Various - Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884.

V >> Various >> Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884.

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Many are inquiring the proper way to let bees out on shares, so
as to have both parties satisfied. I do not know any such way, for the
most I have known in regard to letting bees out on shares resulted in
both parties being dissatisfied. But it all depends on what the
agreement is; and perhaps you had better have it down in writing. One
case I have recently heard of, the agreement was to divide the profits.
Well, it so happened that there was no profit, but there was a pretty
big loss; and as no provision had been made for this state of affairs,
each one felt disposed to put the loss on to the shoulders of the other.
I decided it would be about fair to divide the loss; but very likely
circumstances might make this not the right way after all. So says the
editor of Gleanings. It strikes us that he is all right, but if he had
said to bee-keepers "use the same common sense as to contracts that
people do in other kinds of business," he would have covered the whole
ground.

* * * * *

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* * * * *

SILK CULTURE.

WOMEN IN SILK CULTURE.

The feminine portion of our population is getting to be mighty
independent. Instead of waiting, Micawber-like, for something (a man) to
turn up they are going to work to turn it up themselves. They would
rather make a living for themselves than have a man to make it for them.
They are teaching schools, operating telegraph instruments and
telephones, clerking, keeping books of account, type-writing, doing
short-hand reporting, lecturing, preaching, practicing law, and some
have so far fallen from grace as to be editing papers. But many of these
occupations present closed doors to our country girls and women. Many of
these can not leave their country homes, and these occupations, with the
exception of school teaching, can not be carried on in the country.
Others, who could leave home, are chary of braving the wiles and
temptations of the city, and their friends are still more loth to have
them go. The great need is some work, light, respectable, and yet fairly
remunerative, which our country lassies can carry on at home. School
teaching is possible, but teaching country district schools is the most
thankless of all drudgery, and, besides, a majority of our young women
are not able to endure the worry and close confinement. If it can be
made successful, sericulture offers by far the best opportunity to
country girls to earn their own pin money, or even their own living. It
can be engaged in at home; it is light, pleasant, and interesting work;
and there is no doubt that American silk can be produced of such a
quality that there will be a brisk demand for it at good prices. But if
all this be true the question at once presents itself, Why have not
American women engaged largely in sericulture?

The answer is that they have been appalled at the very outset by the
alleged expense of the undertaking. The promoters of the enterprise took
to writing books. There was an excuse for this amounting almost to a
necessity. To engage in silk culture, a person must be possessed of some
special knowledge. It is no harder than poultry or bee-keeping, but a
person to succeed at these must have some expert knowledge, and as
sericulture was a new thing, beginners must have books containing what
they needed. But these authors made the business much more difficult and
expensive than it should be. First of all, they laid it down as one of
the Medes and Persian laws of sericulture, that the worms must have
mulberry leaves to subsist upon. Mulberry sprouts are costly to begin
with; then the trees must grow at least two years, and should grow five
years, before the leaves are used. This, of itself, was enough to deter
but a very few from silk culture. But they made it appear, also, that
very expensive appliances for a cocoonery were necessary, and only the
most costly breeds of worms should be used, entailing greater expense
and difficulty. The books were, and for that matter are, filled with dry
scientific details of the internal construction of the worm and of its
habits--details which only confused the learner and which, though giving
an author material from which to deduce rules of instruction, should
have been omitted from the book and their place supplied with the rules
deduced. In short, it seemed to be the prime object to make sericulture
as hard and forbidding as possible, and to deter the people from it
rather than to induce them to engage in the work. For this very reason
there has been considerable popular indifference to it, and from the
agricultural press it has not received that attention which so promising
an industry deserves. I would not be so unjust as to leave the reader to
infer that all authors on sericulture have been thus guilty. There have
been some very few who from the very start have presented it in as easy
and practicable a light as was consistent with successful work. Nor
would I be ready to assert that those who have said it could not be made
financially profitable without mulberry groves, fancy priced worms, and
expensive appliances, have done so from base motives. Yet it would
appear as if not a few could be justly indicted of this; for they have
mulberry sprouts, fancy priced worms, and costly appliances to sell. And
perhaps it occurred to them that if they deterred the people generally
from taking hold of it, they would have less opposition and competition.

But be this as it may, the fact is that it is not necessary to have
mulberry groves, costly appliances, or even fancy priced worms (though
good worms only should be reared), in order to profitably engage in
sericulture. I know of no business presenting so promising an opening
that requires less capital. And I say this, having no axe to grind in
any way, simply for the sake of those girls and women who might make
money by it, and who would do so if they only knew the facts. I have no
book, no sprouts, no worms, nothing whatever, to sell.

I have said that the leaves of the mulberry are not essential to silk
growing. If this be true the greatest obstacle in the way of sericulture
becoming a great national industry will have been removed. And that it
is true is proven by the experience of not a few practical silk-growers.
Without exception those who have tested the matter say that the leaves
of the Osage-orange are equal to those of the mulberry, and some say
they are better. My position brings me into correspondence with the
leading specialists in agricultural pursuits, and among others with many
practical silk-growers. To-day I received letters from three
silk-growers, one in Illinois, one in Kansas, and one in California.
Each had fed the leaves of the Osage-orange exclusively for the last two
years, and with the best results. One said there was no doubt that they
were at least equal to the leaves of the mulberry, and the other two
pronounced them superior. One of our best authorities on sericulture,
Prof. Barricelli, has shown by means of chemical analyses and other
scientific data, that as nourishment for silk-worms the Osage is
superior to the mulberry. In fact, nine-tenths of the practical
silk-growers of the West, those who are making it not only practicable
but profitable, are now feeding Osage leaves exclusively. This should be
known by the people at large. There can be no monopoly of the
Osage-orange. No one can demand of the expectant silk culturist
exorbitant prices for Osage sprouts. In very few localities will it be
necessary to plant the Osage even. We have an abundance of Osage hedges,
particularly in the West. In such localities the silk culturist will be
at no expense whatever for food for the worms, and will not be under
even the necessity of waiting a couple of years for it to grow. When
this is more fully understood by the girls and women of the country, we
may expect silk culture to assume the importance of a profitable
national industry.

JOHN M. STAHL.

* * * * *

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* * * * *

PUBLICATIONS

THE YOUTH'S COMPANION

FOR 1884.

THE COMPANION presents below the Announcement of its Fifty-Seventh
Volume. Its unusual character, both in the range of its topics, and its
remarkably brilliant list of Contributors, will, we trust, be accepted
as a grateful recognition of the favor with which the paper has been
received by more than 300,000 subscribers.

* * * * *

Illustrated Serial Stories.

A Story of English Rustic Life, by Thomas Hardy.
The Foundling of Paris, by Alphonse Daudet.
A Boys' Story, by J.T. Trowbridge.
The Covenanter's Daughter, by Mrs. Oliphant.
A Story of Adventure, by C.A. Stephens.
My School at Orange Grove, by Marie B. Williams.

* * * * *

Science and Natural History.

Eccentricities of Insanity, by Dr. W.A. Butler.
Common Adulterations of Food, by Dr. J.C. Draper.
The Home Life of Oysters, and other Natural History Papers, by
Arabella B. Buckley.
Wonders in Ourselves; or the Curiosities of the Human Body, by Dr.
Austin Flint, Jr.
Insect Enemies of the Garden, the Orchard and the Wheat-Field, by
A.S. Packard, Jr.
Demons of the Air and Water. A fascinating Series of Papers on
Sanitary Science, by R. Ogden Doremus.
The Youth Of the Brain, "Speech in Man," "Animal Poisons and their
Effects," and Other Papers, by Dr. W.A. Hammond.
Strange Ways Of Curing People. A Description of Curious
Sanitaria,--the Peat, Mud, Sand, Whey, and Grape Cures, by William
H. Rideing.

* * * * *

Encouragement and Advice.

Hints for Poor Farmers, by C.E. Winder.
The Failures of Great Men, by James Parton.
A Dietary for Nervous People, by Dr. W.A. Hammond.
Hints for Country House-Builders, by Calvert Vaux.
The Gift Of Memory, and Other Papers, giving Instances of Self-Help,
by Samuel Smiles.
A New Profession for Young Men. The Opportunities for Young Men as
Electrical Engineers, by Thomas A. Edison.
At the Age Of Twenty-One. A Series of Papers showing what Great Men
had accomplished, and what they proposed doing, at that period of
their lives, by Edwin P. Whipple.

* * * * *

Original Poems.

BY ALFRED TENNYSON,
VICTOR HUGO,
THE EARL OF LYTTON,
J.C. WHITTIER,
T.B. ALDRICH,
DR. CHARLES MACKAY,
And Many Others.

* * * * *

Illustrated Adventure and Travel.

Shark-Hunting, by T.B. Luce.
Four Amusing Stories, by C.A. Stephens.
Outwitted. An Indian Adventure, by Lieut. A. Chapin.
A Honeymoon in the Jungle, by Phil. Robinson.
Wrecked Upon a Volcanic Island, by Richard Heath.
Stories of the Cabins in the West, by E.J. Marston.
Adventures in the Mining Districts, by H. Fillmore.
The Capture of Some Infernal Machines, by William Howson.
Breaking in the Reindeer, and Other Sketches of Polar Adventure, by
W.H. Gilder.
An American in Persia, by the American Minister Resident, Teheran,
S.G.W. Benjamin.
China as Seen by a Chinaman, by the Editor of the Chinese American,
Wong Chin Foo.
Stories Of Menageries. Incidents connected with Menagerie Life, and
the Capture and Taming of Wild Beasts for Exhibition, by S.S. Cairns.
Boys Afoot in Italy and Switzerland. The Adventures of two English
boys travelling abroad at an expense of one dollar a day, by Nugent
Robinson.

* * * * *

Reminiscences and Anecdotes.

Stage-Driver Stories, by Rose Terry Cooke.
Stories of Saddle-Bag Preachers, by H.L. Winckley.
My First Visit to a Newspaper Office, by Murat Halstead.
Queen Victoria's Household and Drawing-Rooms, by H.W. Lucy.
Child Friendships of Charles Dickens, by his Daughter, Mamie
Dickens.
Our Herbariums; Adventures in Collecting Them, by A Young Lady.
My Pine-Apple Farm, with incidents of Florida Life, by C.H. Pattee.
Bigwigs of the English Bench and Bar, by a London Barrister, W.L.
Woodroffe.
At School with Sir Garnet Wolseley, and the Life of a Page of Honor in
the Vice-Regal Court of Dublin, by Nugent Robinson.
Student Waiters. Some Humorous Incidents of a Summer Vacation in the
White Mountains, by Child McPherson.

* * * * *

THE EDITORIALS OF THE COMPANION, without having any bias, will give
clear views of current events at home and abroad. THE CHILDREN'S PAGE
will sustain its reputation for charming pictures, poems, and stories
for the little ones.

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Address,

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_Please mention where you read this Advertisement._

* * * * *

HOUSEHOLD.

For nothing lovelier can be found
In woman than to study _household_ good.--_Milton._

THE SCHOOL-MARM'S STORY.

A frosty chill was in the air--
How plainly I remember--
The bright autumnal fires had paled,
Save here and there an ember;
The sky looked hard, the hills were bare,
And there were tokens everywhere
That it had come--November.

I locked the time-worn school-house door,
The village seat of learning.
Across the smooth, well trodden path
My homeward footstep turning;
My heart a troubled question bore,
And in my mind, as oft before,
A vexing thought was burning.

"Why is it up hill all the way?"
Thus ran my meditations:
The lessons had gone wrong that day
And I had lost my patience.
"Is there no way to soften care,
And make it easier to bear
Life's sorrows and vexations?"

Across my pathway through the wood
A fallen tree was lying;
On this there sat two little girls,
And one of them was crying.
I heard her sob: "And if I could,
I'd get my lessons awful good,
But what's the use of trying?"

And then the little hooded head
Sank on the other's shoulder.
The little weeper sought the arms
That opened to enfold her.
Against the young heart, kind and true,
She nestled close, and neither knew
That I was a beholder.

And then I heard--ah! ne'er was known
Such judgment without malice,
Nor queenlier council ever heard
In senate, house or palace!--
"I should have failed there, I am sure,
Don't be discouraged; try once more,
And I will help you, Alice."

"And I will help you." This is how
To soften care and grieving;
Life is made easier to bear
By helping and by giving.
Here was the answer I had sought,
And I, the teacher, being taught
The secret of true living.

If "I will help you" were the rule.
How changed beyond all measure
Life would become! Each heavy load
Would be a golden treasure;
Pain and vexation be forgot;
Hope would prevail in every lot,
And life be only pleasure.

--_Wolstan Dixey._

A CHAT ABOUT THE FASHIONS.

Although the lady readers of THE PRAIRIE FARMER have probably
by this time made up the heavier part of their winter wardrobe, still a
few suggestions may not be out of place, for the "fashions" is a subject
of which we seldom tire.

In discussing the subject of silk and silk-culture at the late Woman's
Congress, Mrs Julia Ward Howe said that "although silk is said to be
depreciating in value, and is not quite as popular as formerly, yet we
must confess it lies very near the feminine heart," at which statement
an audible smile passed over the audience, as each one acknowledged to
herself its truth.

We are glad to see that wrappers are becoming quite "the thing" for
afternoon home wear, and a lady now need not feel at all out of place
receiving her callers in a pretty, gracefully made wrapper. The Watteau
wrapper is made of either silk or brocaded woolen goods, conveniently
short, the back cut square at the neck, and folded in a handsome Watteau
plait at the center, with a full ruche effect. A yolk portion of silk
fills in the open neck and is sewed flatly underneath to the back. The
side seams are curved so that a clinging effect is produced at the
sides. Jabbots of lace extending down the front, and a prettily bowed
ribbon at the right shoulder, with a standing collar at the neck, and a
linen choker collar give the finishing touches to the toilette.

Velvets and velveteens seem to be taking the place of silk, and are
really quite as cheap. In fact, velveteens are cheaper, as they are so
much wider. A suit of velveteen is fashionable for any occasion--for
receptions, church or street costume. The redingote or polonaise is very
stylish and pretty, especially for a tall, rather slight person. For a
young miss the close-fitting frock coat, with pointed vest effectively
disclosed between the cut-away edges of the coat fronts, is much worn.
The latter curve away from the shoulders and are nicely rounded off at
their lower front corners. An underarm dart gives a smooth adjustment
over each hip, and in these darts are inserted the back edges of the
vest. Buttons and buttonholes close the vest, but the coat fronts do not
meet at all. The coat and long-pointed overskirt can be made of any
heavy material, but the vest should be of silk; a deep box-plait on the
bottom of the underskirt made of silk to match the vest will make the
suit very stylish and pretty.

There ought to be great satisfaction among the wearers of bonnets and
hats this season, because they can so easily have what they want--big or
little, plain or decorated, as they please. For a person with dark hair,
gold braid loosely put around the edge of a velvet capote is very
becoming. Bunches of tips are worn much more than the long, drooping
plumes, though both are fashionable; while birds--sometimes as many as
three on a hat--are often preferred to either. We notice upon the street
a great many elegantly dressed ladies with but a single band of wide
velvet ribbon fastened somewhat carelessly around the bonnet and tied in
a bow under the chin. Unique it may be, but undoubtedly the taste of the
wearer, would be the verdict of the passer by. In fact, one can scarcely
be out of the fashion in the choice of a bonnet or hat, but care should
be taken that it be just the thing for the wearer, and that it be
properly put on.

I firmly believe in the doctrine that "good clothes tendeth toward
grace." What woman can not talk better when she knows she looks well?
She can then forget herself and lose all self-consciousness, which is a
state most devoutly to be desired by all women--particularly our young
women. So, girls, study your costumes, especially the "superfluities,"
or "furbelows," as they are wont to be called; make yourselves look as
pretty as you possibly can--and then forget yourselves.

I wish all our lady readers might have been here the holiday week, for
the stores were perfect bowers of beauty. It was a pretty sight in
itself to watch the crowds of happy-faced children, with their little
pocket-books in their hands, at the various counters buying presents for
father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Children always enjoy Christmas
more when they can make, as well as receive, presents. So I hope all our
little readers were made happy by both giving and receiving.

I am sorry I could not give you a more satisfactory talk on the
fashions, but our space is limited this week. I hope the ladies will not
forget that our "Household" department is open to them, and that they
will contribute anything that may be of interest to the others.

MARY HOWE.

A KITCHEN SILO.

The farmer's wife in the Netherlands has long been using a sort of a
silo. Probably she had been doing so for long years before M. Geoffrey
began experimenting with preserved stock food in France. The Netherland
housewife's silo consists of an earthenware jar about two feet tall.
Into one of these jars in summer time she places the kidney bean; in
another shelled green peas; in another broad beans, and so on. Making a
layer about six inches deep in each. She sprinkles a little salt on top
and presses the whole firmly down. Then she adds another layer and more
salt. She leaves a light weight on top to keep all well pressed down and
exclude the air, in the intervals between pickings for often the harvest
of a single day will not fill the jar. When full, she puts on a heavier
weight, and covers all with brown paper. She thus has green vegetables
preserved for winter. The ensilage is said to be "more or less good,
according to taste."

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