will produce more corn than to drill it, and much larger cultivated. I have produced 110 bushels upon one acre, and 1,600 bushels from 20 acres with this mode of cultivation, without fertilizers. As to the practical benefits to be obtained by the use of fertilizers upon our corn crops in East Tennessee, I can better inform you some time in the future, as I am making some ten or twelve experiments this year with fertilizers and plaster, stable and lot manure combined, and separately. Col. John M. Meek related an experiment be made in drilling corn last year, which had proved a failure. He did not think that on upland there was sufficient to admit of corn being drilled closer than the ordi nary method of check-planting. S. T. Howard, of Loudon, said the first im portant point was to secure a good stand. Farmers generally do not use sufficient care in this respect. J. J. Burnett, of Cocke county, was in fa vor of deep plowing, but thought the good soil should be kept on top the ground where nature put it. He said soil of a certain qual ity only produces so much and it should not be overworked by planting too close. If the ground is rich, it can stand more. Mr. Corley, of Blount, urged great care in planting, so as to secure a good stand. Re planting would usually not produce as much to the stalk as first planting. H. B. Russell, of Monroe, said year before last he raised 124 bushels of corn on one acre. The convention after discussion decided that plowing land too wet is injurious, and adopted a resolution that the labor convicts should be utilized in the making and im provement of the public roads of the State. It was decided that the plaster which fell on top of clover, as well as that which fell on the ground, was beneficial. Hon. W. W. Wallace, of Knox county offered a strong preamble and resolutions looking to a more thorough union of the farmers of the country for their own protec tion, and the appointment of a committee to obtain information about the aim of the National Agricultural Alliance which were adopted, and W. W. Wallace, of Knox; H. B. Yearwood, of Monroe; F. C. Lindner, of Polk; C. W. Charlton, of Knox, and P. P. Loyd, of Sequatchie, appointed said com mittee. The subject of "Feeding and Marketing Beef Cattle” was presented by Charles Leon- hardt, of Anderson county. The subject was then discussed at length by several members of the Convention. A question wus asked as to the kind of cattle which would take on the greatest amount of flesh on the least amount of feed. S. T. Howard, of Loudon, thought the short-horns were the best. N. B. Dunn, of Polk county, said his ex perience was that the Ayershires were the best. "Does Sheep Husbandry Pay,” was the next subject for discussion. W. S. Taylor, of Hamblen, was called upon and gave his first year’s experience in sheep raising. He bought 75 scrub sheep for $75 and turned them into his briar fields. During the year they did not require more than $5 worth of extra feeding besides what they could pick in the pastures. At the end of the year he sold $76 worth of sheep, $50 worth of wool and the sheep lie had left were worth more than $75. That was seven years ago. He has been raising sheep ever since and finds that it pays. The second year he bought some improved breeds of sheep and within a month the dogs killed about $100 worth of them. A few days afterwards the buzzards had their choice of mutton or dog meat. Since then Mr. Taylor's sheep have not been troubled by dogs. Mr. Howard, of Loudon has found sheep raising profitable. He found it paid to pro cure bucks of improved breed if the price paid for them was large. He only kept a buck one year, as it was ruinous to in-breed. He advocated a law to protect sheep from the ravages of dogs. He thought the best breed of sheep to begin with was the Merino buck, with common sheep, the first year. Then procure a Cotswold buck for the second year, to cross the breed. Mr. Taylor preferred to cross the South- down and the Cotswold, as it would produce a breed more profitable for general use. At the close of the discussion, the follow ing resolution was adopted: Resolved by this convention, that the Pres ident appoint a committee of three to mem orialize the Legislature upon the subject of the passage of a law to protect sheep hus bandry from the depredations of the dogs. The President appointed on that com-