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A

TREATISE

MULBERRY TREE

SILKWORM.

AND ON THE

PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

EMBELIISHED WITH AFPHOPHI^TE ENGRAVINGS.

BY JOHN CLARKE,

SOPEKINTENIIENT OF THE MORODENDRON SILK COilPAXV OF PHILADELPHIA.

SECOND EDITION.

Look to the Silk Culture for the true Gold Mines of the United States, leadit^
to Independence, Wealth, and Power.

PHILADELPHIA:
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.

253 MARKET STREET.

1839.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by

John Clarke,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

PRINTED BY T. K. AND P. G. COLLNS.

PHILADELPHIA.

PREFACE.

" Not to know what occurred before one was bom, is to be," said an
ancient writer, " always a child." Knowledge, indeed, is that to which,
as a means, we owe our all. And whatever we shall, or shall not, be or
possess hereafter, will be measured by knowledge, or the want of it ; or by
our diligent use or neglect of it. Knowledge, in short, should be hailed,
invited, as our best friend ; whilst its reverse, ignorance, our worst, if not
our only enemy, should be scouted, were it possible, from the very face of
an earth tenanted by man, by all that aspire to the dignity of the intel-
lectual character. On knowledge, or on the want of it, how often has
depended whether whole nations shall be civilized or uncivilized, as well
as learned or unlearned; whether whole kingdoms shall slumber for
centuries in comparative barbarism, as well as whether the myriads of
individuals composing them shall spend their existence in prosperity and
peace, or be immured in wretchedness, to bequeath it, £is an entail, to
their posterity after them.

A Providence, kind and paternal, however, deserts not man, unless he
neglect himself. The inventive faculfy is giyen to him. "Necessity,"
it is commonly said, " is the mother of invention ;" but with all deference
to her maternal powers, it may be added, that they would be unproductive,
were it not for the astonishing and yet undeveloped powers of mind.
The history of mind, could it be well composed — and of its inventions
and discoveries, for five thousand years, in the arts, in science, in manu-
factures, in implements, in machinery, and in productions of every kind,
sweeping in its universe of evolutions, the two empires of material and
inmiaterial being — would present at once the most interesting and im-
portant detail of the great and mystic movements of what the same Pro-
vidence has placed here, on tliis earth, to be the sovereign of matter.
We repeat it, Mind is the sovereign of matter ! Matter, it is true, in
all forms, is created from age to age, ready to our hands, by tlie same
Paternal energy ; but it is left to the empire of instinct and reason, or
of mind, through all its divisions of power, to move, change, transform,
metamorphose it into other forms, substances, shapes, and modifications,
so dissimilar, that the crude ore of the mountain becomes the spangling
specie of the bank; the fieece of an animal, the clothing of man; the
cotton of a vegetable, the calico, the muslin of the store ; and the leaf of
the mulberry tree, the velvet cushion of th^ throne, or the robes that
embellish tjie persons of emperors and of queens.

4S 1F^

4 PREFACE.

Such is mind ! It reigns supreme : its sway " there is none to dis-
pufe." On the throne of instinct, reason, it sits: it waves the hand;
onward is the march, the great triumphal march of mind ; and imme-
diately a host of satellites — for such there must be in the rear of every
sovereign — are in motion ; writers, authors, copyists, compilers, histo-
rians, are pushing after it, in the orbit of intellect, with all the speed and
splendour that can be given by essays, histories, digests, encyclopedias,
periodicals and manuals ; and such has been the rapidity of late, that
even the press, with all its additional powers of type and stereotype,
travels not with suificicnt velocity, unless it move by steam ! What is
the cause of all this? Mind, the sovereign of matter, in the march of
intellect : it approaches, probably, the perihelion : onward it must go, and
our business is to follow ; which, if we do, though it cannot, will not
stop, it will look back to bless us, and will whisper peace and prosperity
to us as a nation, and to each of us as individuals.

Our peace, our fortune, or our happiness is made, if we follow Mind !
How is this to be done 1 History presents us with an eminence, on
whose height we view, in a long and extended vista, a series of inven-
tions counted by the thousand years, each of which has blessed mankind.
On one side we see a nation deprived of their benefit, for ages slumber-
ing in obscurity, in barbarism, and in wretchedness ; there another that
has embraced a gift, that seems to have dropped from the skies, whose
history demonstrates to the world, more satisfactorily than the problem
which cost the hecatomb, that " knowledge is power ," to which we add,
that knowledge not only is power, hut, knowledge rightly used, is wealth
and happiness.

Knowledge has visited the American people. Volumes arc in her
hands ; her finger first points to this page, then to that. Are we attentive 1
On this page we see, in prominent characters, the word China/ and in
alto-relievo the word Silk ! and by attention we are enabled to decipher
the words " China, in silk, an example to America." We pause ; we
reflect : in these words we see a volume ; we have caught the idea ! that
idea is a world ! And a volume we could write, and a new world, a new
era, we could speak of; but these pages, these limits, refuse a safety-valve
to the engine, to thought ; the power we must diminish, and reserve for
another time. Knowledge perceives that the subject is too great for our
utterance ; she waves her sceptre, changes the page, and turns to
another, on the head of which we distinctly see the word Cotton.

Some time ago we visited the South, and lodged in this hotel, and
then in that ; hut wherever wc abode, no word heard we so frequently
as the word " Cotton /" Cotton was said, and cotton was responded,
and cotton was echoed ; neither did we understand the mysteries of echo
until we understood the sympathies of cotton. Not being gifted with a
musical ear, we were perplexed to discover the melody of the word
cotton, until a friend kindly hinted, it was the music of the pocket !
The secret now was out, the enigma solved ; and ever since, we dis-
tinctly perceived, that cotton was music to the pockets of the people of
the South.

Two great staples of the United States of North America are now in
our diorama — Cotton and Silk ,- but which is to become the greater, is
the (luestion. No less true is it, that all men are not born prophets,

PREFACE, 5

than that the souls of all men are not integral quantities ; and of these,
the progenitors it was, that, sixty years ago, laughed at cotton becoming
a staple of this country. But these fractional quantities we let alone :
it is with integral characters only that we are concerned ; with men
capable of comprehending distinctly, not merely a part, but a whole
subject. And these are they who proclaim that of the two, cotton or
silk, the latter eventually is to become the greater, the more important
staple of this country.

It is easy to form a cursory estimate of the immense benefit
which the production and manufacture of cotton and its fabrics have
been to tliis country. Great, however, as this is, we hesitate not to
anticipate that silk will be — if the people, the government, the whole
comiiiunivmlth, only evince enterprise and zeal commensurate to the
object, as a staple — not inferior to cotton. The growth of the latter
article is confined to the southern states ; whereas every state of the
Union is eligible for the production of silk. For silk as well as for
cotton, independently of our own consumption, foreign markets are
ready to afford the most ample encouragement. Of the raw material,
France is under the necessitj' of importing more than one-third of her
vast consumption in her manufactures; and England must import
every ounce. These two kingdoms only offer a market to the value of
§40,000,000 annually. We shall add to this the singular consideration,
that for years past, this country has been in the habit of importing raw
and manufactured silks, at the rate of Sl'40 for every individual in its
population, which evidently implies an ulterior amount of indefinite
magnitude. For raw and manufactured silks upwards of §23,000,000
were sent abroad in the year 18 36 ; equivalent to an annual drain of
specie to that amount. We have then at once before us a market for
eilk, to the extent of $05,000,000 annually.

China, however, which may afford a valuable lesson at once in
politics and political economy, surpasses this. There, every artisan is
capacitated and encouraged to be a consumer as well as a producer.
Thus her home trade is supported ; and it is thus she becomes inde-
pendent. Were only all the white females above the age of fifteen, of
the United States, to encourage our home trade to the extent of one silk
dress annually, it would produce an additional market of the annual
amount of §66,150,000. By this means, or by others, at least, added
to the preceding quotation of $65,000,000 annually, we see no limits
necessarily restraining the extent of the silk market short of §100,000,000
per annum. And with all our exertions, it will be years before this
demand is satisfied, and the check given to the serious drain of specie
out of the country, to purchase of foreigners what we can produce at home.

On the subject of specie, banks, hard coin, cash payments, mines, and
Mexico, we have read essays, lectures, pamphlets, and volumes, without
number. But how much more simple is the course we prescribe! Only
set the silk worm to work ; stop the enormous drain of specie abroad, by
producing all at home ; and we effect at once more than all the mines,
more than all the ponderous tomes, whether extended by sheet or counted
by volume, though they should reach from pole to pole, could accomplish
in a century. The next lecture we intend to hear on the mystery of
banking, mines, specie, and hard cash, shall be given by the silk worm.

1*

6 PREFACE.

Only proJucc, and hard cash will come as surely as the sun will cross
the equinoctial twice in each year.

Individual and national benefit arc evidently here combined. But in
recommending the culture of silk, there is another feature which we
scarcely can omit ; i^ is that of benevolence. It promises good-will to
our fellow-men, from one end of the nation to the other. To the benefit
of a leaf-market to towns and densely populated cities, we have in the
ensuing work briefly adverted. But whether silk is cultivated in the
country or town, the same beneficial consequences will attend it. The
process, in an otherwise unemployed season of the year, may be con-
ducted by females, children, and old or invalid men, unable to perform
hard labour; and therefore to them, and to others, especially if we
include the more extended business of reeling, it will be a new means
of employment, industry, and gain, without interference with other
sources of income. This feature alone, were there no other, is sufficient
to warrant our warm advocacy of the culture. In short, on this as well
as on every other point in which it presents itself to our notice, we could
expatiate by the volume, whilst our limits restrict us to the line.
Through several years of close attention to this subject, we have long
perceived its individual, its political, its national importance ; to which
the numberless volumes, guides, and manuals, already existing on this
topic, we have at the same time been deeply sensible, were not singly at
least, commensurate, nor in every respect suited to the wants and exi-
gencies of the young and comparatively inexperienced culturist. This
desideratum we have endeavoured to supply, not only from our own
experience, but from a larger collection of European and American
works on the culture than is perhaps possessed by any other individual
in the United States. Our work is now before the tribmial of the
public. Of its comparative merits they may judge; but a conviction
of our motives, and endeavours to serve all, is unalterably fixed in our
own conscience ; and its accomplishment of the purpose, in any degree,
for which it was originally intended, is all the praise, if any, that we
shall ever desire. To extend the work to comprise not only the pro-
duction, but the whole of the manufacturing processes of silk, was our
intention ; but the numerous volumes we have since received, especially
from Europe, and the large amount of plates relative to machinery, an
explanation, at least to do justice to this important branch of national
industry, would require, convinced us of the impracticability of fulfilling
our original design short of the limits of a second volume, now in the
course of preparation ; and for its completion we, very respectfully, at
present, beg leave to retire.

CONTENTS

PART I.
CHAPTER I.

Page

HlSTOKY OF THE CdLTURE AND MANUFACTURE OF SiLK - 13

Preliminary Remarks on the Origin of the Silk Culture in China ib.

CHAPTER II.

History of Silk to the Period when Silk Worms were first

INTRODUCED into EuEOPE - - - - 31

CHAPTER III.

Subsequent History of Silk - - - - 49

From the Period when Silk Worms tcere first introduced into

Europe, continued to each Nation distinctly - - ib.

Arabs, Tartars, Turks - - - - 55

Turkey and Persia _ ■ _ - 56

Hindoostan - - - - - 58

Egypt ..... 61

CHAPTER IV.

Europe : —

Naples, Cala'bria, Sicily - - - - 63

Italy, Venice, and Genoa - - - 64

Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands - - - 66

France - _ ... 69

Other States of Continental Europe - - - 74

Switzerland - - - - - ib.

Germany - - . . - 75

Prussia - - ... 83

Austria - - - - - .84

Sweden ..... 85

Russia - - - . - - ib.

England ..... 86

Ireland - - - - - - 90

Statistics . - ... 99

Malta - - - - - - 106

St. Helena - - . - . i6.

Isles of France - - - - - ib.

Cuba ..... 107

Mexico - - - - - - ib.

Lower Canada ... - ib.

North America : —

Georgia - - - - .110
South Carolina - - - .113

Pennsylvania - - - - - ib.
Connecticut - - . .117

New York - . . - - 119

Five New England States - - - 127

Middle States - - - - - 130

Southern States ... - ib.

V/estern States - - - - - 131

o CONTENTS.

PART II.

ON THE MULUERUY TREE.
CHAPTER I.

Mulberry, Genus, Species, Culture. ^v
Species I.

Moius Nigra - - - - - 136
Species II.

Moius Rubra - - - - - 137
Species III.

Bioussonetia Papyrifcra - • - - 139
Species IV. V.

Moius Tinctoria, and the Morus Indica - - 140
Species VI.

Moius Tartarica, Constantinopolitana, Broussa - - ib.
Species VII.

Morus Alba - . . _ _ 141
Varieties of the Moius Alba : —

Folio Doppea ----- 142

Folio (iiazzolia ----- i6.
Sub-varlrties : —

Fcuille Rose - - - - - 143

La Feuille Doree - - - - ib.

La Reine Batarde - - - - - ib.

Femelle - - - - - ib.

La Reine - - - - - ib.

La Grosse Reine _ _ - - /ft.

La Feuille d'Espagne _ - - - ih.

La Feuille de Floes - - - - ib.
Moi'us Alba Rosea ----- 144

Ovalifolia - - - - ib.

Maciopiiylla - - - - ib,

Oblongifolia - - - - I45

Iiitcgrifolia - - - - ib.

Integrifolia Obscura _ _ - ib.

• Semilobata - - - - ib.

Lobata - - - - - ib.

Lanciiiiata - - . - ib.

La Colombassette - - - - 146

La Rose - - _ - ib.

— — La Colombasse Veite _ _ - ib.

La Rabalayre, or Traineuse - - ib.

La Poumaou, or la Pomme - - - ib.

La Meyne - - - . 147

L'Amella, or L'Amande - _ - ib.

La Foicade, or la Fourche - - ib.

La Dure - - - - - ib.

L'Admirable - - - - ib.

Morus Lucida ----- 150

CHAPTER n.
On the Culture of Species, or Kinds capable of Reproduction

rRom Seed.
-- Climate, Soil, Situation, Seed, Seedlings, Nurseries, Engrafting, &c.
Transplanting, Standards, Plantations, Instruments.

Climate - - - - - " _ 151

CONTENTS. 9

Page

Situation and Shelter - - - 152

Preparation of the Ground - _ _ 153

To obtain the Seed - - - - - ib.

To prepare the Seed - ■ _ ^6.

Mode of testing the Quality of Seed - - - 155

Time of sowing ----- 156
Manner of solving ----- 157

Subsequent Culture of the Seed-beds and Seedlings - 158

Sowing by the whole Fruit - - - _ 159

Solving broad-cast - - - - 160

Transplanting - - - - -161

By the Seed-bed - . - _ ib.

— the Nursery - - - - "-162

— Mulberry Hedge - - - - 163

— the Dwarf Orchard - - - - 164

— Hedge Plantations - - - _ 170

First Plan - - - - 171

Second Plan - - - - 173

— Plantation Standards - - - - 174

Grafting and Budding - - _ _ 177
Pruning ------ 178

Suckers - - - - - ib.

CHAPTER III.

The Morus Multicaulis, its Description and Statistics - 180

CHAPTER IV.

On the Culture of the Morus Multicaulis - - 190

Cultivation ----- 193

By Cuttings; Method 1. - _ _ - ib.

— do. do. 2. - _ _ 195

— Layers; do. 3. - - - - 197

— do. do. 4. - _ - ib.
Substitutes for the Mulberry Tree - _ - 193

Madura Auruntiaca, or Osage Orange - - .ib.

Scorzonera, or Viper Grass - - - - 199

Tragopogan porrifolium, or Salsafy - - ib.

Lacluca Sativa, or Garden Lettuce - _ - ib.

The Willow Tree, Rose Tree, &c, - - ib.

CHAPTER V.

Leaves: Trees or Leaves selling or renting: Leaf Market:
Statistics.

1. Analysis of the Mulberry Tree - _ - 2OO

2. State of Leaves proper for feeding - - - 202

3. Preserving Leaves ----- 203

4. Mode of gathering the Leaves - ■ - 204

5. Repeated Defoliations - - _ - 205

1st Method, or by the green Leaf - - - 207

2d do. or by the dry Leaf - _ - ib.

3d do. or by Leaf-powder - - - ib.

Renting of Trees, or selling of Leaves _ - - 208

Leaf-market - - - . - 213

Statistics relative to the Mulberry Tree - - - 214

Product of the White Mulberry - _ - 217

Product of the Morus Multicaulis . - - 219

Tabular Statistics - - - - 222

10 CONTENTS.

PART III.

ON THE SILK WORM.

CHAPTER I. ftgB

On the Silk Worji ; Genus, Species, Varieties - - 224

Order, Lepidoptei'a - - - - ib.

Genus, Bombyx - - - - - ih.

Species, Mori - - - - - ib.

Larva — Pupa, Nymph, Aurelia, or Chrysalis - - 225

Caterpillar of four IVIuullings - - - - 230

1. three Rloultiiigs . - - - ib.

2. Large Silk Worms of four Moultings - - ib.

3. Silk Worms that produce white Silk - - - 231

4. The dark-coloured Silk Worm - - - ib.

5. Silk Worms of eight Crops - - - - 232
C. Mammoth White _ ■ - _ ib.
Varieties : —

1. The Pennsj'lvania Silk Worm - . _ ih.

2. The Virginia do. _ . _ 233

3. The Tusseh or Bughy do. - - - - ib.

4. The Arrindy do. - _ > 234

5. The Jarroo do. - - - - ib.

6. The Emperor Moth - - _ _ ib.

7. The Bombyx Chrysorrhoea - - - - ib.
S, 9. Tsouen-kien, or Lyan-kien - _ _ 235

10. The Social Silk-nest Spinner - - - ib,

11, 12. The Wild Figara, and Oak Silk Worm of China - ib.
Substitutes : —

Spiders' Silk - - - - - 236

Pinna Silk . - . _ _ 237

CHAPTER II.

Cocoonery: Eggs: Hatching.

Cocoonery ---.__ 239

Eggs of the Silk Worm - - _ _ 245

Preservation and Treatment of Eggs - - - ib.

Hatching - - _ . _ 247

Diseases - - - - - -251

1. Diseases from Defect in the Eggs - - . 252

2. bad Air of the District in which Silk Worms

are raised - - _ . 253

3. Impurity in the Air in the Cocoonery - 254

4. want of Room ... 256

5. the (juality or quantity of Food - 257

6. improper Change of Food - - ib.

7. a peculiar Constitution of the Air - 258

8. sudden Changes of Temperature - - 259

Particular Diseases: — - - _ _ ib.

1. The Pass is - - . _ _ 260

2. The Grasseric . - - _ ib.

3. The Lusctte, Causes and Remedy - - - 261

4. The Yellows, Symptoms ; Causes ; Remedy - - ib,

5. The Mmcardine, Symptoms ; Causes - - - 262

6. Tlie Tripes, Symptoms ; Cause ; Remedies - - 263
- Enemies to Silk Worms .... 264

Statistics, relative to Silk Worms' Eggs - - 265
, Space - - - _ - 278

CONTENTS. 11

CHAPTER III. rage

The Rearing of Silk Worms, from the first Appearance of

THE Larva unto the Chrysalis, or Cocoon

.

- 280

1st Age - - -

.

-

291

2d Age .

-

-

- ib.

3d Age . . -

-

-

ib.

4th Age - - .

-

-

- 292

5th Age _ - -

-

-

ib.

Rearing of th^ Worms.

1st Age : — First Day -

-

-

- 294

Second Day-

-

-

295

Third Day

-

-

- ib.

Fourth Day

-

-

29G

Fifth Day

-

-

- ib.

General Remarks on the First Age -

a

-

297

2d^§-e; — Sixth Day

.

.

- 299

Seventh Day

-

-

300

Eighth Day

-

-

- ib.

Ninth Day

-

-

ib.

General Remarks on the Second Age

.

-

- 301

3d Age : — Tenth I)3.y

-

-

ib.

Eleventh Day

-

-

- 302

Twelfth Day -

-

-

ib.

Thirteenth Day

-

-

- ib.

Fourteenth Day

-

-

303

Fifteenth Day

-

-

- ib.

General Remarks on the Third Age -

_

-

ib.

4th Age .—

.

.

- 304

Sixteenth Day -

-

-

305

Seventeenth Day - J

-

-

- 306

Eighteenth Day

.

-

ib.

Nineteenth Day

-

.

- ib.

Twentieth Day

.

-

ib.

Twenty-first Day -

-

-

. ib.

Twenty-second Day

-

-

ib.

General Remarks on the Fourth Age

-

-

- 307

5th Age.—

-

■ -

ib.

Twenty- third Day -

-

-

- 309

Twenty-fourth Day

-

-

310

Twenty-fifth Day -

-

-

- ib.

Twent3-sixth Day

-

-

ib.

Twenty-seventh Day

-

-

- 311

Twenty-eighth Day

-

-

ib.

Twenty-ninth Day -

-

-

. ib.

Thirtieth Day -

-

-

ib.

Thirty-first Day

-

-

- 312

General Remarks on the Fifth Age -

.

-

ib.

Thirty-second Day -

-

.

- ib.

Spinning Cocoons

-

-

314

6th Age, Commencing the Pupa State

-

-

- 315

Gathering the Cocoons for Seed

-

-

ib.

Preservation of Cocoons intended for Eggs

.

- 316

Daily Loss in Weight of Cocoons -

-

-

317

'7th Age, The entire Life of the Moth

.

.

- 318

Separation of the Moths and laying of Eggs

.

-

319

Preservation of Eggs

.

.

- 320

Stifling the Chrysalides - -

-

-

321

12 CONTENTS.

PART IV.

REELING : THROWSTING : DYEING : STATISTICS.
CHAPTER I.

Reeling : Description of Cocoons

-

-

-

323

1. Good Cocoons

_

_

.

ib.

2. Pointed Cocoons

-

,

-

-

ib.

3. Cocalons

.

-

.

ib.

4. Bupions, or Double Cocoons

_

.

-

ib.

5. Soufflons

.

.

-

ib.

6. Perforated Cocoons -

-

m

-

ib.

7. Good Choquettes

-

-

-

ib.

8. Bad Choquettes

.

-

-

324

9. Calcined Cocoons

-

_

_

ib.

The relative Value of Cocoons

.

-

-

ib.

PiEDMONTESE Reel, Description of

-

.

.

325

Filature - - -

.

_

.

326

Disbanding the Silk from the Reel

-

.

-

332

Throwsting : Singles, Organzine, Tram,

Sewing Silk,

Cordon-

net, Filoselle

-

.

.

333

Machinery

-

-

-

334

CHAPTER II.

Dyeing.

To cleanse and ungum Silk

-

.

.

342

White Silk, or boiling to be dyed

.

.

-

343

Sulphuring - - -

-

-

.

ib.

To boil Silks which are to be dyed

-

.

.

ib.

Aluming - - -

m

.

.

ib.

The Indigo Tvb

.

-

.

344

Crimson, several Receipts

•

-

344,

352.

,353

Green - - -

-

.

345,

355.

,357

Lilac . _ ■

.

.

.

345

Violet, with Logwood, Brazil Wood,

Archil

-

.

346

Violet Blue - - -

.

.

.

356

Yellow, of various Shades

.

346,

349,

,350,

351,

,354

Poppy . _ _

-

-

-

347

Black ...

-

.

.

lb.

Blue, dark - - -

_

.

34S.

,356

Blue, Turkish

.

.

.

35L

,355

Blue, (ultramarine)

-

.

>

356

Buff

-

-

.

351

Pink, real - . -

.

.

_

ib.

Red, deep

-

.

352.

,353,

,357

Brown, real - - -

.

.

353

Nankeen - - -

.

_

-

355

Conclusion - - -

.

.

.

358

Statistics - - -

.

.

.

359

, Feeding

-

.

.

361

A TREATISE

ON THE MULBERRY TREE, &c.

PART I.

H STORY OF THE CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE
OF SILK.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE ORIGIN OF SILK CULTURE
IX CHINA.

How frequently do we find that the highest eleva-
tion in character, in the wealth and independence of
individuals or nations, arises from some small and
apparently insignificant origin. The silk worm, the
cocoon, the raw material that gives lucrative employ-
ment to myriads, mills, looms, machinery, filatures,
factories, the busy merchant, the crowded warehouse,
the loaded ship, transporting the rich damask, the
thick velvet, the stiff" brocade, the thin gauze and
delicate blonde, fabrics valuable as silver, or more
valuable than mines of precious metals to nations,
proceed from, or are set in motion, by what ? By
the eggs of an insect ; eggs so small that threescore
scarcely weigh one grain ! !

It is no less singular than true, that light, know-
ledge, the arts and sciences, literature, and even the
gospel itself, pursue, in their respective movements,
a course similar to that of the sun. They rise in the

2 13

fROPERTT I '

1* HISTORY OF SILK.

east, and move towards the west. Thus onward
may they go till they encompass the earth, not only
with a zone, but with zones of light more numerous
than the belts of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn, dis-
pelling all the proceeds of darkness, misunderstand-
ing, and animosity, and binding man to man, nation
to nation, and hemisphere to hemisphere, in one
grand circle of reciprocity and fellow interest, and in
all the amenities of fraternal benevolence.

In our search for the distant origin of any art or
science, or in looking through the long vista of ages
remote even to nations extinct before our own, we
are favoured with satisfactory evidence so long as
we are accompanied with authentic records: beyond,
all is dark, obscure, tradition, fable. On such ground
it would be credulous or rash in the extreme to re-
peat, as our own, an affirmation, when that rests on
the single testimony of one party or interest, espe-
cially when that is of a very questionable character.

It is even more safe, wh-en history or well authen-
ticated records fail us, to appeal to philosophy, or to
the well known laws of mind, from which all arts
and science spring. The former favours us with the
commanding evidence of certainty and decision ; and
though the latter may only afford the testimony of
analogy, yet is its probability more safe, at least, than
what rests on misguided calculations or on the legend-
ary tales of artifice and fiction.

Whilst the natural svm that shines on this earth
diffuses his rays equally, and illuminates a whole
hemisphere at once, how different is it in reference
to tlie intellectual sun. Here we see the latter
steadily maintaining his immovable meridian over
some favoured portion, some central region of the
earth, even for ages, until the derivative, not the
primitive rays, are transmitted to every cardinal
point of the civilized nations. And after first com-
municating, by the latter, the inventive power to
man, like a pillar of light gradually wending its way
from east to west; or, forming a zone, of which

HISTORY OF SILK. 15

whilst one extremity has not yet left the east, now
bending over the Atlantic, the other is already illu-
minating the shores of the western world.

After this view of the subject, there will be the
less difficulty in arranging all the families of the earth
into two divisions, strongly distinguished from each
other. The one, that which has signalized itself by
the possession and exercise of the inventive talent ;
a faculty in common with every other of excellence,
originally proceeding from Him who is the only giver
of mind and its every attribute.* In striking contrast
to this is that division which comprises those nations
that, instead of the inventive, have, from time imme-
morial, only evinced the imitative faculty. The deri-
vative, not the primitive, rays have reached them.
They may be in possession of many of the arts, and
some of the sciences, but together with these they
give full proof that they originated not with them.
They know precisely what their fathers knew. In
present emergencies, they refer to the precedent of
their ancestors, rather than to the varying circum-
stances of the case. Their dress, their manners, their
habits, their customs, their festivals, their gods, their
temples, their superstition, their pagodas, in routine
and fashion, are the same they were centuries ago.
Improvements in the arts, or new discoveries in
science they know not. And all these are so many
collateral proofs, and afford strong presumptive testi-
mony, that whatever arts, or whatever of science they
inherit, they are the bequest of antecedent proprietors.!

* As a proof that the inventive faculty, as to every thing truly useful
to man, originally proceeded from tht only " Giver of every good and
perfect gift" consult Isa. xxviii. 24 to 29 : and also a beautiful com-
ment by Dr. A. Clarke on, " And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise
hea.rted, ivhom I have Ji//cd with the spirit of wisdom." Exod. xxviii.
3 : and also on, " I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, and
in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workman-
ship ; to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in
brass ; and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber,
to work in all manner of curious workmanship." Exod. xxxi. 3, 4, and .5.

•j- " The stationary condition of the arts and sciences in China," says
a late writer, " proves that lh(;y have not originated with that people :

16 HISTORY OF SILK.

Frequent examples are found where the pohty of a
whole nation, of a whole empire, or even of a whole
church, is to chain down the mind not merely of an in-
dividual, hut of whole communities in all thinking,say-
ing, doing, to the formularies of antiquated precedent.
Wherever this is the case, the mind becomes habitu-
ally inert ; it is circumscribed on every side by the
moss-grown barriers of patriarchal times, beyond
which it never dares to pass, and never knows either
the joy or the fame of an Archimedes when he ex-
claimed Eu^mu, a/g»)ta, I huve found it ! I have found it !
No facts are of greater notoriety than those that
give new and varied proofs every day, that ambition
is a vice too generally prevalent in nations much
more civilized than the Chinese. But that furtive
species of it that induces an individual or a nation to
claim this discovery or that invention, whilst it is the
property of another, is, however dishonourable, too
frequently practised. If a single discovery, invention,
or art, is sufficient to produce this temptation, how

and many peculiarities of the manners, institutions, and popular religion
of the Chinese, have a near affinity to those of the Hindoos. We have
remarked the ignorance of the Chinese in rnaihematics and astronomy.
Of physics they have no acquaintance beyond the knowledge of appa-
rent facts. They never ascend to principles, nor form theories. Their
knowledge of medicine is extremely limited, and blended with the most
contemptible superstition. Of anatoniy they know next to nothing ;
and in surgery, they have never ventured to amputate a limb, nor to
reduce a fracture. The Chinese are said to have manufactured glass
2000 years ago, yet at this day it is inferior in transparency to the
European, and is not used in their windows. They are reported to
have known gunpowder from time immemorial, but they never employed
it in artillery or fire arms, till they were taught by the Europeans.
When first shown the use of the compass in sailing, they affirmed that
they were well acquainted with it, biU found no occasion to employ
it /" If they are indeed conversant with navigation, let them prove it,
by sending a vessel, navigated by a Chinese captain, here. " The art of
painting in China is mere mechanical itnitcition, without grace, expres-
sion, or even accuracy of proportions : of the rules of perspective they
have not the smallest idea. In sculpture, as in the figure of their idols,
the Chinese seem to delight in distortion. The knowledge they have
seems to have been imixjrled, and not of original gi'owth, for it has never
been progressive." See also M. Uailly's 'I'heory of the Origin of the
Sciences among the Nations of India,

HISTORY OF SILK. 17

much stronger must this be, when it refers to a whole
circle of such discoveries or arts, on which the aggran-
dizement and independence of an empire is supposed
to depend ? What a necessary part of the policy of
such a commonwealth must it be, to adopt every
manoeuvre to preserve concealment, or to shroud the
whole in the distant mists of extreme and visionary
antiquity. What motives have the Chinese had, in
which they have had no parallel amongst any other
people, to isolate themselves, from the earliest times,
from the scrutiny of other nations; to burn, in the
reign of Tchehoam-ti, all their historical writings, to
bury alive their learned men, to destroy effectually
the dates and records of past events, and to sanction
the Jesuits in the calculation of eclipses, to the know-
ledge of which the Chinese pretend, but could never
use or exemplify, except when surreptitiously ob-
tained, for the purposes of subtlety and deception.

The advocates for the extreme antiquity of the
Chinese, assert that their empire has subsisted above
4000 years, and appeal, as a proof, to a series of
eclipses marking contemporary events, calculated for
2155 years before the Christian era. The present
Chinese have no such knowledge of the motions of
the celestial bodies as to enable them to calculate
eclipses. They can no more calculate one eclipse,
past or future, much less a series, than they can
navigate a ship from Canton to Acapulco. But
the Jesuits who presided there in the tribunal of
mathematics, for more than 200 years, calculated for
them, these eclipses, in order to ingratiate themselves
with the emperors, and to flatter Chinese vanity.
And if they could have done this, still it proves
nothing. It is easy to calculate eclipses backwards
from the present to any period, and thus to give to
any fictitious portion of history its chronology of real
eclipses. But no valid conclusion can result from this,
unless it were likewise proved that all those eclipses
were not only actually recorded at the time when

they happened^ but also in reference to some historic

2*

18 HISTORY or SILK.

event. But this neither has nor can be done ; for it
is an allowed fact, that there are no authentic Chinese
records beyond the third centiny prior to the Chris-
tian era. Hence, there is no argument ; and the
futiUty of such an artifice is too self-evident to have
demanded the able pen of so eminent an astronomer
as La Place** to expose the chicanery of such a sub-
terfuge.!

We have, however, authentic testimony that the
inventive faculty existed at a very early period.
The peculiar condition of man at that time must
have afforded many imperative occasions for its ex-
ertion. Hence we read that " JabalJ was the father
of such as dwell in tents," (mt'en/or of tent-making;)
that "' Jubal, his brother, was the father," {inventor)

* See La Place on the subject.

•|" Neither is it always considered, in referring to any distant period,
especially as to remote nations, or prior to the time of Sosigenes, what
we are to understand by the word year. The solar year is 36.5 days,
5 hours, 48 minutes, 51 "6 seconds precisely, and no other computation,
whether what is called the Julian year of 365 days 6 hours, or what is
commonly, but erroneously quoted as a tropical revolution, 365 days
5 hours 48 minutes and 45 seconds, will correspond to solar time,
without periodic corrections, such as the intei'calation of a day every
leap year, and the omission of three days every 400 years, according to
the edict of Gregory XIII : and even then there will be an error of
5 hours and 40 minutes every 1000 years. If then, we, the moderns,
find such difBculty in keeping pace with the sun, what did the ancients
do 1 The very circumstance of our present years commencing on tlie
1st of January, instead of at the winter solstice, is a proof of their pre-
dilection for lunar instead of solar time. For the new moon happening
8 days after the solstice, when Caesar first adopted the Julian computa-
tion, the year was made to connnence on that day instead of when the
sun entered Capricorn. Before this the year amongst all nations was
lunar, containing precisely so many moons, moonf/is, or months, each
beginning on the day of the new moon, though they consisted of a
dilferent number of days. The Hebrew and Greek year contained 354
days ; that of Numa Pompilius, 355, and the year of Romulus com-
prised only 304 days. The very terms expressive of time, as calendar
from K'JiKto) to call, or from the calling together of the people on the
first day of the new moon,- or annus, hukm;, Sec. from which we have
annual, cycle, &c. being ambiguous, and signifying a circle as well as
time, have occasioned some to suspect that anciently, especially amongst
remote nations, these circles were the less and not the greater, and
therefore lunar, and absolutely moonths, not years.

+ Gen. iv. 20.

HISTORY OP SILK. 19

of musical instruments : such as tiie kitinor, harp, or
stringed instruments, and the iigab, organ, or wind
instruments ; that " Tubal-cain was the instructor of
every artificer in brass and iron," the first smith on
record, or one to teach how to make instruments and
utensils out of brass and iron ; and that the sister of
Tubal-cain* was Naamah, whom the Targum of
Jonathan ben Uzziel affirms to have been the inven-
trix of plaintive or elegiac poetry. Here is then an
account of the inventive faculty being in exercise
3504 years before the Christian era ; or 1156 years
prior to the deluge ; or 804 years before the earliest
period assigned to the Chinese for the discovery of
silk. And of whatever arts or sciences existing
amongst men prior to the deluge, there is no diffi-
culty in conceiving the possibility of the transmission
of the leading and most essential parts, at least, to
the post-dikivians, by the family of Noah.

But instead of giving our unqualified assent to
what has been servilely copied from book to book
from the most accessible account, we shall advert to
the great discrepancy relative to Chinese chronology,
amongst those who have had equal access to their
records. Thus the time of Fohi, the first emperor,
has been said to be 2951 b. c. by some 219S b. c,
and by others 2057, or about 300 years after the
deluge: of Hoang-ti, 2700 b. c, by Mailla it is quoted
at 2602 B. c, by Le Sage at 2597 b. c, and by Robin-
son and others at 1703 b. c. Similar disagreements
might, would our limits allow, be observed concerning

* It is worthy of remark that M. de Lavaiir in his Conference de la
Fabk avec VHlstoire 8ainte supposes that the Greeks and Romans
took their smith-god Vulcan from Tubal-cain. Tubal-cahi is, indeed,
easily convertible into Vul-can, who was also an artificer, a master
smith in brass and iron. Now if the Greeks and Romans, through
that change of letters, syllables, or sounds, which one language is liable
to suffer in its transit to another, and through the obscuritj- of tradition,
could so easily mistake one sound or name for another, or substitute a
fictitious for a real character ; it becomes a matter of still greater pro-
babiUty that similar substitutions may be found, especially in that part
nf Chinese history which Ls extremely remote and fabulous.

80 HISTORY OF SILK.

the rest, and particularly of the emperors, Hiao-wen-
ti, Chim-ti, Ming-ti, Youen-ti, Wen-ti, Wou-ti, and
Hiao-wou-ti. Even in more modern times, and rela-
tive to a character so notorious as Confucius, no less
than three dates are equally affirmed to be true. As
to Hoang-ti, who is said to have begun the culture
of silk, we are inclined to prefer the latter account,
1703 B. c, which makes him contemporary with
Joseph, when prime minister over the land of Egypt.

As a confirmation of this, it may be stated, that
by referring to the account given of nine"* of the
patriarchs at this period, we shall find that the aver-
age age of man was then 186 years; and that the
duration of human life, before much greater, soon
after rapidly declined. Now the average duration
of the reigns of the first threet Chinese emperors,
including Hoang-ti was 118 years; of the five that
immediately succeeded, only 68 years. After this,
until the Christian era, the average duration of a
single reign of the Chinese emperors did not exceed
23 years, and thence until the present time not 13
years. Since, therefore, the average duration of the
reign of the first three emperors bears an evident and
fit proportion to that of the age of man at the period
specified, though not at any other before or after,
being in the former case as much too small as it
would in the latter be too great, the opinion we have
offered is the only one that can be consistent with
these striking facts ; and, if duly considered, presents
an argument strongly corroborating the view we
have taken of the subject.

The attempt to establish any greater certainty, in
a case of this nature, the Chinese during the dynasty
of Tschin, having, to conceal the truth, destroyed
every thing authentic, would be in vain. It would
be even more rational to have recourse to the Vedas,
or sacred books of the Brahmins, or to records in the

• Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Joseph : Gen, xi, 16 to 26 ; xlvii. 28 ; and 1. 26.
f Fohi, Eohi Xinum, and Hoang-ti.

HISTORY OF SILK. 21

ancient Sanscrit, were it not a well known fact, that
nearly all ancient nations, except the Jews, actuated
by the same ambiiion, have betrayed a wish to have
their origin traced as far back as the creation. And
in the gratification of this passion none are so noto-
riously pre-eminent as the Egyptians, Hindoos, and
Chinese. For them the limits of the creation itself
have been too narrow, and days, weeks, and even
months too short, unless multiplied into years.*

Whenever authentic records fail, fable or hypothe-
sis alone can supply the place. The former can only
amuse us with a whole host of gods, demi-gods,
satyrs, nymphs, and heroes. As to the latter, our
only alternative is to select the one that has the
strongest presumptive testimony in its favour.

The strong resemblance, in several respects, be-
tween the Chinese and the ancient Egyptians, has
almost irresistibly given rise to the conjecture that
originally they were the same people. M. de Mairau
informs us, that the Egyptians and Chuiese were
strikingly similar in the following points : the same
permanency of manners, abhorrence of innovation,
aversion to war, a superficial knowledge of the arts
and sciences without the ability to make improve-
ments or discoveries ; and, in more remote times, the
use of hieroglyphics. A festival of the Egyptians
called the feast of the tights, corresponds to that of
the Chinese, tlie feast of the lanterns : the features
of the Chinese resemble the ancient Egyptian statues;
and certain characters engraven on an Egyptian
bust of Isis were found to belong to the Chinese lan-
guage.

" If we find," says M. Bailly, " in the scattered
huts of peasants, fragments interspersed of sculptured
columns, we conclude with certainty that they are
not the work of the rude peasants who reared those
huts, but that they are the remains of a magnificent
building, the work of able architects, though we dis-

* See Dr. A. Clarke's remarks : end of Gen.

22 HISTORY OP SILK.

cover no other traces of the existence of that building,
and cannot ascertain where was its precise situation."
From this argument, and a comparison of the man-
ners, customs, opinions, and attainments of the In-
dians, Persians, Chinese, Chaldeans, and Egyp-
tians, and a discovery of many circumstances of
similarity between all those nations, M. Bailly comes
to the singular conclusion, that the knowledge com-
mon to all has been derived from the same original
source, a most ancient and highly cultivated people
of Asia, of which every trace is new extinct.*

* " The sciences and arts of the Chinese have been stationary for 2000
years. The Chaldeans were a comparatively enlightened people at the
commencement of the Babylonish empire, or so early as 1900 a. m.
We find, soon afterwards, that they were astronomers, and understood
the revolutions of the celestial bodies. The Chaldeans probably pro-
ceeded from this ancient people. In the leading and more essential
points of theology, the belief of the Brahmins is the same as was that
of the Chaldeans, though subsequently intermingled with many ab-
surdities, the result of their superstition and ignorance. The elegant
and copious language, the Sanscrit, the source of all Indian knowledge,
has been now a dead language for more than 2000 years, and is intelli-
gible only to a few of the Brahmins. It was probably the language of
that great and ancient people.

" The custom of libations and religious ablutions was common to the
Tartars, Chinese, and Hindoos, as well as to the Greeks and Romans.
All the Asiatic nations had festivals of the nature of the Roman saturn-
alia. The tradition of the deluge is diftused among all those nations ;
and that of the giants attacking heaven, (tower of Babel) is equally
general. The doctrine of the metempsychosis was common to the
Eiryptians, Greeks, Indians, Persians, Tartarians, and Chinese. A
conformity in a true doctrine is no proof of iniitunl communication or
concert ; hut it is ingeniously remarked, that a conformity in a false
doctrine comes very near to such a pro(f."

"The Egyptians, Chaldeans, Indians, Persians, and Chinese, all
placed their temples fronting the east. All these nations had a cycle
or period of 60 years for regulating their chronology. They all divided
the circle into 300 degrees ; the zodiac into 12 signs, and the week into
7 days. The Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians distinguished the seven
days of the week by the names of the seven planets ranged in the same
order. The long measures of the ancient nations had all one common
origin."

" These singular coincidences," says M. Bailly, " can be explained
only upon one or the other of the following three suppositions: 1st,
that there was a free connnunication between all those ancient nations ;
2ndly, that those circumstances of coincidence are so founded in human

HISTORY OP SILK. 23

From the Egyptians, it is well known, that the
Greeks, those venerable models of fine taste, of the
arts and sciences, received the first rudiments of their
knowledge. And M. de Gnignes of the Academy
of Sciences and Belles Lettres in France, has present-
ed strong presumptive testimony that the Chinese,
(he might probably have added the Hindoos,) were
originally an Egyptian colony. He has discovered
the very remarkable fact, that the first Chinese
sovereigns were precisely the same, as those of
Thebes in Upper Egypt. He concludes from thence,
with sufficient reason, that an Egyptian emigration,
of which we find some traces in their history, settled
themselves upon the borders of the eastern ocean,
and grafted the history of their native place, upon
that of the soil of their adopted country. He more-
over points out an evident affinity between the
Chinese alphabet and the Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Whether M. de Guignes is correct in his conjectures
or not, it is certain, that there is an extraordinary
similitude in the manners, genius, morals, and cha-
racter of these two distant nations; and it must be
confessed that the collective testimonies adduced by
him approximate to that evidence which demands
conviction.

Admitting, as is equally, if not still more probably
a fact, that the Chinese emigrated from the Hindoos,
and the latter from the Egyptians, Sir Wilham Jones,
consistently with the above hypothesis, and with
evidence deduced from the high authority of the
Sanscrit, traces the origin of the Chinese from the
Hindoos. He appeals to passages of the ancient
Sanscrit records, which mention a migration of certain
of the military class termed Chinas from India to the
countries east from Bengal. If to a declaration from

nature, that the most unconnected nations could not fail to hit upon them ;
or, 3dly, that they have been all derived from a common source. He
rejects the two former suppositions as contrary, in his opinion, to the
ordinary course of things, as well as to matter of fact ; and adopts the
last."

24 HISTORY OF SILK.

the Sanscrit, by so competent an authority as Sir
WilUam Jones, be added the allowed affinity existing
between the manners, institutions, religion, and pecu-
liarities of the Hindoos and those of the Chinese, we
have an evidence relative to the origin of the latter,
which, if it obtain not our entire credence, is, at least,
entitled to our respect.

But our belief of this is further strengthened from
the consideration, that in the days of Ninus, a. m.,
1995, the Assyrian empire extended from Egypt to
Bactria,* now a part of Bukharia ; and in the time
of Semiramis, the conquests were pursued to the south
and east, as far as the river Indus. The transit,
therefore, of Egyptian colonists to India or Hindoos-
tan, at this time, was easy ; since one interest, or one
government prevailed from Egypt on the southwest
to Bactria on the north, and to the Indus on the
southeast. Nineveht founded by Asshur,:]: the second
son of Shem, who gave his name to Assyria, was in
the early part of the reign of Semiramis the metro-
polis of the Assyrian government, but in the latter
part, the capital was established at Babylon : the
Chaldeans, at that time, being a part of the same
empire. Both the Egyptians and Chaldeans were
renowned for their early acquaintance with the arts
and sciences. We perceive, therefore, the united lore
of both already on the march to India. And if the
rest of that march we give up to the high authorities
of Sir William Jones and the Sanscrit, that announce
to us an " early migration of the military class, the
Chinas from India to countries east of Bengal," we
are, together with our Egyptian and Chaldean§ colo-
nists, in China at once.

* Bactra, the capital, was about (50 miles to the north of the present
Samarcand, the metropolis of the great conqueror Tamerlane.

■j- Now called Mossul, on the banks of the Tigris.

\ Cfen. X. 11 and 32.

§ " In confirmation that all men have been derived from one family,
let it be observed, that there are many customs and usages, both sacred
and civil, which have prevailed in all i)arts of the world, which could
owe their origin to nothing but a general institution, that could never

fHOPERn UBRABT
N, C, Siaie Cota^e

HISTORY OF SILK. 25

But who was Fohi, or Uie supposed first Chinese
emperor? And who were the Seres, tlie reputed first
cuhivators of silk, and where did they dwell ? We
shall begin with the latter inquiry first.

Dr. Lardner informs us that " Se is the name for
silk in the Chinese language ; this, by a faulty pro-
nunciation in the frontier provinces, acquired the
finai r, thus changing the word into Ser, the very
name adopted by the Greeks." And under the word
2»^ in the Lexicon of Hesychius we read o-xa)x>i| ymZ* to
a-x^U-.v, the worm which produces the silk thread. Its
plural is found in the same sense in the letter of the
emperor Julian, o/ u^c-mc) <r)7g«c, the Persian silk worms.
Seres also in the plural, was employed by the Greeks
and Romans to signify the people who attended to
silk worms. Hence Serica, the country of the Se7'es ;
which was sometimes written Sereinda, a term ap-
plicable indefinitely to any country inhabited by the
Seres* or silk growers, beyond the Indus.t

By the ancients, and in maps of ancient geography,
Serica is differently placed, sometimes more to the

have existed, had not mankind been of the same blood originally, and
instructed in the same common notions before they were dispersed.
Among these usages may be reckoned, 1. The numbering by tens. 2.
Their computing time by a cycle oi seven days. 3. Their setting apart
the seventh day for religious purposes. 4. Their use of sacrifices, pro-
pitiatory, and eucharistical. 5. The consecration of temples and altars.
6. The institution of sanctuaries cr places of refuge, and their privi-
leges. 7. Their giving a tenth part (tythe) of the produce of their
fields, &c. for the use of the altar. 8. The custom of worshipping the
Deity bare-footed. 9. Abstinence from sensual gratification previous to
offering sacrifice. 10. The order of priesthood and its support. 11.
The notion of legal pollutions, defilements, &c. 12. The universal
tradition of a general deluge. 13. The universal opinion tliat the rain-
boio was a divine sign or portent, &c. See Dodd." Dr. A. Clarke on
Gen. X. 26.

The Chinese use certain purifications even before they enter their
cocooneries. See a summary of the principal Chinese Treatises on the
Culture of Silk, &c., published in 1838, by P. Force, Washington.

* Hence the Greek term for silk, a-ngin'.v, the Latin sericum, the Ita-
lian seta, the French soie, and the English silk: In more modem
times, from 0c,/uSv^, or Bombyx mori, the caterpillar of the mulberry, we
find the terms Bombycina, and Bombykia employed to signify silk.

■J- Not beyond the Ganges as lias been inconsidcratclv ulfirmed.
3

26 HISTORY OF SILK.

east, at others to the west, but never beyond the 48th
degree of north latitude. This is indefinite, but easily
accounted for from the consideration that the ancients
had only a confused idea of central Asia. They gave
it the vague denomination of Scythia beyond Im-
maus, though that included that vast region, now
known as Chinese Tartary, ranging from the Belur-
tag mountains on the west to the Pacific on the east.
They, therefore, wrote so imperfectly of the exact
position of Seres, Serica, or Sericcme, as to occasion
considerable dispute amongst European writers on
the subject, whilst some, for no better reason than
that deduced from the more modern site of the silk
crade, have placed it in northern China. But we are
informed by Madame Coind6, that an enlightened
critic, without stating his name, has assigned satisfac-
tory reasons for placing aboriginal Serica in little Bu-
charia, a country crossing the 40th parallel of north
latitude near the eastern fronts of the Belur-tag moun-
tains; whence migration subsequently may have taken
place to China proper.

We have seen that the most probable account re-
lative to the time of Fohi, said to have been the first
Chinese emperor, is, that he reigned 2057 years be-
fore the Christian era, or in the year of the world
1947. "According to the most current opinion,"
says M. Lavoisne, " China was founded by one of
the colonies formed at the dispersion of Noah's pos-
terity, under the conduct of Yao, who took for his
colleague Chun, afterwards his successor. But most
writers consider Fohi to have been Noah himself."

Now the deluge terminated a. m. 1657, and Noah
lived after the deluge 350 years,* and therefore died
A. M. 2007 ; and as Fohi is said to have reigned 1 14
years, before Eohi Chun or Chinun succeeded him,
he was cotemporary, at least, with Noah. The ark
rested on Mount Ararat, which is generally allowed to
be one of the mountains of Armenia, to the east of

• Gen. ix. 28.

HISTORY OF SILK. 27

the head of the Tigris. And here the same author
remarks, that " in rather less than a century and a
liah', after the birth of Peleg, it is supposed that Noah,
being then about his S40th year, wearied with the
growing depravity of his descendants, retired with a
select company to a remote corner of Asia, and there
began what in after ages has been termed the Chinese
nx)narchy." Little Bukharia assigned by Madame
Coinde as the first settlement of the Seizes, frequently
translated Chinese, is certainly not far from the head
of the Tigris. But here we take our leave of hypo-
thesis, being not partial to any beyond what truth
and future investigation will warrant, contenting our-
selves with having shown that the most respectable
testimonies relative to China are compatible Avith the
most authentic records, now extant, in the world.

Having offered these preliminary remarks, and given
the most credible hypotheses to supply the place of
absolute fiction ; finding also that the theories and
even reputable testimonies presented by Messieurs
JNIairan, Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William Jones, are
perfectly compatible with each other, and allow us
to demonstrate that the transit of more central abori-
gines, since the deluge, to the extremes of China, was
perfectly feasible, and a matter of even high proba-
bility, we have sufficient warrant to decline repeating
whatever any one else has said relative to the ex-
treme antiquity of the first discovery of silk. With
a considerable portion of mankind, the passion for
the marvellous is excessive. China and other distant
regions have been a convenient fund to draw upon.
Had it not been for this source, the legends of Greek
and Roman mythology having been long since given
up as the mere bagatelle for the school-boy, there
would have been a dearth. Fortunately for this pur-
pose China is remote, access to her is denied, her
ancient records are burnt; yet what has been written
since, we are told, is more ancient than P^gyptian
pyramids. Thus the fund is renewed; and in our
search for the new and strange, we are, conveniently

28 HISTORY OP SILK.

enough, sent to China, to the Pelew Islands, to the
depths of Nubia, to Gondar, or to Tombuctoo, where,
of course, no one else can go. Of emperors the Chi-
nese boast of 244, from Fohi the first, to Kia-Kim the
present sovereign; and of gods, goddesses, demi-gods,
and semi-goddesses, heroes, heroines, satyrs, fauns,
the Pelopidse, Heraclidffi, Labdacides, and Tynda-
rida3, river, wood, and mountain nymphs of Greek
and Roman mythology, without the name of empe-
ror, king, or consul of authentic history, we ourselves
can furnish, by genealogy and pedigree, a catalogue
of more than 66G, and calculate, as well as the
Jesuits, eclipses for them too, if required ; and how
many more they had, to whom as yet we have not
had the honour of an introduction, we know not.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

In Russcl's View of Ancient and Modern Egypt wc find, relative to
the subject of the preceding chapter, so many vahiL'.liIe remarks, and that
evidence, whicli it has cost iho world ages to collect, that we cannot
persuade ourselves to withhold such as our limits will allow from our
readers ; and therefore add the following notes.

1 . "It has long been an object of inquiry among scholars to discover
the channel through which civilization, science, and an acquaintance
with the liberal arts first reached the valley which is watered by the
Nile. Without analyzing the numerous hypotheses which have been
successively formed and abandoned, we shall state at once as the most
probable of the opinions that have been entertained on this subject, that
the stream of knowledge, from the first family, accompanied the progress
of commerce along the banks of those great rivers, which fall into the
Persian Gulf and thence along the coast of Arabia to the shores of the
Eed Sea. There is the best reason to believe that those passes or lateral
defiles which connect the sea just named with the river of Egypt, wit-
nessed the earliest migration of colonists from Asia ; who, in tlie pur-
suits of commerce, or in search of more fertile lands, or of mountains
enriched with gold, found their way into Nubia and Abyssinia. Mean-
time it is possible, a similar current set eastward across the mouths of
the Indus, carryuig arts and institutions of a corresponding character
into ihe countries which stretch from that river to the great peninsula
of Hindoostan.

2. " The most obvious confinnation of the opinion now stated may
he drawn from the striking resemblance which is luiown to subsist be-

HISTORY OF SILK. 29

tween the usages, the suptTstition*:. the arts, ant' the mythology of the
ancient inhabitants of western India, and those of the first settlers on the
Upper IS'ile. The temples of jVubia, lor example, exhibit the same
features, whether as to the style of architecture, or the form of worship
which must have been practised in thpm, with the similar buildings
which have been recently examined in the neighbourhood of Bombay.
In both cases they consist of vast excavations hewn out of the solid
body of a hill or mountain, and are decorated with huge figures which
mdicate the same powers of nature, or serve as emblems to denote the
same qualities in the ruling spirits of the universe.

3. " As a further proof of this hvpothesis, we are informed that the
Sepoys who joined the British armv in Egypt under Lord Hutchinson,
unagined that they found their own temples in the ruins of Dendera,
and were greatly exasperated at the natives for their neglect of the an-
cient deities, whose images are still preserved. So strongly indeed were
they themselves impressed with this identity, that they proceeded to
perform their devotions with all the ce;-emonies practised in their own
land. There is a resemblance too. in the minor instruments of their
superstition — the lotus, the lingam, and the serpent, — which cau hardly
be regarded as accidental ; but it is no doubt in the immense extent, the
gigantic plan, the vast conception which appear in all their sacred
buildings, that we most readilv discover the influence of the same lofty
genius, and the endeavour to ai'coinphsh the same mighty object. The
excavated temple of Guerfeh Hassan, for instance, remiuds every travel-
ler of the cave of Elcphanta. The resemblance, indeed, is singularly
strildng ; as are all the leading principles of Egyptian architecture to
those of the Hindoos. Many even of the rites and emblems are pre-
cisely the same, especially those of the temples dedicated to Iswara, the
Indian Bacchus. In truth they are so much alike that the same workman
might almost be supposed to have superintended the execution of them in
both countries. In India and in Egj^pt the hardest granite mountains have
been cut down into the m^st striking, if not the most beautiful fronts of
temples ado.Tied with sculpture. In both countries larse masses of rocks
have been excavated into hollow chambers, whose sides are embelhshed
with columns and statues of men and animals carved out of the same
stone ; and in each are found solid blocks of many hundred tons weight,
separated from the adjoining mountain, and lifted up into the air.
By whom and by what means these wonderful efforts have been ac-
complished is a mystery sunk too deep into the abyss of time ever to be
revealed. We need only compare the monolithic temples of Nubia with
those of Mahabulipoor, the excavations of Guerfeh Hassan with those
of Elephanti, and the grottoes of Hadjur Silsih with the caverns of El-
lora, to be convinced that these sacred monuments of ancient days de-
rived their origin from the same source."

4. " A resemblance of a corresponding nature has been discovered in
the reUgious usages of the Chinese compared with those of the Egyptians,
particularly in what is called the feast of lamps, a festival annually ob-
served by the latter people, a: id graphically described by Herodotus
This coincidence led M. de Guign s to conclude that the first inhabi-
tants of China mu?t have been a colony from Egypt. But it is easy to
account for all such facts on a much more rational hypothesis. No one

3*

30 HISTORY OF SILK.

can have failed to remark, that ainongj the more ancient nations, thore
is a great similarity in point of tradition, hal)it.s, opinions, knowledge,
and history. The Babylonians, the Egi/p/ians, the Asayriann, the
Hindoos, and the descendants of Abraham, held many things in com-
mon respecting the creation of the world, the great deluge, the disper-
sion of the human race, and the first institution of laws and religioua
worship. Hence we may conclude that the general agreement in these
particulars, which we contemplate among the more primitive tribes of
mankind, ought to be ascribed to the instruction which they had re-
ceived while as yet they were but one family, or to the traditionary
tenets which had spread, with here and there a little variation, with the
diverging lines of their successive tribes, though derived originally from
the same source.

5. " But by far the most striking point of resemblance between the
ancient inhabitants of Egypt and of India is the institution of castes;
that singular arrangement which places an insuperable barrier between
diflerent orders of men in the same country, and renders their respective
honours, toils, and degradations, strictly hereditary and permanent.
Before tue invention of letters, indeed, mankind may be said to have
been perpetually in their infancy ; whence arose the expedient, founded
in a view for the public good, of compelling sons to cultivate the arts
which had originated in their families, and to follow the professions
whereby their fathers had acquired distinction. The narrative of Hero-
dotus bears evidence to the same institution at an early period among
the Egyptians. And his statement when compared with that of Dio-
dorus Siculus at a later epoch, removes every shadow of doubt in regard
to the identity of the principle from which this political arrangement must
have originally proceeded."

The reader will not be disappointed in perusing the whole of the
highly interesting volume from which these notes are extracted.

HISTORY OF SILK. 31

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF SILK TO THE PERIOD WHEN SILK WORMS
WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE.

Though we are called upon in this chapter to give
the chronology relative to the early culture of silk,
as found in Chinese documents, yet we are by no
means pledged to affirm that either in the authenticity
of the books, or in the correctness of the dates have
we any faith. The whole of this, for the several
irrefragable objections already assigned, is exceed-
ingly questionable. M. Lavoisne dates the com-
mencement of the Chinese dynasties at a. m.* 1816,
or 159 years after the deluge. The Rev. J. Robinson
of Christ Col., Cam., at a. m. 1947. We have already
given as strong reasons, as under the extreme incer-
titude of the case, can, perhaps, be offered, for pre-
ferring the latter: the important points may be briefly
stated, thus:

End of the deluge j-1657 a. m.

Fohi, first emperor, began to reign 1 947 a, m.

Noah died ., 2007 a.m.

Eohi Chinun, second emperor, began to reign 2061 a. sr.

Hoang-ti, the third emperor, began to reign 2201 a. m.

Hoang-ti, after establishing the silk culture, died 2301 a. m.

And was therefore contemporary with Joseph when administering the
afiairs of Egypt.

We have already seen that Seres is the term origi-
nally employed for the silk growe?'s, and since iden-

• We prefer this mode (a. m. anno mundi, in the year of the world)
of marking the time of events prior to the birth of Christ, which ac-
cording to the commonly received chronology was a. m. 4004.

•}- It will here not be improper to observe that the Samaritan text and
Septuagint version of the Hebrew, carry the deluge as far back as to the
year 3716 before Christ; or 1000 years before the Chinese account of
Hoang-ti. On this subject see the New Analysis of Chronology, by
the Rev. W. Hales, D.D., 4to. 3 vol.

32 HISTORY OP SILK.

tified with the Chinese : Serica, the silk growing
country, was therefore that of the Seres. Serica, in
the most indefinite sense, was thought to be some
region within what we call Chinese Tartary : by
others, perhaps, inconsiderately placed in China pro-
per ; but by an ingenious author, quoted, but not
named, by Madame Coinde, in Little Bukharia, near
the Belur-tag mountains. We are not disposed to
contemplate Screinda, or the silk country beyond the
Indus, as a distinct section of Serica. The course of
the Indus, from which Sereinda is designated, is on
the western frontiers of the Belur-tag mountains,
which to a considerable distance, but not uniformly,
form the western boundaries of Little Bukharia ; and
the source of the Indus has been traced nearly as high
as the 40th parallel of north latitude. We, therefore,
contemplate the primitive settlement of the aboriginal
Seres, or the ancient Serica, or Sereinda, as the same
country ; and about five degrees to the south, but on
the same meridian with the present city of Cashgar;
and consequently between the sources of the Indus
on the west, and the Belur-tags on the east. And
sections of this original colony might subsequently
migrate to Hindoostan on the south, or to China on
the east. Whether this was the cradle of the first silk
culture or not, the general interest, in process of time,
would naturally set in with the tide of migration and
move easterly, until we find the great emporium
within the limits of the Celestial Empire.

Here, doubtless, the Seres would be in the time of
so late a Roman writer as Ammianus Marcellinus,
quoted by Dr. Lardner. " Marcellinus describes the
Seres as a sedate and gentle people, who avoid all
contentions with neighbouring nations, and are, there-
fore, free from the miseries and alarms of war. Being
without the necessity for using offensive weapons,
they are even unacquainted with them. Blessed
with a fertile soil, and a delicious and salubrious cli-
mate, they are represented as passing their happy
days in the most perfect tranquillity and delightful

HISTORY OF SILK. 33

leisure, amid shady groves fanned by gentle breezes,
and producing fleeces of downy wool, which after
being sprinkled ivith water, is combed off in the
finest threads, and woven into sericum." Marcel-
liniis proceeds to describe the Seres as being content
with their own felicitous condition, and so reserved
in their intercourse with the rest of mankind, that
when foreigners venture within their boundaries for
wrought and unwrought silk, and other vahiable ar-
ticles, they consider the price offered in silence, and
transact their business without exchanging a word :
a mode of tralffc which is still practised in some
eastern countries. How nearly this corresponds to
the singularly immutable manners of the Chinese of
the present age, is sufficiently obvious.

But would we know what account the Chinese
themselves give relative to the earliest introduction
of the silk culture, we shall find it in the French ver-
sion of the Chinese Treatises, by JNI. Stanislas Julien,
or in the following words of p. 77 and 78, as trans-
lated and published in 1838, at Washington, under
the title of " Summary* of the principal Chinese
Treatises upon the Culture of the Mulberry, and the
rearing of Silk Worms,"

"In the book on silk worms we read — the lawful
wife of the emperor Hoang-ti, named Si-ling-chi,
began the culture of silk. It was at that time that
the emperor Hoang-ti invented the art of making
garments."

" Observations by the Translator. — The same fact
is mentioned more in detail in the general history of
China, by P. Mailla, in the year 2602t before our
era, (4438 years ago.)"

* " This Summary was first translated from the Chuiese, by M. Stan-
islas Julien, member of the French Institute, and Professor of Chinese
Literature in the College of France, and printed at the royal press in
Paris by order of the minister of public works, agriculture, and com-
merce. The French copy from which this translation was made, was
transmitted from Paris to the secretary of state, and by his recommen-
dation has been translated and pubhslied at Washington."

•j" Not 2700 B. c. as commonly repeated.

34 HISTORY OF SILK.

"This great prince, Hoang-ti, was desirous that
Si-ling-chi, his legitimate wife, should contribute to
the happiness of his people. He charged her to ex-
amine the silk Avorms, and to test the practicability
of using the thread. Si-ling-chi had a large quantity
of these insects collected, which she fed herself, in a
place prepared solely for that purpose, and discovered
not only the means of raising them, but also the
manner of reeling the silk, and of employing it to
make garments."

"It is through gratitude for so great a benefit," says
the history, entitled Wai-ki, "that posterity has deified
Si-ling-chi, and rendered her particular honours un-
der the name of the goddess of silk worms* (Me-
moirs on the Chinese, vol. 13, p. 240.)"

* Whatever of these extracts is important we shall, in the notes, in-
troduce, in the proper place; and take this opportunity to observe, once
for all, that no doubt to nia;:y the Chinese prescriptions will frequently
appear to be blended \vi;!i superstition, or with what we should have
thought too trifling for the sense and science of a people of 4000 years.
But since M. Camille Boauvais's well known enthusiasm for the intro-
duction of improvement in the culture of the mulberry and rearing of
silk worms has led him to commend, in almost unqualified terms, what-
ever the Chinese say on the subject, we shall, wherever occasion re-
quires, introduce their rules as we find them, leaving it to the reader's
judgment and experience to determine what is unnecessaiy.

On this subject, we quote as follows from the preface to the American
edition. "Notwithstanding the superiority of the French in the arts
and sciences, and length of time which has elapsed since the introduction
of the manufacture of silk into France, (in the reign of Francis I.,) the
fact of the great superiority of the Chinese culture is frankly admitted
by M. Camille Beauvais, the gentleman at whose instance the French
minister directed the translation to be made from the Chinese works.
Such is the strength of his testimony on this point, that he asserts,

" THE CHINESE LOSK IN THE HEAIlINt; StAHCKLY ONE I'Ell CENT. OF
THEin WORMS, WHEREAS THE FRENCH LOSE MORE THAN FIFTY !"

" Some minds, influenced by ancient traditions," says M. Beauvais,
"will perhaps consider this multitude of trilling attentions, which the
Chinese lavish ujjon the silk worms as childish ; others will only see
some proceedings little difl'erent from theirs in appearance, or will say,
that they may be proper to the climate of China, and not ajiplicable in
ours. But time and experience will, I hope, cause these natural
methods, these delicate attentions, these wise and multiplied precau-
tions, the Chinese authors recommend to be appreciated at their just
value."

HISTORY OF SILK. 35

We have here an example of the good sense, which,
in this respect at least, the Chinese have evinced not
only in primeval but also in subsequent times. The
attention of the "powers that be," do not seem there

After this explanation we shall add the most important points from
the translation of these Chinese works now before us.

" It is written in the Book on Worms," one of the five canonical
books, chapter Pin-fong, Ode I., " In the month when the silk worms
are fed (fourth month) the leaves of the mulberry trees must be ga-
thered." ' This chapter was composed by Tcheou-kons, uncle to the
emperor Tcking-wang, 1115 years before our era.' — St. Julien.

'• We read in the Li-ki, or book of Ceremonies, one of the five cano-
nical books, in the chapter Youei-sing :

' In the last spring month, the young empress purifies herself, and
offera a sacrifice to the goddess of silk worms,^ (^"fiT important !) ' She
goes to the fields, situated to the east, and gathers mulberry leaves her-
self. She forbids the noble ladies and ministers' wives all ornamental
dress, who sew and embroider, so that they may be able to give all their
attention to the raising of silk worms.'

" The Li-ki, or book of Rites, from which this passage has been ex-
tracted, was compiled by Confucius, whose birth was 551 b. c."

" In the work entitled Nong-sang-ihong-kioue, we read :

' The place called kien-kouan, (or the house of cocoons,) is that
where the empress herself raises silk worms. In ancient times, there
was a plantation of mulberry trees, belonging to the state, and a build-
ing called Tsan-cki, (or the house of the silk worms,) which had the
same destination, which is now designated kien-kouan, viz. the house
of cocoons.

' The young empress purifies herself, and offers a sacrifice to the god-
dess of the silk worms, as an example to the whole empire, and to pro-
mote the general culture of silk. The empress repairs to a mulberry
plantation. She first cuts a branch ; an attendant who holds a basket,
receives the leaves ; afterwards the empress cuts three branches. A
maid of honour, endowed with the title of Chang-ckou, (or president,)
throws herself on her knees, and says, if is enough.' (Does M. Beau-
vais wish all this to be attended to !) It is forbidden to carry the leaves
to that part of the palace called Ken-chi, or golden house."

" The author of the work entitled Nong-song-thong-kioue continues
to quote some analogous facts, which he had gathered from the history
of the emperors, from the years of Thien-pao, 968, of the dynasty of
Song, under wliich he lived, so as to show, that from the highest an-
tiquity, the empress raised silk worms as an example to the whole em-
pire."

" In the work entitled Tsan-lun, or Considerations on the silk worm,
we notice :

" Every species of tree requires a particular soil, except the mulberry
tree alone, which grows everywhere, and consequently there is not a
single place in the empire where silk worms camiot be raised."

36 HISTORY OF SILK.

SO much directed either to support and extend society
in an artificial condition, or in political wrangling and
intrigue ; but in the promotion of that natural and
salutary state, which can only be maintained by a
due proportion between production and consumption,
especially in reference to every agricultural depart-
ment. And, therefore, in this, the productive class is
encouraged l3y imperial or royal sanction and patron-
age. We have, therefore, before us, an historical
demonstration of the felicitous consequences of such
a polity : whilst it has in all ages of that vast empire
contributed to the comfort and consequent peace and
content of the many millions subject to its government,
it has by the same means combined the immense plains
of Chinese interests into one consolidated system of
independence and wealth.

This policy, found profitable at first, was continued
through a succession of generations too numerous for
even history to comprise ; and royal sanction and
patronage were perpetuated through a long line of
the empresses of 4000 years. The fair sex of all ranks
did not fail, under such fostering auspices, to copy a
precedent at once honourable in its character and
profitable to themselves. The example of encou-
raging domestic industry was shown by the emperor
and princes, mandarins, courtiers, and all orders be-
came clothed in silk. Thus China, at an early period,
was in possession of a secret that European nations
have not learned to this day : that the full encourage-
ment of home produce and manufacture is of far
greater consequence than foreign trade.

Such is the wise and steady coiuse that has been

This seems confirmed, since in the same notes we find the following
provinces of China where silk is raised, viz. Si-gan-fou, v^hich is now
the capital of the present provinces of Chen-si, Hunan, Chan-si, Hou-
nan, Chan-tong, Hou-kouung, Sse-tchouen. There are similar short
and detached historical notices relative to the years 163 b. c, 156 b. c,
•18 B. c, .58 A. D., 220 A. 1)., 26.5 and 275 a. d., 454 and 457 a. d., but
none of them contain any thing important to Americans or new or un-
known, as to the culture, to moderns, except such peculiarities as we
have already specified.

HISTORY OF SILE. 37

exemplified and transmitted from emperor to emperor,
and from empress to empress. It seems to declare
to the world that the permanency of nations cannot
exist, except where the interest of the government
and that of the people is such as to be identical. It
is not the theory of a political economist, but an ex-
periment that has been tested by centuries. For its
verity time himself has been appealed to, and has
given a verdict that is a salutary lesson to those that
have neglected it. Its utility and profit to the indi-
vidual and to the nation have been too reciprocal to
require distinction, and as changeless as the necessities
of man.

A state occupied in the pursuits of war, or in inter-
national feuds and distraction, is embarked in the
career of national hazard and popular suffering. But
the emperor, prince, or government, monarchical or
republican, that smiles on the amenities of peace, by
extending its fostering energies collaterally with the
wants of man, and encourages production proportion-
ate to necessity, adopts a policy which has the highest
claim of any thing secular to perpetuity. Thus an
adequate impetus is given to industry; national broils
are merged in the prospect of domestic comfort, and
dissatisfaction is exchanged for contentment; salutary
habits are instituted ; new prospects are introduced
and urged ; and reciprocal interests are national
sinews. To promote this, a spring is bent of imperial
steel : and what is the consequence ? The mulberry,
the orchard, the plantation, and even the very insects
are put in requisition. An easy, a pleasant, and a
profitable mode of employment is established suit-
able to all ranks, all ages, and constitutions. In
this, industry becomes nobility and imparts it.
The emperors, the empresses, princes, mandarins,
courtiers, the affluent, the learned, all, were in the
ranks. National and home wants were supplied;
commerce lends her wings ; ships and caravans
moved ; oceans and seas gave their aid, and deserts
looked gay ; solitudes, if not made to blossom, were

4

38 HISTORY OF SILK.

seen to smile ; the Parthians, the Hindoos, the Per-
sees, the Arabs, the Syrians, the Phoenicians, were
converting the wastes of Asia into the panorama of
activity: all western tribes were seen in travelling
communities, and the " wealth of the Indies" became
a proverb current as far as the shores of Colombia.
Thus China has stood as a monument, with the age
and firmness of a pyramid, to testify to the world,
that whilst many states have felt the alternate favours
and caprice of fortune, or have fallen as suddenly as
they rose in the scale of nations, she, by pursuing a
policy differing from all, has stood the test of 4000
years.

This career of industry and domestic production
found so beneficial at first, is continued to the present.
By adverting to the preface of the Washington edition
of the Summary we have mentioned, we read that,
" the egg of this insect exceeds not the size of a grain
of mustard seed, yet so amazing are the results, that
the proceeds of its industry actually constitute the
chief source of wealth to the most populous, and per-
haps the richest nation of the globe. In the language
of a French writer, ' If the cocoons in China were
collected together they would form mountains.' The
two provinces of Nanking and Chakiang, alone send
every year to the court three hundred and sixty-five
barks laden not only with pieces of wrought silk,
satins, and velvets of various kinds and colours, but
even with rich and costly garments of the same ma-
terial." If two provinces, only, annually send this
quantity, and that merely to the court, what all the
provinces transmit not only for national consumption,
but to the other parts of Asia, and to the rest of the
world, we may conjecture, but cannot estimate.*

* The singular mode by which weaving or the manufacture of silk
fabrics is conducted in some parts of China, is thus narrated at page 18
of vol. 1, of the Silk Culturist.

" Silk looms in Europe arc of the most simple construction, but when
contrasted with the contrivances in India, would seem to give them a
decided advantage. In Indiei, the weaver weaves his web ia the open

HISTORY OF SILK. 39

It is a singular mystery attached to the history of
the culture of silk, "that before silk worms were
brought to Constantiuople, in the middle of the sixth
century, no person in that capital," nor apparently
beyond the precincts of China, " knew that silk was
produced by a worm."* Notwithstanding this, not
onl}'" were silk fabrics transmitted to distant nations,
but also the raw material, which employed manufac-
tories in Persiaj Tyre, Berytus, and in Cos, an island
of the Archipelago.t It is obvious that had the use

air. He first selects a station for his work, generally under a tree, that
its foliage may protect him from the scorching rays of the sun. He
then extends the threads which compose the warp of his intended fabric
lengthwise between two bamboo rollers, which are fastened to the ground
by means of wooden pins. He then digs a hole in the earth large
enough to contain his legs in a sitting posture. He next attaches to a
limb of the tree, the cords by which his harness is to be worked, and
to the lower shafts of the harness cords with loops of suflicient size to
admit the insertion of his great toes. With his web thus arranged, he
is prepared to commence weaving. This he does by putting his toe
in*o the loop of the cord attached to that part of the harness which he
wishes to tread down, and then with a shuttle introduces the woof and.
be.Us up by striking the threads of the woof with the shuttle instead of
a batten. The shuttle is in the form of a netting needle, and longer
than the breadth of the web. With this rude apparatus he manufac-
turi's a fabric of which an Italian silk weaver would be proud. If the
silk manufacture in China is so simple, and is so easily performed with-
out the aid of complicated machineiy, can it not be successfully prose-
cuted in a country abounding in machinists, with ingenuity to invent,
and skill to execute the most perfect machinery in the world ]

* Theophanes and Zonaras, the Byzantine historians quoted by Dr.
Lardner.

J Chateaubriand, in his travels, speaking of the isle of Zea, says, its
present commerce are acorns and silk. " Tiie silk gauze worn by the
ancients was invented at Ceos," the ancient name of Zea. " The poets,
to convey an idea of its fineness and transparency, called it woven ivlnd.
Zea still furnishes silk." " The women of Zea," says Tournefort,
" gi'nerally assemble in companies to spin silk, and they seat themselves
on the edge of the terraces at the top of the houses, that they may drop
the spindle down to the street, and draw it up again as they wind the
thread. In this attitude we found the Greek bishop : he inquired who
we were, and told us that our occupations were extremely frivolous, if
we came only to look for plants and old pieces of marble. We replied,
that we should be much more edified to see him with the works of St.
Chrysostom and St. Basil in his hand, than twirling the spindle."

The islaiad of Zea or Ceos and Cos have been confounded ; the latter
is 200 miles from the former up the Levant. TibuUus, Horace, and

40 HISTORY OF SILK.

of the silk worm been known at that island, the source
from which silk is derived would also have been
known at Byzantium. It is at the island of Cos,
however, that not only the marnifacture of silk is
reported to have been first known in the west, but of
a peculiar species of it. Pamphila is reputed to have
been the inventress. According to the testimony of
Aristotle, homhykiu* was respun and re woven at
this island. The imported fabric seems to have been
so costly as to form an inducement to Pamphila and
her associates to unweave the precious webs in order
to convert the substantial stuffs of Serica into a more
extended surface, or into a thin transparent gauze ;
and thus to gain in measure what was lost in sub-
stance. This Pamphilan expedient was subsequently
imitated by the Roman ladies, amongst whom the
foreign article seemed to have been one of increased
value, since it was the chains only of their rewoven
fabrics that were allowed to be of silk, the interstices
being filled up with linen or cotton, constituting a
sort of half silk stuffs. Yet, though the more costly
material of the mixture was thus attenuated, it did
not prevent the subsequent outcry against it, as too
extravagant an article for dress.

For centuries Persia seems to have enjoyed the
monopoly of the trade with India and China; though,
in later times, it is reported, that caravans were pass-
ing direct from the coasts of China to Syria, occupy-
ing a period of two hundred and forty-three days in
the transit ; whence the wealth of the Indies was
further transmitted by Arabs and Phoenicians to more
western parts. Notwithstanding all this intercourse,
and the curiosity that interest must naturally have
excited relative to the origin of silk, yet it appears,
through that finesse and subtle policy, which consti-

others make Cos, and not Ceos, the place where silk gauze was an-
ciently nianiifacturcd ; but common opinion is in favour of Ceos, and
the fact that the business is still carried on at the latter place to a con-
siderable extent is strongly in its favour.

* The fabric produced from the Bombyx, or silk worm.

HISTORY OF SILK. 41

tute the national characteristic of the Cliinese to the
present day, the western part of Asia, and Europe,
were kept in profound ignorance on this important
topic, until the secret was elicited by stratagem in the
sixth century. Notwithstanding the contumely with
which the character of Aristotle has been treated by
those who never either read him, or were disposed to
make candid allowance for the comparative darkness
of the times in which he lived, he appears, in the in-
vestigation of truth, even as to the silk worm, to have
been on the advance, not only of his cotemporaries,
but, for 800 years, of those that succeeded him.
It was fortunate for philosophy that his influence, as
a preceptor, was prevalent with Alexander. In con-
formity to his advice, he took out with him, on his
Asiatic expedition, 1000 men, whose exclusive com-
mission was to make collections in the several depart-
ments of zoology, and to transmit them, from time
to time, to the Grecian naturalist : to which were
added, on the return* of the victorious army of Alex-
ander, amongst other eastern luxuries, wrought silks
from Persia. Aristotle, therefore, seems to have been
thus enabled to give, though without naming the
country of its origin, the most accurate account of the
silk worm, describing it as a horned insect, passing
through successive transformations and producing
bo7nbykia.

Neither does Pliny seem to have been unacquainted
with the silk worm, though his description diliers
materially from that of the Grecian philosopher; but
of its use he evinces a total ignorance, since he affirms
that the fabrics unravelled and rewoven by the Ro-
man ladies, were the proceed of a woolly substance
combed from the leaves of trees to form the draperies
made and exported by the Seres. Assyria,! however,

• A, M. 3678. B. c. 326.

"t" Justin relates that Sardanapalus (a. m. 778) emperor of Assyria,
never left his palace, but spent his time with women and eunuchs
spinning with thein at the distaft'. Had it not been for the late period,
when the use of the mulbeiTy and silk worm was known at Constan-

4-

42 HISTORY or SILK.

he assigns as the country indigenous to the insect he
describes, and names Ceos (not Cos) an island of the
-ZEgean sea, as the seat of Pamphila, and the singu-
lar manufacture of which she was the inventress.

With the exception of the two naturalists already
mentioned, ancient writers,* for nearly nine centuries,
not only evince complete ignorance relative to the
origin of silk, bat also betray the most crude concep-
tions as to its production. At one time it was ima-
gined that Sericum was made either from fleeces
growing upon trees,! or from bark, or flowers ; at
another that the silken filament| was the proceed of
a species of spider or beetle. A strong interest must
have existed somewhere to have kept the whole of
this a secret ; and persevering, indefatigable, and vigi-
lant must have been the policy to have maintained it
such for so many centuries. Here we see a trait of
the Chinese, in v/liich they stand unequalled, and
without a parallel in any other nation.

This, together with other circumstances, will enable
us, in some degree, to account for the extreme scarcity,
for many centuries, of silk in Europe. So costly was
this article of luxury, that all knowledge of it was
chiefly confined to Rome, or to other cities of princely

tinople, charity, aided by this account of Pliny, would have inclined us
to attribute that as a virtue to this monarch, especially when his age at
the time is considered, which has been commonly imputed as a vice ; or
to suppose that he and his attendants were engaged at that period, on
the banks of the Tigris, in the laudable pursuit of producing silk ; and,
therefore, not suitod to the military taste of Arbaces governor of Media,
and affording an opportunity to the rapacity of Belesis, governor of
Babylon.

* Nearchus, Aristobulus, Theophrastus, Virgil, Dionysius, Periegetes,
Seneca, Arrian, Solinus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Claudian, Jerome, &c,

I " Vellera ut foliis dcpcctant tcnuia Seres." — Virgil.

I " I have long entertained the idea that the golden fleece which
Jason carried from Colchis, was a cargo, or perhaps only a skein of rich
golden coloured raw silk in the hank, which might figuratively be termed
a fleece, because it was to he twisted into thread and interwoven into
cloth. This at least is as plausible as the commonly received solu-
tion admitted by a celebrated historian not prone to credulity." — Note
to Martin's Translation of the Travels of Marco Polo, quoted by Dr.
Lardncr.

HISTORY or SILK. 43

residence. Before the reign of Augustus,* theiie is
little or no mention of it ; and its use, in that of Ti-
berius,! was restricted by sumptuary laws to women
of rank and fashion. Though this prohibition did
not, in summer, apply to the use of the lighter fabrics
of Cos by the men ; yet their extreme tenuity or
transparency, as an article of apparel, whether worn
by men or women, met the frowns, though with but
partial success, of the Roman satirists^ for more than
a century. §

Rome was at this time rapidly increasing in wealth,
and therefore in luxury. The demand for silk, as a
consequence, was no longer commensurate Avith the
scanty supply, and the price became exorbitant. To
obtain relief, or a more direct commercial communi-
cation, an embassy, by way of Egypt and India, was
sent, in the second century, by Marcus Antoninus. ||
The Chinese annals testify, that the changeless polity
of that country treated then, with the same reserve,
as it does now, all applications for foreign intercourse,
except through channels of long and tried fidelity.
The Persians, therefore, retained for centuries the
Indian monopoly, and their caravans laden Avith its
wealth traversed the wilds of Asia from the Celestial
Empire to the shores of Syria.

Had we no other proof that this state of things, for
some time, continued on the increase, that relative to
the Syrian voluptuary Heliogabalus,ir would be suf-
ficient ; of whose extravagance, after the Roman
writers have mentioned the particulars, they add, as
a climax in the list of his criminality, that he wore a
holosericiim, or a garment altogether made of silk.

It is added likewise as a further proof to the same

• B. C. 31. f A. D. 14.

^ Publius Syrus, Varro, Tibullus, Propertius, Horace, Seneca, Pliny,
and Juvenal. Pliny, 1. xi. c. 23. Tacit. Ann. 1. ii. c. 32.

§ According to the testimony of different writers, silk was not un-
frequently seen at Rome as early as in the reign of Tiberius, a. d. 17.
Galen, a. d. 173, mentions that the scarcity of silk was such that it
could be worn only by the rich.

B A. D. 177. H A. D. 222.

44 HISTORY OF SILK.

purpose, that Aiirelian* assigned as a reason for his
refusing his empress a similar hixury, that its cost
would be equal to its weight in gold.

It is easy to perceive the advantage which this
passion for dress, that, of course, accompanied the
Romans to Constantinople, offered to the Persians, at
that time in the unimpaired possession of their mono-
poly. Neither was it without a liability to disap-
pointment to the Romans on the one liand, and to the
final loss of the trade to the Persians on the other.
In availing themselves of the advantage, the latter,
either by the exorbitant prices imposed by the mer-
chant, or by the exactions of government, evinced
that gross indiscretion which was ultimately destruc-
tive to their interest. And to this, when there was
added a war between the two countries, a different
mode of procuring supplies, became, on more accounts
than one, imperatively necessary.

A war with the Persians occurring in the reign of
Justinian induced that monarch to obtain supplies
from a more eligible channel. Through a defi-
ciency of the requisite experience and qualifications
necessary for so difficult an undertaking, Elasbaan
king of Axuma, and Esimipha?us governor of the
Homerites in Arabia, to whom, for this purpose, Justi-
nian had made application, failed to fulfil their en-
gagement; and silk, in consequence, rose at Constan-
tinople to a height before unknown. This, the par-
tial supplies, usually afforded by the Phoenician
manufacturers would have considerably relieved, had
not Justinian with a blind rapacity, that, in his aim
to augment the revenue, efiectually defeated itself,
imposed heavy duties on the importations, which
became absolutely prohibitory.! In consequence the
m-erchants were ruined, the scarcity of silk was equi-
valent to absolute privation, and the failure of a

• A. D. 273.

■f The nominal price of silk per pound at this time, may be quoted
as equivalent to 22'98, which, however, was but trifling to the real
Value, when the difference of the times is considered.

HISTORY OF SILK. 45

revenue whose increase was contemplated by Justi-
nian, was a practical sarcasm on his avarice.

Thus have we, in the history of silk, arrived at a
very important and ever memorable crisis. Silk
was produced even from the earliest ages, in regions
congenial to its culture, where in consequence of the
blessings it confers, the inhabitants proclaim them-
selves celestial, but assiduously withhold all know-
ledge from what the benefit is derived. An insect,
as if in some land of enchantment, labours, spins, and
dies; and without leaving itself even a sarcophagus,
bequeaths its house, more valuable to man than the
proud monuments of the Egyptian architect, its robe
more golden than Jason's fleece, and all its estate, by
the bale and cargo, to the men of Hesperian climes,
who know not either of its existence, nor the mystery
of its operations. The elegance of the fabrics is ad-
mired by all ; Europe invites the commerce ; a diffi-
culty unmanageable in the ordinary course of things
occurs; a crisis arrives ; the old epoch is closed,
and a new era, most important in its history ar-
rives.

How frequently has relief come, not only at the
moment of extremity, but by the most unexpected
means. Justinian failed in his diplomatic application
to the Arabian princes, as well as his predecessor had
done at the Chinese court ; and his very attempt to
force a trade was the means of its almost total ex-
tinction. But how could it have been foreseen, that
what emperors, ambassadors, and merchants failed
to accomplish, would be effected by means so unlikely
as by two comparatively obscure Nestorian monks ?

The preachers of the doctrines of Nestor, exiled by
the government of Byzantium, had fled to India ;
and missions, convents, and bishoprics, by their pa-
triarch resident in Persia, had been, according to the
testimony of Cosmas, established in every direction.
Two of the monks penetrated to the country of the
Seres. With curious eye they had observed the dress
of the Chinese; the manufactures of the silken fabric;

46 HISTORY OF SILK.

and the millions of insects, whose education was the
labour of queens, converting the leaves of a tree into
silk. All the manipulations requisite, from the em-
bryo state of the little animal, to the production of
the costly material, were marked with intense interest.
The secret was out! two monks in possession of it —
the knowledge to benefit myriads was entrusted to
two — the perils in traversing a vast continent were
yet to be encountered — a risk was to be incurred —
no insurance was eft'ected, but that of Providence :
thus all was safe : and the two monks, our benefac-
tors, bequeathed a mystery hid for ages, as a legacy
to a western hemisphere.

Aware of the solicitude of the Europeans on this
subject, the monks repaired to Constantinople, and
revealed to the emperor the secret that silk was pro-
duced by insects whose eggs might be conveyed to
his dominions. Were we to indulge in the conjecture
what, most naturally on such a momentous occasion,
was the pap?ion chiefly excited in Justinian, at this
important juucl are, when a report, than which none
could be more interesting to the secular concerns of
man, was first announced to his ears, our charity
might have inclined us to point to philanthropy, had
we not ascertained the character of the man. With
him, on several occasions, self was a universe, and
all within it his minions, whose interests were to be
consulted precisely to the point where they served
his own. By the promise of a great reward, the
monks were induced to return to China, elude the
vigilance of that jealous people, obtain the eggs, and
to confine within the narrow precincts of a hollow
cane, what was subsequently to create machines and
factories, fill warehouses and ships, and become in-
exhaustable mines of wealth to nations. They suc-
ceeded ; and in the year 552, they were in Constan-
tinople, and their cane, like Noah's ark, contained a
family, whose posterity are now filling regions wider
.than those peopled, within the same time, by Shem,
Ham, and Japheth.

HISTORY OF SILK. 47

'''The insects thus produced," says Dr. Lardner,
" were the progenitors of ail tlie generations of silli
worms, whicli liave since been reared, in Europe,
and the western parts of Asia;"— to which we may
now add, Africa and America — " of the countless
myriads whose constant and successive labours are
engaged in supplying a great and still increasing de-
mand. A caneful of eggs thus became the means of
establishing a manufacture which fashion and luxury
had already rendered important, and of saving vast
sums annually to European nations, which in this
respect had been so long dependent on, and obliged
to submit to, the exactions of their oriental neigh-
bours."*

No sooner is this new and interesting colony in
Europe, than the avarice of Justinian seizes the cra-
dle of the infant concern. His own treasurer had the
control, the monks the direction, weavers brought
from Tyre and Berytus were the creatures of the
monopoly, and his became the prerogative to fix the
price which his subjects should pay for the indulgence
of their vanity. The price of silk, by this means,
became eight times more expensive than before the
introduction of the silk worm : an ounce weight of a
fabric of common colours could not be purchased for

* The authorities quoted, on the whole of this part of the subject, by
Dr. Lardner are, Robertson's Disquisitions on the Commerce of India.
D'Herbelot Bibhoth. Orient, art. Harir. Procopius, Hist. Arcan ; and
de Bello Gothico, 1. iv. c. 17, Theophan. Byzant. apud Piiotium. Theo-
phylact. 1. viii. et apud Photium. Zonaras, vol. iii. p. 50, edit. 1.5.57.

" The eggs were hatched in the proper season by the warmth of
manure, and the worms were fed with the leaves of the mulberry. In
due time, they spun their silk, and propagated under the careful atten-
tion of the monks ; who also instructed the Romans hi the whole pro-
cess of manufacturing their production." — Id.

In the Silk Grower for September, 1838, it is addedj that the monks
" brought with them minute instructions for hatchmg the eggs, rearing
the worms, reelmg, spinning, and wea\-ing the silk. But they made but
little improvement. Cocooneries were then unknown ; hurdles and
other necessary conveniences not thought of. The worms fed on the
ground, allowed to wind their balls amongst the rubbish of six weeks'
collection; and then reels were entirely useless, being too complicated
to be used except by rich manufacturing companies."

48 HISTORY OF SILK.

.ess than six pieces of gold, but the royal purple was
of quadruple value.

Fortunately" for the public good, the oppressors of
mankind live not for ever: Justinian died; and the
monopoly ceased. The people of western Asia and
Europeans discovered that neither the mulberry nor
the silk worm, wanted either Chinese climes, or the
care of a Justinian to foster them. Mulberries were
planted in all directions ; and the insects fell to work
with haste as eager, as if they had never known that
their ancestors had been silk worms royal to his
highness Justinian.

After the death of the emperor* we shall find the
culture and manufacture of silk transferred to Greece,
especially Peloponnesus, and to the cities of Athens,
Thebes, and Corinth. Soon after the Venetians en-
tered on commercial relations with the Grecian em-
pire, and conducted the carrying trade, for several
centuries, to the western parts of Europe. Such was
the estimation in which this manufacture was then
held, as appears from the example of Charlemagne
in the year 790, sending two silken vests to Offa king
of Mercia, that it was considered worthy of being
made a regal gift. Greece, notwithstanding all dis-
couragement consequent on the continued and rapid
decline of the Roman empire, continued to excel all
other nations of Europe in the quality of her manu-
factures. She alone, for near 600 years, possessed
the valuable breed of silk worms ; soon produced
wrought! silks adequate to her own consumption ; a
recourse to Persia for a supply ceased, and a material
change took place in the intercourse with India.

• A. D. 565.

■j- Modern silks, as velvets, damasks, and satin remained as yet un-
known.

HISTORY OF SILK. 49

CHAPTER III.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF SILK,

FROM THE PERIOD WHEN SILK WORMS WERE FIRST INTHODtTCED
INTO EUROPE, CONTINUED AS TO EACH NATION DISTINCTLY ;
china; ARABS, TARTARS, TURKS; TURKEY AND PERSIA; HIN-
DOOSTAN; EGYPT.

Having, in the preceding chapter, pursued our
history until the time when silk worms were first in-
troduced into Europe, and a manufacture commenced
within the precincts of the Greek empire, we shall
now, since the subject becomes more strongly marked
and distinct, consider the sequel as to each nation
singly, and resume our inquiries relative to China.

The silk worms had arrived from India, and Gre-
cian industry had been employed at a season not too
early to render, by establishing new resources in the
west, European admirers of the silken robe independ-
ent of oriental supplies : for when Canfu, the Chinese
port for the resort of foreign merchants, fell, in the
year 877, into the hands of the savage rebel Baichu,
he not only massacred all the inhabitants, amongst
whom, it is reported, there were 120,000 merchants,
comprising Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and
Persees, but also extended his cruelty to the very
insects on whose productions the natives depended,
destroyed the trees necessary to their existence, and
in addition, imposed such exactions on foreign inter-
course, that the Chinese trade, for threescore years,
seems to have been completely annihilated. And it
did not recover, according to the testimony of Mas-
soudi, from the infernal tempest of this eastern maniac,
until 938, when Canfu once more became a place of
mercantile resort.

5

50 HISTORY OF SILK.

The Venetian nobleman and celebrated traveller,
Marco Polo, at the close of the thirteenth century,
gave to the world one of the most interesting accounts
which the middle ages produced, in which he fur-
nishes a narrative of his travels in the Celestial Em-
pire, and over the Asiatic interior. " No fewer," he
says, "than 1000 carriages and pack horses, loaded
with raw silk, make their daily entry into the city ;*
and silks of various textures are manufactured to an
immense extent." Great, rich, and crowded cities,
filled with manufacturers of silk and merchandise,
covered the whole extent of China.t

We are all aware that climate is a matter of first
importance, in the growth of the mulberry, and in
the raising of silk. In this respect, it is evident, that
China is particularly favoured, when it is considered,
that the latitude of her metropolis, Peking, 39^ 54',
about 3 miles more to the south than Philadelphia,
may be quoted, being within 100 miles of the great
wall, as the northern extremity of her silk growing
country, which thence extends to the south as far as
to the 20th parallel of north latitude. But it is in
her central provinces, between the 25th and 35th de-
grees of latitude that the greater part of the silk is
produced.

* Cambalu, then the name for the royal city.

■j" "According to Cosinas, the Indians who traded with the Chinese,
were accustomed to resort to Ceylon, where alone they received silks,
spices, and other valuable productions, which were thence distributed
among the different marts of India. Gibbon, in the fifth volume of the
' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' thus describes the mode of
prosecuting this commerce : ' The Chinese and Indian navigators were
conducted by the flight of birds, and periodical winds, and the ocean
might be securely traversed in square built sliips, which, instead of iron,
were sewed together with the strong thread of the cocoa nut. Ceylon,
Serendip, or Taprobana, were divided between two hostile princes ; one
of whom possessed the mountains, the elephants, and the luminous car-
buncle ; and the other enjoyed the more sordid riches of domestic in-
dustry, foreign trade, and the capacious harbour of Trinquemale, which
received and dismissed the fleets of the east and west. In this hospita-
ble isle, at an equal distance from their respective countries, the silk
merchants of China, who had collected in their voyages, aloes, cloves,
nutmegs, and sandal wood, maintained a free and beneficial commerce
with the iiiliabitants of the Persian Gulf.' " — Dr. Lardner, p. 256, note I.

HISTORY OP SILK. 51.

It is also well known that an accurate estimate of
temperature cannot always be made by inferring the
climate of one place from that of another of the same
latitude on a different meridian, without referring to
the isothermal* lines. The eastern shore of North
America, is, in this respect, so similarly situated to
the same shore of the Asiatic continent, that the mean
annual temperature of any given degree of latitude
on our Atlantic shores, will be found very nearly to
correspond with the mean annual temperature of the
same degree of latitude in China near the Pacific.
China also, in point of extent of surface and territory
very much resembling those of the United States, it
is evident that we, of all nations under the sun, have
the greatest chance to equal that eminent nation as
to the golden fleece. Nature has done all she could
do for us, in this respect ; will a sound policy and a
salutary government effect the rest ?

In the Washington version of M, Julien's Transla-
tion of the Summary already mentioned, a note is
given from M. E. Biot on this subject, as it refers to the
temperature of this vast country not inaptly termed the
silk empire; a name of some importance to us should
we, so similarly circumstanced, become silk empire
the second. That part of the note which refers to
isothermal relations, as in this respect the United
States are correlative to China, it is unnecessary to
quote ; but all that we have found in M. Biot's re-
marks, said to be derived from the observations of
La Perouse, Amyot, Lord Amherst, and missionaries
long resident there, on the subject of mean tempera-
tures, we have reduced from the ratio of the centi-
grade to that of Fahrenheit, as stated in the follow-
ing table.

* Or lines of equal temperatures in different latitudes of the same
hemisphere. A variation etferted cliiefly by the prevalence of north-
westerly wind, sweeping the chilling blasts of frozen j)lains on the north
of large continents to their eastern shores. So that the western extre-
mity of an isothermal line will be from 10 to 15 degrees more to the
north, liian the eastern extremity on the same continent.

52

HISTORY OP SILK.

3IEAN TEMPEHATURES IN CHINA.

North
Latitude.

39° 54'
32° 45
23° 8
22° 12

Cities.

Mean

Temperature

of the

warmest

month.

Peking

Nangasaki

Canton

Macao

84-3
86-9

Mean
Temperature
of the year.

54-8
60-7
73-2
74-0

Mean
Temperature
of the
coldest
month.

39-2^
43-7

59-5

We regret that the testimonies adduced do not en-
able us to fill our columns, and prefer leaving the
blanks for the reader to supply from authentic docu-
ments.

As a further proof that any latitude in the United
States is nearly isothermal with the same latitude in

* Some error is suspected here. " The summer at Peking," says

the note, " is hke that of Naples, whilst the mean temperature of the

coldest month is 4° ; and the thermometer remains there for 3 months

below zero." Now M. Biot's temperatures are those of the centigrade,

4x9
. • . [-32=39° 2' of Fahrenheit, the mean temperature of the

coldest month, which is such that it is not likely to be for 3 months
below zero. Yet there is no observable discrepancy between that mean,
and that of the same month at Nangasaki, the difference of latitude
considered.

We further extract from M. Biot's note as follows. "In 1820, at
Timkowski, in Mongolia, in 40° to 45° of latitude," (same as from the
latitude of Philadelphia to that of the southern part of Maine,) " in the
month of October and November, the thermometer descended from 10°
to 1.')° below zero = 18° to 27° of Fahrenheit." A French missionary
established in 1833 in East Tartary, at Si-wang, in 41° 39' of latitude,
relates extraordinary dill'ercnces between the temperature of summer
and winter. According to him the thermometer rises to 37° 5' centi-
grades in summer (99'.5 Fahrenheit) and descends to 375 below zero
in winter, (67*5 Fahrenheit.) " During this last season," say the An-
nals of the Propagation of Faith, Nos. 40 and 50, "spirits of wine
only remaiu liquid ; and when a metal is touched with moist hands, the
epidermis of the fingers remains attached thereto." In conclusion, a
useful remark on the temperature of the central provinces is furnished
us by a misssionary who has lived 10 years in China, and which limits
the cultivation of the orange to the 30th degi'ee of latitude," (corres-
ponding to our oranges at St. Augustin, hi Florida, latitude also 30°,)
" while in Provence, (France,) we have oranges as high as the 43d
degree."

HISTORT OP SILK,

53

Cliina on a meridian equidistant from the eastern
shore, and that for any season of the year, we shall
further quote the following examples. Philadelphia
is in the same latitude as Peking, and nearly equi-
distant from an eastern sea. The mean annual teni'
perature of the former is 53-7; of the latter 54-S. At
Nangasaki, latitude 32° 45', and at Augusta in
Georgia, nearly in the same parallel, and as near the
eastern sea as any place of that latitude in the Uiiited
States of which we have any thermometrical record,
the comparison may be stated as follows :

North
latitude.

Cities.

■Where.

Mean

Temperature

of the

warmest

month.

Mean
Temperature
of the year

3Iean
Temperature

of the
coldest
month.

32° 45' Nangasaki Kiusu
32° 35' Augusta ....U. S.

86-9
S3-0

60-7
67-0

43-7
46-0

The differences being slight are referable to local
causes. This, however, is sufficient to show the
striking resemblance of the climates of the two conn-
tries. The subject is important: China long has been
the first silk growing country in the world; our fa-
vours in point of climate are equal; in other respects
greater; and, therefore, whatever the Chinese can
eflect, we can accomplish likewise. We further learn,
that the raising of silk worms, commences there in
April, when the air is sufficiently warm; though in
the more northern provinces, the development is
aided artificially by heat. The cold in winter in
these provinces seems very rigorous, yet the mulber-
ries do not freeze.

Du Halde says, "Everybody knows the abundance
and beauty of the silk made throughout China." Dr.
Lardner adds, " the ancients showed their knowledge
of this abundance, when they called it the kingdom
of silk; and the moderns know it from experience.
For many nations both of Asia and Europe draw

64 HISTORY OP SILK.

from it the superabundance of its produce; and every
year, ships and caravans leave the country, laden
with vast quantities of the wrought and unwrought
material. Yet although thus lavishly sent forth, still,
such is the amount produced, that silken fabrics, either
of the simple material, or mixed with gold or silver,
are consumed throughout the empire to an almost
incredible amount. To this evidence may be added
the many hundred thousand pounds of wrought and
unwrought silk which the provinces annually pay as
tribute to the emperor."

The largest quantity of silk in China is produced
about the neighbourhood of Nan-king, or the latitude
of 32°. The production of silk fnrnishes in that em-
pire employment to a greater number of individuals
than any other avocation. England imports a vast
quantity of both raw and wrought silks from China.
The amount of the latter kind, being brought by the
East India Company's ships, is not known. But of
raw silk only from China, England imported in the
year 1829, 600,000 pound's weight. Dr. Lardner
observes, that " fourteen thousand millions of ani-
mated creatures annually live and die to supply this
little corner of the world (England) with this article
of luxury! If astonishment be excited at the fact, let
us extend our view to China, and survey the dense
population of its widely spread region, a population
that from the emperor on his throne to the peasant
in the lowly hut, are indebted for their clothing to
the labours of the silk worm !"

Thus the home trade of China is encouraged, and
rendered efficient, whatever may become of the foreign.
If the home trade is encouraged, consumption is sup-
ported; in which case it is evident, that the means of
the artisan and operatives of all kinds, the most nu-
merous class, enable them to obtain not only the
necessaries of life, (agricultural production,) but also
proper conveniences, (manufactured products.) If
vital and healthy action be given to consumption to

HISTORT OF SILK. 55

this extent, it will encourage production to a degree
such that foreign trade will be nearly a national
luxury, or something not essential to existence.
Should this take place amongst a people whose
diversified climates and soils may be termed om-
niferous, capable of bearing all things, (like ours,
a blessing we scarcely yet have learnt) it places their
nation in the predicament of the independent indivi-
dual, who spares a redundant article, merely because
he does not want it ; though on the other hand it is
no inconvenience to keep it. Consequently he is in-
ditierent, like the Chinese, either way ; or, if he has
a choice, he prefers that course which brings in specie
instead of taking it out.

To be independent, as far as possible of foreign
supplies; or, in other words, to have, of products,
more to give than it is necessary to receive, except
in hard cash, is a desideratum to nations : the true
Mexico. And wherever practicable, (as with ns, if
we knew it,) will illustrate a sound and salutary
principle in political economy. A nation that can
have all her resources within herself, and adopts the
policy to encourage home consumption to the utmost
extent of her productive energies, proportioned to that
consumption, lays the firmest foundation, so far as
secular principles go, of her own permanent stability
and independence.

ARABS, TARTARS, TURKS.

The introduction of the silk Avorms, and the conse-
quent manufacture in Europe, produced a consider-
able impression on the demand for silks from China,
which was increased by political changes then rapidly
taking place in Asia. But notwithstanding the in-
terruption of the caravans, and diminution of trade,
in the sixth century, between China and Persia, in
consequence of the establishment of the Turkish
power, we have a proof, in what manner the Per-
sians appreciated the value of what remains of their

56 HISTORY OF SILK.

Chinese intercourse was left to them, in the example
of the Sogdian* ambassador, sent by the Turks to
Chosroes king of Persia. ' He took with him many
bales of silk for sale, and requested that the Sogdians,
then subject to the Turks, might be allowed to supply
the Persians with silk. Chosroes having bought the
bales, immediately consumed them by lire, as the
only answer to the request: an argument that needed
neither mood nor figure in logic to prove to the am-
bassador that the king thought that a direct convey-
ance by the Persian Gulf would be more beneficial
to his subjects than to give up the trade to foreign
carriers.

The Arabs or Saracens, Tartars and Turks, all in
their turns, participated, not in the producing, but in
the carrying, of the silken fleece. On this account it
is, as well because of their nomadic habits, that we
see them not in the orchard or plantation, nor in any
fixed position, but in the desert or at the caravan, as
distant objects in the horizon that appear for a while
and vanish. We therefore look for a new order of
things, which we now find in

TURKEY AND PERSIA.

"Turkey supplies England," says Dr. Lardner,
"with a considerable quantity of raw silk. Our im-
ports from that country average more than 300,000
pound's weight annually. It is brought to us from
Aleppo, Tripoli, Sayda, &.c. but Smyrna is the prin-
cipal port of commerce, especially for the silk of
Persia, which forms a great part of that which is im-
ported from Turkey. The silks of Persia are brought
to Smyrna in caravans during part of the year, i. e.
from January to September. The caravans dispatched
in January are laden with the finest silk, and the
quality is found to deteriorate with each following
month.t The silk of Persia comes chiefly from the

* Ancient Sogdia was on the banks of the river Sogd, which now
washes Samarcand.

■j- They produce silk in Persia by successive monthly crops.

HISTORV OF SILK. 57

provinces of Ghilaii and Shirvan, and the city of
Schamachia, situated near the edge of the Caspian
sea. It is said that in some years no less than 30,000
bales of silk have been sent from these three places.
The produce of Ghilan is the most abundant in quan-
tity, and the best in quality. Shirvan and Erivan
rank next; then Mazanderan, and lastly, Astrabad ;
but the latter is so inferior, as to be usually employed
in forming fabrics intermixed with cotton. It is sel-
dom or never exported. The silk from these different
places is stored at Ardebil, another Persian city,
whence caravans set out for Smyrna, Aleppo, Scan-
deroon, and Constantinople."

In Turkey, the production of silk is confined to
cities or larger towns, in the neighbourhood of which,
the mulberry is the chief object of cultivation, whose
proprietors rear not the worm, but vend the leaves
daily during crop season in the market in such quan-
tities as purchasers require. At the commencement
of the season, almost every family clears out all the
rooms in the house except one in which they live.
The worms being obtained, they purchase leaves, strew
them over the floor, leaving a path all round next
the walls, and placing the worms thereon, purchase
for the next day or days the requisite quantity of
leaves, and so on, paying no attention to the accu-
mulation of litter, until the feeding season is over.
This pile of stems, offal, leaves, and litter frequently
rises to 3 or 4 feet; over which, when the worms seem
inclined to mount, they place branches or brush wood
for their accommodation, leaving them to find their
way out of tb.e labyrinth as well as they can. It
doubtless would, in several cases, be profitable, here,
as well as in Turkey, to proprietors of mulberry
trees or orchards in the country, near cities or
markets, to vend their leaves to persons residing in
the town having apartments not convertible to a
better purpose. To the former it would be a source
of profit, and to the latter, especially to the infirm, of
lucrative employment not obtained by other means.

58 HISTORY OF SILK.

But the Turldsh senseless mode of feeding, is to be
rejected altogether. The principal place for silk in
all Asia Minor is Broosa, about 90 miles to the south
of Constantinople.*

HINDOOSTAN.

We are not furnished with any evidence to esta-
blish the fact that the Hindoos, or the inhabitants of
any part of peninsular India, were at an early period
in possession of the mystery of producing silk, though
we have reputable testimony to inform us of the ex-
istence of an ancient military class in Hindoostan,
termed Chinas,'\ who migrated towards the country

* Broosa, sometimes called Brussa, or Bursa, and anciently Prusa,
from Prusias one of its first kings, contains about 100,000 inhabitants.
It is a beautiful city, and a place of considerable trade ; four-fifths of its
inhabitants are Osmanlis. It is situated at the foot of Olympus, a
mountain of Bythinia, which covers it on three sides, and close upon
which it lies. Its principal merchandise is silk, which constitutes the
chief wealth of the place.

Broosa, with its environs, furnishes in the course of a favourable year,
a crop of from 7000 to 8000 bales of all kinds of silk from the finest to
the very coarsest. The manufactories, such as they are, are spread all
over the city, but there is nothing that can be called a factory. The
weaving is all done by job work, at so much a peake for a measm^e
about three quarters of a yard ; and these stuffs, so remarkable for beauty,
are woven in miserable little rooms, only large enough to contain the
loom and the weaver, or two, as the case requires.

When the figure is plain or striped, a man or boy alone, is sufficient
for the purpose ; but when flowered, it requires a man and a boy ; one
to weave and the other to work with bobbins in a manner to me incom-
prehensible, but whicli he could manage with his eyes shut as well as
open. These beautiful silks are woven by miserable, half starved
wretches, at a gain of not more than throe, and sometimes only one,
piastre (six cents) a day. But the abundance of the country is said to
be such that the cravings of nature may be satisfied for a para, one-
fortieth of a piastre, a day.

Broosa, like most of the places in Turkey, is surrounded by planta-
tions of mulberry trees for the use of the silk worm ; with the limbs of
which asses laden may be seen every instant going to the city. These
trees are planted in rows, not more than 2 or 3 feet apart, and arc ke[)t
so low, that a man can reach the top limbs, which are all cut down
every year as the worms require them. — Extracted clilejly from the
correspondence of Messrs. lihind 4- Partir in the Silk Culturist.

^ See also the learned volumes of Dr. Vincent on the Commerce and

HISTORY OF SILK. 59

now occupied by the Chinese, who from their earliest
existence seem to have been engaged in the success-
ful development of both the raw and wrought mate-
rial. The thousand collectors also that accompanied
Alexander's expedition to the Indus, delegated to
transmit specimens in Natural History to the Grecian
philosopher, were, as well as the army, successful in
sending to Aristotle, not only the worms, but also their
product. This added to the additional circumstance
quoted by Gibbon in the " DecUne and Fall," that
the Indians and Chinese had anciently constant com-
mercial intercourse at Trincomalee, affords the pre-
sumption that amongst the ancient Hindoos there \vas
not a complete ignorance, as to theory of the subject,
but that the Chinese being more successful in the
manipulation, both as to the raw and wrought mate-
rial, were then, as they have continued to be since,
in possession of the practice.

That the entire of both processes, the production
and the manufacture, are, in India, now successfully
in the hands of the moderns, the East India Company,
is well known. Every thing, in short, must have in-
vited it there ; the soil, the climate of India, and above
all the cheapness of labour. These not only origi-
nally gave the invitation, but subsequently completed
the success. The island of Cossimbazar, in the pro-
vince of Bengal, possesses every advantage suitable
to the wants and labours of the silk worm. There
have been a considerable increase in the quantity and
improvement in the quality of the raw silk produced
since 1760, in the territories of the East India Com-
pany.

Dr. Lardner says, " There are eight principal silk fila-
tures or factories belonging to the company in Bengal.
In every filature are employed, according to its size,
from 3000 to 10,000 people ; and if to these be added
the mulberry planters, worm feeders, &:c. the number
dependent on each establishment may be stated at

Navigation of the Ancients, and Dr. Robertson's Historical Disquisitions
concerning Ancient India.

60 HISTORY OF SILK.

from 10,000 to 40,000 men, women, and children.
Attempts have been made to introduce the silk worm
into other parts of the Company's possessions, especi-
ally on the coast of Coromandel." Dr. James An-
derson introduced mulberry trees at Madras. In the
year 1789 his success engaged several persons on
different parts of the coast, Palamcotta, Masulipatam,
Trichinopoly, and elsewhere, to the extent of 600
miles along the coast.

It does not appear that raw silk was produced in
India, prior to the middle of the eighteenth century,
with any view to immediate exportation. The little
that then found its way to the English market, through
a defect in the filature or from some other cause, was,
in value, worth not more than from one-third to one-
half of that of Italian silk. To obviate this, proper
machinery and competent persons were sent for the
establishment of filatures, or silk winding factories on
the Italian system. After this we find improvement
both in quantity and quality. In 1776, the shipments
from Bengal amounted to 515,913 pounds, and during
ten years, from 1776 to 1785, the average importa-
tion in England is quoted at 560,283 pounds. The
amount continued to advance progressively. About
10 years since tlie average annual import of Bengal
silks was 1,500,000 pounds.

In point of quality, prior to 1794 Bengal silk was
thought applicable only to a very limited number of
uses, and accumulation in the warehouses of the East
India Company was the consequence. Their com-
mittee, therefore, advised that a portion of their stock
should be converted into organzine by the silk throws-
ters of the country. The experiment tended to lessen
the prejudice against Bengal silk, and render the trade
less dependent on Italy, whence the greatest part of
the organzine was brought. From that time the im-
portations of Bengal silk have been progressively
improving in quality, and the organzine made from
it has grown into favour, until it now ranks nearly
at par with Italian organzine. In France^ Italy, and

HISTORY OF SILK. fit

Turkey, there is but one o'egular annual crop, while
in Bengal there are three, at intervals of four
months; in March, July, and November.^

EGTPT.t

Neither is it to the land of Pyramids that we look
so much for the vestiges of the early culture of silk,
as for those architectural remains compared with
whose dimensions the proud monuments of ancient
Greece and Rome are insignificant. But Egypt is
rapidly rising as to the arts and products of useful
industry; and the people of the fertile valley of the
Nile, that on a sudden emergency can command the
labour of 250,000 men to cut a canalf of 4S miles in
6 weeks, can now produce six miUion pounds of

• " Bengal raw silk is distinguished by two appellations — country
wound, and filature ; the former being furnished by native adventurers,
who can employ none but the rudest methods for winding it ; while the
latter is produced by senants of the East India Company, and treated
according to the most approved European methods.

" Ditferent degrees of lineness or coarseness are denoted in the Com-
pany's iilatures in Bengal by the letters A, B, C ; silk of 4 to 5 cocoons
is called A IVo. 1 ; of 6 to 8 cocoons B No. 2 ; of 12 to 14, and 16 to
18 cocoons B No. 3 ; of 18 to 20 cocoons C No. 1 ; of 20 to 22 cocoons
C No. 2 ; of 22 to 24 cocoons C No. 3. The silk which the natives
reel by hand is much inferior, and is marked by the letters A, B, C, D,
E. It must, therefore, be understood that the A No. 1 silk of one
district in India will differ very materially in quality from that of an-
other district, though bearing the same distinctive letter and number.
Even the filature wound silks of different districts are subject to the
same difference of quaUty. Thus, Bauleah filature is inferior to Rad-
nagore or Cossimbazar filature, which again are excelled by the produce
of Gonatea and Comercoliy. In the last mentioned of these filatures,
through the scientific skill and energy of the East India Company's re-
sident, a system has lately been adopted of giving the necessary degree
of heat to the cocoons while being wound, by means of steam; and
both the arrangement and execution of the plans for this purpose speak
very favourably for the talents of the parties employed, when the re-
moteness of the situation, and the consequent difficulties and obstacles
to be surmounted are taken into account." — Dr. Lardner.

\ E-Gopt the land of the Copt.

i The canal of Nahmoudieh, opened in 1819, connecting Alexandria
with the Nile at Fouah, 48 miles long, 90 feet broad,and 18 feet deep.

6

62 HISTOKY OP SILK.

cotton* annually; and in addition to the successful
culture of the vme, the olive, and the sugar cane,
have now turned their attention to thatof *«7/t. Mr.
Russel informs us, in his interesting volume on An-
cient and Modern Egypt, that " In the valley of
Tumulaut, the ancient land of Goshen, \ is established
a colony of five hundred Syrians for the purpose of
cultivating the mulberry and fearing silk worms ;
while in the beautiful province of Fayoum,J the vine
and the olive are again approaching that perfection
which they once enjoyed, and for which the genial
climate of Egypt appears so well calculated."

Nothing can so strikingly illustrate the wonderous
effects, almost miraculously so, that may be accom-
plished by a good government, even in one genera-
tion ! — ought we not rather to say, hy a government^
that Providence deigns to bless ? Egypt was lately
a desert : feuds, distractions, and civil wars, worse
than locusts, bats, and simooms, desolated the coun-
try; but such is the inflexible decision to suppress the
evil, and prompt energy to encourage industry, of the

* " M. Jumel discovered one day," as we are informed oy Mr. Russel,
" in the garden of a Turk called Make, a plant of the cotton tree, which
he afterwards propagated with so much skill and success, as to have
changed the commerce and statistics of Egypt. Jumel erected at Bou-
lak, a superb establishment, equal in its structure to the finest European
manufactory for spinning, weaving, dying, and printing of cotton goods.
The latest improvements in machinery were borrowed from Europe ;
steam is the principal moving power, and gas is employed for the pur-
poses of artificial light. At Siout Mr. Webster found a cotton manu-
factory in full operation. It gave employment to 800 men and boys
who earn 10, 15, 20, or 30 paras and sometimes three piastres. Cotton
factories are by no means uncommon in Egypt."

Mr. Russel says, " It is very probable the quantity of cotton which
may be raised in Egypt will at no distant period equal the whole im-
portation from America !" It is time then that we should be looking
after silk.

-j- Between the Nile and Suez at the head of the Red Sea, and east of
the ancient Memphis, Pharaoh's city, which was 10 miles south of the
site of the present Cairo.

t About 40 miles south of Cairo, on the west of the Nile.

§ We could wish that this should be fully understood by the govern-
ments of the present day, who seem to think that no politics should be
put ofl" so late, as those of Him that made them.

HISTOKY OF SILK. 63

Pasha,* whose portrait is now before us,t that Egypt,
the late desert, is a garden that blossoms as the rose;
and her agriculture, her commerce, her caravans, her
ships, are growing, moving to the south,north, east, and
west. Like her river, her redundance is overflowing,
and Africa, Europe, and Asia are partaking the benefit.
The Pasha can now not only supply wax, hides,
cofiee, myrrh, frankincense, coculus indicus, asafoetida,
ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, sal ammoniac,
senna, tamarinds, ostrich feathers, balsam of Mecca,
gum arabic, gum copal, benzoin, aloes, coloqnintida,
gum ammoniac, galbanum, opoponax, spikenard,
musk, gold dust, gt-am, but also cotton and silk to
those who either cannot or ivill not raise them for
themselves.

CHAPTER IV.

•EUROPE.

SECTION I.

Naples, Calabria, Sicily ; Italy, Venice, and Genoa.

No satisfactory reason, as yet has been assigned
to account for a tardiness in the dissemination of the
knowledge of silk culture, such that it was confined,
after its first introduction into Europe, to Greece
until the demolition of the Greek empire, or for 600
years. And mankind first became indebted for the
further extension of that knowledge to means, on
common principles not apparently justifiable. For

• This trait is here considered abstractedly from his former character.

•j- Kussel's A'^iew of Ancient and Modem Egypt, chapter viii. In
reaiding the volume through, there will be instruction and entertainment
without disappointment.

64 HISTORY OP SILK.

Roger, the Norman king of Sicily,* invaded the
Grecian countries, a. d. 1146, carried off the treasures
of Athens, Tliebes, and Corinth, led into captivity a
number of silk weavers, and thus severing them from
the natural ties of country and relationship, con-
strained them to settle at Palermo and Calabria,
both then within the kingdom of Naples possessed
by the Norman family, to conduct the cocoonery,
filature, and manufacturing processes about to be
established, by rapine and compulsion, in the domi-
nions of Sicily. In twenty years, considerable ex-
cellency was attained under the instruction of the
Greeks; and silks of diversified colours, some inter-
woven with gold, others adorned with figures or em-
bellished with pearls were produced : but the dying
in high colours, is said to be a later discovery.

From that time to the present the policy of that
country has encouraged the manufacture, and it is
esteemed there, in importance, as an agricultural
product next to corn. A company invested with
privileges for erecting manufactories of silks, stufis,
and camblets was established in 1752 by the king of
Naples. The annual average of silks exported from
Sicily is quoted at the value of y^ 1,087,500. There
are 90 J looms at Palermo, 1200 at Messina, and a
greater number at Catania. Of what is exported, the
greater part is to the Levant, and but little to the
English market. It is defective in reehng, dying,
and sorting : the length of its skein also differing from
the general importations, is inconvenient to the
throwster, and the quality of its filament is not suit-
able to the general purposes of the manufacturer.!

ITALV, VENICE, AND GENOA.

The provinces of the Greek empire, which were

* After his return from the Second Crusade.

■j- Finizio, the celebrated manufacturer at Naples, makes and sends
to the New York market, at the rate of 3000 lbs. of sewing silk a week.
—Silk Cul., vol. i. p. 133.

HISTORY OF SILK. 65

the principal seats for the production of silk, coming,
in the year 1203, into the possession of the Venetians;
and Galata into that of the Genoese, lead to the pre-
sumption that they would not fail, under such favour-
able circumstances, to transfer to their equally con-
genial climates the means for the prosecution of a
concern so lucrative as that of silk. There are few
or no authentic records relative to the introduction
of silk into any other part of Italy before the year
1300. At Venice encouragement was given by the
government and the wealthy. The production, there-
fore, and the manufacture of silk were considered to
be tioble employments, the pursuit of which implied
no degradation of rank. In 1300, Florence was the
principal place for the manufacture, which at that
time employed many thousand people. In the year
1306, the rearmg of silk worms had become of so
much importance at Modena, as to yield a revenue
to the state, and its silk was then esteemed to be the
best in Lombardy. But until the beginning of the
sixteenth century, Bologna was the only city of Italy
in possession of throwsting mills or machinery re-
quisite for preparing the silken fabrics for weaving.

The average amount of silk annually exported from
Italy is computed to exceed §17,500,000. Count
Dandolo says that two-thirds, in amount, of all the
exports from Italy are silks.*

* " Though there are silk factories in Italy, yet the greater part of
fabrics are domestic manufacture, managed much in the same way as
cotton was in this country before the introduction of power looms. The
manufacturer purchases the silk of the grower, reeled suitable for such
fabrics as he wishes to make, prepares it for the loom by dying, warp-
ing, &c., and then puts it out to the weaver, who weaves it in a hand
loom and returns it. Afterwards it is finished and put up for market."
— SUk Cul., vol. i. p. 13.

It may be well here to observe, that the power loom is nowhere used
in Europe in the manufacture of silk. The first silk ever wrought by
power loom was recently made in Rhode Island by Mr. Gay. But the
quantity made has been small — enough, however, to assure us that
when the material can be supplied in the necessary quantity, this me-
thod of manufacturing that article will be adopted.

66 HISTORY OF SILK.

SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND THE NETHERLANDS.

It is well known that during the middle ages,
literature and the arts were almost universally neg-
lected. Such barbarian influence had invaded civil-
ized nations, and so great a cloud had covered the
earth, that for ages we find the Arabs chiefly signal-
ized for a knowledge of what remained of art or
science, and for attention to agriculture, manufacture,
and commerce. For an acquaintance with these, it
was to the Arabs or Saracens, their conquerors, that
Spain and Portugal were indebted. Bishop Otto de
Freysingen speaking of the great progress which silk
manufactures had made in Spain, relates that, "after
the siege of Milan, Frederick I., held a diet of the
empire in 1158, in the fields of Roncaglia, at which
were present, in magnificent attires, the ambassadors
of the Genoese, who recently had conquered from the
Saracens, two important cities, Lisbon and Almeria,
both famous on account of their manufactures of
silk.'*

It appears from a work that Marino Sanuto, a noble
Venetian, commenced in the year 1306, and pre-
sented to the pope in 1321, entitled, "the Secrets of
the Faithful," complaining of certain exactions im-
posed, during the whole of that time, on the European
trader, in ports subject to Mohammedan princes, par-
ticularly as to silk and sugar, that Apulia, Romania,
Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus were then signalized for
the production of the former. In addition to which
we find mention made of Lisbon, Mnieria, Granada,
Murcia, Cordova, and Majorca, as places engaged
in the culture very early after the introduction of silk
worms into Sicily. We are also informed that " when
Ferdinand V. conquered Granada, a. d. 1492, and
put an end to the Moorish power in Spain, he found
there numerous establishments for the production of
silk fabrics, which were rivalled by others in Murcia
and Cordova."

HISTORY OF SILK. 67

This evidently implies that the Saracens were they,
who were then principally employed in this culture.
Although the first body of these primeval wanderers
that entered Spain, crossed the straits from Maurita-
nia, A. D. 712 ; yet we find that others inhabited
Sicily from a. d. 828 until they were finally driven
from thence a. d. 1272. And it was there, doubtless,
that the Saracens first acquired the necessary know-
ledge as to the rearing of silk worms. On their ex-
pulsion from Sicily, a transit to Majorca and Spain
would be easy ; to which a knowledge of the success-
ful establishments there of other tribes from the same
progenitor, and of the same faith, would be an ad-
ditional inducement.

Though since the above period, Spain has not been
as eminent as other nations, either as a silk growing
or manufacturing country, yet an attention as steady,
though comparatively stationary, has been devoted
to these concerns, as that want of both agricultural
and commercial enterprise, for which, through poli-
tical, not physical circumstances, that nation is cha-
racterized, would, perhaps, allow. Therefore, under
this comparative dearth of interest, as to the culture in
Spain, we shall pass to countries whence we may derive
more information, contenting ourselves with observ-
ing, " en passant," that it was to Spain, that Henry II.
was indebted for the silk stockings he wore, and
which in his day attracted such extraordinary notice.
Henry VIII., as well as Edward VI., Avere likewise
supplied from that country with the same article for
their personal use. We also learn, that not long after
the commencement of the eighteenth century, when
France, over and above her own production, imported
yearly 4800 bales (each weighing 160 lbs.) of silk;
of these 300 bales were annually imported of Spanish
manufacture.

Though Spain and the Netherlands were subject
to one crown in the person of Charles V., yet it was
to France first, though to Spain subsequently, that
the Netherlands w^ere indebted for their knowledge

68 HISTORY or SILK.

of the mysteries of the silken fabric. On the subject
of the trade at Antwerp, in the middle of the sixteenth
century, Guicciardini has given us the following tes-
timony. " The merchants of Antwerp exchanged at
Bologna their own serges and other stufls, tapestries,
linens, merceries, &c. for wrought silks, cloth of gold,
silver crapes, &c. To Venice, they sent jewels, pearls,
and the cloth and wool of England, and received in
return, tha finest and richest wrought silks, &c. Na-
ples took from them cloths of their own and English
manufacture, and returned raw, thrown, and wrought
silks. Sicily obtained from them serges and cloth,
paying in cotton and silk. The consignments to
Milan were pepper, sugar, &c. ; the returns were
wrought silks. To Florence and Genoa, woollen
stuffs and English wool ; and the imports from the
first of these places were very fine wrought silk, and
from Genoa, satins and velvets."

History, by a thousand examples, everywhere testi-
fies that the industrious energiesof man will advance in
the uninterrupted career of prosperity, only in climes
blessed with peace and freedom from internal war
and political distraction. Flanders ere this had ranked
high as one of those favourable regions where com-
merce has fixed her seat, had not the desolating pest
of war blasted the growth of ages, and driven what-
ever was likely to benefit man to more peaceful
shores, the three days indiscriminate plunder and
destruction to which Antwerp was subject in 1585,
by the duke of Parma, then governor of the Spanish
Netherlands, was a blow to the commerce of the Low
Countries, from which they have never since reco-
vered. The artisans, merchants, manufacturers, and
their capital were dispersed ; England became the
asylum, and reaped in return the wealth that war
forbade to dwell elsewhere.

As to the pi'oduction of silk in the Netherlands, it
remains only to quote M. d'Homergue. " The king
of tlie Netherlands," to secure the instruction of a
competent superintendent, "invited from Spain the

HISTORY OF SILK. 69

chevalier Barramendy, and assigned to him the castle
of Manege, in the vicinity of the town of Ath, ten
leagnes from Brussels, with a number of acres of
ground belonging to it ; which he has planted with
the white mulberry. The king supplied him with
considerable sums of money. The silk which was
made, proved, however, of a very inferior quality.
Nevertheless, the minister of the interior, Van Gob-
helschroy, and the inspector of the national manufac-
tories, M. Nettscher, continue to encourage the un-
dertaking. The prince of Orange himself went in
person to Manoge, to inspect the establishment, and.
gave it the sanction of his patronage."

FRANCE.

M. Mavet, in his history of the silk trade, asserts
that the first* mulberry tree in France, was brought
during the time of the crusades by Guipape of St.
Aubon, and planted three leagues from Montmeliart.
At an early period the Greeks supplied France and
Germany with the fabrics, and silk came into use as
an article for apparel. " Charlemagne wore above
his linen doublet and under garment, a silk scarf round
his waist. Not sooner than the middle ages did the
sumptuous silk cloaks, embroidered with gold and
silver, worn by the knights over their more martial
equipment, come into fashion. Charles VI. wore
constantly a black velvet coat of arms even in the
hottest days. And Charles VII. wore at his entrance
into Rouen, in 1419, a beaver lined with velvet,
which was the most costly and elegant head orna-
ment known at that time.''t

* " This identical tree, it is said, was living in 1810, when the
owner of the premises, M. de la Tour des pay le Chaux, caused this
venerable parent of French mulberry to be preserved and respected, by
having a wall built round it, and forbidding its leaves to be gathered.
The cuttings and descendants of this tree now cover the soil of France,
and produced to the state in 1810, a revenue of more than 100,000,000
pounds of raw silk, and more than 400,000,000 of francs in industry
only, an amount greatly increased since that time."

■\ Count de Hazzi.

70 HISTORY OF SILK.

The mamifacture of silk does not appear to have
been introduced into France earlier than the time of
Louis XI., who in 1480 established, with extensive
privileges, at Tours, the artisans he had obtained from
Genoa, Venice, and Florence. Authors do not ap-
pear to be perfectly" agreed relative to the first intro-
duction of the silk loorm into France. Some refer
that event to the year 1494, or during the campaigns
of Charles VIII., when, it is aifirmed that not only
silk worms, but also a further supply of mulberry
trees were brought from Italy, which gave prospe-
rity to the rich countries that border on the Rhone.
The progress of the manufacture, however, appears
to have been comparatively stationary, until the reign
of Francis I. The artisans obtained in the year 1521
from the dutchy of Milan, then in the possession of
the French, introduced the manufacture into Lyons,
and were encouraged by the patronage of that mo-
narch. According to these authorities, it was from
this time that a more rapid progress ensued, and ma-
nufactories sprung up not only in Lyons, but also in
the southern provinces, adequate first to supply do-
mestic consumption, and soon after to export wrought
silks of a quality to sustain competition in foreign
markets, which to France ultimately became, even
from England only, a source of abundant wealth.

But according to Thuanus, it is to Francis I. that
the French were indebted for the first introduction
of the silk worms; which were successfully reared in
Provence, Avignon, and Lyons. Others refer this
event to the time of Henry IV. The more probable
case is that all previous attempts, whether in the
raising of silk, or in the manufacture of fabrics, com-
pared with those resulting from the more Uberal
patronage of the monarch last mentioned, were not
so extensively successful. Indeed it is acknowledged
that both mulberry trees and silk worms were reared
before in Lyonnois, Dauphinc, Provence, and Lan-
guedoc ; but by Henry, it appears, they were natu-
ralized as far north as Orleans ; who also, according

HISTORY OF SILK. 71

to Mezeray planted the trees at Paris, and reared the
worms at the Tiiileries. The Parisians were encou-
raged by letters patent, conferring, on certain condi-
tions, even titles of nobility, to introduce manufacto-
ries into the metropolis. But later experience has
shown that the climate north of the Loire is not
suitable to the insect.

M. d'Homergue informs us that Henry " invited
one Michaeli from Italy into his dominions, and gave
him, for the purpose of forming an extensive planta-
tion of mulberry trees, and raising the article of silk,
the castle of the old Marquis de Fournes, situate on
the river Gardon, in the vicinity of Nimes. This inge-
nious foreigner was the first who began the manufac-
tories of silk stutis that now enrich that city. And
tradition informs us that the king expended on those
establishments the immense sum of near one million
and a half of livres; an enormous sum in those days."

Olivier de Serres was highly instrumental in urging
the king in the furtherance of this national benefit,*
who is, indeed, called by the French to this day, the
patriarch of agriculture. The king conscious of the
merits of Olivier, " offered him the highest honours, —
but he asked for one favour only, viz. that all useless
trees might be banished from the royal gardens ; an
example that was soon extensively followed through-
out the kingdom. At Olivier's recommendation
14,000 mulberry trees, and a large quantity of seed
of the same tree were ordered from Italy, to supply
the vacancies intentionally made in the Royal Gar-
dens. In later times he also procured silk worms'
eggs, and persons acquainted Avith their rearing.
The trees, the eggs, and printed instructions, were
distributed gratis to ag?'iculturists."i JVell, there-
fore, may Henry and Olivier be called the chief
patrons of the silk culture in France. Olivier for
this, was entitled to greater merit, since he was op-

* Opposed at first, through misa])prehension, even by Sully. This
is curiously stated by Comte de Hazzi, q. v. p. 16, 17, 18.
I Comte de Hazzi.

72 HISTORY OF SILK.

posed (Anno 1603) by the powerful influence of
Sully and the other ministers of the French king.*
"How much would Sully now," adds Count de
Hazzi, " be astonished, could he behold the evidence
of his mistake, and the foresight of his royal master.
Instead of continuing to pay to foreign merchants
four millions of francs annually, for silk, the French
draw many millions from their ancient suppliers, and
enrich themselves in proportion."

The prosperity of the silk culture and manufacture
in France, resulting from the favouring auspices of
Henry IV. and Olivier de Serres, received a further
impulse from the fostering care and patronage of
Louis XIV. and his minister Colbert. A reward of
three livres to the cultivator for every mulberry tree
that should be found in a thriving condition three
years after being planted, had the desired effect, and
Provence, Languedoc, Dauphine, Vivarais, Lyonnois,
Gascony, and Saaitonge were speedily covered with
trees though the former chiefly produced the silk.

Francis I., in the year 1540, granted to the city of
Lyons, which may be termed the silk emporium of
France, the privilege, since by various royal ordi-
nances continued to 1717, of being the depot, through
which, on accoimt of certain duties, all silks brought
by sea or land, had to pass. On an average, 6000
bales of silk, from the Levant, 1000 from Sicily, 1500
from Italy, 300 from Spain, and 1200 from Langue-
doc, Provence, and Dauphine annually passed through
the city, in which when in its most flourishing state
18,000 looms were in operation.t

* Memoirs de Max. de Bethune, Due de Sully ; Londres, 1767, vol.
V, p. 74. And Count von Hazzi, p. 17 ct seq.

•j- In 16.56, frames for weaving silk stockings were obtained from
England and introduced into Paris. In 1 6 years after, so rapidly had
this branch of operative industry extended, that the silk stocking weavers
were considered to be of sufficient importance to be incorporated by
royal ordinance, and extensive stocking manufactories were established
in numerous towns. This department of manufacture flourished until
restrictions imposed by the injudicious interference of government re-
pressed its prosperity, and it is now chiefly found at Cevennes.

HISTORY OF SILK. 73

Between 16SS and 1741, according to the "Com-
merce du 19me Siecle," France annually exported
to England wrought silks to the value of 12,500,000
francs. For the protection of her own manufacture,
prohibitory laws against the introduction of foreign
silk commenced in England in 1765, which with
various modifications have been, but not effectually,
maintained until the present. The French export of
wrought goods, notwithstanding, in 1784 is quoted
Ht 25 million of francs, and in 1789, at 29,745,000
francs.

During a state of domestic peace, whatever were
the foreign wars, the manufactures of France were
in a prosperous condition. But two political events,
the one characterized by religious intolerance and
massacre, and the other by the prevalency of atheism
and anarchy, proved by their destructive conse-
quences, their origin. The desolating effects of the
revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, in a few
years reduced the 18,000 looms at Lyons to 4000;
and consequences still more disastrous were exem-
plified at Tours ; which before the revocation had
800 mills for winding and preparing silk, 8000 looms
for weaving, and 40,000 persons engaged in the
manufacture, as well as 3000 looms in the manufac-
ture of ribands. Soon after the revocation, the mills
were reduced to 70, the looms to 1200, and the ope-
ratives to 4000 ; and the consumption of silk which
had amounted to 2400 bales decreased to 700 !

The same features of family descent are indelibly
stamped on the revolution. Before it, in 1786, Lyons
had 15,000 looms ; in 1789 not half that number, and
in 1800, not more than 3500, nor more than 5800
artisans employed in the manufacture. The removal
of that political sirocco allowed once more the iiealthy
energies of man to circulate. In 1824 Lyons had
24,000 looms employed, and 36,000 artisans ; and in
1825, a Lyons newspaper states that 8526 factories
were in operation. Subsequent fluctuations, it is true,
but neither material nor permanent, might be noticed,

7

74 HISTORY OF SILK.

but they chiefly arose from indiscreet interference
and poHtical impediment ; from the artificial and not
the natural springs of action.

The annual consumption of silks in France for
1823, was quoted at 1,600,000 lbs.* The difference
existing, for nearly 30 years past, as to any statistics
from customhouse documents, between declared and
real values of exports and imports, precludes the
possibility of quoting with accuracy from thence the
quantity of silk sent to foreign markets. But from
the most credible testimonies, we may state as an
approximation to the truth, that in France, notwith-
standing they raise so much silk, they annually import
in value, on the average, to the extent of 30,000,000
francs of raw silk, or one-third of all they consume
for their manufactures.t

Value of exported wrought silk.

Year 1801 39,314,000 francs.

Year 1820 123,063,000 francs.

Year 1821 Ill ,689,000 francs.

Year 1822 99,063,000 francs.

Year 1835 124,850,000 francs.

One-third of which was brought to the United
States ! ! !

OTHER STATES OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE.

Switzerland is one of the countries benefited by the
ambitious projects and sanguinary discontent of other
nations. The very weapon of Bonaparte, uplifted
to destroy, in 1810, the commerce of England, merely

* " France produced in 1812, 987,000 lbs. of raw silk, and imported
a like quantity." — Dr. Lardner.

•j- The statement from Count de Hazzi is as follows : " The annual
profits from this single branch of industry in France, arc estimated at
40 millions of florins ; of which, a tenth is derived from the production
of the raw material, and the remainder from the manufacture. Ac-
cording to the most recent statistical data, that kingdom derives from
the production of silk 23,560,000 francs per annum, and 84,000.000
francs from the fabrication ; and, consequently, the capital which is
brought into circulation in both ways, amounts to 107,560,000 francs I ! !

HISTORY OP SILK. 75

fell to crush the prosperity of his own people. The
manufacturers of cottons and muslins inhabiting the
vicinity of the lake of Zurich, losing their usual mar-
ket by Napoleon's prohibition to admit, in order to
exclude English manufacture, foreign goods into
France, transferred their labours so skilfully to silk,
that in a very few years, they became successful
competitors with the French in the German markets.
And the injury thus first inflicted by war on the in-
ternal resources of France, was redoubled by religious
persecutions. On this account in 1815, IS 16, and
1817, numerous artisans and manufacturers emigrated
from Lyons, and transported their industry and capital
to Zurich. Thus strangers and aliens profit by the
domestic quarrels of others : but governments when
they become Ahithophels learn not by such lessons.

The neighbourhood of Zurich, in 1814, contained
not more than 2000 looms; in 1828 the looms had
increased there to 10,000: and three of the factories
employed 2600 and one 1204 artisans. In the year
1820, Germany entirely depended on France for a
supply of wrought silks ; since then silks of Swiss
manufacture are so abundant in the markets of
Frankfort and Leipzig, as to interfere materially with
the French merchant. At Zurich and Basle silk
fabrics of all kinds, crape and satin excepted, are now
manufactured. The silk for umbrellas is also now
made so extensively at Berne, as to supply the north
of continental Europe. The encouragement given
to Switzerland is such that other cantons are now
enlisting in the enterprise : in short, what the litigious
French have lost, the peaceful Swiss have gained.

Count de Hazzi says, " The history of the cultivation
of silk in Gekmany divide sitself into three epochs ;
of which the two former may be called the unlucky !
According to written documents, the first experiment
on rearing the silk worm was made in 1598, at Roth-
enburg ; and repeated at Wurtzburg, Hochheim,
Dresden, and Stutgard." In 1669, further eflorts
were renewed, and a numerous company, consisting

76 HISTORY OF SILK.

of some of the most distinguished families in Munich,
was organized. But the misunderstanding* with their
Itahan superintendant, Lucas Uffele, involved the
company in law suits with him and the Italian mer-
chants. The company sustained the loss of many
thousand florins, and Lucas imprisonment, from
which he did not escape till after a confinement of
six years and a half.

The next impulse given to Germany, originated
from the example of Prussia ; to the history of which
we refer under a distinct section. Hence, "from
1744 to 1755, 35,678 mulberry trees were planted in
Saxony, which in 1753, produced 150 lbs. of silk.
Similar success attended the endeavours which were
made in Wurtembcrg, Anspach, and Baireuth. But
the most active promoter was the Elector Charles
Theodore in the Palatinate, where, under his auspices,
80,000 mulberry trees were planted, and his example
was soon followed in the dutchy of Deux-Ponts." A
company was afterwards formed, by which extensive
plantations of mulberry trees were made at Munich,
Landshut, Engelkofen, Arnsdorf, Straubing, and
Burkhausen ; and the promenades, ramparts, and
streets of many cities were ornamented with these
trees; and the whole was in a promising state, until
1787. The cause of the temporary failure is a sub-
ject of distinct and subsequent consideration.

It is more remarkable than extraordinary that the
third epoch of the silk culture in Germany, which is
to be dated from 1821, was brought about by a lady.
"During the distribution of premiums," says Comte de
Hazzi, " at the agricultural solemnities of that year,
in the circle of the Lower Danube, high praise was
given to the exertions which had been made for
the revival of the silk culture, by a noble lady, by
name of Leeb Straubing. My own attention was
thereby strangely kindled, and I remember that on
my entrance into public life, as aulic counsellor, I

• Comte de Hazzi, p. 19, et seq.

HisTonr OF SILK. 77

heard much in the council of silk culture. I requested
M. de Nagel* to draw up a memorandum respecting
the mulberry tree — to enter into correspondence with
the above mentioned lady, and to converse on the
subject with the officers of the late superintendency.
IVIuch information was thereby obtained. With 50
silk worm eggs furnished by lady Leeb, the first ex-
periment was made in the spring of 182 2. Fortu-
nately 3 mulberry trees were discovered not far from
the capital. Within 44 days we were in possession
of 50 beautiful cocoons, and the butterflies produced
2500 eggs. These were hatched in the spring of
1823, at which period more mulberry trees had been
discovered. In 1823, the number of eggs of which
we could dispose amounted to 600,000. Demands
for eggs and directions for their use reached us from
several parts of the kingdom. We were informed at
the same time, how madly whole alleys of the pre-
cious trees had been cut down, even very recently,
to serve for fuel like the commonest wood."

In the report, before the board for the extension
of silk culture in Bavaria, we find that " mulberry
trees had multiplied in all directions ; that a great
number had been found and fortunately saved from
the axe, after thousands of them had been felled
through SHEER IGXORANCE ! upwavds of 100,000
had been cut down i?i one single district, called the
Regens Kreis ; that the silk worms had witlistood all
the changes of climate, even when not tended at all ;
and that neither mortality nor diseases had occurred;
that the silk produced was not inferior in quality to
that of Italy." In 1825, the progress which the cul-
tivation of silk was making in Bavaria, attracted the
attention of several German states, viz. the kingdom
of Wurtembera', the Grand Dutchy of Baden, the
Electorate of Hessen, Nassau, and jNIeinungen.

According to the report of Count Reigersberg, the

• Secrelan^ of the committee of the Agricultural Society, and who
had became acquainted with the culture of silk in Hungary.

7-

78 HISTORY OP SILK.

quantity of silk produced in the Palatinate during the
years specified below, may be stated as follows

In the year 1777 15,024 lbs.

1784 45,728 lbs.

1785 29,249 lbs.

1787 17,047 lbs.

1789 37,137 lbs.

In the same report we read, "According to long
experience, the mulberry tree thrives among us as
well as the common fruit trees. The experience of
many years, proves sufficiently that the culture agrees
at least as well with our climate, as with those of the
provinces of France and Italy, which for several cen-
turies have been considered as the principal seats of
the silk culture in Europe. Whilst it failed so com-
pletely in those countries in 1S16 and 1817, that the
price of silk was more than double, the pound selling
at 28 florins; we nevertheless obtained good crops.
There remains not the least doubt that Ave can pro-
duce silk as cheap as in France. In the Cevennes,
female spinners receive 42 kr. a day, and twiners
21 kr. ; whilst, among us, women well acquainted
with that kind of labour, will work for a third of the
money. The silk produced in Germany is at least
equal to that of Turin. Not long ago, in weaving
silk imported from Italy and from Manheim, we
found that the weaver, who had been accustomed to
Italian and French silk, preferred by far the organzine
of Manheim for its greater strength and equality."

It appears from the whole of the evidence before
us, that there have been three distinct periods in the
history of silk in Germany, commencing respectively
in 1598, 1744, and 1821 ; that the two former were,
as termed by Comte de Hazzi, unlucky, a conse-
quence resulting from misunderstanding and misman-
agement; the whole of which does not even yet
appear to be removed ; and therefore the enterprise
commencing with 1821, compared with what it would
be, were it free from impediments with which it has
no physical or necessary connexion, is yet in its in-
fancy.

HISTORY OP SILK. 79

On reading this singular statement given by Count
de Hazzi, we were naturally led to inquire, what
was the cause of the two former periods being " un-
lucky ?'* Was it the high latitude ? Not so 5 since
silk is produced not unsuccessfully, as far to the north
as Sweden. "Was it any peculiarity whatever of
climate ? We are informed not. It is by all parties
confessed not only that mulberry trees and silk worms
were raised there, but also that the German climate
proved congenial to both. Was it because the pro-
duction of domestic silk was unimportant in a national
or financial point of view ? Quite the contrary, since
Bavaria alone, recently imported silks at the rate of
10 millions of florins per annum. Are we then to
look, somewhat philosophically, into national cha-
racter : the French, the Italians, nay even the Rus-
sians and the Swedes succeed, why not the Germans ?
We are met again by a negative, since the Germans,
even the uneducated, are remarkable for their steady
and industrious habits. Neither were the failures
attributable to the want of the most encouraging ex-
amples from the neighbouring silk districts of France
and Italy ; in each, a source of abundant wealth to
the nation, and giving employment to myriads of
men, women, and children, otherwise, perhaps, des-
titute.

No such cause or causes can be assigned. Here
then, in the history of men, either as individuals or
formed into communities have we an anomaly ! No
impediment from any physical, natural cause what-
ever ; not from the soil, situation nor climate ; but
from, if we are allowed the expression, a political
climate. A moral phenomenon ! Men destroy what
Providence bestows ! There are some cases, in which
interference on the part of government with the in-
dustry and secular prosperity of its people, has been
salutary, but many in which it has been a withering
political atmosphere, something like a posthumous
edition of Justinian's overreaching rapacity, that, by

80 HISTORY OF SILK.

grasping at too much, loses all* Charity, however,
intimates, that on the part of the German govern-
ments, it was philanthropy aiming at the people's
weal.t Be it so ; — yet the indiscretion that misdi-
rected it, rendered the whole abortive.

But what a picture of artificial clogs and shackles
have we on reading the long list of governmental
restrictions, mulcts, charges, and compulsive mea-
sures. Surely the whole apparatus of screws, fetters,
pincers, hammer, nail, and tongs, brought by the
Spanish Armada, to show how the friends of the
holy inquisition intended to hlcss the English with a
happy purgatory in their own country, could not
well equal such a thumb-screw system; such artificial
manacles to clog the free blessings of the skies.

By some legislative fiat, monopolies rise, having
officers, inspectors, and creatures enjoying uncondi-
tional salaries, and privileges that another, by the
most untiring industry, loyalty, and merit, could never
touch, though induced to engage, not by the reward
that sweetens toil, but by coercive means. Two
castes among the children of the same father ! One
has encouragement, the other compulsion, though the
merit is equal! Here not only a full price, but even
a bounty is given for the produce; there a law forcing
to undersell at the risk of fine, bodily punishment,
or imprisonment, for either not producing or with-
holding. The smiles of government beam with pe-
culiar grace on the minions of the monopoly, but the
back of the hand or the spurn of the heel is shown to
its slaves. The former enjoy the gracious touch of

• "ApacTo /cf/o^," said the Grecian fabulist, "ugfxwt to umm xaCav,
an-aiKitxi St a^<|)0Tt?5t ;" dropping his own, he rushed to catch another's,
and thus lost both.

I Were this the case, why do favouritism and partiahty appear in the
development of facts, and two prices for a pound of cocoons. The one
affording ample profit to the parasite ; the other positive discourage-
ment and despair to another, who was forced to sell by law and penal-
tics at a dillerent rate.

HISTORY OF SILK. 81

the sceptre, the latter have to kiss the dust at their
master's feet.*

Men on the wrong side of the Eutopian walls felt
this. They saw no prospect of adequate remunera-
tion ; aversion was the consequence, and the remedy
they sought, was simply to let the worms die ; — of the
jaundice they said, but the true cause was, they gave
tiiem nothing to eat.t And thus having got rid of
all the little soldiers quartered in their barracks, at-
tention was next turned to the mulberry trees. To
them they were not the monuments of interest, but
the pyramids of oppression. In the fields they could
not cheer them, but in the fire they could, and the
choice was not difficult. At first, the trees seemed
to walk away by night ; soon whole lanes or alleys
appeared through plantations ; and finally entire
forests were destroyed. Thus the district in Ger-
many that could boast of its million mulberries, in a
few years could scarcely furnish a score; and Ger-
many by the mistaken policy of its rulers, became
tributary again to foreign nations for silk. This ex-
tinction amounted to an almost national oblivion of
the very existence of the thing by the wars of the
French Revolution that soon after overran the states
of Germany.

With the causes already assigned as productive of
these disastrous consequences, there were others at
different times combined, and some so singular or
important in their character, as to demand a record
on the page of history. At an early period, the peo-
ple seem to have been set to work without competent
instruction. Trees were planted in marshy, wet
grounds, or in the streets, or along the road sides.

* See Treatise by Count de Hazzi, p. 42 and 43. It is said that
" The Elector, Maximilian Joseph, who succeeded Charles Theodore,
abrogated the compulsory system ; and with it disappeared all the offences,
complaints, and litigations, which it had occasioned."

f Xx'^Kutrrinr.; sAe>5, jutyt i^>,/MaA»v, x.. r. ?.. q. v. Hieroc. facet "I
have suffered a great loss," said he, " for when, through economy, I had
taught my horse not to eat, just then he died !"

82 HISTORY OP SILK.

Hence the leaves became too much satm-ated with
moisture, or too much loaded with dust to suit the
purpose intended. Ignorance, in certain cases, was
so complete, as to allow the hatching before the leaves
were on the trees. Some, not aware of the large
quantity required during the third and subsequent
ages of the insect, had allowed the hatch without
being sure of a quantity to supply the wants of the
creature at those periods. Often the worms were not
fed at the right time, and prodigious quantities were
put together in close rooms, hence, as in crowded
hospitals, unwholesome evaporation and diseases
were the consequence. In numerous cases, govern-
ment distributed portions of eggs to difierent regi-
ments ; but the soldiers cantooned the little animals
on trees in the open air, till the first shower of artil-
lery, rain, or hail, brought the young recruits to the
ground, where they bivouacked, until such Goths, as
ants, spiders, and sparrows destroyed them. Another
adverse circumstance, but of a very different cha-
racter, was, that at the prospect of the progress of
silk culture in Germany the merchants and dealers in
foreign silks took the alarm. They " persuaded the
government that they would be ruined should it
longer continue in existence ; and that the state too,
would soon discover and feel the disadvantages which
it produces. They had calculated with a true mer-
cantile spirit that where silk is produced, manufac-
turers would soon abound, whereby the price of the
foreign commodity must fall, and could not be forced
on the purchaser with large profits. They were
Hstened to, and the institution was suddenly discon-
tinued, under the pretence that the culture of silk
could not be longer continued in Bavaria because it
was injurious rather than profitable to the state."

It is not easy to consider silk as any thing less than
one of the bounties of Providence to man ; and con-
sidered in this light, it is the more remarkable, that
the knowledge of no other art, or possession of any

HISTORY OP SILK. 83

Other secular gift, is apparently more indebted to re-
ligious persecution for its diffusion, than is that of
the culture of silk. By persecution, the Nestorians
were exiled to the east, and it was the Nestorian
monks that first brought the silk worms to Europe.
It was the revocation of the edict of Nantes, or perse-
cution, that supplied Spitalfields and other parts of
England and Europe with silk weavers ; the perse-
cutions of 1815, 1816, and 1817 sent them to Zurich;
and now we find that to the same cause Prussia is
indebted for her knowledge of the same art.

" Frederick the Great," according to Count de
Hazzi, " having chanced to see a silk manufactory
at Torgau, during his military operations in Saxony,
and having had his attention called to the descendants
of some French manufacturers, who had emigrated
from their country, in consequence of the revocation
of the edict of Nantes, and had established themselves
at Berlin, gave the first impulse to the regeneration
of the silk culture in Germany. He ordered planta-
tions of mulberry trees to be multiplied, extensive
buildings to be erected, printed instructions on the
rearing of the silk worm to be distributed ; and he
promised considerable bounties to those who would
devote themselves to that industry. According to a
detailed account, the quantity of silk collected in the
provinces of Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Brandenburgh,
and Pomerania, amounted to 684 9 pounds."

Mayet relates, that "In the year 1790, the Baron
de Heintz, the Prussian minister, cultivated the mul-
berry and produced silk on his estate equal to the
finest product of the Milanese." Difficulties, how-
ever, arising from similar mistakes, attended the
early culture of silk in Prussia, as well as in the rest
of Germany. " The ill success was in no way as-
cribed to the climate, but solely to the various blun-
ders that were committed on its introduction ; among
which, we will only mention tlie compulsory measures
which were employed, the little care with which the

84 HISTORY OF SILK.

trees were planted, and the eggs and worms them-
selves were treated."*

In 1825, however, successful exertions were re-
newed by M. Bolzani. He produced upwards of
1000 pounds of cocoons, or 100 pounds of silk, not in-
ferior to the finest of upper Italy. From half an ounce
of eggs, he obtains 41| pounds of cocoons, and his
silk in Prussia was worth eight dollars a pound. He
afterwards obtained from the neighbourhood of Lake
Como, persons well acquainted with the reeling ; and
his silk was converted into organzine equal to the
best of Italy. The fact, that 600,000 pounds of raw
silk being yearly imported into Prussia, requiring the
export of three millions of dollars, is sufficient to call
the attention of that country to M. Bolzani's laudable
undertaking.

In the year 1782, a fund was appropriated, in
Austria, to encourage the introduction of the silk
culture into Bohemia. The edicts of 1795 and 1804
declare, that " Since it is ascertained that the Italian
silk is inferior to the Bohemian, and that the inexpe-
rience of cultivators, not the climate, had been the
true cause of the small progress which the culture
had as yet made, the agricultural corporations shall
hereafter provide lands and buildings, and engage
the inhabitants, by all the means in their power, in
the pursuit of it." According to the Vienna Court
Gazette of the 7th of September, 1825, it appears,
that the cultivation of silk has since grown into
favour ; mistakes in the practice began to be ex-
ploded, compulsory measures to be abandoned, and
rewards to successful cultivators, awarded. These
attempts to promote the silk culture in the Austrian
dominions are chiefly made in Tyrol, Lombardy, II-
lyria, Dalmatia, and a part of Hungary ; and " That
government strives to introduce it also in other
provinces, with a view of saving the many millions

* Count dc Ilazzi, p. 40.

niSTORT OF SILK. 85

of florins which go abroad for stiifl's of that mate-
rial."*

As the subject refers to Sweden, it is sufiicient to
observe that Dr. Lardner quotes the Stockholm
Journal for March, 1S24, and Count de Hazzi the
Stockholm Gazette for 1S25. From the former we
learn, that " The culture of the mulberry tree is ex-
tending itself in the provinces ; and silk produced in
Sweden has confirmed the remark formerly made on
ihe superior fineness and solidity of silk grown in the
north, compared with that from more temperate
climes. It supports the ordinary preparation and
dye equally with the best Italian, possesses the same
brilliancy and the same softness :" from the latter,
that " The business had again been taken up very
earnestly, and that a great deal of excellent silk had
been produced. The Swedish silk has sustained un-
injured, the ordinary manufacture and dyeing, and
obtained the brilliancy and softness of the East India
product."

So indefatigable was the assiduity of Peter, justly
called the Great.\ in his endeavours to benefit his
country, whose interest he viewed with parental care,
that he forgot not the providential intention of the
mulberry tree. To him, for the introduction of mul-
berry plantations, and to the Empress Catharine, for
that of silk worms, Russia is indebted ; which have
since been successfully cultivated and reared as high
as the 54th degree of northern latitude.

* Count de Hozzi.

■j- Whilst on the pages of history we contemplate the character of a
sovereign eminent for urging on his ambitious career, for fanning the
flames of war, or, regardless of consequences, aiming at what he and his
sycophants, by one of the most egregious perversions of language, call
glory ! we here and there select another eminent in being intent on the
promotion, not more of his own, than of his people's interest and pros-
perity : a course infinitely more beneficent and amiable. Yet in in-
discriminate language both are called great ! ! Alexander, was called
great in the former sense, Peter of Russia in the latter. But which of
the two deserved the epithet, it is not difficult to determine. There we
see the human butcher of the niilUon . here a source diliusing benefi-
cence to his own and future generations.

8

86 HISTORY OF SILK.

A plantation of mulberry trees existed on Ach-
touba, an island formed by the division* of the Volga
into two branches near the Caspian Sea. Here the
empress placed a colony of 400 men, besides women,
to whom she granted exemption from imposts for ten
years; and received afterwards their capitation tax
in silk at ten roubles per pound. Silk worms were
reared successfully at Bauenhotf in Livonia, in the
latter end of the last century. Manufacturing esta-
blishments are now regularly formed ; fabrics and
patterns of every kind easily imitated, and the Rus-
sians anticipate, if they have not already realized, the
time when they shall become independent of Persia
for the supply of silk.

Russia, though generally viewed as a northern
country, includes climes, in Georgia, as low as the
parallel of forty degrees, bordering on the ancient
Armenia. But how Sweden that owns no territory
south of fifty-five degrees, and that can scarcely grow
bread stuffs sufficient for her own consumption, suc-
ceeds in rearing silk worms, whilst England, that
extends to the parallel of fifty degrees, has abandoned
the production of the raw material to more southern
regions, is an inquiry that demands a more satisfac-
tory solution than any yet attempted.

The introduction of silk fabrics into England has
been traced back to a very early period. In the year
llSO,duringthe reignof Henry II., the eleganceof silks
began to be an object of admiration. The time when
silk was somewhat extensively used in that country,
was, at least, as early as 1251. At the celebration
of the marriage between Margaret, daughter of
Henry III. and Alexander III. of Scotland, magnifi-
cence was displayed such, that 1000 English knights
appeared richly arrayed in cointises of silk.t But

• From the town Tzaritzin, lat. 48° 35', to Krasnoijar, lat 46° 38',
or sixteen miles north of Astrarhan.

-j- We are informed that the sail of the vessel that conveyed Henry V.
(1415) on his invasion of France, which led to the victory of Agin-
court, was of purple silk embroidered with the arms of England and
France.

HISTORY OF SILK. 87

the earliest record of silk being 'manufactured in
England, is the act of parliament passed in the year
1363.* Since this act is the first example, of which
we find any mention, of the English restrictive policy,
or protective system of its own artisans, at least re-
lative to silks, and is so much opposed to the subse-
quent principles of Great Britain on the same point,
we shall quote this and others more at large than we
otherwise should, since they constitute an important
subject for the consideration of nations. We find the
whole, in reference to this point, more succinctly
summed up in the Silk Culturist, than elsewhere.

"Whatever may be the true policy of the United
States, with regard to freedom of trade. Great Britain
has ever considered it, both her duty and interest, to
protect her manufactures ; and to this policy, and to
the parliamentary encouragement it has received, the
silk manufacture of England is indebted for its pre-
sent extent and perfection.

•' It would be tedious to give an analysis of all the
acts of the British parliament which have been made
to protect the silk manufacture of England, against
continental competition, but an examination of a few
will show the policy of the government. The first
act for the encouragement and protection of silk ma-
nufacture is 37 Edw. III., c. 5 and 6. This statute
was passed in 1363, and restricted manufacturers,
merchants, &c. to the making and dealing in one par-
ticular kind of goods at their own election. An
exception, however, was made in favour of females
employed in the manufacture of silk. In 1454, the
statute 33 Henry VI., c. 5, was passed, prohibiting,
for five years, the importation of twined ribands,
chains, or girdles," being the only articles then ma-
nufactured by the silk women of London. In 1463,
the statute 3 Edward IV,, c. 4, was passed, which
extended the prohibition, during the king's pleasure,
to several other articles, among which were laces,

• 37 Edw. III. c. 5 and 6.

88 HISTORr OP SILK.

ribands, and fringes of silk, silk twined, silk embroi-
dered, tires of silk, purses and girdles. In 1482, the
protection afforded by the provisions of this act was
withdrawn by its repeal. The consequence was, the
silk manufacturers were thrown out of employment,
and reduced to extreme poverty and distress. They
were, however, soon relieved by its being extended
for the term of four years.

"Next followed the statute 19 Hen. VII., c. 21,
which was passed in 1508, and prohibited the im-
portation of any manner of silk wrought, either by
itself, or with any other stuff, in ribands, laces, gir-
dles, corses, and corses of tissues or points, upon pain
of forfeiture. These being the only articles of silk
then manufactured in England, it was by the same
statute made lawful for all persons to import silk
either raw or wrought into articles other than those
enumerated. Towards the close of the reign of
James I., a merchant of London (Mr. Burlamach)
introduced a number of silk throwsters, dyers, and
broad weavers from the Continent, and the fabrication
of broad goods was commenced. In 1629 manufac-
turers of this description had increased to such a
number as to entitle themselves to an act of incorpo-
ration, under the name of ' the master, wardens, as-
sistants, and commonalty of silk throwsters.' From
that period down to the present time, the silk manu-
facture of England has been under the constant
watchfulness of parliament. Statutes have been
made, repealed, and modified, as its interest or exi-
gencies required, and the result has been that it has
been carried to an extent and degree of perfection
which astonishes the world." We here merely state
these facts which are of a similar character, and refer
to national policy ; and we, at present, reserve our
remarks to a future part of this subject.

So scarce an article do silk stockings seem to have
been in the reign of Henry VIII., that it has been
deemed worthy of record as an historic fact, that that
monarch was compelled, for the occasion of gala days,

HISTOnV OF SILK. 89

to obtain them from Spain ; and that it was to Sir
Thomas Gresham that his son, Edward VI., was in-
debted for a pair. Yet the tyrannical iSIary, daughter
of Henry VIII., seems to have dreaded that the time
was coming, when blood, more common than aristo-
cratical, would be covered with silk. Hence her
sumptuary law of 1554 declares, that "Whoever, ex-
cept magistrates and persons of higher condition,
should wear silk in or upon his or her hat, bonnet or
girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or spur leather, shall be
imprisoned three months and forfeit ten pounds."
This absurd statute was repealed in the first year of
James I. Mrs. Montague, however, the queen's silk
woman, in the year 1560, appears to have tested the
affinity between royal legs and silk stockings, by a
present of the latter, not the former, to Elizabeth,
who was, on this occasion, so gratified, that she could
Txever after condescend to wear the plebeian fabric
of cloth hose.

Eight years after, the silk manufacture was so
much improved as to be considered, by a series of
legislative enactments continued to the present, an
object of national importance. But notwithstanding
all protective measures, a predilection for foreign
fabrics prevailed to an extent such, that it was said,
that every maid-servant became a standing revenue
to the French king of one-half of her wages.

What the physical consequence of the experiment
of silk stockings on queen's legs was on the inventive
faculty in men's heads, we presume not to divine ;
yet no less strange than true was it, that it was pre-
cisely at this period, that there was, for the first time,
introduced an " engine for knitting or weaving silk
stockings," invented by the Rev. William Lea of St.
John's College, Cambridge. Hence, soon arose the
export of quantities of silk hose to Italy. And we
also learn that the quality was such as to maintain
its superiority abroad so long after, that in 1730,
Keysler, who travelled in Italy, remarks, that it was
common to hear the Neapolitan tradesman recom-

8*

90 HISTORY OP SILK.

mending his hose, by saying, that " they were Eng-
lish." Mr. Lea, however, at that early period, found
that he could weave more silk stockings than there
were legs, except he went to France, to wear them ;
where he appears to have done well, until the assas-
sination of the French king, Henry IV., his patron,
left him in a state of destitution.

The success of the silk culture in France had a
powerful influence on James I. of England. " Having
seen," says he, " that in a few years, our Ijrother, the
French king, hath, since his coming to that crown,
both began and brought to perfection the making of
silk in his country, whereby he has won to himself
honour, and to his subjects a marvellous increase of
wealth," — to which preamble he adds, "That from
the experience of many private persons, who had
bred silk worms for their pleasure, nothing had ap-
peared to cause a doubt that they may be nourished
and reared in England, provided there were a suffi-
cient number of mulberry trees to supply them with
food." To provide which James, by circular letters
in 1608, recommends the planting of mulberry trees
to the inhabitants of the different counties of England,

However strong the influence of royal recommen-
dation may be, yet that of climate, opposed to it in
this case, is said to have prevailed. According to
documents existing in 1620, it appears that the peo-
ple were wilUng, and the mulberry trees grew, as if
by royal mandate, but neither the climate nor the sflk
worms were obedient subjects, and the king, there-
fore, turned his attention to the American colonies.
The project, however, relative to the production of
the raw material in England, was renewed in 1629,
and in 1718 ; also in Ireland so late as in 1815, with
a similar consequence. But since the white mulberry
is said to have grown there, and to have put forth
shoots in the first ye'ar, twenty inches in length, the silk
worms to have been successfully reared for private
amusement, the raw material to have been produced
in the colder and more northern climate of Sweden,

HISTORY OF SILK. 91

and the humidity of that of Great Britain, to be capa-
ble of correction by a DandoUere, or cocoonery on the
plan of Count Dandolo, no reason completely satis-
factory, especially since the discovery of the multi-
caiilis, has been as yet assigned, for the want of suc-
cess in the production of raw silk either in England
or Ireland.

How far, or on what occasions, consistently with
the welfare of the several trading communities of a
nation, the "powers that be," whether invested in
one or more individuals, can interfere with its com-
mercial regulations, is, as already observed, an im-
portant inquiry ; and it is the business of history, if
not to decide, at least to produce facts to illustrate
this question. In conformity with this view, the re-
cord of the events mentioned in the note subjoined,
together with Dr. Lardner's remarks cannot be well
omitted.*

* The progress made in the wea\-ing of broad silks, " May he further
collected from the terms of a proclamation issued in the year 1630, by
Charles I., setting forth, that the trade in silk within the realm, by the
importation thereof raw from foreign part5, and throwing, dyeing, and
working the same into manufactures here at home, is much increased
•within a few years past. But a fraud in the dyeing thereof being lately
discovered, by adding to the weight of silk in the dye, beyond a just
proportion, by a false and deceitful mixture in the ingredient used in
dyeing, whereby also the silk is weakened and corrupted, and the colour
made worse ; wherefore we strictly command, that no silk dyer do hereafter
use any slip, alder-bark, fihngs of irons, or other deceitful matter in
dyeing silk, either black or coloured ; that no silk shall be dyed any other
black but Spanish black, and not of the dye called London black, or
light weight, neither shall they dye any silk before the gum be fair
boiled nff from the silk being raw." The same monarch, in the year
1638, issued directions removing in part, the prohibitions imposed by
his former proclamation, and permitting such silk to be dyed upon the
gum, commonly called hard silk, as was proper for making tufted taf-
fetas, figured satins, fine silk ribands, and ferret ribands both black and
coloured ; and as his reason for this departure from his former directions
stated, with a degree of candour not always admitted into the edicts
of princes, that he had now become better informed upon the subject
This order further directed, that no stuffs made or mixed with silk should
be imported, if of a less breadth than a full half yard, nail and half nail,
on pain of forfeiture."

'• It will be remarked that this misguided and unfortunate prince thus
took upon himself to regulate, by the authority of proclamations, matters

92 HISTORY OF SILK.

Though in the preamble of the act passed in IGGl,
(13 and 14 Car. II., c. 15,) we are informed that the
company of silk throwsters in London, then employed
40,000 men, women, and children ; yet the existence
of any snch nnmber engaged in the silk trade, at any
one time in London, prior to the revocation of the
edict of Nantes, is, perhaps, notwithstanding some-
what questionable.

It is an acknowledged fact on the pages of history,
that no other event has contributed so much towards
a general diffusion of knowledge in relation to the
culture and manufacture of silk, as religious persecu-
tion. Those bigoted gentlemen of the monoculi genus,
who would machine men to think precisely as they
do, whether they can or not, or screw them down to
it by the razor wheel, little dream how great a bless-
ing their own act is conferring on others, whilst it is
inflicting indelible infamy on themselves. Previous
to the accession of Henry IV. to the throne of France,
in 1594, the manufacture of silk was principally con-
ducted by the Huguenots, a protestant sect in France.
The Huguenots quietly submitted to the government
of Henry, until he changed his religious principles,
and allied himself to the dominant party, with whom
the Huguenots were not unfrequently at open war-
fare. The defection of the king, who had been
avowedly their protector, alarmed the Huguenots
and threatened the tranquillity of his reign. In this

which had been previously ordered by acts of parliament. In many of
these orders the king was guided by his own impulses, or influenced
by the persuasions of others, rather than any sound or enlightened views
of the nature of commerce ; and he endeavoured to render the trade of
his country subservient to his political designs. In another proclama-
tion, issued by him for the reforming of abuses, which it was alleged
had crept into practice in the manufacture and breadth of silks ; the
Weaver's Company were empowered to admit into their commonalty,
a competent number of such persons, whether strangers or natives, as
had exercised the trade of weaving for one year at least; provided the
parties so admitted should be conformable to the laws of the realm, and
to the constitution of the church of England; as though the fabrics
which they wrought were susceptible of contamination, if touched by
heretical hands !"

HISTORY OF SILK. 93

dilemma, two opposite interests to serve, a compro-
mise of some kind was necessary. From motives of
policy rather than principle, the heads of the party
of Nantes were assembled, and the celebrated edict,
M'hich bears the name of that place, was passed
granting to the Huguenots every thing necessary for
their security: and for their satisfaction it was further
declared that the edict should be irrevocable.

Notwithstanding this, this said irrevocable edict
was revoked by Louis XIV. on the 23d of October,
16So. Thus while the worship of the Huguenots was
suppressed, their churches demolished, and their
ministers banished, the protestant laity were forbid-
den, under the most rigorous penalties to quit the
kingdom. France, however, by this measure, lost
more than half a million of her most industrious and
useful subjects: an event that soon proved highly be-
neficial to other countries, which those who decreed
that measure had not the skill to foresee. About
70,000 of these refugees made their way into England
and Ireland ; of which number, a large part, particu-
larly those who were conversant with the fabrication
of silks, settled at Spitalfields, and engaged in the
manufacture of brocades, satins, black and coloured
mantuas, black paduasoys, ducapes, watered tabbies,
alamodes, lustrings, and black velvets, of the manu-
facture of which the English were previously igno-
rant. To the above mentioned intolerant and perfi-
dious transaction, England is indebted for a knowledge
of that manufacture for which she is now so celebrated.
The silk trade, generally, was by this means improved.
The English rtceived the refugees with hospitality,
and their industry was encouraged with a zeal that
declared, according to the spirit of the times, that the
v»'earing of silk, under those circumstances, was a
proof of attachment to the protestant cause and of
that charity which the protestant's gospel enjoins to
be practised towards the unfortunate, whether friend
or foe.

Previous to the settlement of the French refugees,

94 HISTORY OP SILK.

lustrings and alamode silks were imported; but the
perfection to which those articles were soon brought,
by the Spitalfield weavers, rendered further importa-
tion unnecessary. The persons engaged therein were,
therefore, incorporated, and by two successive acts,
(1392 and 1 698,) protectedagainst foreign competition.
But neither the parliament nor the manufacturers had
the prescience to guard against what rendered such
protection nugatory. A change in the public taste
directed the current of custom into a channel that
caused the expenditure of the company's capital to
be unproductive, except to serve as a lesson on the
precarious tenure of objects, whose foundation is not
necessity, but caprice and fashion.

France and England by the treaty of Utrecht in
1713, contemplated a sort of reciprocity, by which,
on the payment of a trifling ad valorem duty, the
manufacturers of each kingdom were to be admitted
into the other. But no sooner do subjects of this na-
ture become topics of national discussion than we see
two judges in the court. The one pronounces the
policy of such free trade or reciprocity to be liberal and
enlightened, and the other affirms that it is injurious
to the interests of domestic manufacture, and ruinous
to the artisan. Great names are, and have long been,
enlisted on each alternative of this dilemma; nations
have been assembled and volumes expended on this
discussion, but, " adhuc sub judice lis est,'^ the
question is yet unsettled, except in minds possessed
of only partial premises. These generally have the
temerity to decide; though it is well known that
many advantages, equal or unequal, belong to each
scale; and it is necessary to have all the weights in
on each side, before we can perceive to which the
correct balance inclines.

Had Dr. Lardner and others, who have written on
the History of Silk, not discovered an inclination,
from ex parte evidence, to come to a decision, we
should have felt ourselves happily released from this
subject, though of national importance. But occu-

HISTOUY OF SILK. 95

pying at present, somewhat similar ground, it remains
only to say, " sequor non passibus asqiiis/' to supply,
however, facts as yet furnished by none, leaving it
rather to others, and to that further experience, which
time alone can give, to pronounce the verdict not of
one, but of nations, on this vital question in political
economy, in which the silk as well as any other ma-
nufacture is involved.

By some the protective system is placed on a level
with any monopoly that benefits the few, but op-
presses the many ; not knowing, however, that when
the artisan is encouraged he is rendered a consumer
as well as a producer to the full extent of his wages,
and this supports domestic industry, of far greater
consequence than any foreign trade whatever, that
takes specie out instead of bringing it in. Others tell
us, that when the productions of art are protected,
the inventive faculty slumbers, and if foreign compe-
tition be removed, improvement ceases. This is spe-
cious : may pass off as a flash note amongst the
many ; but will not weigh against harder coin.
Though the foreign merchant be not in the market,
domestic competition exists ; and the competitor at
home naturally looks abroad for materials to give
him a precedency which his neighbour cannot other-
wise obtain. Besides, so restricted are many articles
in their use, that all improvement beyond a certain
point is a matter of mere secondary consequence, the
creature more of fancy than service ; and not of any
importance to constitute an argument to oppose the
welfare and comfort of the many thousands that com-
pose an industrious community.

Neither has the American press been unemployed
in lauding the late Mr. Huskisson to the skies, on the
score of his opposition to the navigation act, his free
trade and reciprocity bills ; and, of course, for his
pseudo services to the English manufacturers of silk.
Had not the English silk weavers, cotton spinners,
and operatives of all classes, had many enemies in
the shape oi false friends, why do they come over

96 HISTORY OF SILK.

here? By Huskisson's enlii^htened patriotism the
ships of continental Europe became in possession of
the carrying trade of Great Britain ; they would re-
ceive only hard cash for their cargoes, without taking
a single box or bale of English manufacture in re-
turn,* whilst thousands of British ships, involving
millions of property, were rotting in the docks. The
sufferings of myriads of silk weavers at Spitalfields,
Macclesfield, and Dublin employed Michael Thomas
Saddler,t and other powerful advocates against the
sophistry of Huskisson, Fitzgerald, and Thompson,
and other political neologists ; but they were opposed
by the fallacy that regards the extent of production
without reference to the profit of the manufacturer,
or benefit to the artisan. Huskisson 's policy was
liberal in theory, but slavery in practice; and so
enlightened in the abstract, as to deprive forever of
education the offspring of the labourer, who had to
toil from eight to fourteen hours in the day to supply
the deficiency of his parent's weekly earnings. Those
that would compass heaven and earth to serve the
foreign at the expense of the home trade, were loud in
their acclamations against slavery amongst the blacks,
without having any wish to remember that a larger
volume of slavery, produced by their own measures,
existed amongst the whites of a realm, whose shores
were said to be such, that the slave at the moment
of contact with them became instantly free ! !

The year 1718 was rendered important in the his-
tory of silk in consequence of the unexampled assi-
duity of a youth to introduce in England, the throwst-
ing mill. Relative to this subject we are furnished
with the following interesting facts by Dr. Lardner.

• This, as may be attested by authentic documents, was, in many
cases, literally the fiict.

+ The author of " Ireland, its Evils, and their Remedies ;" also of an
able work, involving a very singular theory, on " the Laws of the In-
crease and Decrease of Population." Few have given so many proofs,
as it refers to the secular concerns of men, of their possession of sterling
philanthropy as M. T. Saddler.

HISTORY OF SILK. 97

"Up to the year 171S, our machinery was so defect-
ive, that this country was, in a great degree, dependent
on the throwsters of Italy for the supply of organzined
silk; but at that time, Mr. John Lombe* of Derby,

* " There were three brothers, Thomas, Henry, and John ; the first
was one of the sheriffs of London, at the accession of George II., in 1727,
on which occasion, he was knighted. About this time, the ItaUans had
introduced great improvement in the art of throwing silk, and rendered
it impossible for the Lombes, who were engaged in the silk throwing
business in London, to bring their goods into the market upon any thing-
like terms of equality with the Italian. The younger brother was a lad
at that time. By the laws of the Italians, it was made death, for any
one to discover any thing connected with the silk manufacture : with
this addition, the forfeiture of his goods, and his person and name to
be painted outside of the prison walls, hanging to the gallows by one
foot, with an inscription to remaiia as an indelible mark of infamy.
Young Lombe, however, was not to be deterred. On his arrival, and
before he became known, he went, accompanied by a friend, to see the
silk works. No person was admitted except when the machinery was
in action, and even then he was hurried through the rooms with the
most jealous caution. The celerity of the machinery rendered it im-
possible for Mr. Lombe to comprehend all the dependencies, and first
springs of so extensive and complicated a work. He went with differ-
ent persons in various habits, as a gentleman, a priest, or a lady, and
he was very generous with his money ; but he could never find an op-
portunity of seeing the machinery put in motion, or of giving to it that
careful attention which was his object. Despairing of obtaining ade-
quate information from such cursory inspection, he bethought himself
of associating with some clergyman ; and being a man of letters, he suc-
ceeded in ingratiating himself with the priest who confessed the family
to which the works belonged. He seems to have opened his plans,
partly at least, to this person, and it is certain that he found means to
obtain his co-operation. According to the scheme adopted, Mr. Lombe
disguised himself as a poor youth in want of employment. The priest
then introduced him to the directors of the vpork, and gave him a good
character for honesty and diligence, and described him as inured to
hardships. He accordingly engaged as filature boy, to superintend a
spinning engine. His mean appearance procured him accommodation
in the place which his design made the most acceptable to him. While
others slept, he was awake, and diligently employed in his arduous and
dangerous undertaking. He had possessed himself of a dark lantern,
tinder box, wax candles, and a case of mathematical instruments. In
the daytime, these were secreted in a hole under the stairs where he
used to sleep. He then went on making drawings of every part of this
grand and useful machinery' ; the priest often in(}uircd after his boy,
and through his agency, Lombe conveyed his drawings to Messrs. Glo-
ver and Unwiiis, at Leghorn, the correspondents of the Lombes, who
made models from them, which were despatched piecemeal to England,

9

98 HISTORY OF SILK.

having in the disguise of a common workman, suc-
ceeded in taking accurate drawings of silk throwsling
machinery in Piedmont, erected a stupendous mill for
that purpose at Derby, and obtained a patent for the
sole and exclusive property in the same, during the
space of fourteen years. This grand machine was
constructed with 26,580 wheels and 97,746 move-
ments, which worked 73,726 yards of organzine silk
thread with every revolution of the water wheel, and
as this revolved three times in each minute, the almost
inconceivable quantity of 318,504,960 yards of organ-
zine could be produced daily ! Only one water wheel
was employed to give motion to the whole of this
machinery, the contrivance of which was such that
any one or more of the movements might be controlled
or stopped, without obstructing the continued action
of the rest. The building wherein this machinery
was erected was of great extent, being five stories in
height, and occupying one-eighth of a mile in length.
So long a time was occupied in the construction of
this machinery, and so vast was the outlay it occa-
sioned, that the original duration of the patent proved
insufficient for the adequate remuneration of its
founder; who, on these grounds, applied to parlia-
ment, in the year 1731, for an extension of the term
for which his privilege had been granted. This,
however, in consideration of the great national im-

in bales of silk. After Lombe had completed his desifpi, he remained
at the mill until some English ship should be on the point of sailing for
England. When this happened, he left the works and hastened on
board. Meanwhile his absence had occasioned suspicion, and an Italian
brig was despatched in pursuit, but the English vessel happily proved
the better sailer of the two, and he escaped. It was said that the priest
was put to the torture, but another states tliat after Mr. Lombe's return
to England, an Italian j)riest was much in his company, and it is the
opinion that this was the priest in t(uestion. The common account of
Mr. Lombe's death is, that the Italians exasperated at the injury done
their trade, sent over to Ejigland an artful woman, who associated with
Mr. Lombe's Italian servants engaged in his works, and having gained
over one, poison was administered, of which, it is said, Mr. Lombe died
on the premises, on the 1 Gth November, 1 722, in the twenty-ninth year
of his age." — Roberts' Manual; Silk Grower, <S^c.

HISTORY OF SILK. 99

portance of the object, which was opposed to its con-
tinued limitation in the hands of any individual, was
not granted; but parliament voted the sum of £14,000
to Sir Thomas Lombe, as some consideration for the
eminent services rendered by him to the nation, in
discovering with so much personal risk and labour,
and in bringing to perfection, at great expense, a work
so beneficial to the kingdom. The grant being made
upon the sole condition that competent persons should
be allowed to execute an exact model of the machi-
nery, to be deposited in such a place as his majesty
should appoint, in order to diffuse and perpetuate the
manufacture. The act authorizing the issue of the
money mentions among other causes justifying the
grant, " the obstruction offered to Sir T. Lombe's un-
dertaking by the king of Sardinia, in prohibiting the
exportation of the raw silk which the engines were
intended to work."

The history of the silk manufacture, in England
after this, abounds with a multitude of acts of parlia-
ment, of local consequence, and therefore more suited
to the English than to the American reader. They
are standing evidence, however, of what importance
this branch of national industry was estimated by the
British legislature ; and as documents they are valu-
able in affording a series of statistical testimony, of
the constantly increasing magnitude and prosperity
of this manufacture in the British Isles.

In the year 1783, the different branches of the silk
manufacture amounted in value to £3,350,000. Soon
after the year 1825, the number of throwsting mills
in the country were registered at 266 ; of spindles at
1,180,000; and of the looms employed in Spitalfields
alone at 17,000.

In the year 1821, we find the following instructive
extracts from the minutes of evidence before both
houses of parliament on the subject of the silk trade
and manufacture.

" Silk is principally imported from Bengal, China,

100 HISTORY OP SILK.

Italy, and Turkey. The average of late years,
amounts fully to 1,800,000 lbs. Bengal sends near
800,000 lbs.; China about 100,000 lbs.; Turkey the
same. The remainder comes from Italy. The duties
on raw silk are as follows ; Bengal 4^.; Italian, Tar-
key, and China, 5^. Ihd. per pound. Italian organ-
zine, \As. 6d. to 14,y. l^d. per pound. Prices paid
for organzine in England, 7s. to 10^. per pound.
The waste is from three to fifteen per cent. No
organzine is made in France ; they prepare their
own trams and singles. China silk is applicable to
hosiery ; the Italian is not."

" The price for making organzine in Italy is from
3s. to 4s. per pound. In England it costs from 7*. to
10^. per pound. The French are superior to the
English in ribbons, but inferior in hosiery. China
silk goods are heavier than English, but not of a bet-
ter quality. The China raw silk is equal to most
Italian, and better than any Bengal."

"In the Ik'iigal silk there is a kind of cottony or
fuzzy substance, which is thrown up into a pile or
knap when woven. The price of Bengal silk per
pound, duty included, is from 14^. to 30*.; that of
Italian from 18.9. to 35,s."

" Nearly 2,000,000 pounds of raw and thrown silks
are annually imported into England. This gives
employment to 40,000 hands in throwsting it for the
weaver, and their wages are £350,000. Half a mil-
lion pounds of soap, and a large proportion of the
costly dye stufis are consumed, at a farther expense
of £300,000; and £265,000 more are paid to winders
to prepare it. The number of looms may be taken
at 40,000; and the weavers, warpers, mechanics, &c.
to be 80,000, whose wages amount to £3,000,000.
Including infants and dependents, 400,000 mouths will
be fed by this manufacture ; the amount of which
may be estimated at £10,000,000."

" The price of dyeing at Lyons is 15 sous, or lid.
per pound ; and colours 24 sous, or 1*. In England

HISTORY OF SILK- 101

the price of the first is 2^., and of the latter from
2^. 6(1. to As. The drawback on silk goods in Eng-
land is 12*. per pound, on ribands, 10*. The labour
in preparing raw silk, affords much more employ-
ment to the country producing it, than any other raw
material. The defect complained of in the Bengal
silk, is in the preparation. There is nothing in the
nature of the silk to render it inapplicable to every
purpose of Italian silk." ;

In the year 1824, the high duty on the importation '
of raw silk was abandoned for one merely nominal ;
that on thrown silk was reduced nearly one-half; and
the admission of foreign manufactured goods was
rendered legal in 1826, under an ad valorem, duty
equivalent to about thirty per cent.*

* In regard to the silk manufacture, the duty required in order to
maintain the English weavers in the same relative position which they
already hold with those of France is much lower than might, without
inquiry, be imagined. Independent of duties, the entire ditference in
the cost of one pound of the best thrown silk, when manufactured into
sixteen yards of Gros de Naples, is 5s. 6c?., or barely fourteen and a half
per cent., as appears by the following statement.

Comparative estimate of the cost of one pound of silk when manufac-
tured into Gros de Naples at Lyons and London.

In Lyons.

£ s. d.

Price current of organzine 25s. per lb., 8 oz. of which 0 12 6

Ditto of tram 22s. 6rf. per lb., 8 oz. of which 0 11 3

Dyeing, warp, and short 0 0 11

1 4 8
Add 4 oz. for loss in dyeing and waste to make 16 oz. when

manufactured 0 6 2

s. d. 1 10 10

Winding and warping I 3

Weaving 16 yards, at 4^rf. 6 0

7 3

1 18 1
Difference in favour of the French manufacturer 0 5 6

2 3 7

102 HISTORY OP SILK.

For the information of the exporter, the scale of
duties at present chargeable on the importation of
raw, thrown, and manufactured silks, is furnished in
the note below.*

In London.

£ s. d.

Price current of fine tram silk in Italy 1 2 6

Export duty and expenses 0 0 6^

Carriage to Calais 0 0 3^

1 2 4

Eight oz. of wliicli 0 11 2

£ s. d.
Price current of fine organzine in Piedmont. .1 3 0

Duty and expenses 0 0 9J

Carriage to Calais 0 0 3^

1 4 i~

Eight oz. of which 0 12 0^

Dyeing, warp, and short 0 I 6

Four oz. for loss in dyeing and waste to make 16 oz. when

manufactured 0 6 2

s. d. 1 10 10^

Winding and warping 2 0^

Weaving 16 yards, reckoning 1 oz. to the yard, at

8rf. per yard 10 8

0 12 8^

2 3 7

* Knuhs, or husks of silk, and waste of silk, the cwt. Is. Raw silk,
the lb., \d. Thrown silk, not dyed, namely, singles, the lb., Is. Gd,
Tram, the lb., 2s. Organzine and crape silk, the lb., 3s. 6d. Thrown
silk, dyed, namely, singles or tram, the lb., 3s. Organzine or crape silk,
the lb., 5s. 2d. Manufactures of silk, or of silk mixed with any other
material, namely, silk or satin, plain, the lb., 1 Is., or, at the option of
the officers of the customs, for every jElOO of the value, £2.5. Silk or
satin figured or brocaded, the lb., 15s.; or, at the option of the oOicers
of the customs for every X'lOO of the value, £30. Gauze, plain, the lb.,
17s. or 30 per cent, ad valorem. Gauze striped, figured, or brocaded,
the lb., 27s. 6c?., or 30 per cent, ad valorem. Velvet, plain, the lb., 22s.,
or 30 per cent, ad valorem. Velvet figured, the lb., 27s. 6d., or 30 per
cent, ad valorem. Ribands, embossed or figured with velvet, the lb.,
17a'., or 30 per cent, ad valorem. And if mixed with gold, silver, or
other metals, in addition to the above rates 10s. per lb. Fancy silk,
net, or tricot, the lb., 24f. Plain silk lace, or net, the square yard, Is. 4rf.

HISTORY OF SILK. 103

We may judge of the immense quantity of raw
and thrown silk annually imported into Great Bri-
tain, from the following quotations ;

The importation was, in

lbs. lbs.

1819, of raw silk 1,480,990

— thrown 301,588

1,782,578

1820, of raw silk 1,702,416

— thrown 309,953

2,012,369

1821, of raw silk 1,940,5 16

— thrown 350,209

2,290,725

1822, of raw silk 2,037,415

— thrown 370,273

2,407,688

1823, of raw silk 2,085,972

— thrown 346,314

2,432,286

1824, of raw silk 3,540,910

— thrown 452,469

3,993,379

1825, of raw silk 3,030,756

— thrown 556,642

3,587,398

1826, of raw silk 1,955,042

— thrown 289,325

2,244,367

1827, of raw silk 3,755,242

— thrown 454,U15

4,209,257

Manufactures of silk, or of silk mixed ivilh any other material, the
produce of and imported from places within the limits of the East
India Company's charier, for every £100 of the value, £20. MiUinery
of silk, or of which the greater part of the material is of sillv, naaiel^^ tur-
bans or caps, each 15s. Hats or bonnets, each 25v. Dresses, each 50s.,
or 40 per cent, ad valorem. Manufactures of silk, or nf silk and any
other material, not particularly enumerated, or otherwise charged with
duty, for every £100 of the value, £30. Articles nf the manufacture
of silk, or of silk and any other material, wholly or part made up, not
particularly enumerated, or otherwise charged with duty, 30 per cent.
On the exportation of silk manufactured goods, government allows the
following drawbacks. For every pound weight of manufactui'cd goods,
composed of silk onlj-, 3?. &d. Of silk and cotton mixed, one-half being
silk, \s. 2d. Of silk and worsted, one-half being silk, 7d. To prevent
the introduction of contraband goods, the importation of foreign wrought
silks is restricted to the ports of London, Dublin and Dover, and the pri-
vilege is conluied to ships of not less than 70 tons burden.

104 HISTORY OF SILK.

The importation was, in

1828, of raw silk 4,162,550

— thrown 385,262

4,547,812

1834, of raw silk 4.340,000

or of raw and waste silk 4,449,456

From this we learn that England is now importing,
nearly at the rate of four millions and a half of raw
silk annually, or a quantity in value nearly equal to
^22,000,000 : the whole of which might he supplied
by the tvide growing silk climes of the United
Stales.

Of the quantity of raw silk imported, above quoted
for the year 1834, it is said, that 1,235,104 lbs. were
from France; 1,758,637 lbs. from the British East
Indies; 562,834 lbs. from China; 419,368 lbs. from
Turkey and Greece, and 403,214 lbs. from Italy.

But it is not the least interesting part of the story,
that an American gentleman, recently travelling in
England, was informed that of the raw silk imported
into that country, 61,105 lbs, in 1834, and 27,236 lbs.
in 1835, were supplied by the United States.

Of the 4,340,000 lbs. of raw silk imported in 1834,

The cost is stated at $20,125,205

Cost of dyeing ditto 1,640,000

Of winding, weaving, and finishing 18,616,695

Interest on capital, wear, tear, «Stc 13,077,605

$53,459,505

Tlie amounts of the value of the manufacture, as
to each species of fabric, for 1834, is quoted thus :

Broad silks. $18,815,000

Ribands 8,415,000

Handkerchiefs 2,400,250

Crapes 1,547,440

Silk hose and gloves 1,822,450

Sewing silks 1 ,248,000

Mixed goods 12,480,000

Miscellaneous 3,246,660

Sundries 1,892,125

These various manufactures give employment to

HISTORY OP SILK. 105

more than 208,000 people ; of which there are en-
gaged in

Persons.

Broad silks 55,603

Eibands 27,765

Handkerchiefs '. 9,518

Silk hose and gloves 7,350

Sewing silk 1,970

Mixed goods 49,452

Miscellaneous 1 6,726

In otlier kinds 27,832

The declared vakie of British exports of manufac-
tured silks in 1836, amounted to £917,822. Its real
value probably £1,200,000 or SG,000,000. Of which,
we learn, that the United States took about the value
of Si, 200,000. But the most singular fact is, that
France, so recently as 1834, an exporting (low\\\.i-y of
wrought silks to England, to a very considerable
amount annually, is now of the same article import-
ing from England, and in 1836, to the value of
§317,000. This is attributed to the constantly ad-
vancing improvements in the manufacture made in
Great Britain.

The whole, whether for home consumption or ex-
port, from all the evidence we have on the subject,
appears to be on the rapid increase to that degree,
that the value of silk fabrics produced in 1S37-S,
it is expected, will not fall short of §75,000,000.

Before we take our leave of the history of silk, so
far as it respects what is commonly called the old
world, and cross an ocean to contemplate the rising
of a new, and probably soon a greater theatre for the
growth of the mulberry, and the rearing of the little
industry-stirring insect in the new ivorld, where, per-
haps, at no distant period hence, a scene of prosperous
activity may unfold historic pages not even yet anti-
cipated, that may vie in extent and celebrity with
that of silk Empire the First ; we may be allowed
to take a transient visit here and there to regions
where people of merely insular and narrower shores
are setting noble examples to us who are in possession
of one of the choicest parts of a vast continent, so

106 HISTORY OF SILK.

large that we ourselves scarcely know its length
or breadth, and what is more, scarcely yet do we
know the varied and interminable blessings of its
many diversified soils and climates : " 0 fortunatos
nimhim, bona si sua norint, ^gricolas.''*

If any place could appear not congenial to the cul-
ture of silk, we should have thought it to be the island
of Malta, generally a barren rock, that absolutely
borrows soil imported from Sicily and elsewhere.
Yet even here, the mulberry not only grows and the
silk worm thrives, but the untiring enterprise of its
inhabitants, determined not to be disappointed by its
new competitor, Egypt, in the the cotton market, is
bending its attention to silk with every promise of a
favourable result. It is also said, that even on this
factitious soil, the mulberry grows more rapidly than
in Italy. What may not be expected, when even
rocks, if invited, refuse not to be prolific ? And what
can the island of St. Helena be but a rock to have
withstood the wash of the mighty Atlantic, ever since
the days, perhaps, of Peleg ; and here, also, we learn
that mulberry trees are flourishing, and that success,
commensurate with the insular limits of this solitary
isle, are expected.

The Isles of France and Bourbon are more
fovoured, since the soil and climate are such as to
produce Turkey corn and rice twice a year; and also
bananas, oranges, citrons, and tamarinds ; and in
company with these, we shall now find the mystic
transformation of the produce of a tree into the silken
robe. The French originally attempted to introduce
the culture here, but the colonies afterwards came
into the possession of the English ; and we learn that
the governor of the Mauritius, Sir Robert Farquhar,
procured, in the latter part of the year 1815, silk
worm eggs from Bengal, and intrusted them to the
care of M. Chazal. In March following, about 80,000
cocoons were obtained, and a fourth part reserved for

* 0 ye husbantlmen, how extremely fortunate, if only ye knew youT
own privileges. — Virg.

HISTORY OF SILK. 107

reproduction on the following season. Notwithstand-
ing this, and the distribution of silk worms to many
of the colonists, M. Chazel alone, in 1817, produced
116 pounds of silk, or one bale, which was conveyed
to England in the following year ; when he claimed
the premuim offered by the Society for the Encou-
ragement of Arts for the growth of silk in the British
colonies. The most eminent silk brokers in London
pronounced the silk to be of fair quality, and M.
Chazal obtained the premium.

The Silk Culturist informs us that " The govern-
ment of Cuba is making an effort to introduce the
culture of silk in that island, with a fair prospect of
success. Being situated between twenty and twenty-
three and a half degrees of latitude, the mulberry will
be constantly in foliage, and a regular succession of
crops may be made during the whole year."

M. d'Homergue says, " I have been informed that
Messrs. Chabaut and Latour of Nimes, were called
to Mexico some years ago (prior to 1829) to intro-
duce the culture of silk. With the particulars of their
success I am not acquainted, but it is generally un-
derstood at Nimes that they l3oth died rich from this
culture. I have since been informed, that they made
beautiful sewing silk at Mexico, which has been ac-
knowledged in France to be superior to any made in
that country. The French manufacturers said they
could easily make such silk, but that it would cost
them too much. I presume the Mexicans employ
their best material in that manufacture, because they
have not yet learned to put it to a better use. I am
informed also that raw silk has been exported from
this country to IMexico, and sold there at a great
profit, although it was very inferior to that of this
country ; even at eighteen dollars a pound."

Even the inhabitants of Lower Canada, as well as
those of Sweden, contemplate the successful introduc-
tion amongst them of the silk culture. Matter of fact
and history has taught them that tlie slate of Vermont
is suitable to the growth of the mulberry and the rear-

108 HISTORY OP SILK.

ing, at the proper season, of the silk worm; and,
therefore, they infer, because the winters of Lower
Canada are even milder than those of Vermont, that
they will succeed amongst them. The Farmers'
Advocate, published at Sherbrooke, informs us, that
the white mulberry not only endures the climate, but
grows luxuriantly in the southern and eastern town-
ships. The Canadians are even so sanguine as to
hope, that if due care be employed, the colonies of
British America, may supply Great Britain with more
of the raw material than she imports from any coun-
try, except those beyond the Cape of Good Hope.

NORTH AMERICA.

James the I. having had fourteen years, since his
recommendation, in 1608, of the silk culture, to the
several counties in England, to discover the imprac-
ticability, in consequence of the climate, of rearing
silk worms there, turned his attention to North
America; and in the year 1622, in order that his
manufacturers at home might draw their supplies of
the raw material from his colonies abroad, urged the
Virginia Company to promote the cultivation of
mulberry trees, and the breeding of silk worms. To
the attainment of this object, James did not fail to
send over silk worm eggs, white mulberry trees, and
printed instructions.* He gave special instructions
to the Earl of Southampton, to urge the cultivation
of silk in the colonies in preference to tobacco, to
which his majesty appears to have had an implacable
aversion. The carl, therefore, wrote to the governor 1
and council, desiring them to compel the colonists to j
plant mulberry trees, which met the concurrence of
the colonial assembly in 1623. The act passed in
1656, describes the culture of silk as the most profit-

* Written by Mr. John Bonocil, a member of the Virginia Company,
who was so confident of the practicability of the plan, that he asserted
that with a sufficient number of hands, as much silk might be raised in
Virginia as to supply all Christendom.

HISTOUT OF SILK. 109

able for the country, and a penalty of ten pounds of
tobacco was to be imposed on every planter who
should fail to plant ten mulberry trees on every 100
acres of land in his possession ; but a premium of
4000 lbs. of tobacco was to be given as an induce-
ment to remain in the country for the purpose of
producing silk; and in the following year a premium
of 10,000 lbs. of tobacco was to be awarded to the
exporter of £200 worth of the raw material ; and
jOOO lbs. of tobacco to the producer of 1000 lbs. of
wound silk in one year. After various amendments,
this system of legislative rewards and penalties ceased
in 1669. " While Sir William Berkely was in Eng-
land, on the occasion of his reappointment as govern-
or, in conversation with the king, his majesty strongly
recommended the culture of silk, and as an induce-
ment to the colonists to attend to his advice, men-
tioned, ' that he had worn some of the silk of Virginia,
and found it to be not inferior to that raised in other
countries.' "*

Though the reason why this first essay towards the
culture of silk in Virginia was not successful has not
been assigned, yet a sufficient one is given in the fol-
lowing extract from a scarce work, entitled "Me Trade
and Navigation of Great Britain and Ireland, by
Joshua Gee,'" published in 1760. "He" (James I.)
"and his courtiers seemed to be very fond of the under-
taking, and letters were written to Virginia to promote
that manufacture. Some small progress was made
there, and letters passed between the planters and gen-
tlemen here; but as soon as they thought that they
had engaged the planters to begin upon it, instead of
promoting it heartily, and sending some able and
skilful persons to direct the undertaking, they threiu
all upon the planters, and that noble design came to
nothing ; whereas that of France succeeded to the
immense profit of that kingdom." Under these cir-
cumstances, not through any natural disabilities but

• Roberts' Manual.
10

110 HISTORY OF SILK.

from the want of proper connexions and facilities, it
ceases to be a matter of wonder, that the planters
found a source of more imintdiatc profit in the growth
of tobacco, for which they met witii a ready market
both in the mother country and in the north of Eu-
rope.*

In the early settlement of Georgia, in the year
1732, a piece of ground, belonging to government,
was allotted as a nursery plantation for white mul-
berry trees. Lands also were granted to settlers on
condition that they planted 100 white mulberry trees
on every ten acres when cleared ; and ten years were
allowed for their cultivation. Trees, seed, and the
eggs of the silk worm, were sent over by the colonial
trustees ; and an episcopal clergyman, and a native of
Piedmont were engaged to instruct the people in the
art of rearing the worms and rearing the silk.t By

* Mr. Gee in his chapter on Trade between England and Caholixa,
remarks, " Carolina lies in as happy a climate as any in the world, from
thirty-two to thirty-six degrees of northern latitude ; the soil is generally
fertile. The rice it produces is the best in the world ; and no country
affords better silk than has been brought from, thence. The rich grounds
that lie under the Apalachian hills, are inviting places for raising silk.
If care were taken to cultivate and improve the raising of silk in our
plantations, Carolina, Vin^inla, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, would
produce the best silk, and as fit for organzine as any in the world. The
vast riches of China, by this manufacture arc suilicicnt to demonstrate
the great advantages thereof; and the extraordinaiy treasure the Duke
of Savoy draws into his country by silk, which is made in that little
principality of Piedmont, is also another instance. We may judge, if
he draws above £200,000 a year from England, what his profits are
which he draws from Holkmd, and other jilacrs where the manufacture
is carried on to a great degree. No part of the world is better suited to
the silk worm than are our colonies ; no silk cleaner, more glossy, of a
better body, nor fitter to answer the use of the fine thrown silk we have
from Italy, than the small quantity of silk that has been imported from
thence. We are told by a gentleman of good intelligence, that the
whole charge of making a pound of silk in China, does not stand in
above five shillings ; and almost any person, man, woman, or child, may
work at it ; and a woman with a child to direct the thread, may, with a
proper machine, reel from the cocoons, one pound a day."

■j- " In order to preserve the spirit of the silk culture, and to keep
the views of government present before the people, the public seal had
on one side of it, a representation of silk worms, with this appropriate

HISTORY OF SILK. Ill

the manuscript records of those colonial trustees,
it appears that the first silk received from Georgia,
was in the year 1735, when eight pounds of raw silk
were exported from Savannah to England, where it
was woven and presented to the queen. It appearing
desirable to the government that the home consump-
tion of raw silk should be supplied from the colonies
rather than be dependent on foreign states, an act
was passed in 1749 for encouraging the growth of
colonial silk, under the provisions of which, all that
was certified to be the production of Georgia and
Carolina was exempted, on importation, from the
payment of duty. A bounty was also offered for the
production of silk, and an Italian gentleman, named
Ortolengi, was engaged to proceed to Georgia, and
instruct the colonists in the Italian mode of manage-
ment.

In a collection of essays published by Doctor Jared
Elliot, of Killing worth,* Connecticut, we find many
interesting particulars in relation to the early intoduc-
tion of the silk culture in America. From his writings
we learn that Georgia first embarked in the pursuit
under the administration of Governor Oglethorpe.
Dr. Elliot says, by a late account from Georgia, " it
appears that the silk manufactory is in a flourishing
way. In the year 1757, the weight of the silk balls"

motto, ' xoN siBi, SED ALUS,' not for ourselves, but for others" —
M'Call's History of Georgia, vol. i. pp. 22. 29.

* By a pamphlet published by the Societi/ in London for the En-
couragement of Arts, yiunufdctures, and Commerce, we learn, that in
1761, the following gentlemen, their correspondents, were by them au-
thorized to pay premiums in their respective colonies, " for merchant-
able raw silk, raised and produced therein," viz. Dr. Jared Elliot, the
Rev. T. Clap, president of Yale College, Jared Ingersoll, Esq., of Con-
necticut, Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., and John Hughes, Esq., of Penn-
sylvania ; George Polljck, CuUen Pollock, and John Rutherford, Esqs.,
of North Carohna. The premiums were, " for every pound of cocoons
produced in the province of Georgia, in 1761, of a hard, weighty, and
good substance, wherein one worm only has spun in them, three pence ;
for every pound of cocoons in which two worms had spun in one co-
coon, two pence. So far as Georgia was concerned, the cocoons were
to be brought to the tilature at Savannah under the direction of M.
Ortolengi. Thus it appears there was then a filature at SavannaL

112 HISTORY OF SILK.

(cocoons) " received at the filature was only 1052 lbs.
last year produced 7040 lbs. ; and this year already
above 10,000 lbs. ; and it is very remarkable that the
raw silk, exported from Georgia, sells at London from
two to three shillings a pound more than that from
any other part of the world." A^ the time Avhen Mr.
Elliot wrote, 1759, Georgia was increasing in the silk
business. A severe loss was sustained by those who
had embarked in this enterprise in Georgia, in the
year 1758, by the filature and storehouse taking fire,
and being consumed together with a quantity of raw
silk, and eight thousand tvcight of cocoons. The
quantity destroyed enables us to form some judgment
relative to the extent of the silk business at that early
day. Dr. Elliot says, that in the year when his essay
Avas written, those who had given their attention to
the production of silk, informed him, " that it was
viore profitable than any other ordinary business.^'*
It appears from other authorities, that the public
filature was erected in 1751 by order of the colonial
trustees. The exports of silk from 1750 to 1754,
amounted to the value of ^SSSO. In 1757, one thou-
sand and fifty pounds of raw silk were received at the
filature. In the year 1759, the colony exported up-
wards of 10,000 weight of raw silk. According to an
official statement of William Brown, controller of the
customs of Savannah, SS29 pounds of raw silk were
exported between the years 1755 and 1772 inclusive.
The last parcel brought for sale to Savannah, was in
the year 1790, when upwards of 200 weight were
purchased for exportation at from eighteen shillings to
twenty-six shillings per pound. " There is no doubt
that the cultivation of the cotton plant proved so ad-

* He says, " some years past, I asked a man of good faith and credit,
wlio had then made the most sillv of any among us, what {)rofit might
be made of it 1 His reply was, that he could make a yard of silk as
cheap as he could make a yard of linen cloth, of eight run to the pound,
A woman of experience in this business told nie, that in the short time
of feeding the worms and winding the silk balls, she could earn enough
to hire a good spinner the whole year."

HISTOllY OP SILK. 113

vantageoiis to the planters in Georgia as to become,
at the period when the bounty was suspended, a su-
perior temptation."*

The silk cuhure, it is asserted, commenced in South
Carolina about the same time, 1732, as in Georgia,
and began at once to be, as it should, a fashionable
occupation. The ladies^ of South Carolina hesi-
tated not to devote their attention to what had, from
time immemorial, constituted the care of a long line
of empresses of the Celestial Empire. Though the
quantity of silk produced, during the first epoch of
its culture in Carolina was small, J yet we have the
highly credible testimony of the celebrated Sir Thomas
Lombe, that its quality was excellent and equal to
any produced in Italy.§

Authors differ relative to the time when the silk
culture was first introduced into Pennsylvania. M.
d'Homergue says, "In the year 1769, on the recom-
mendation of Dr. Franklin, through the American
Philosophical Society, a filature of raw silk was esta-

* " A paper was laid before the Commissioners for Trade and Planta-
tions, by about forty eminent silk throwsters and weavers, declaring
that, having examined a parcel of about :300 lbs. of Georgia raw silk,
imported in February last, they found the nature and texture of it truly
good, the colour beautiful, the thread even, and clean as the best Pied-
mont, and capable of being worked with less waste than China silk." —
London Magazine for 1755.

j- In the year 1755, Mrs. Pinckney, the same lady, who about ten
years before, had introduced the indigo plant into South Carolina, took
with her to England, a quantity of excellent silk, which she had raised
and spun in the vicinity of Charleston, sufficient to make three dresses;
one of them was presented to the Princess Dowager of Wales, and
another to Lord Chesterfield. They were allowed to be equal to any
silk ever imported. The third dress, now (1809) in Charleston, in the
possession of her daughter, Mrs. Horry, is remarkable for its beauty,
firmness, and strength." — Ramsay's History of South Carolina, vol. i.
p. 221,

t In the years 1742, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1753, 1755.— Dodsley's An-
nual Register, 1761.

§ An impartial inquiry into the state of Georgia. — London, 1741,
p. 79.

At new Bordeaux, a French settlement, 70 miles above Augusta,
Georgia, the people supplied much of the high country with sewing silk
during the revolutionary war.

10*

114 HISTOKY OF SILK.

blished at Philadelphia, by private subscription." In
1770, Mrs. Susanna Wright at Colombia, Lancaster
county, made a piece of mantua, sixty yards in length,
from her own cocoons, afterwards worn as a court
dress by the queen of Great Britain. About this time,
Grace Fisher made some considerable quantity of
silk stuffs.* And we learn that many ladies before
the revolution wore silk dresses of their own fabrica-
tion.t

The editor of the Genessee Farmer states, that " a
filature was established in Philadelphia in 1770, and
premiums announced; and that in the following year,
2300 lbs. of silk were brought there to reel." The
work on the Growth and Manufacture of Silk, pub-
lished by order of Congress, in 1828, says that, " in
the year 1771, the cultivation of silk began in Penn-
sylvania and New Jersey, and continued with spirit
for several years. The subject had been frequently
mentioned in the American Philosophical Society, as
one of those useful designs which it was proper for
them to promote ; but they were induced to enter
into a final resolution on it in consequence of a letter
being laid before them, on the 5th January, 1770,
from Dr. Franklin, who was then in London as agent
of the colony, and in answer to one which had been
written to him on the same subject by the late Dr.
Cadwallader Evans, In this letter from Dr. Frank-
lin, he recommended the culture of silk to his coun-
trymen, and advised the establishment of a public
filature in Philadelphia. He also sent to the Society
a copy of the work by the Abbe Sauvage, on the
Rearing of Silk Worms. A committee having been

• Of which, a piece was presented by Governor Dickenson to the
celebrated Catharine Macauley.

+ At a large meeting of silk growers held at the Hall of the Franklin
Institute, on the 29th of January, 1839, a few days before writing this
article. Dr. Mease of this city presented several specimens of silk woven
and dyed about the time mentioned above, which were truly creditable,
and which the venerable speaker facetiously remarked, though not as
splendid as much of that manufactured in these days, would still, not-
withstanding, " make a very fine show in a country church."

HISTORY OP SILK. 115

appointed by tlic Society to frame a plan for pro-
moting the cultnre, and to prepare an address to the
legislature, praying for pubUc encooragement, they
proposed to raise a fund by subscription, for the pur-
chase of cocoons, to establish a filature, and to offer
for public sale, all the silk purchased and wound olf
at the establishment ; the produce thereof to be duly
accounted for, and to remain in the stock for carrying
on the design. A subscription among the citizens |
was immediately set on foot, and the sum of ^875, 145.
obtained the first year;" "£900 (or '^2400,)" says
M. d'Homergue.* The worms were fed on the na-
tive mulberry until the white mulberry could be
reared, and it is remarked that they thrived well and
yielded good silk. By the several members of this
association, whilst it was in existence, not only good
silk was procured, but, as we are told, even many
garments were obtained. But soon after, war, which
often is another word for destruciion to what God
hath made, or confusion where order should exist,
put an end to this good beginning, and even buried
tiie whole, however high the promise, in oblivion.

During the whole of the most discouraging circum-
stances, not only in the revolutionary war, but through
that apathy created in the public mind by any dis-
turbance in commercial connexions, this noble enter-
prise seemed rather to slumber than to die, and all
the energies of its spirit are yet alive waiting for its
resurrection. One of the early discouragements in
the production of silk, was the want of a market either

* M. d'Homergue, is a competent witness, since he was in the whole
of this part of the history, relative to Pennsylvania, highly interested.
He also adds, " I have been told that a Frenchman skilled in the art of
reeling was employed in the establishment. Who he was, or what be-
came of him afterwards, I have not been able to learn. I have not hoard
of any raw silk having been prepared at this filature, or sold out of it :
yet I have been told that a lady of this city," (Philadelphia,) "had a
ncgli^^^ce dress manufactured in England out of silk of her own raising.
The lady's name was Roberdeau." Query. Was this the lady or a
relative of the well known General Roberdeau, of the revolutionary war,
remarkable for his unaccountable feline antipathy ?

116 HISTORY OF SILK.

for the sale of cocoons, or for reeled silk ; and another
has been the too prevalent idea of supposed difficulty
in the filature. These obstructions are now extinct.
Ready markets, not only in the eastern cities, but
almost anywhere are established and on the increase
through the Union. And the simplicity of the reel
and spinner invented by Mr. Gay, has reduced the
art of reeling and making sewing thread to the level
of any capacity.

At Economy, Pennsylvania, the culture in all its
branches, from the feeding of the worm to the manu-
facture of the silk, is extensively carried on by Messrs.
Rapp and his industrious coadjutors. And the pro-
duce of that laudable establishment, we are informed,
has received the approbation of cormoisseurs.

We have now arrived at a crisis, which is perhaps
as important as any period in the history of the cul-
ture of silk in North America, and, therefore, cannot
here, withhold from our readers, all the information
we can derive relative to this eventful era ; which is
succinctly drawn up to our purpose in a pamphlet, or
Report on the Mulberry and Sugar Beet, published
during the second session of the twenty-fifth Con-
gress ;* in which, at page five, we read as follows :

" There were, perhaps, some other reasons which
induced the people of this country to neglect this sub-
ject (the culture of silk) for so long a period. The
white Italian mulberry, till within a few years, was
the only variety cultivated, and this was unfit for use
for several years. So that the cultivator was com
pelled to lose the use of his capital and labour for
some years, before he had any prospect of remune-
ration. Add to this, the extreme difficulty, which,
till very recently, attended the process of reeling, and
the want of a market for cocoons or raw silk, and we
have causes sufficient to satisfy any reasonable mind,
that the culture of silk was never abandoned in this
country on account of the soil or climate.''^

* Rep. No. 815.

HISTORY OF SILK. 117

Now, " the cultivation of the white mulberry has
been substituted by the rnorus inulticaulis, which
may be stripped of its foliage the same year that it is
planted ; and the dull, tedious process of reeling by
hand, which required a regular apprenticeship to
learn, and years to acquire any facility, has given
way to new improvements in the reel, by which a
person (even a child) may learn in a few hours to
reel with ease and expedition. Many silk weavers,
also, and public establishments have opened a good
and permanent market for all the cocoons and raw
silk that can be raised, for want of which they are
yearly under the necessity of importing large quan-
tities to keep their factories in operation."

It is asserted that Mr. N. Aspinwall, who had a
plantation of mulberry trees on Long Island, was the
means of introducing the white mulberry tree, and
the eggs of the silk worm, in the year 1760, into the
town of Mansfield in Connecticut. He also planted
an extensive nursery of the trees in New Haven ;
and together with Dr. Ezra Styles obtained from the
state legislature a bounty of ten shillings for every
hundred trees that should, in three years from the
time of planting, be in a healthy condition, and also
of three pence per ounce for all raw silk which the
owners of the trees had produced from cocoons of
their own raising within the state. After the public
encouragement for raising trees was found unneces-
sary, a small bounty on raw silk, manufactured within
the state, was continued some time longer. A statute
yet continues in force, requiring sewing silk to consist
of twenty threads, each two yards long.*

Dr. Lardner bestows the highest eulogium on the
Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and particu-
larly for their patriotic endeavours to promote every
thing, at home or abroad, connected with the produc-
tion or manufacture of silk. In this sentiment, the

* Report published by order of Congress in 1828. — Roberts' Manual
and Silk Grower.

118 HISTORY OF SILK.

work published by order of Congress in 1828, con-
curs, in the following language. " It would be an
act of injustice to omit noticing the generous encou-
ragement to the cultivation of silk in the American
colonies, which was given by the patriotic Society in
London, for ' the Promotion of Arts,' " &c. From
the year 1755 to 1772, several hundred pounds ster-
ling were paid to various persons in Georgia, South
Carolina, and Connecticut, in consequence of pre-
miums offered by the society, for planting mulberry
trees, for cocoons, and for raw silk,*

It may be remembered that Count de Hazzi divided
the whole of the history of silk culture in Germany,
into three periods ; the two former of which he calls
the "unlucky." And it is too evident almost to
escape observation, that the same culture in North
America is as clearly divisible into three periods; but
we have no warrant to pronounce the two former
unlucky. On the contrary they were successful, but
not to that degree they would have been had impe-
diments already specified not existed. The first
period may be said to have continued from the first
introduction of the silk culture in North America,
in 1623 to the close of the Revolutionary war in
1783, or for 160 years. The second epoch, ^^c. from
that event to the time when there ivas in this coun-
try public evidence of OiGciswe. knowledge of the cha-
racter of the multicau lis mulberry ; or to July 1830.
The second epoch then in the history of the Jime-
rican silk culture, comm-enced in 1783. Notwith-
standing the desolation generally introduced by war,
which when internal has too frequently a continued
and universal effect, the silk enterprise was, though
somewhat gradually, renewed. It was precisely at
this period, 1783, that the legislature of Connecticut,
induced by the exertions of Dr. Aspinwall and the
Rev. Dr. Styles, granted a bounty on mulberry trees

* Bayley's Advancement of the Arts, London, 1772. Bessie's Me-
moirs of Agriculture, vol. iii.

HISTORY OF SILK. 119

and raw silk. In 17S9, 200 lbs. of raw silk were
made, in Mansfield, which, in 1793, produced 3fj5 lbs.
of raw silk. In 1810, the sewing and raw silk of
New London, Windham, and Tolland, were valued
by the United States marshal at ^28,503, exclusive
of the amount of domestic fabrics ; and double this
entire amount is said to have been manufactured
there in 1825. So popular, indeed, had silk products
become about this period, that they were readily taken
and paid there, as a circulating medium.

We are informed, that Samuel Chidsey of Cayuga
county, New York, during the late war with JGng-
land, sold sewing silk to the amount of ^600 a year.
The cultivation of silk commenced, in the same era,
in the states of Ohio and Kentucky; and also by cer-
tain French settlers in the country, now the state, of
Illinois.

An important era to North America, was now
about to dawn, and a spirit of universal inquiry
seemed to be excited. The several impediments to
the successful culture of silk, whatever they were,
that had aforetime somewhat fettered this noble en-
terprise, were giving way in succession, and daylight
appeared to break out on the American people before
they were actually aware of it; and were we allowed
to indulge in the figure, we should say, that this twi-
light, or crepuscular period commenced in the year
1825. We now see that not only individuals, farmers,
and planters, but also legislators, have risen from a
comparative lethargy. Not only private, but national
interest, is on the tapis. Neither can any sceptic, any
cool calculator ox frigid political economist, negative
the question, may not the United States become
equal in wealth and independence, and infinitely su-
perior in intelligence, to the China of 4000 years ?
The climate, the soil, the cocoons, the filature art, the
throwsting, the tout ensemble, are now reached out
to Colombia, and strange would it be, if she find not
the hand to grasp the boon that soon shall envy not
the mines of Mexico, but prove that silk is the first,

120 HISTORY OF SILK.

and cotton only the second staple of North America,
An interest, therefore, that not only points to every
individual pocket, but vast enough to look a whole
nation in the face at once, is now before us.

We have said that the day dawned, and even le-
gislators were risen, and on their feet in 1825, Mr,
Miner, of Pennsylvania, inquires in the house of re-
presentatives on the 29th of December, "if the culti-
vation of the mulberry, and the breeding of silk
worms, were a subject worthy of legislative attention."
In 1S26, Mr, Van Rensselaer made a report, whicli
led to the resolution that the secretary of the trea-
sury should cause to be prepared a Manual on the
Growth and Manufacture of Silk. In 1828 when
Mr, Rush presented his Manual, Dr. Mease trans-
mitted to the speaker the Treatise of Count de Hazzi.
These were followed by a report presented to the
house by Mr. Spencer, in 1830, embracing two inte-
resting letters from Peter S. Duponceau, Esq., of Phi-
ladelphia, and Essays on American Silk, by M d'Ho-
mergue. These documents comprise the most valuable
instructions on the subject of the silk culture. The
report proposed to grant to M. d'Horaergue the sum
of ^40,000 for the establishment of a normal school
of filature in Philadelphia for the gratuitous instruc-
tion of sixty young men for two years in the various
branches of reeling, manufacturing, and dyeing silk.
This bill, though favourably received, was not,
through various causes, acted on at that session. In
1832 the bill was brought under legislative conside-
ration, and for reasons best explained in Mr. Diipon-
ceaii's History of the Silk Bill, defeated by a small
majority, " Thus perished," says Mr, Randolph,
"the first important measure, proposed by the na-
tion, to promote the production of silk in this coun-
try; a measure which the committee (on agriculture*)
believe, with the lights then in existence, was wise,
prudent, and important; but which the subsequent

* Twenty-fifth Congress, second session.

HISTORY OF SILK. " 121

ingenuity and experience of our countrymen now
render unnecessary ; believing, as tliey do, that the
recent improvements in reeling will do more in a few
weeks, than the establishment of many normal schools
on the old plan would do in many years."

The third epoch in the history of silk in the
United States may be dated tiot from the time when
the first multicaulis tree existed in this Union, which
was in 1S26,* but from the moment when there was, in
this country, /;?;6//c evidence of any (/ec/^/i'e knowledge
of its character: and this was the case in July, IS 30.
According to the accounts before us, the well known
and justly celebrated Mr. Gideon B. Smith of Balti-
more possessed the firstt tree of this kind in North
America ; but does not appear, from the treatise he
published in 1S30, to have then had sufficient ac-
quaintance with its peculiarities, to warrant him in
recommending it as a valid substitute for its popular
predecessor, the Italian mulberry. But Dr. Felix
Pascalis, of New York, having, in the preceding
INIarch, imported two multicaulis plants, comes for-
ward, in July, 1830, with a decision at once so clear,
that it has since gone by the name of Dr. Pascalis'
prediction. In an article in the Journal of Sciences
for July, 1830, after informing us that he had received
two trees of this mulberry from France, adds, ^^t,Sfter
the discovery of this plant, a doubt no longer exists,
that two crops of silk may be raised in a sitigle
season." A prediction almost immediately after veri-
fied, in the summer of 1832, in Madame Parmentier's
Horticultural establishment on Long Island.

After this period, we have ample testimony that the
general impetus existing in the public mind, was on the
onward march, and though at first with a pace compa-

• Tbe difference of one or even of two years will, perhaps, be con-
tested, by some in tbe state of New York, or elsewhere ; but this point
is not important, since it is not from the possession, but from the public
evidence of any decisive knowledge of its character, that we date the
epoch in question.

t See Silk Grower, vol. i. p. 147.
11

122 HISTORY OF SILK.

ratively slow and cautious, yet steadily advancing with
an increasing rapidity such that it was evident that
it would soon have to dispute with every other staple
within the limits of the Union. Excitement, whatever
it be, is always prolific: a month elfects more than a
year: it is an age, and that the age of invention. Dif-
ficulties, though mountains before, vanish, and the toil
of a man becomes the sport of a child. New reels and
improved systems of reeling appear by the dozen, the
facilities of filatures are already in the rear, and mar-
kets for cocoons and silk in any shape, are on the
right and left — the winter is past — the difficulties are
gone ; and all we have to do, is to go up at once,
since we are able, and possess the goodly land.
" Possiait, quia posse videnhir.'^ When Providence
does any thing for man, his business is to co-operate.
It has done much for us; has given soils and climates
positively omniferous; China herself boasts of nothing
superior: we cannot do wrong in stepping on the
traces of 4000 years.

In pursuing the subsequent history of this import-
ant, but yet comparatively prospective branch of
agriculture, we cannot do better than refer to the
letter of Mr. Andrew Judson of Connecticut, late a
member of Congress, to the Hon. J. Q. Adams, and
furnished by the latter, as chairman of the committee
on manufactures, to the congressional house of repre-
sentatives, on February 25, 1837. We find that it
covers a large surface, however paradoxical, in a lit-
tle compass.

In an early part of this letter Mr. Judson confers a
very flattering compliment on the Hartford County
Silk Society, to whose patriotic efforts in dissemi-
nating a knowledge of the silk culture, by the publi-
cation of the well known periodical, the Silk Cultur-
ist, under the editorial charge of their secretary,
Judge Comstock, and by other means, he attributes
"the present state (January, 1837) of these branches
of American industry, and the interest which is so
extensively felt in relation to them." We are our-

HISTORY OF SILK. 123

selves, in short, so sensible of the benefit derived from
this source, a sentiment we are assured that we main-
tain in common with many, that it is but ajiist* re-
turn to inscribe this, since we cannot on the marble
bust, as a record on the page of history.

So far as experiments are the cost of time, and
issue in results profitable and available to the com-
munity, their verdict is the matter of history; we,
therefore, hesitate not to make here such extracts from
ihis interesting letter as have a direct reference to the
public interest. " Experiments have been made in
all parts of the country, and their success has esta-
blished the fact, that the mulberry luill grow, and
the silk worm thrive, throughout the whole length
and breadth of the United States. It was formerly
doubted whether the morus multicaulis could be ac-
climated in the northern and middle states ; but late
experiments have satisfactorily proved that, by cut-
ting down the shoots in autumn, the roots will endure
the coldest winters, send up a new growth of shoots
in the spring, and produce an abundant crop of foli-
age. This appears to be the method successively
pursued by the silk growers in India ; and with the
same treatment in this country, there is no doubt of
its acclimation. The facility with which it is culti-
vated and multiplied to an indefinite extent, affords
a full guaranty against those failures and inter-
ruptions in the business to which it has heretofore
been subjected. It has been ascertained by experi-
ment, that the foliage which may be gathered from
annual shoots on an acre of land will furnish food
enough to sustain a family of worms sufficiently
numerous to make 128 pounds of silk, worth, at
present prices, S640."

The importance of the remarks in the following
extracts will be readily perceived. " The process of
reeling, also, which was formerly supposed to be of

* The merely nominal price at which the Silk Culturist was pub-
lished, together with the gratuitous distribution of mulberry seed and
Bilk worm eggs, argued loss rather than profit to the company.

124 - HISTORT OF SILK.

difficult performance, has been so familiarized, that
children perform it with skill and dexterity. The
gathering of the foliage, and the feeding of the worms
may be effected by the children, and such other
members of the family as are incapable of more ardu-
ous labour; one aged person being always in the
direction of the business as a responsible head ; and
who, if not thus employed, would spend their time in
idleness ; or, what is worse, in mischief. If jjrodiict-
ive labour is a source of ivealth, both to nations
and ifidividuals, it is desirable that it should be
increased to its greatest possible extent. This can
only be done by seeking out objects to ivhich the la-
hour of the young, old, and infirm is adapted ; and
among these, there is none more appropriate than
the culture of silk. The same remarks are sub-
stantially true ivith respect to its manufacture. It
has also been erroneously supposed, that the manu-
factnre of silk was attended with extraordinary diffi-
culties ; that it required much complex and expensive
machinery, and a skill which Americans were incapa-
ble of acquiring; but it has been foimd to be as simple
as that of cotton or wool, and requiring a far less ex-
penditure in buildings, machinery, and fixtures. The
weaving of silk fabrics on power looms has been at-
tempted, and the success that has resulted from the
experiment, is of the most flattering character. Fa-
brics for gentlemen's wear, cravats, &c. have been
woven on power looms, which, for beauty of texture,
fall but little, if any, below those of foreign manufac-
ture. In this respect we are already in advance of
the silk manufacturers of Europe and India ; and it is
believed that the advantage the American manufac-
turer will derive from the aid of labour-saving ma-
chines, will more than counterbalance that which the
foreign manufacturer can derive from the reduced
price of labour in countries of a more dense popula-
tion. Hence we are confident that this country can
successfully compete with others both in the culture
and manufacture of silk."

HISTOKT OF SILK. 125

"The importance of introducing this species of
manufacture may be estimated by the fact, that the
importations of manufactured silks, during the year
ending the 29th of September last, amounted to
^17,497,600, being nearly a million more than the
previous year. Most of this vast amount is consumed
in this country, which is an enormous tax on the
consumers. It is also to them and the country a total
loss ; for it is believed that we have a sufficient num-
ber of labourers to produce and manufacture the
whole amount, who are unproductively or unprofit-
ably employed. If this be so, it follows as a necessary
consequence, that we sustain an annual loss of
DOUBLE that amount in our unemployed and misap-
j)lied labour. This amount will also be astonishhigly
increased, if we add to it all the evils of crime and
pauperism, which are the legitimate and unavoidable
consequences of idleness and miproductive labour.
The importance, therefore, of the culture and ma-
nufacture of silk, both in a pecuniary and moral
point of vieio, is immense.

" The importance of this branch of rural economy
is also much increased, by the facilities it atfords to
all to attain competence and wealth. There is pro-
bably no other business in which the same amount
of capital will yield an equal amount of income.
There can be no better investment. The small
amount too, necessary to a commencement of the
business, is also an encouragement which no other
holds out to the enterprising. A few acres of land
of ordinary fertility, and a few dollars in m,oney
for the purchase of seeds and plants, will enable a
silk grower to lay the foundation for a plantation
on a considerable scale. Another facility peculiar to
the business is the ease with which operations are
extended, without a corresponding extension of capi-
tal. The ratio in which the morus multicaulis may
be multiplied, by means of cuttings and layers, is
astonishing. Experiments have proved that, with a
little labour and attention, they may be more than
11*

126 HISTORY OF SILK.

QUADRUPLED cvery year. This will enable the far-
mer in moderate circumstances to compete with tlie
capitalist, and prevent monopolists from engrossing
the whole of the business and its profits. To the in-
dividual of limited means, having a large family of
children, the culture of silk holds out encouragement
of extraordinary promise ; while, at the same time,
it affords ample opportunity for the capitalist or the
incorporated company to make large investments
with the moral certainty of success.

"The culture and manufacture of silk must also,
for a long time, be free from the depression and em-
barrassments which, at times, are thrown on other
species of manufacture by enterprise and competition.
Before the present prices can be materiallxj reduced^
an amount of doinestic silk equal to the large
amount annually imported must be produced ; and
this cannot be expected, whilst enterprise and labour
have so many objects on which to expend themselves,
as the various sections, climates, interests, and pur-
suits of this extensive country present. The disposi-
tion also which has existed for the last twenty or
thirty years, between the increase in the consumption
of silk and the increase of population, ivill it is be-
lieved, prevent the r/imcrican silk growers, with all
the aid and encouragement which may be extended
to them by the national and state legislatures, from
producing the raw material in sufficient quanti-
ties to satisfy the demand, for at least another cen-
tury.^^

The above convictions so ably expressed by Mr.
Judson, and so directly relevant to our interests, and
admirably calculated to remove every doubt in the
mind of the most uninformed or sceptical, are the re-
sults of experimental history. History, in short, is
nothing without its moral development ; and viewed
in this light, the preceding extracts cannot be consi-
dered as a digression from the subject of this section.
The detail of facts, however, Mr. Judson prefaces, by
informing us, that in the month of the preceding Sep-

HISTORY OF SILK. 127

tember, he had caused a circular to be prepared, pro-
pounding twenty-six interrogatories to siliv growers,
manufacturers, and other gentlemen interested in the
subject ; and that several hundreds were circulated.
'• The facts, however, collected, are of the most flat-
tering character. From the answers to the interro-
gatories, the communications of gentlemen in different
parts of the country, and sUch other means of infor-
mation as I have been favoured with, I am enabled
to give the following exhibition of the progress and
prospect of both branches of the business. The
statements being made from correct data, may be
relied on, as approximating to accuracy, so far as
they go ; but it is reasonable to suppose that the view
is imperfect, as the business has probably been com-
menced in many parts of the country, from which no
information has been received."

Indeed so wide is this country that in it millions
may exist, or live and die, unknown to others ; and
much more their avocations, designs, or prospects.
The precise outline, therefore, of the American history,
as it relates to silk or any other object, cannot be fully
caught, at any given moment. The historian often
has to wait till time's pendulum measures his event-
ful revolutions by deeds, and until their report has
had weeks, months, and even years, to travel to his
eye or ear, and announce such prospects as their re-
lative circumstances may warrant in his estimation.
Under this view of the case we may be allowed to
close our history of the silk culture and manufacture
in America, with such extracts from jMr. Judson's
authentic testimony as refer to the different sections
of this Union.

"the six NEW ENGLAND STATES

" Are more or less engaged in the culture and manu-
facture of silk; and four of them are encouraging the
business by legislative bounties. In Maine, a bounty
of five cents on every pound of cocoons grown,

128 HISTORY OF SILK.

and fifty cents on every pound of silk reeled, is paid
from the state treasury. The experiments which
have been made confirm the belief that the climate is
no obstacle in the way of the silk grower. In New-
port^ Fryebiirg, Saco, Hiram, and Limington,
nurseries have been planted, and are said to be in a
flourishing condition. Within a few miles of the
forty-fifth degree of latitude, the young plants with-
stood the severity of last winter. A gentleman in
Fryeburg fed last season 5000 worms, which pro-
duced the usual quantity of silk. In New Hampshire
the business has been begun, and is prosecuted with
considerable spirit, though no public encouragement
is given. At Concord there is an incorporated com-
pany, with a capital of ^75,000, for the growth and
manufacture of silk. The company has purchased
a farm of 250 acres, and is stocking it with both kinds
of the mulberry as fast as circumstances will permit.
Individuals also, in most parts of the state, are plant-
ing the mulberry preparatory to feeding the worm.
Experiments have also been made in South Weare,
Newport, JDunharton, Warner, Hopkinton, Keene,
and many other towns, and the results have evinced,
that the business is both practicable and profitable.

" The legislature of Vermont, have authorized the
state treasurer to pay a bounty of ten cents on every
pound of cocoons grown within the state. In Burling-
ton, Brattlehord' , Woodstock, Middlelmry , Ben-
nington, South Hero, Montpelicr, Orivell, Shore-
ham, Guilford, Putney, and other places preparations
are making on a large scale. The legislation of
Massachusetts, for the encouragement of the growth
of silk, is of the most liberal character. The bounty
on all silk grown, reeled, and throwsted, in the com-
monwealth is two dollars a pound ; which is consi-
dered by silk growers to be sufficient to defray all
expenses attending its growing, reeling, and throws-
ting. There are several incorporated companies.
Amongst them is the New England Silk Company
at Dedham, under the superintendence of Mr. Cobb.

HISTORY OF SILK. 129

This company has a capital of S50,000 with liberty
to extend it to § 100,000. Mr. Cobb says, " we have
sixteen sewing silk machines. We have found organ-
zine and tram, or warp and filling, to be in greater
demand than heretofore ; but in consequence of the
forty per cent, protection on sewing silk held out by
government, we have been building a large mill, and
are now ready to manufacture 200 lbs. per week of
pewing silk, which, at present prices, will bring §2000.
About §10,000 worth of silk goods, part with a mix-
ture of cotton, have been manufactured here the year
past." In addition to this, Mv. Judson notices the
Atlantic Silk Company, at Nantucket; the Northamp-
ton, the Massachusetts, the Boston, the Roxbury,
and the Newburyport Silk Companies ; all with ade-
quate capitals, and " promising prospects."

" In Rhode Island the manufacture of silk is
commencing. The Rhode Island Silk Company has
a capital of Si 00,000. The factory is at Providence,
and the plantation in the neighbourhood. It has ma-
nufactured some very beautiful and durable articles.

" In Connecticut silk has been grown in consi-
derable quantities for fifty or sixty years, particularly
in the counties of Windham and. Tolland. The
state pays a bounty of one dollar on every hundred
Italian or Chinese mulberry trees, set out at such dis-
tances from each other as will best favour their full
growth and the collection of their leaves, and culti-
vated until they are five years old ; also a bounty of
fifty cents on every pound of silk reeled on an im-
proved reel. There are two incorporated companies,
the Mansfield and the Connecticut. The former is
located at Mansfield, and has a capital of §20,000 ;
the latter at Hartford, with a capital of §30,000.
There is also a silk factory at Lisbon. Individuals
also, in all parts of the state, are engaging in the cul-
ture. There are likewise extensive nurseries at
Hartford, Suffield, Farmington, Litchfield, New
London, Stonington, Durham, New Haven, and
many other towns."

130 HISTORY OF SILK.

MIDDLE STATES.

"The subject of encouraging the culture of silk
has been under consideration in New York, and it
is expected will be given at the present session.
Several silk companies have been incorporated,
among which are the Troy, the Poiighkeepsie, the
Neiu York, and the Jilhany Silk Grower's Compa-
nies. In all parts of the state, individuals are en-
gaging with spirit; and there is no doubt New York
will become a great silk growing district.

"In New Jersey several companies have been
incorporated, among which are the New Jersey and
the Monmouth Silk Companies. Several others are
formed, and enterprising individuals are engaging
in the culture. The soil and climate have been found
well adapted to the business." This state pays a
bounty of sixteen cents a pound for cocoons, and fifty
cents a pound for reeled silk.

" A number of companies have been formed in
Pennsylvania, under a general law of the state for
the encouragement of the culture of silk." The
Beaver, Chester, Philadelphia, and Economy Silk
Companies, are those which Mr. Judson notices in
1S37. A number of companies have sprung up
during the past season and others are almost daily
coming into existence.

" In Delaware and Maryland, the subject is at-
tracting much attention. Several companies have
been formed, and individuals are commencing plan-
tations." The Queen Anne County and Talbot Silk
Companies are mentioned.

southern states.

" In the Southern States much interest is felt in the
subject, and much is doing to introduce it to the at-
tention of planters. In Virginia, they are proposing
to devote their worn-ouL tobacco lands to the culture
of silk, in the hope of checking the tide of emigration,

HISTORY OF SILK. 131

which is setting west, and threatening to depopulate
the country. There are several silk companies, and
many individuals are making experiments. The ac-
counts I have received from North Carolina are
of the most cheering character. They represent the
soil and climate to be remarkably favourable to the
growth of the tree and to the rearing of the worm. .
The same is substantially true as respects South
Carolina and Georgia. Experiments have been
made, whose results have satisfied the planters that
the young, aged, and infirm portion of their slaves
can be profitably employed in the culture of silk : and
there is little doubt that in a short time many of them
will make a silk as well as a cotton crop. In Florida
and Alabama the tree grows luxuriantly, and pro-
duces an abundance of foliage. Experiments in rear-
ing the worm have also been attended with favour-
able results ; and a portion of the inhabitants are
convinced that silk will be the most profitable crop
they can make. At Pensacola and Mobile are large
numbers of mulberry trees ; and arrangements are
making to commence the business. The black mul-
berry is there indigenous, and its foliage has been
found to make as good silk as that of the Chinese.
It is also supposed that the sterile lands of West Flo-
rida will become valuable on account of their adapta-
tion to the production of silk."

WESTERN states.

The soil and climate of the Western States, has
also been found to be peculiarly adapted to the silk
culture. In Ohio there are a number of companies
incorporated with large capitals, and under the direc-
tion of skilful managers. In the vicinity of Cantoriy
in Stark county, seventy families are engaged in
making silk ; and in Knox, Cuyahoga, Jefferson,
Belmont., Washington, Broxon, Hamilton, Mont-
gomery, Highland, and several other counties, many
individuals are beginning. The subject is new in

132 HISTORY OP SILK.

Kentucky, but as is evident from the following ex-
tract of a letter, is attracting attention, " The first
talk of silk raising in this country was about a year
and a half since, when a friend sent rae the first copy
of the Silk Culturist. So great has been the increase
of public sentiment, that there appear but few of the
rich farmers who are not contemplating it as a source
of employment for their weak force. The six that
are now making experiments, can bring into the field
one hundred hands, and our whole energy will be
turned to it. In Indiana large quantities of white
mulberry seed have been sown, and a spirit of in-
quiry has been awakened. The business cannot
flourish with us till our trees have grown, though
our woods abound with the black mulberry. In Il-
linois, Missouri, and Tennessee, small beginnings
have been made, and the congeniality of the soil and
climate cannot, ultimately, fail of making them great
silk growing states. Could a general diffusion of
practical knowledge on the subject of cultivating the
tree, and rearing the worm, be effected, I have no
doubt the United States would become one of the
greatest silk growing countries in the world."

Beyond the period to which these brief extracts
from Mr. Judson's highly credible testimony relative
to the general state of the silk culture in this country
refer, it is, at present, unnecessary to pass ; particu-
larly as the progress since, has been so rapid, that to
delineate, with any precision, the whole at any exact
moment, over so wide a field as that of the United
States, would be impossible, unless furnished with
facilities similar to those which Mr. Judson's ofiicial
commission for inquiry commanded.

PART II.

ON THE MULBERRY TREE.

CHAPTER I.

MULBERRY, GENUS, SPECIES.

The first thing to be done towards either the pro-
duction or manufacture of silk, is a provision of food
for the thrifty insect, that will take due care to perform
its part, if only we are equally industrious to perform
ours ; and its only proper and legitimate aliment is
the leaf of the mulberry tree.

The Moriis* of botanists, a genus! of the tetran-
DRiA order, belonging to the Monoecia class of plants;

• Moms, Lat. a mulberry tree ; said by some to be derived from the
Celtic word Mor, black. But ,u:aov, the mulberry, is probably from the
adjective f/M^'^f: insipid, since the fruit of every species, except the red,
is comparatively insipid.

•j- Order, tetrandria. Oalyx four-parted, divisions oval and concave ;
corolla none ; stamens four, situated between the divisions of the calyx ;
filaments erect, subulate, longer than the calyx, and supporting the an-
thers. Female flowers, growing sometimes on the same individual, and
sometimes on a separate plant, have a calyx with four leaves, rounded,
obtuse, and persistent ; the two opposite exterior ones approaching each
other : corolla none ; pistil naked ; germ, heart shaped, surmounted with
two oblong, subulate, rough, strong styles, terminated by simple stig-
mas ; no pericarp ; its place supplied by the calyx, which is converted
into a fleshy succulent berry, containing one, sometimes two, pointed
oval seeds, of which one is usually abortive ; perisperm whitish, fleshy,
of the same form as the seeds, receiving the embryo reversed, bent into
hooks. Cotyledons oblong, foliacious, smooth, narrow, bent over one
another. The upper radicle is cylindrical. Distinctive character, mo-
noccial flowers. Calyx four-parted, corolla none, stamens four, styles two,
pericarp none, calyx changed into a flesh berry. The female flowers are
numerous, collected rather loosely in a common receptacle. Each germ
is changed into a succulent berry. These three particularly refer to the
mulberry, white, red, or black. They extend their roofs deep, large, and

12 133

134 THE MULBERRY TREE.

of which Linnaeus mentions seven distinct species,
viz. 1. Moms nigra; 2. Moms rubra ; 3. Morus pa-
pyrifcra ; 4. Moms tinctoria ; 5, Morus indica :
6. Moms tartarica, and 7. Moms alba ; of which
we shall treat in due order.

The above, it is to be observed, are ranked by
Linnffius as species ; and if species, they are each
respectively capable of reproduction from its own
seed.

There are besides varieties of each species ; or
kinds produced by two or more species, whose pro-
perties have been combined by proximate influence
or artificial culture, as ingrafting, inoculating; and
even, in certain cases, other varieties obtained by a
change of soil or climate ; most, if not all of which,
however, are Hybrids ; and consequently, incapable
of reproduction from seed.

But what are varieties only, and what hybrids^
have not as yet been distinctly stated, either by the
botanist or the horticulturist ; and, therefore, until
experiments of a satisfactory character are made, we
shall refer both the latter to a distinct chapter.

The mulberry tree has many properties such, as if
it had been endowed by nature with every requisite
to render its cultivation, wherever that be, in the
hedge, in the plantation, in the cornfield, or as an
ornament around our premises and dwellings, an ob-
ject happily combining utility, convenience, and plea-
sure. Independently of the primary purpose of its
culture, the production of an agreeable and elegant
article of clothing, in consequence of its roots, not
obliquely but more deeply and perpendicularly striking
into the earth, it leaves the surface less impoverished
and incommoded than it is by many trees. The
ground, therefore, between mulberries, or their rows,
may, in many cases, be successfully occupied with

branching. They are exceedingly vivacious, and put forth rapidly.
When grafted t key die after twenty-five years; while the mulberries
not grafted will live, sumetimes, through three centuries. There arc
mulberry trees in England and France, known to be of this age.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 135

Other products ; particularly since neither the shade
of the tree, nor the dropping of rain from its leaves,
is considered prejudicial to plants growing beneath.
It is also a matter of universal observation that no
insect, except the silk worm will feed on the mulberry
leaf. The experiment was purposely tried by M.
Pullein, which satisfactorily demonstrated that the
product of this tree is the exclusive property of the
silk worm, or the insect, which cipparentlii works
only for man. "During the continued observation
of three years, Miss Rhodes never once found any
other insect on the leaves used by her. Other fruit
trees and vegetables in the same garden were some-
times covered by myriads, while the mulberry tree,
surrounded by these ravagers, remained sacred from
their depredations." Not even the apliides invade
the tree so exclusively devoted to the little operative
that so exclusively devotes itself to us.

"All the ditferent parts of the mulberry," says
Seignor Tinelli, " are useful and good for some pur-
pose or other. Its leaves form the only food that
experience has found to be appropriate to nourish the
silk worm. The leaves of a second growth, serve,
at the close of autumn, as an excellent nourishment
for cattle and sheep.* The body and larger limbs,
may also be converted into boards of a beautiful yel-
lowish colour,t and finely clouded, for the use of the
cabinetmaker ; the fibrous epidermis of the young
branches, that are often cut, either for the purpose of
ingrafting or of pruning, and directing the shape of
the tree, if macerated in lime and water, may be made
into paper, that is exceedingly delicate and shining,
and properly called silk paper. The young mul-
berries take the most beautiful forms that it is possi-
ble for the hand of man to give them ; and thus this

• " It being understood, however, that the second gathering ought
• not to be made till the vegetation of the plant has entirely ceased, and
the sap has begun to descend from the branches."
t " Citron colour, more or less deep." — Morui.

136 THE MULBERRY TREE.

plant so rich in its produce, furnishes also an elegant
ornament in parks and gardens, and in the avenues
to villas and country houses."*

Relative to what mulberry trees are distinct species,
and what only varieties, the greatest discrepancy and
want of distinctness, as already observed, are found
in the works of the most popular writers on this sub-
ject. The real case, no doubt, is that sufficient trial
has not yet been made to determine which of the
several kinds are producible, without variation, from
their own seed, and therefore distinct species ; and
which are not, and consequently hybrids, or the mere
creatures of local and accidental circumstances, or to
be sustained only by artificial culture. Until this in-
teresting, as well as important point is satisfactorily
ascertained, we prefer, as to those we quote as spe-
cies, to abide by the Linna3an classification, sanc-
tioned by Dr. Lardner, as good authority ; though at
the same time, we doubt not, but that some of the
kinds not yet ranked as species, will eventually, by
further experience, be proved to be such.

Species I. Morus Nigra, or black mulberry, a na-
tive of Asia Minor. The leaves are large and rugged.
Its fruit is large, black, aromatic, juicy, subacid, and
good. The leaves will answer for the food of silk
worms ; but those of other kinds are more suitable.
It is much used, however, in Persia, where good silk
is produced : the European red mulberry is said to
be a variety of the black, and is used in Calabria, and
in some parts of Italy.t It rises from twenty-five to
thirty feet.

The morus nigra never has been extensively used
where the morus alba was known. "The sewing

* See " Hints on the Cultivation of the Mulberry," dedicated to the
American Institute, by Seignor Tinclli, LL.D., or Silk Culturist, torn,
iii. p. 3G et seq.

f See Silk Culturist, vol. ii. p. 134, col. 1 and 2 ; also p. 1.58, col. 3,
et seq. On page 3 of the same work, we read, "The black mulberry
grows spontaneously in the wilds of some of the southern and western
states. The worms will eat the leaves and thrive upon them, hut the
silk they make is of a very inferior quality."

THE MULRERRV TREE, 137

silks of Naples are mostly made from the silk grown
in Calabria, where the worm is fed principally on the
black mulberry, and which m.akes the strongest and
best of sewing silk. Finizio* stated that the worm
fed on the black mulberry made the strongest thread ;
that on the white mulberry finer and better for fa-
brics."! The relative fineness of silk produced from
the black and white mulberry may be compared to
that between hemp and flax in linen.

Species II. Morus Rubra, or the red mulberry, a
native of America. J The leaves are large, cordate,
often palmated, and more often two or three lobed,
denticulated, dark green above, downy beneath, rug-
ged. The fruit is of a very deep red or black colour,
an oblong shape, and of an agreeable, acidulous,
sugary taste. It is composed of the union of a great
number of small berries, each of which contains a
minute seed. The tree often exceeds sixty feet in
height, and two feet in diameter. The wood is of a
yellowish hue, aproaching to lemon colour, fine
grained and compact, and durable as the white locust.
Several varieties of this tree are quoted, viz.

1. Leaves all orbiculated (round.)

2. Leaves deeply lobed.

3. Leaves with three short lobes.

4. Fruit berries nearly white.

5. Fruit berries bluish purple.

6. Fruit berries red and long.

7. Fruit berries blackish red.

Though the red mulberry is said to be peculiar to

* An extensive manufacturer of sewing silks at Naples. He makes
about 3000 lb. a week, mnstli/fitr the New York market .'

■j- Silk Cul. from letter of General Tallmadge, p. 13.3, col. 3.

% " Michaux assigns the same limits north to it as to the majestic
and beautiful tulip tree, (lirisdendron tulipifera.) viz. the northern ex-
tremity of Lake Champlain ; but it also grows in Massachusetts.
Southward and westward it abounds in all the states, and has recently
been found as far west as the lower part of the river Canadian, by
Dr. James, U. S. Army." — Annals of the Lycemn, New York, vol. 11.
p. 246.

12 *

138 THE MULBERRY TREE.

America, yet in the Silk Guitarist, p. 134,'* we read
as follows. " The red mulberry is here, (south of
Italy,) principally used, and is known as the Calabria
mulberry. It is described as having a dark fruit ; the
tree is like our black, and when I called it the black
mulberry, I was corrected, and told that the stain
of the fruit ivas red, which gave the character of the
tree."

The experience of more than a century has esta-
blished the fact, that the leaves of the red mulberry
agree perfectly well with silk worms, and yield very
good silk ; it is, therefore, somewhat singular that M.
Deslongchmaps should assert that the leaves do not
suit the constitvtion of French worms I Yet Ma-
dame Humbertt in Louisiana, and Mr. Seth Milling-
tonj of Missouri affirm that the insects evinced no
preference between the leaves of the white and red
species, but that the silks produced from both " were
stronger and finer than that of France." Preference
is, notwithstanding, generally given to the leaves of
the white mulberry.§ Much evidence, the detail of
which is too long for our limits, in favour of the
American red mulberry, is given in the Silk Ciilturist,
vol. ii. p. 172, col. 3, and p. 173.

Mr. S. R. Jones|| affirms that in its native state, it
yields a large quantity of leaves of a bright glossy
green, and smooth texture, many of which by actual
trial, measure twelve inches in length and nine in
breadth, and weigh a quarter of a pound avoirdupois
a piece. Should this species of mulberry prove to be
valuable, it will be a source of almost incalculable
profit to the families of the south west. Already ac-
climated no danger need to be apprehended from the

* Letter from General Tallmadgc.
■|- Du Pratt's Hist, of Louisiana, p. 187.

\ Answer to the silk circular sent by secretary of the treasury, 1827.
§ But see a somewhat spirited article in the Silk Culturist, vol. ii.
, i58, col. 3 tt seij. from the Mechanic's Messenger.
II lb. vol. iii., p. 34, col. 1, et scq.

THE MULCKRRY TREE. 139

severity of our winters. Another species of mulberry
which I have discovered, yields a beautiful leaf, ele-
ven inches long, but which weighs only half as much
as the rubra. It is a very fine and brilliant leaf with
a lobe or ear on each side, about midway between its
widest place, and its point, which gives it a peculiar
appearance. The worm is voraciously fond of it, I
think it to be a valuable kind especially for second
crops."*

Species III. Broussonetia PAPVRiFERA.t or Ja-
pan paper mulberry. The leaves are rough, either
cordate, entire or lobed. The tree is of rapid growth
and rises to a large size, with a round head. It is a
native of China and Japan. From the inner bark of
its branches, the Japanese make their paper ; and also
certain articles of clothing. Its leaves are also used
as food for the silk worm, for which purpose the tree
is now successfully cultivated in France.!

• " From the character of the leaves and fruit of a native mulberry tree
growing in Washita,* there is reason to believe that it is a different
species from the mortis rubra. The leaves are three-lobed, three-nerved,
imequally serrated ; base, subcordate entire ; lobes, ovate oblong, acute
or acuminate ; sinuses broad, with large interjected acute teeth. Both
surfaces rough. The leaves are larger than those of the red species.
Upper lobes more ovate, with base narrower ; no pube^scenee l)eneath :
lateral lobes narrower than the middle teeth of the sinuses, sometimes
entire, sometimes with a few unequal teeth on the side, upper sinuses
broader than the lower."

f " Termed Broussonetia," says Count Dandolo, " from the name of
M. Augustus Broussonet, a distinguished professor."

i " The bark of this tree not only furnishes fibres for ropes, but it can
even be formed into a species of cloth. M. la Rouverie affirms, that he
procured a beautiful vegetable silk from the young branches of this spe-
cies of mulberry ; cutting the bark while the tree was in sap, and then
beating it with mallets and steeping it in water, he obtained a thread from
the fibres, almosf equal to silk in quality ; and this was woven into a
cloth whose texture appeared as if formed of that material. The women
of Louisiana obtain a similar production from the off-s'.inots of the mul-
berry. These are gathered when tliey are a'wut i'nir or five feet high.
The bark is stripped and dried in the sun. It is then beaten to get rid
of the external part, which fall.-; off, leaving the inner bark entire. This
is again beaten, to make it still liner, after which it is bleached in dew.
It is then spun, and various fabrics arc made from it, such as webs and

* Seni iiy Judge Bry to the secretary of the treasury : Leiler from the secretary
of the treasury.

140 THE MTTLBERUY TREK.

The Abbe Grozier speaks of tliis species, in liis
description of China, in the following manner, " This
tree is so much more precions to the Chinese, becanse
it furnishes them wiili a great quantity of paper which
they consume. Wiien its branches are broken, the
bark detaches itself and peels olf like long ribands.
To judge of the species by the leaves, it would be
thought to be a wild mulberry tree ; but by its fruit,
it resembles more a fig tree. It produces milk like
the fig, if pulled before it ripens. Its resemblance to
the fig and mulberry trees, may be the cause of its
being regarded as a species of sycamore. It grows
on mountains and stony places."

Species IV. and V. Morus Tinctoria, and the
MoRus Indica, which seem not to be generally
known, are not used for the nourishment of the silk
worm.

Species VI. Morus Tartarica, or Tartarian
miilherry, abounds on the borders of the Sea of
Azoph, and on the banks of the Volga, and of the
Don or Tanai's. The leaves are large, oval, oblong,
serrated, and shining. The fruit resembles the Morus
Nigra. The leaves afford silk of the finest quality.

It is proper that we should in this place state, that
Count Dandolo, in the enumeration of his 12 species,
mentions the Morus Constantinopolitana, as well
as the Morus Tartarica. But he nowhere mentions
the Morus Broussa. This circumstance, and the
proximity of Constantinople to Broussa, warrant the
presumption, until evidence to the contrary, that these
two are the same. It has been asserted that the
Broussa ca.n be raised from its own seed; it is, there-
fore, a species ; and whether this species may be con-
sidered or not the same as the Moras Tartarica or
Tartarian mulberry, may be in some degree, deter-
mined from the note below.*

fringes ; and sometimes it is woven into cloth. Tiie finest sort of cloth-
ing among the inhabitants of Otaheite, and other of the fSouth Sea
Islands, is made of the bark of this tree." — Dr. Lardner.

* " The silks of Turkey have long been celebrated for their softness,

THE MULBERRY TREE. 141

Species VI I. Morus Alba, called the White or
Italian mulberry. This species originally was from
China, but has been most extensively cultivated in
Italy and France for ages. The silk which it produces
is of the finest quality. The leaves are cordate, serrate,
entire or lobed. Their upper surface is a shining
greeu, perfectly smooth, and the under has some hairs
set on its edges. The flowers are monoecial ; some
males, disposed in cylindrical chatons, supported on
peduncles, longer than themselves : the others, females,
form round or oval chatons, rather short peduncles,
which are succeeded by small berries of the same
form, and of a red or white colour. The fruit is
white, roundish oblong and insipid. It is a tree of a
rapid growth. In the climate of Paris it attains to the
height of 25 or 30 feet, but in more southern countries
of 40 or 50 feet, with a trunk from 6 to S feet circum-
ference.* This tree is known to have attained the

richness and brilliancy. This can only be accounted for, from the supe-
rior excellence of the Turkish mulberry," (Tiuiarica, ConstuntmopoU-
tana or Broiisxa .?) " Fortunately there are already trees growing in this
country" (America) "f>-om ike seed's cf the Broussa niulberri/. Mr.
Charles Rhind, some years American Consul at Odessa," {where the Tar-
tarica is indigenous,) " struck with the beuuty and the brilliancy of the
Turkish silk, came to the conclusion, that it was attributable to the superior
qualities of their mulberry leaves ; and that he could not confer a greater
benefit on his country, than in acquiring the seed of this species, and
planting it here. From the local situation of Broussa, which is on ele-
vated ground at the base of mount Olympus, whose tops are covered
with perpetual snow, and from the hardine.-^s of the mulberry trees grow-
ing there, he concluded that they were adapted to our climate, and would
resist our severest winters. He obtained a (juanlify of the Broussa
seed, and committed it to the care and cultivation of David Ruggles, Esq.,
of Newburgh on the Hudson River. Under the superintendence of Mr,
Ruggles, he has growing in his nursery, ten or twelve thousand trees
of about three y^ars old. Mr. Ruggles asserts that these trees are very
hardy, and that not one of the several thousands growing in his nursery,
has been affected or killed by the frost of tlie two last severe winters." —
The Cultivator, vol. iv. p. 14.

" I wish, however, to be understood that by Broussa, I do not mean
all those various kinds, which are sold under that name, but I have a
direct reference to the tree or trees which Mr. Charles Rhind brought from
Broussa to this country." — Letter of Mr. C. F. Uurant to the Secretary
of the American Institute, February, 1838.

* The bark, according to Rosier, may be converted into linen of the

142 THE MULBE nUY TREE.

venerable age of more than 400 years. Its superiority
over every other mulberry, except the morus multi-
cauUs, consists in this ; it is clotlicd with leaves fifteen
or twenty days earlier than the other ; the silk worms,
therefore, come more speedily at maturity, and are
thus preserved from the inconvenience of the hot sea-
son. The white Italian mnlberry, moreover, not only
grows more rapidly, but has a more abundant foliage ;
and leaves more delicate and nutritious, whence the
silk is more handsome, and of a better quality.

The forms of the leaves are extremely variable.
M. Audibert,* an experienced cultivator in France,
says, " that the same tree will have leaves divided
into several lobes, when yomig, and when it becomes
old, they will be entire ; others have the second crop
of leaves difterently formed from the first ; some again
have entire leaves in the spring, and lobed leaves in
autumn. Hence the dirliculty that not unfrequently
occurs on this and other accounts, of stating what are
distinct species, and what are merely varieties.

Of this tree it is generally confessed indeed, that
there are, even when raised from seed several varie-
ties; many of which are of inferior quality, the trees
being thorny, the leaves small and few in number.
Hence Count Dandolo sought improvement by en-
grafting or inoculation with the large leaved kinds.
He partictilarly mentions those known in Lombardy,
by the names, folia doppia, and folia giazzolia.
M. Bourgeois and M. Thome recommend those graft-
ed with the rose-leaved ^n& Spanish mulberry.

The Count says, " the common grafted mulberry
comprises the following varieties : 1. Of a ivhite
berry : 2. Of a red berry : 3. Of a black berry : 4,
Of a large leaf called of Tuscany : 5. Of a middle

fineness of silk. For this purpose, the young wood is gathered in autumn,
(hiring the ascent of the second sap, and immersed for three or four days
in water. It is then taken out at sunset, spread on grass, and returned
to the water at sunrise, and this is daily repeated, until tinally it is pre-
pared and spun like llax.

* f]ssaisurdcs muriers, et des vcrs-a-soie, par M. Deslongchamps, p.
21. Paris, 1824.

THE MULBEUUY TREE. 143

sized leaf, dark green, called in Italy, folia giaz-
zola : 6, Small leaf, of a dark colour rather thick
called double leaf, more difficult to pick, but the best
calculated for the nutrition of the silk worm."

M. JNIorin, who paid particular attention to the
mulberry, informs us, that "the careful culture of the
while mulberry has produced many varieties, distm-
guishable into the tvild and grafted. The first com-
prises four sub-varieties ; the first called feuille
ROSE, rose leaf, bears a small white insipid fruit, and
its leaf is rounded like the small leaf of a rose-bush,
but larger : the second, la feuille doree, the gold
leaf, has a small purple fruit, and an elongated shin-
ing leaf: the third, la reine batarde, or bastard
queen, is distinguished by its black fruit, and its
leaves, which are twice as large as the rose leafed,
indented in their circumference, at the superior ex-
tremely elongated to a point : the fourth is called,
FEMELLE, the tree is thorny, it puts forth flowers be-
fore leaves, which are divided into three lobes like
clover.

In the grafted mulberry we distinguish also four
varieties; 1, La reine, the queen, with leaves shin-
ing and larger than any of the wild ; its fruit is ash-
coloured : 2. La grosse reine, large queen, has
leaves of a deep green, and a black fruit : 3. La
FEUILLE d'EspAGNE, the Spanish leaf, bears very
large leaves, extremely rough and thick, and a long
white berry : and 4. La feuille de flogs, the ivoolly
leafed, is of a deep green, very like the former, but
less elongated and disposed in tufts on the boughs.
Its fruit very abundant, but never comes to maturity.

However, as it is very difficult to distinguish the
wild mulberry, as the morns alba grow nowhere in
Europe spontaneously, but we meet with them al-
ways cultivated ; and the young plants that grow in
the nurseries cannot be considered as wild specimens,
since they come from seed obtained from trees, that
a long culture has more or less modified, and that
they have themselves sometimes undergone new

144 THE MULBERRY TREE.

changes by- the effects of a change of climate and pe-
culiar treatment in the culture ; therefore it is, that in
even the trees of a distinct species raised from seed
we observe differences more or less considerable in
the thickness or size of the leaf or in the habit of re-
maining entire, or dividing into lobes. And if these
young trees were not grafted before bearing fruit, we
should find in them differences which might serve to
distinguish them ; but, otherwise, they must create
new varieties from each particular seed.

The only varieties of which it will be useful to
mention are those which, being propagated for a long-
er or shorter time from the seed, have been distin-
guished as exhibiting remarkable characters or quali-
ties, and which, therefore, pains have been taken to
multiply by cuttings or by grafting on seeding plants
in the nursery which are called wild stock. Such
are the following :

1. MoRus ALBA ROSEA, rosc Icafcd mulberry.
The tree is slender, with branches more extended
than all the other grafted varieties. It may, however,
attain a great height. Its wood is more solid and
compact. Its leaves are shining as if varnished, rarely
lobed, borne on rose petioles ; and its fruit is of a rose
gray.

2. MoRus ALBA ovALiFOLiA, oval leafed ivhite
mulberry, or Roman 7nulberry. The tree is large,
and grows rapidly. Its leaves are large and hand-
some, shining on the upper surface ; whole and some-
times divided into three or five lobes on the young
and vigorous stems. Its berries are rose gray or lilac.
This variety is most prevalent in Provence, or in the
environs of Avignon or Languedoc. It is agreed that
the rose leafed variety produces a leaf of superior
quality, which gives a good silk, and occasions not
those diseases to the worms which arise from leaves
too moist, or from a soil too fertile.

3. MoRUs ALBA MACROPHYLLA, the grossc rcine
white mulberry. This variety grows large, but not
higher than the Roman. Its shoots are large, and its

THE MULBERRY TREE. 145

buds nearer together. No other variety exhibits so
large leaves. They are a httle more plaited, and their
petiole is short. The berries are large and white,
very sugary, without, however, the agreeable acidity
of the berries of the black species. A smaller quan-
tity of this variety is planted, and its leaves are only
given towards the end of the feeding season, or when
the worms are on the eve of moulting.

4. IMoRus ALBA oBLoxGiFOLiA, or langue de boeuf,
or ox tongue tnidberry. Leaves large, shining, not
lobed ; nearly twice as long as broad. This variety
is cultivated in the Cevennes ; but it is not much
esteemed. They prefer that called colomhussette^
which seems to be a sub-variety of the rose leafed
mulberry of Provence.

5. MoRus ALBA NANA, the dwarf white mulberry.
This tree is a little larger than that known under the
name of Constantinople mulberry. Its leaves are
like those of the grosse reine, but its berries are white.

The dwarf mulberry may be advantageously cul-
tivated, since its boughs are near ; and this tree of
small size will furnish as many leaves as another
thrice its magnitude ; and a greater number can be
planted on the same space of land.

6. IVIoRus ALBA iNTEGRiFOLiA. A mulbcrry with
leaves always Avhole and shining.

7. MoRUS ALBA INTEGRIFOLIA OBSCURA. LcaVCS

always whole but not shining.

8. INIoRus ALBA sEMiLOBATA, with large leaves,
tough as leather; divided into from two to five lobes.

9. MoRus ALBA LOBATA. Lcavcs divided as far
as the centre into from three to five lobes. This mul-
berry has three sub-varieties, viz. of very large, mid-
dling or very small leaves.

10. MoRus ALBA LAciNiATA. This Variety has its
leaves divided into five deep lobes ; of which the
middle one, larger than all the others, is itself divided
into five or six alternate lobes. To these varieties
may be added another cultivated now for some years
past in the Jardin du Roi, and brought from the Isle

13

146 THE MULBERRY TREE.

of Bourbon, by Captain Philibert. Its leaves are
whole and scarcely marked, nearly dull on the upper
surface, more decidedly pubescent on the lower tlian
other white mulberries. Its parenchyme or pitch is
rather small and dry. It withstands the rigour of the
winter even when unprotected by the cultivator.

M. Loiseleur Deslongchamps has pointed out still
further varieties of the white mulberry, interesting on
account of the qualities they possess for the nourish-
ment of the silk worm.

"The Ji7'st is la colombassette. This is the
most ancient known variety ; its leaf is small, slender,
thin, very soft ; the silk worms prefer it to other kinds.
The berries at maturity are yellowish and very large.
The trees are the largest of the species, and of the
longest duration.

"The second is la rose. Its leaf is a little larger,
and of rather deeper green than the colombassette.
It is as good for the nourishment of the worms. Its
berries are reddish, and of the same size as those of
the precedkig variety.

"The third is la colombasse verte, exhibitmg
two sub-varieties, which are designated by the names
of the large and the small colombasse verte. Its leaves
are not so fine as the two first, but they are larger
and more elongated. Its berries are bluish, and not
so large as those of the colombassette and la rose.

"The fourth is la rabalayre, or traineuse ; a
variety much resembling the colombasse verte: but
which is essentially distinguished from it, in its buds
being further apart, and of consequence the tree pro-
duces less leaves ; but as it is less exhausted by the
production of foliage, it grows large and developes
itself rapidly. The tree bears few berries; which
are of the same colour as those of the colombasse
verte.

The fifth, LA pouMAou, or la pomme. Its leaf is
large, rather fine, and of a round form. The tree
produces scarcely any berries, and though it does not
throw out shoots as long as the other varieties, it fur-

THE MULBERRY TREE. 147

nishes a sufficiently large quantity of leaves, because
its branches are leaved in their whole extent,

" The sixth, la meyxe. This variety has the
greatest resemblance to the preceding, both in quality
and size. The form of the leaf is not so round.

"The seventh, l'amella, or l'amaxde. The leaf
of this variety is oval, much thicker and heavier than
that of all the preceding, and more ditlicult to gather.
It sutlers less than those from the cold, or from winds
and dew which produce mildew or mould ; a disease
of the leaf that is productive of loss. The tree yields
very few berries.

"The eighth is la forcade, or la foukche; a va-
riety, whose leaf is nearly round, and very abundant,
on account of the proximity of its buds.

"The ninth is la dure. It bears this name, because
its leaves are really hard, not for the worms, but in
detaching them from the branches. It requires strong
arms to gather them ; and labourers to make the
work lighter, detach them singly. Its leaves are
nearly round, rather fine, and are produced as abund-
antly as those of the fourcade. It produces no berries.

"The tenth is l'admirable. This variety exceeds
all the others in the size of its leaves, which are
strong and thick, and, by reason of the nearness of the
buds, produces them in greater abundance. They,
generally, are not given till after the fourth moulting,
because the worms then have the requisite strength
and appetite to eat them without injury. When
this tree is set deeply and well cultivated, its leaves
attain an extraordinary size. It is not then uncom-
mon to find them even eleven niches long by nine
broad. The berries are few, small, and grayish."

Of these ten varieties the colonibasse, and the co-
lombassette, are most favourable to the health of the
worm, and to improvement in silk, both as it respects
quantity and quality. Notwithstanding, in France,
the preference, generally, is given to the ponmann,
the mcyne, the fonrcade, Vamella and V admirable,
on account of the abundance of leaves they produce.

148 THE MULBERHY TREE.

The above are varieties of the ivhite mulberry }
and it is evident from what has been said, that varie-
ties of this, and of the other species, may, by artificial
culture and other means, be tortured to an almost
indefinite extent. But with regard to what are the
several species of the genus mulberry, we have al-
ready observed that, authors ditfer ; and, perhaps,
will do, until we can find combined in one, the cha-
racter of the accurate botanist, and that of the prac-
tical horticulturist, whose skill is the result of long-
continued and patient observation. Count Dandolo
has enumerated no less than twelve kinds as species.
Eminent, no doubt, he justly is ; but then it is chiefly
for the accurate development of his valuable expe-
rience relative to the wants, habits, and economy of
the silk worm, but not as a phytologist. The follow-
ing, however, is his enumeration of species.

-' 1. Morus alba. 2. M. tartaria. 3. M. Constan-
tinopolitana. 4. M. nigra, (the common mulberry
well known ; its fruit of a sweet flavour. Particu-
larly cultivated in the ex-Venetian provinces.) 5. M.
rribra, (cultivated in botanical gardens.) 6. M. in-
dica, (also cultivated for botanical purposes.) 7. M.
latifolio, cultivated in botanical hot-houses. 8. M.
aiistralis. 9. M. mauriiiana, (these three latter
sort are little known in Italy.) 10. M. tinctoria.
11. M. papyri/era. (These two last have been
recently transported into another class of plants,
termed M. Broussonetia.) The list I have given
sufficiently shows the variety of mulberry leaves
which might be found even more suitable to the
nourishment of the silk worm, than those hitherto
used."

With the exception of the enumeration of a few of
the varieties of the white mulberry, the above is all
the information we shall derive from Count Dandolo's
work "on the Art of rearing Silk IVorms,''^ relative
to what kinds are distinct species of the mulberry ;
though as to the subject on which it professedly treats,
we shall find the most ample satisfaction. But how

THE MULBERRr TREE. 149

very different is this from the enumeration of species
given in Loudon's "Encyclopaedia of Plants;" than
which, both as a botanical work, and a recent pro-
duction, no other Treatise stands equally and more
justly eminent.* In this work the kinds ranked as
species are only five, viz.

Class, ^loyoECE A] Order, Tetrandria; Genus,

MoRUS.

Species I. Alba; white; China; leaves deeply cordate,
unequal at the base, ovate, lobed, unequally ser-
rated, smoothish.

Species II. Tartarica ; Tartarian ; Tartary ; leaves
slighdy cordate, equal at the base, ovate or
lobed, equally serrated, smooth.!

Species III. Nigra; black or common; Italy; leaves
cordate, ovate or lobed, unequally toothed, sca-
brous.J

Species IV. Rubra; red; North America; leaves cor-
date, ovate, acuminate or three-lobed, equally
serrated, scabrous, soft beneath. Fem., spikes
cylindrical. t

Species V. Tinctoria; fusticwood; West Indies; leaves
oblong, unequal at the base ; spines axillary,
solitary. §

• « Encyclopaedia of Plants," by J. C. Loudon, F.L.S. H.S., &c. and
others, London, 1836, 8vo. pp. 1160, price £3 13.s. M. In the produc-
tion of this volume more botanical works have been consulted than most
men can have access to in a century.

j •• Morus rubra hx^ black shoots, rougher leaves than the black mul-
berry, and a dark reddish fruit, longer than the common sort, and of a
very pleasant taste. The tree is cultivated in China, but not so gene-
rally as the white mulberry. Morus tartarica bears pale red berries of
an insipid taste, but eaten in Russia fresh, conserved or dried."

t " Youn:; trees, like most of the monoecious class, often produce
only male blossoms for many years after they are planted, and yet after-
wards become fruitful. As the tree increases in age, it increases in
fruitfulness. In some of the old gardens near London, there are black
mulberry trees, of a great age, which are very healthy and fruitful ;
most of which were planted in the time of James I."

§ '■ Morus tinctoria is a tall branching tree, with a fine head, smooth
leaves, and awl-shaped solitary spines. The whole plant abounds in a

150 THE MtJLBERIlV TREE.

Notwithstanding these authorities, we find, in a
recent publication, the following noticed, not as a
variety, but as a species, viz.

" Dandolo, or Morettianna mulberry, is a new
and most valuable species of mulberry for the nou-
rishment of the silk worm. It was first discovered
about 1815, by M. Moretti, professor in the Univer-
sity of Pavia. The tree is presumed to be hardy ;
the fruit which is at first violet, becomes at maturity
perfectly black. The leaf is ovate, sharp pointed,
entire, cordate at the base. It is thin, smooth on the
under and especially on the upper surface ; which is
of a beautiful and rather deep shining green. It is
not near so thick as that of the large white mulberry,
called in France the admirable: and is thinner than
that of the Spainsh viulberry or morns nigra. It
is neither wrinkled nor plaited. Generally, the leaf
is nearly eight inches wide, and ten inches long.
This mulberry will be most profiiably cultivated in
the form of a hedge, and from the superior size of the
leaf, its foliage is gathered with facility. Its superior
quality has been proved by the experiments of M.
Gera, and Count Dandolo, who assert that it pro-
duces silk of a more beautiful gloss, and finer quality
than common silk.*

The following, however, by the somewhat indeter-
minate language and method of the same author is
acknowledged to be a variety.

" MoRus LuciDA, or shining leaved. The leaves

slightly glutinous milk of a sulphureous colour. The timber is yellow,
and a good deal used in dyeing, for which it is imported under the name
of fusticvvood."

" All the species of mortis arc rent ark able for putting; out their leaves
late ; so that when thejj appear, gardeners may safety set out their
greenhouse plants, taking it for granted, that all danger from frost is
over." — Loudon's Encycl. of Plants, p. 783.

* See the whole article inserted by the Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn, in
the New England Farmer, vol. viii. No. 29. It is from the Annales
d'HorticuIture ; and it is extracted from the report of Dr. Fontaneilles,
on a letter published by M. Gera in 1826, in the Journal of Physics and
of Chemistry of Pavia.

THE iMULBERRY TREE- 15t

are. very large, pointed, cordate and shining. This
VARIETY is said to be highly deserving of cultivation
for the nourishment of silk worms."

CHAPTER II.

ON THE CULTURE OF SPECIES, OR OF KINDS CAPABLE OF
REPRODUCTION FROM SEED.

CLIMATK, SOIL, SITCATIOX, SEED, SEEDLINGS, NURSERIES, ENGRAFT-
ING, &C. TRANSPLANTING, STANDARDS, PLANTATIONS, INSTRU-
MENTS.

The question of climate refers at once not only
to the mulberry, but also to the silk worm ; for the
former would cease to be an interesting object of
cultivation, could it be found in a region where it
might be satisfactorily proved that the latter, at least
toith such adventitious means as peculiar circum-
stances might require, could not exist, or perform,
with success, functions so important to the conve-
niences of man. Both the one and the other, as the
question refers to latitude, have been found in a
prosperous condition, in all parallels from the equator
to that of fifty-four degrees in Russia, and of fifty-
five degrees in Sweden. But how far the influence
of moisture held in solution, within topical limits, in
the atmosphere, may be corrected, is a question that
remains yet to be proved, by that peculiar kind of
cocoonery, which hereafter, for distinction sake, we
shall call the Dandoliere, which is useful chiefly in
countries where humidity is prevalent.*

• " The silk worm is by no means so delicate as many may imagine.
Mr. Cobb saw the insects raised by M. d'Homergue in a yard of mul-
berry trees in Philadelphia, which endured cold windy days, and storms
of rain and thunder ; and notwithstanding spun in thirty days. At
Northampton, also, the eggs of the silk worm, which had been deposited

152 THE MULBERRY TREE.

In the recommendation of soil proper for the cul-
ture of the mulberry, there has, amongst authors, been
some discrepancy. Although it is to be conceded that
this invaluable plant will flourish in a rnoist and rich
soil, and even, of course, more luxuriantly when thus
favoured than it otherwise would, yet experience has
proved that not only the leaves thus produced are not
so suitable to the health of the worms, but that the
vegetative function is thus protracted too late in the
autumn to allow the young wood to ripen sufficiently
to withstand the attacks of early frost. The majority
of authors, therefore, and amongst them the most ex-
perienced, agree that the soil should be dri/, sandy
loam, or stony. It has been even said, though per-
haps the opposite extreme, " the more stony the bet-
ter, provided that the roots can penetrate." Of stiffer
soils, a calcareous sandy clay is to be preferred. But
clay that is heavy, and earth that is fenny or marshy,
and on which through excess of moisture, the frost
has greater power in winter, not only expose young
trees to greater danger before their coating is formed
and wood matured, but also favour the growth of
moss on the bark, and of leaves too full of moisture
to suit the health of the worm. In this country, it is
admitted as a general rule, that all soils adapted to
the culture of Indian corn, or that will produce ten
bushels and more to the acre, are adapted to the cul-
ture of the mulberry.

As to SITUATION or SHELTER, all agrcc, that nurse-
ries and plantations should have a sunny exposure^
and protection against strong cold winds. Declivities,
hill sides, land sloping towards the east, south-east

oil the outside of a window frame, remained uninjured and hatched well,
although they had endured alternate sunshine and cold winds and storms,
and the extreme rigours of the last uncommon winter, and a degree of
cold thirty-three degrees below zero. There too stood the connnon
white mulberry, and the multicaulis ; the plants of three years growth.
A shelter, however, is necessary for the silk worm, to defend it at once
from long and fatal storms, and from insects and birds of prey." — Ken-
rick. See on the subject of Climate, the History of Silk in this volume,
as it refers to China.

THE MULBEnHY TREE. 153

or south, and protected on the north and north-west,
by woods, groves, artificial plantations, or buildings,
are situations eligible to favour and sustain the growth
of the mulberry.

As to the PREPARATION OP THE GROUND if for

standard trees, let it be manured in the cavity dug
for the tree, but if for hedge rows, in the drill, with a
compost made of one-eighth lime, three-eighths mould
or decomposed leaves, one-fourth stable manure half
rotted, and the remaining fourth of leached ashes,
prepared and suffered previously to mellow for three
or four months, during which it should be three or
four times turned up and mixed with any well rotted
manure. The ground itself should be prepared, if for
hedge rows, by previous ploughing in the autumn,
and once again on the opening of spring. The reader
will recollect that we now treat of the white, &c.
mulberry, as the varieties require different culture.
But if IT is TO BE PREPARED FOR A SEED BED; mauure
it well with a compost made of stable manure, ashes,
decomposed leaves, of each one-third, or instead with
any well rotted manure. Let the soil be dug deeply,
finely pulverized, and laid off in drills twelve inches
apart, and half an inch deep.

To OBTAIN THE SEED. As fast as thc fruit ripens,
it should be gathered, otherwise it will fall from the
tree and be lost, or devoured by birds. When a
portion of the fruit i^ ripe, spread blankets under the
trees, and shake them gently every morning daring
the ripening season. By this means the ripe berries
are disengaged from the boughs, and falling on the
blankets, are easily gathered, whilst those that are
unripe remain undisturbed.

To PREPARE THE SEED.* To avoid fermentation,

• To save the seed of the white mulberry, M. de Labegaire gives the
following directions. " Gather the berries as they fall from the tree ;
put them for two days in a dry place, where they must be turned up
and down for fear they should be heated ; after which mash them with
your hands in a tub, pouring over them some water from time to time
in order to separate the seed from the must. Let then the water settle
for a quarter of an hour, and all the useless particles floating over will

154 THE MULBERRY TREE.

suffer not the seed to remain in the fruit longer than
three days; but put it into any convenient vessel,
and raash the fruit with the hand, into a pulp. On
this mass, having poured water, stir it briskly till a
complete separation takes place between the seed and
the pulp. During the process, frequently decant the
water from oft" the sediment, and with it suffer all
super-natant seed to flow oftV^s not good. Rub the
last sediment through a sieve with meshes of sufficient
size to admit the passage of the seed, which should
be then laid on bibulous paper, or spread thinly on
cloths and dried in the shade. Put it finally in bot-
tles, when well dried, and by corking well, by situa-
tion and other means, exclude the light, air, and
dampness. The white mulberry seed is of an obtuse
triangular shape ; and of a dark, dull, yellow colour,
and full of oil. The fruit of the white mulberry, when
ripe, if put in the ground whole, will vegetate imme-
diately, and if the plant be kept weeded, will be suf-
ficiently advanced, with the aid of a slight covering,
to stand the winter. The first fruit of this tree ripens
about June. It may be sowed on well pulverized
ground and covered with a fine toothed rake. As to
the preparation of seed, so far as it refers to imme-
diate sowing, be it remembered that there are authors
who reconwLicndi previous soaking, some in roW, others
in warm, some in hot, others in boiling ivater! !
and a few in oxymuriatic acid, ox in a solution of
the chlorate of potassa, for a time varying according
to the creed of the several experimentalists, from six to
forty-eight hours ! All this, at best, in the present
state of this soaking theory, or without further limi-
tation, is indefinite and venturesome. It may be very
well, on the small scale, as to some limited crop, or
as a matter of experiment. But should this time for

be taken out. Repeat the washings till the seed is Jisenjiaged and pure.
The best seed being the heaviest, will stay at the bottom of the tub.
Then spread the seed to dry upon a piece of linen, and when dry it
iiiust be put by till the season for sowing," — which should be about
the 1st of May.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 155

soaking, particularly as it refers to any large crop, be
protracted, which it may especially in the hurry of
the spring season, by the labourers being prevented
by other pressing duties, from sowing the soaked seed
until after the germinative vigour of the seed is ex-
hausted by this precocious and ill-timed process, the
whole crop, whether it be of one or twenty acres, will
be unquestionably lost.* As to the term Ao/t water,
it is grossly ambiguous, and the term boiling not less
questionable, however recommended. On the whole
it would be safer, especially to avoid the possibility
of previous accident and delay, instead of antecedent
soaking, to water, from the common gardening pot,
after the dry seed is in the ground, the beds, with a
very mildX solution of the carbonate of potassa. This
was never yet tried but with success. The Chinese
books say, " when the time for sowing is come, the
seed must be mixed with some ashes from the burnt
branches of the mulberry trees, and they must be
soaked to make them soft. The next day the seed
must be washed with care, and those that float re-
jected. The full seed must be dried in the sun until
the absorbed water has entirely evaporated. They
can then be sown, and they never fail to growrapidly."
Nong-sang-thong-kioid. Here is, however, no men-
tion of hot or boiling water.

Mode of testing the qualitt of seed. — This is
a point, in this age of studied selfishness and designed
deceit, far from being unimportant, especially when
the seed of certain vegetables may, so far as appear-

* In this way precisely, a farmer lately, within ten miles of Phila-
delphia, lost the valuable crops of ten acres, on which he relied for the
payment of his rent. He depended on this soaking theory, and it ren-
dered him insolvent.

-(• " In a solution of soot and hot water for forty-eight hours," says a
publication of 1838.

t Two ounces dissolved in three gallons ; and the watering repeated,
if the season be dry. The water generally, in all natural cases, is
agent sufficient without any thing adventitious. But a weak alkaline
solution, or even water with common soap-suds will not injure. On
the contrary, the result has frequently been a luxuriant crop.

156 THE MULBERUV TREE.

ance goes, be easily substituted, and sold at a high
price, to any one not a connoisseur, for that of the
mulberry. Seed bought at the shops may not only
be spurious, productive merely of hybrids, but also
old, and, therefore, liable to protract the germinating
process, until neutralized or destroyed by the frost. In
order to guard against imposition, seed of domestic
growth should be preferred when it can be obtained, or
procured at least from those on whose veracity we can
depend.* Such seed, or that on the quality of which
we can rely, may be safely, at the proper season,
committed to the ground ; in it, as well as in the best
sample, there may be some unproductive seeds, which
the common vegetative process will in the natural
way indicate. A recent writer says : " Soak the seed
in hot water a few hours, when the seed that is
worthless will float," without having the politeness
to tell us, how hot. This gentleman, no doubt, is
fond of a hot potato, but we could readily obtain
him one, which if it once reached his mouth, he
would be glad to drop it soon, as a bad concern. t
" It is computed," says a writer in the first volume
of Fessenden's Silk Manual, that one ounce of seed
properly sown will give about 5000 young trees."
Another writer allows aboiU 8000 trees to the ounce,
and from the average of these two, we may infer
100,000 trees to the pound of seed avoirdupois. This
is confirmed by what Mr. Comstock says, viz : " From
a single pound of seed, one hundred thousand plants
may be reasonably expected." There are in one
pound avoirdupois, of wliite mulberry seed, about
322,700 seeds.l This therefore allows one seed

* Turnip, poppy and other seeds, have been sold in the " down east,"
for the genuine multicaulis seed ; first at $5 an ounce, then at the same
price for a small paper containing 2000 seeds, not worth one cent.

■j" " Before sowing," says Judge Comstock, " the seed ought to be
steeped in water about blood ivarm, for 24 or 36 hours." Now this is
definite ; and if the seed be sown immediately after, the above objection
will not apply; but we should think 24 hours to be amply suflRcient.

\ According to an actual trial, made this day, 9th February, 1839.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 157

nearly out of every three to vegetate. On this sub-
ject, Count de Hazzi, says: " From 9,600 to 10,000
seeds weigh about one ounce of our Bavarian weight,
and 320,000, or at least 300,000 seeds mayonlhe
average be considered to the pound."

Time of sowing. From the first of ApriUto the
hes^innins^ of May, or even in favourable situations,
should circumstances require it, so late as the begin-
ning of June. But it should be remembered, that
the earlier the spring sowing, the more strength,
firmness and bark the seedling will acquire to resist
the attacks of its first winter, which will be the most
critical period in the history of the young plant.
Autumnal sowing for no species of mulberry can be
fully recommended. But if peculiar circumstances
should render it desirable when it could not be at-
tended to in the previous spring, it may be attempted
with partial safety, not later than the first week of
August * provided that every facility, by manuring,
pulverizing, weeding, and subsequent culture, by
covering the young plants with horse manure, straw
or refuse hay on the approach of winter, be afforded
to the beds intended for its reception.

Maxxer of sowing. The seed may be sown in
seed beds or nurseries, as best suits the convenience
of the cultivator. When land is no object, it will be
best to sow them in the nursery, as it will save the
labour of once transplanting. For spring sowing the
land should be prepared by ploughing, &c., the pre-
ceding fall. Every cultivator knows the fertilizing
effects of frost and snow, and consequently ought to
avail himself of them at the proper season. t The
ground should also be ploughed again, or two or three
times if necessary to render it light and friable, in the

White mulberry seed has been sellmg in New England at various prices
for some years past from S4 00 to even §7 50 per lb.

* A quantity of seed thus treated in Philadelphia lived through the
cold winter of 1825-6.

■\ Dig or plough the preceding autumn, and leave the ground rough,
and exposed to the pulverizing action of frost and thaw all winter.

14

158 THE MULBERRY TREE.

spring. Two or three dressings of manure well
ploughicd in, will be of essential service. The seed
may be sown in drills, at sufficient distances asunder
to admit of passing between them* for the purpose
of weeding and hoeing. Roll the seed in plaster of
Paris, or mix with mould, then sow it tolerably thick,
as in the sowing of onions or carrots. For a single
ounce of seed, a bed fifty feet long and four broad, pre
pared by manuring and culture, as already described,
will be sufficient. With the rake cover the seed not
more than half an inch in depth with rich mould,
and immediately press, or lightly tread, or roll down
the mould to cause the seed to come into contact with
the earth ; and over the whole may be laid some
horse manure.

Subsequent culture of the seed beds and
SEEDLINGS. Should the weather be dry, water the
seed beds every other evening. The ground must
be stirred occasionally, or the soil lightened between
the drills, and the beds at all times kept clean of
weeds. With barn-yard drain, or soap-suds, continue
to water once, in dry weather twice, a week, and in
every case either before the rising or after the setting
of the sun. It is important to push, by every means,
the growth of the young plants sown in spring, in
order that the stronger ones, at least, may be trans-
planted into nursery beds on the ensuing spring.
The watering should not be carried on after August.

" I have sown the mulberries in July," says Mr.
Cobb, " and they have sprouted, and come on
rapidly ; but the frosts of winter, in our climate, (New
England,) have been too severe for them. I would
recommend to sow the seed in the spring. From a
quarter of an acre of ground, the last season, I had
over 10,000 plants, produced from seed sown in the
spring, in the way above mentioned," (equivalent to
40,000 per acre,) " some of them upwards of a foot in
height."

• From one to two feet distant.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 159

On the near approach of winter, or on the first
appearance of what is commonly called black frost,
cover the plant beds with long stable manure, leaves,
straw, or matting, and confine the covering with
twigs of pine or evergreen, until the middle of the
ensuing April. Even then, the covering is to be re-
moved only with caution, lest the young plants should
be exposed too suddenly to sudden returns of frost or
bleak winds before a more mature growth and the
further advance of spring render them secure. Care
must be taken, in covering the plants, not to oppress
or smother them.

Transplanting does not appear always to take place
so early in France as with us ; nevertheless part of
their practice seems worthy of our attention. " The
plants will soon show themselves, when they must be
thinned, if growing too thick, putting them, as near
as possible, two or three inches apart. After having
let them come to the size of a goose quill, it will be
necessary, for at least three years, counting that in
which they are sown, to tend them during the whole
time in the following manner. At their first appear-
ance they should be thinned : the second year they
are to be pruned of all the small branches up to a
foot from the ground ; from time to time they must
be watered ; they should also be weeded with a
weeding hook, have frequent tillage ; be retrenched
of all the superfluous branches, and all that are un-
thrifty, poor, or grubby must be entirely cut off". The
best only are to be grafted, after having transplanted
them to another place, dug about and tilled anew,
and set at the distance of at least three feet from one
another."*

Sowing by the whole fruit. We cannot omit
to mention that JNIr. W. H. Vernon of Rhode Island
has, through the medium of his translation, published
at Boston in 182S, of M. de la Brousse's Treatise on
the Cuhivation of the Mulberry Tree, and on the

* Morin.

160 THE MULBERRY TREE.

raising of Silk Worms, favoured us with the follow-
ing account of the French mode of sowing by the
whole fruit, or berry, instead of by the dried seed.
"On two acres of land, or on any other quantity, at
the will of the proprietor, beds must be made four
feet ivide, levelled and smoothed with the rake. On
these beds must be traced by a line eight small fur-
rows lengthwise, two inches wide, and very little
more than half an inch deep, and at the distance of
six inches from one furrow to another. At this
moment it is necessary to be provided with mulber-
ries, (i. e. the fruit,) from the white mulberry tree or
else from the Spanish, which are the two most proper
kinds for this purpose ; they must then be dropped
in the furrows, at the distance of twelve inches from
each other, must be covered from the sides of the
furrows, and the beds carefully levelled with a short
toothed rake."

" There are two seasons for making nurseries, the
spring, and the time of the maturity of the fruit.
Those who choose to sow the seed of the mulberry
ill the m,onth of April, must consequently use the
dried seed gathered nine m,onths before, and less apt
to sprout. But those who sow the fruit at its matu-
rity, enveloped with all its moisture, (or pulp,) which
seems intended for its nourishment, and to give it, if
we may use the expression, its first milk, have gene-
rally the pleasure of seeing it put forth with vigour.
Besides the heat of the season, provided the proprietor
use the precaution to water the plants, will necessarily
cause their rapid growth."

Sowing broad-cast. This method is extensively
and usefully practised in China ; and has also been
tried with success and profit in New England.
Though culturists generally prefer the crops of stand-
ard trees or hedges, and the recent introduction of the
multicaulis may render this process less necessary,
yet occasions may exist wherein for special purposes
it may be expedient.

On ground previously prepared sow the seed, broad-

THE MULBERRY TREE. 161

cast, every spring; and the next year, when the young
plants are covered with fohage, they may be mowed
in the same manner that farmers mow small shrubs,
and given to the \vorms. These mowings may be
repeated until the stock becomes exhausted, when the
land must be seeded again. During one season the
same seedlings will bear to be mown thrice, and on
ditierent portions of the ground, the mowing may be
daily continued according to the demand for the crop,
except after very dry weather.

The advantages of this method are, 1. The leaves
are gathered with little expense or labour. 2. The
same area of ground will produce more foliage.
3, The making of silk may thus be commenced on
the first year. 4. Tenants, as well as owners, from
year to year, can secure a yearly crop of silk ; and
the quantity can be increased or diminished as occa-
sion requires.

Transplanting. On this subject, authors do not
precisely agree, and are generally wanting in that
method which will be found necessary in this place.
For the sake of distinction, we shall divide this section
into what refers — 1. To the seed bed ; 2. To the mir-
sery : 3. To the hedge; 4. To the dwarf orchard ;
5. To the hedge plantation ; and 6. To the plan-
tation for standards.

1. By THE SEED BED wc mcau that on which not
only the young seedlings'* or plants from seeds, are
growing, but where they have suffered no transplant-
ing, nor other disturbance, except that of being kept
clear from weeds, and of the culture, already de-
scribed, subsequent to sowing. From the seed bed,
according to the time and manner hereafter to be
stated, the seedlings are to be transplanted either to
the nursery, the hedge, the dwarf orchard, or to the
plantation for standards, according to the design and
intention of the culturist.

• The term seedling will in this work be applied to young trees
raised from seed, and not transplanted ; and that for any age not ex-
ceeding three years.

14*

162 THE MULBERRY TREE.

Seedlings are fit for transplanting when they attain
the height of eighteen inches; and generally on the
second year, those not removed before, may be trans-
planted in the nursery. When the seedlings are taken
up it should be with such care as to prevent injury
to the roots. After this, it would be an advantage to
assort them into classes,* planting those nearly of a
size together. But, if they are thrifty, they may remain
in the seed bed until planted out into hedges. It is,
however, indispensable, when the seedlings are in-
tended for standard trees, to remove them to a nur-
sery, where they may more rapidly attain a larger
growth than they would in the seed bed ; and from
thence they should not be removed to be placed out
permanently for standards until they are one inch in
diameter, and from four to eight feet, according to
the French, or from seven to eight feet high, accord-
ing to the practice with us.

2. By THE NURSERY We intend ground purposely
prepared and reserved for the reception and growth
of young plants, into which the young seedlings, at
the proper time, are to be transplanted,! and there to
remain, at proper distances, during the second period
of their existence.

Horticulturists recommend a rich soil for the nur-
sery ; the ground at least should be previously pre-
pared, as for any other crop. In April, or later, if
there be a probability of the return of frost, parallel
furrows are to be made of sufficient depth, eight feet
asunder. In which, as soon as possible after remov-
ing from the seed bed, and taking away the ragged
roots, as well as shortening the tap root, in order to
force out lateral roots, the seedlings must be planted,
one foot apart in the rows. Particular attention must
be given to preserve all the small branches of the
roots from contact as much as possible. The earth is
then to be well trodden around the plant. Afterwards

• Two classes : Count Hazzi.

■j- In France, they transplant just after the fall of the lea£

THE MULP.ERRT TREE. 163

keep the soil open, free from weeds, and water in dry
seasons.

When the plants in the nursery are sprung, strip
off the side buds, and leave none but such as are ne-
cessary to form the head of the tree. The buds which
are left, should be opposite to one another. If the
plants in the nursery do not shoot well the first year,
in the month of March following cut them over, about
seven inches from the ground ; this will make them
grow rapidly. They should also be watered with
dikited barn-yard water.*

3. Mulberry HEDGE. One method of turning into
direct profit, and economizing the very ground on
which our fences stand, is to turn them into mulberry
hedges. "The white mulberry," says Mr. Cobb,
*' forms an excellent live fence, and when once esta-
blished, is probably the most permanent of any other.
Cattle must not be allowed free access to the hedge
while young, as they would destroy it altogether; but
after it has become a good fence, they may approach
it with advantage. The more it is broken and lace-
rated by cattle, the more impenetrable it will become;
as for every branch broken, a half dozen shoots will
immediately start out, till the bush forms a perfect
bramble." This mode is, therefore, recommended as
accomplishing three important objects : supplying
food for silk worms ; keeping the trees low, that the

* Several of the manipulations recommended by Count de Hazzi, on
this subject, are worthy of attention. " The roots of a plant of one year
being yet delicate, it will be better to put them in the ground with a
planting stick, along a line, than with a shovel. They should be planted
a Utile deeper than they were before ; for a mould recently stirred sinks
somewhat, and the seedlings would, therefore, be too high above ground.
They should be watered as soon as transplanted, in order to bring the
earth into closer contact with the root. These beds must be managed,
during the summer, Uke the seed beds, viz. they must be cleared of
weeds, and watered in dry weather ; and, before the winter comes on,
they must be covered again with dry leaves, several inches in depth,
which are to be removed in the spring. Before the seedlings begin to
bud, all the wood affected by the frost must be cut off, and the ground
ought to be carefully opened and stirred, without injuring the roots of the
seedlings."

164 THE MULBERKT TREE.

leaves may be gathered from the ground by children;
and furnishing a good and ahuost never ending fence.

Take seedHngs two years old from the seed bed,
and set them, in the spring, at the distance of eighteen
inches apart, or, if it is intended to make a thick set
hedge, at the distance of one foot. Cut off the tops
at four or six inches from the ground, leaving two
buds on each plant, opposite each other, and removing
all the rest. This causes the stock to have two
vigorous branches the first year. The next spring,
cut off one of these two branches on the same side,
at about twelve inches from the ground, in such a
manner that each plant may have a long and a short
one. Cut horizontally on the same side, also one after
another, all the branches, and fasten them with cords
or withes, so that they form lines parallel with the
earth, and leave the entire branches untouched. At
the commencement of the third year, the plants will
have branches to form a hedge. The height, form,
&c. of which may be regulated according to the fancy
of the cultivator, by cutting the branches accordingly,
and feeding the silk worms with them.

Some permit trees to grow up from the hedges as
standards, at the distance of ten or twelve feet from
each other. Thus rails might be fastened to the
standards and form alone a good fence, even if, in the
course of time, the old materials of the hedge should
have been removed, or fallen into decay.

4. The dwarf orchard. The dwarf orchard,
either consists of the dwarf or bush mulberry, so com-
mon in France ; or of any mulberry species or variety
kept in hedge size and cultivation.

As to the dwarf orchard and miilherry , we are
informed by M. de la Brousse, that " the dwarf or
bush mulberry has been cultivated for ages in the
East Indies. It is there preferred to the tree with a
high trunk, because its leaves are more easily gathered,
the trimming less difficult and less expensive, and the
sap having a shorter distance to rise, produces earlier
leaves, and proportionably in greater abundance.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 165

The tree with a lofty trunk must have a good soil and
ample room, whilst the dwarf trees will grow any-
where, on an arid soil and small space. Extending
their branches very little, they may be reached on all
sides. They also yield an early leaf, and full as
wholesome for the silk worm as that of the high tree.

The grafted dwarf mulberry of good kinds, such
as la rose, putting forth as early as the pourette, is a
valuable resource in a warm climate, where silk
worms succeed only when they are raised before the
more vehement heat sets in.

The field selected for an orchard of the dwarf mul-
berry ought to be ploughed, and after remaining in
the furrow about two months, to be manured and
cross-ploughed, and lastly levelled with a harrow.
Lines must then be drawn nine feet apart through
the whole length of the field, and the young trees
must be planted along those lines at the distance of
six feet from each other. Frequent tillage, manure
every year, and watering in dry seasons are requisite
particularly during the first years of their growth.
The hoe may be employed, if the plough cannot, since
their stems are so short as to send forth branches
within a foot of the soil.

After the gathering of the leaves in the third year,
the dwarf mulberry may be trimmed, but not before.
Then it will be necessary to leave four branches at
proper distance towards each of the cardinal points,
in order that they may form, in the three succeeding
years, the head of the tree. At the end of that term,
each tree will nearly touch its neighbour, and ought
every following vear to be pruned immediately after
the gathering of the leaves. This trimming, amongst
the French, consists in lopping off the branches that
have yielded leaves during three years, and reserving
the wood of the preceding and of the current years.
The height of the trunk of a dwarf being regulated at
a foot, and its branches spreading, in the second year,
about two feet and a half in all directions, they would

166 THE MITLBERRY TREE.

be within the reach of the smallest cattle, which must
therefore be carefully excluded.

But the dwarf orchard may consist of any of the
varieties of the black, red, or white mulberry, pro-
vided that they are kept in dwarf cultivation. This
method is well adapted for this country, and recom-
mended because, 1. The trees thus arrive to a state
of productiveness with comparatively little expense
of time and labour. 2. Suflicient sun and air are ad-
mitted to the trees to render the leaves of the first
quality, and to enable them to put forth early. 3. The
ground is more suddenly and completely filled and
occupied than by planting standards. 4. The trees
are more easily managed, and their form controlled.
5. The leaves are more easily gathered, and very
readily by women and children.*

It has been recommended to have the rows of the
dwarf orchard sufficiently distant to allow a horse and
cart to pass between, to convey, during the gathering,
the leaves with the greater expedition to the cocoon-
ery. Mr. Roberts objects to this, because the pressure
of the horse and cart on the intervening space might
be such as to injure the vegetation of the trees. To
avoid which he recommends that the leaves should
be gathered into large baskets, and conveyed to a
cart conveniently situated ; or rather, that light hand
carts propelled by men should be substituted.

Over ground duly prepared, as before directed, extend
parallel lines, in number sufficient to cover the whole
breadth, eight feet asunder. Along these lines, whilst
kept straight, at the distance of two feet apart, dig
cavities for the reception of the plants, into which
cast some good rich mould ; where the seedlings of
two years old are to be transplanted, and the earth

* In India and Persia, the dwarf orchards are not, for the above rea-
Bons, suffered to rise above eight feet. At Broossa, in Turkey, they are
planted within three feet of each other in rows not exceeding ten feet
asunder ; and always so pruned that a man standing on the ground may
reach the top.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 167

immediately pressed around them. The young trees
are to be headed to about a foot from the ground,
and but two or three branches allowed to grow.
These, by pruning, are made to diverge, continually
sub-dividing in every direction above the horizontal,
so that every part of the tree be duly filled with
young wood and leaves. Suffer no vertical shoot to
rise in the centre, and curtail all straggling shoots
near the top, and all pendulous shoots below. The
tree is not to be suffered to spread wider than about
two feet, towards the wide or middle space, and the
rows must ever be preserved within four and a half
feet in width and about ten feet in height. The
ground in this way, may be cultivated with other
various productions, especially during the first years.
Indeed, it has been recommended by some, to give
to the ground applied to dwarf orchards or hedge
plantations, the benefit of meliorating crops, because
the soil, according to this opinion, becomes improved,
and the intervening crops defray all expenses in the
culture of the mulberry.*

* On this subject, we cannot quote a better authority than that of
Mr. Goodrich, president of the Hartford County Silk Society. " I ad-
vise you to set the rows of mulberry trees at the distance of eight feel.
This will allow sufficient space io plough between the rows with a yoke
of oxen, or to pass between them, luith a one home wagon, when the
trees are considerably grown.

" I would transplant the trees when they are one or two years old,
and set them in the rows originally at the distance of two feet. They
will grow for two or tliree years within two feet of each other. You
will then have more than 2700 trees on an acre.

" It is important that the young plants should be hoed and cultivated
for a few years, with as much care, as is usually bestowed on carrots or
onions ; and, in order to do this with as little expense as possible, po-
tatoes, beans, or ruta baga, may be planted between the rows. And
when the potatoes are hoed, all the weeds around the mulberry trees must
be carefully destroyed.

"When the trees are three or four years old, and have begun to spread
and fill the ground, I would thin them out, by digging up and trans-
planting every other tree. Experience will enable you to decide at
what time this is proper to be done.

" I ought to have added above, that potatoes should be between the
rows, well manured ; so that the whole groimd may be rich like a
garden.

168. THE MULBERRY TREE.

There are some who, both for the purpose of stir-
ring the soil and keeping it Hght, between the rows
of the young trees, as well as that of defraying, during
the first years, the expense of planting and trimming

" I observed the last year, that the young mulberry trees grew as well
where potatoes were planted between the rows, as where they were
omitted.

" I would begin to prune the young trees \he first year, and continue
it every year. Observing to cut off all sprouts which grow near the
ground ; no leaves ought to be suffered to grow nearer than two or three
feet to the ground. The earlier you begin to prune, the easier it will be
to form good trees, and the more rapidly they will grow.

" The second year I would begin to make silk of the twigs which are
trimmed off. If the trees have been properly cultivated from the begin-
ning, I think you may make silk enough the second year, to pay all the
expense of making the silk and of cultivating the trees that year. The
principal object, however, ought to be, not to make silk the second year,
but to cultivate the trees in the most judicious manner. I would, there-
fore, advise, that for the two or three first years, the trees should be
trimmed, and the leaves gathered, only by persons who know how to
trim the trees properly.

" When the trees arefonr w five years old, at which time they will
be six or eight feet high, I propose to gather leaves for the worms, by
cutting off twigs or small branches, which may be done by a person
standing on the ground, still observing to trim the trees in such a man-
ner as will best promote their growth. At Mansfield, in this state, the
leaves have usually been stripped with the hand from the branches, and
the person who gathers them is obliged to climb trees thirty or forty feet
high. I propose to save this labour, in a great measure, by trimming
and heading down the trees from year to year, so that they shall not
grow more than six or eight feet high, and in such a manner that the
leaves may always be gathered by a person standing on the ground. In
this manner, leaves are gathered in Persia and in the vicijiity of Con-
stantinople.

" The leaves, or rather branches, are to be conveyed to the cocoonery,
in one horse wagons, and you will now see the propriety of leaving the
rows sufficiently apart for wagons to pass between them. I propose
also to gather the leaves or branches in large baskets of a proper shape,
adapted to the wagons. I suppose that one man with a wagon, will
carry these baskets of leaves to the cocoonery as fast as a number can
fill them.

" I found the last year, that leaves which grew near the ground were
covered with sand or dirt, thrown upon them during showers of rain ;
and it was necessary to clean them thoroughly, before they were given
to the worms. The labour of doing this was about equal to that of
gathering the leaves. This suggested the propriety of trimming up the
young plant from the beginning, so that no leaves should grow near the
ground.

" I omitted to mention that the potatoes which may be grown the first

THE MULBERRY TREE. 169

the orchard, before it is directly productive, recom-
mend the culture, as will be seen by the subjoined
note of intermediate crops. It is, however, proper to
state here the opposite opinion. We add that ex-
pressed by M. de la Brousse, since it comprises much
under the head of subsequent culture. After re-
commending as to standard trees, between rows, two
dressings of manure, a year, he says, " It is almost
an unpardonable sin to sow or plant a piece of land
covered with the mulberry of high growth ; but it
would be an act still more inexcusable to sow with
grain, or with that of any other produce, an orchard
of these useful trees newly set. Though the ground
be not wholly covered, and but partially shaded with *
these small trees, yet any grain, roots, or grass, would
exhaust the soil, retard the activity of the sap, and
obstruct the expansion of every part of the tree.
Nemo duobus* is a maxim so true in agriculture, that
every proprietor, who has attempted to take at the
same time two full crops from the same land, has
unwisely exhausted the soil, and finally diminished
his income. By manuring well our fields, and re-
quiring but one crop at a time, we shall make better
harvests, and receive a better rent." Mr. Vernon,
the translator, adds, " the whole of this ought to at-
tract the notice of the farmers of our own country.
For it is the general usage with them, to take a crop
of grain, of roots, or of grass from their orchards.
This custom, so inconsistent with sound reason, added
to their careless treatment of the trees, is the cause
of that infertility of which we hear them so often
complain ; and it also very materially affects the

year, between rows of seedlings, will, as I think, pay for settling out
and cultivating the plants that year. When the mulberry trees have
grown to a considerable size, and the roots have filled the ground, it
may, perhaps, be advisable to discontinue planting potatoes between
the rows, as the roots of the trees would be impaired by ploughing the
land."

* M. de la Brousse means, of course, " No soil for two crops," whether
ntmo be classically applicable to any thing inanimate or not.

15

170 THE MULBERRY TREE.

quality of the leaves and fruit. At Montreuil, a vil-
lage of nearly 20,000 inhabitants, all maintained by
the cultivation of fruit for the supply of the city of
Paris, a proprietor will not allow even a plant of let-
tuce to be grown near fruit trees. Every particle of
the surface of the ground is there kept in a friable
state to the full extent of the roots of the trees; a due
proportion of manure is every year worked into the
soil, the art of trimming is there perfectly understood
and practised ; and there we never hear the barbarous
assertion that the apple tree bears lucll only once in
two or three years.''''

5. The making of hedge plantations is now also
recommended. It consists of a piece of ground, not
only fenced in, but its whole interior planted with
mulberries in regular rows at certain distances kept
in hedge culture. A plan which will be found con-
venient during the leaf-gathering season ; especially
for children.

It was formerly the practice in France to plant out
the mulberry as standards, and to suffer them to
attain a considerable size, for which gathering lad-
ders and additional labour were indispensable. The
practice is of late much changed. It was observed,
says Rozier, that the young plants in nurseries, put
forth their leaves much sooner than the standard trees;
and the necessity of obtaining early food for the young
insects obliged the cultivators to provide themselves
with a certain number of mulberries in the bush,
shrubby, or hedge state.

From these first experiments arose the prevalent
practice of raising dwarf mulberries extensively, and
also of surrounding the fields with mulberry hedges.
It is said that the produce of an acre in dwarf mul-
berries is much greater than one in large trees, the
distance between the plants being so much less, so
that the number of dwarfs may be eight times as
great. This is admitted to be true at first, though some
cultivators deny that it continues to be so after the
standard trees have attained their full size. But

THE MULBERRY TREE. 171

whether the increase of the foliage of the full grown
standards is such over that of eight times the number
of dwarfs, as to countervail the additional expense in
the gathering of the former, is a question, that expe-
riment, fairly conducted, alone can decide.

In India, in China, in Turkey, and, at present, in
France, hedge or dwarf plantations are most highly
approved ; and the system is gaining ground also in
Italy and Belgium.. JNI. Bonafoux, the celebrated
writer on silk, and the disciple of that '■^facile Prin-
ceps^' of silk ivorms, Count Dandolo, and the director
of the Royal Gardens of Turin, highly recommends this
mode, of cultivating in inxdberry prairies, as in China.

Dr. Tinelli* says, " this method is now generally
adopted in Italy. 1. Because the produce of the little
mulberry is much earlier than that of the large one ;
for in the third year they begin to gather the leaves
from hedge rows, while six years are required before
we can strip the large trees. 2. Because the low
trees, being more immediately affected by the warmth
of the soil, begin to put forth their \&?ives fifteen days
earlier than the larger ones, which is certainly a
great advantage. 3. The care of low trees and the
gathering of the leaves are left to children, which is
a considerable saving of expense. The trees of low
size, planted in hedge rows, occupy the least possible
space, while at the same time they supply a crop as
perfect as those of a greater height, and their leaves,
extremely agreeable to the worms, furnish a silk of
the first quality."

Of hedge plantations, there are tiuo plans. The
FIRST PLAN we havc thus well described by Seignor
Tinelli : " For the purpose of making plantations of
this kind, young trees of one year's growth are used.
The hedges are planted in lines, extending the whole
length of the field, and the lines (or rows) separated
from each other by a space of six feetA Each tree

• Doctor of Civil Law of the University of Pavia.
f " Eight feet." Silk Cul. vol. ii. p. 181, col. 1, gi\-ing 2000 trees to
the acre.

172 THE MULBERRY TREE.

is planted at the distance of three feet from the next
in the same row. So that in the space of an acre,
or 43,560 square feet, toe shall have 2420 of these
trees. They will yield, in their third year, about
2 lbs. of leaves each; {or 4840 lbs. fur the acre;) and
this quantity will be doubled annually, till the eighth
year, provided they are cultivated, attended to, and
managed as required."

The above statement of Seignor Tinelli leads to the
following statistical consequence ; the trees on one
acre for the

3d year yield. . . . 4,840 lbs. of leaves,
4th year yield. . . . 9,680 lbs. of leaves.
5th year yield. . . . 19,3G0 His. of leaves,
6th year yield. . . . 38,720 lbs. of leaves,
7th year yield. . . . 77,440 lbs. of leaves.
8th year yield 154,880 lbs. of leaves !

Which in this case, on the eighth year, would be
equal to* 1548 lbs. of silk, worth g7740.t

Although the young trees when planted, are fur-
nished with very small roots, yet it is necessary to
dig the trench made to receive them of considerable
depth. It is usual to make it one foot and a half
deep, and of the same breadth. When the little trees

* 100 lbs. of leaves of the white mulberry are reckoned to be equal to
one pound of raw silk, now worth at least five dollars.

■\ The above statement of Dr. Tinelli we have given, merely to show
how extravagantly great men — men who are looked up to as great au-
thority, will wander into the regions of fancy when they are supposed
to be furnishing facts. It must be obvious to all that the quotation
above, and the subsequent statement legitimately drawn from it^ are
erroneous. But much of what is written on this subject, is not any
thing more accurate ; and if we advert to the widely divergent state-
ments made by authors in our own country, upon the culture and pro-
duce of the mulberry tree, we need not be surprised that such things
come from abroad. One tells us, that the mulberry tree should be
planted on high, another on luw, ground ; one on a south, another on a
7wrth exposure; this one on stony, grnrel/i/ soil, that on sandy h>ani ,•
the next on any soil that will produce vegetation, the opposite excludes
us from almost any soil that can be procured. These unsettled and
uncertain opinions remind us of the Scripture phrase, '■ If the trumpet
give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle V
In these pages we shall present a better view of these subjects, with
more certain data.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 173

are set in the ground, the stems are cut so as to leave
only three eyes above the ground.

The SECOND PLAN of the hedge plantatinn, and
also its cultivation, is best described by Mr. Roberts.
" At two years old, the plants may be planted out
into hedges, at eighteen inches apart, in rows eight
feet asunder. The ground should be prepared as
before directed, and some good rich mould put into
the holes, to be afterwards pressed around the plants.
Take care that the two lowest buds be in the direction
of the (gardening) line ; which should be drawn
straight. The plant is to be cut down to these two
buds, about half a foot from the ground. By the
ensuing spring these buds will have become two
beautiful branches, when one of them is to be pruned
down to one foot, and always on one side of the
plant. The branches on the opposite side to be left
uncut, but to be bent in the direction of the hedge
towards the lopped branches, and fastened to them
with willow withs so as to form an arch. The third
spring the plants will have branches to form a hedge,
when they must be cut about two feet from the
ground, leaving the branches below that point entire.
When plants die, replace them by layers from an
adjoining one, as the introduction of new plants hardly
ever succeeds. The hedges should never be permitted
to grow higher than six feet, so as to keep them within
a convenient height for gathering the leaves. After
the leaves have been gathered, they should be pruned,
and particularly of such branches as may have been
injured or killed. All dead branches, also, thus found
in the beginning of April, must be pruned from the
living wood, with sharp hedge shears, and these
prunings should be so regulated as to give a proper
form to the hedge."

The planting of morus alba in the hedge form, will be
found to be the most advantageous. The same quan-
tity of land will thus produce at least eighty per cent,
more leaves, than from standard trees ; the labour of
gathering leaves is full one half less, and the vegeta-
15*

174 THE MULBERRY TREE.

tion is much quicker. These certainly are consider-
ations worthy of attention. A few standard trees, or
^plantation of standards, should be kept on every
estate, and particularly where situated in the interior,
for the purpose of keeping up regular supplies of
seed, and of making that of leaves doubly secure.

6. Plantation for standards is a piece of
ground, on which, at proper distances, mulberry trees,
designed to arrive at, or that have attained to, full
growth, are planted.

The distances generally recommended for this pur-
pose are twenty feet between the rows, and twenty
feet asunder, i. e. twenty feet every loay. But here
the quincunx order would probably be an improve-
ment. That is, the roAvs twenty feet asunder as be-
fore, and the trees in each row, twenty feet distant
from each other, but each tree of every alternate row
placed opposite the centre or middle point of the
nearest two trees of tlie opposite row ; so that each
tree of one row forms an isosceles triangle with the
two nearest trees of the next row. An advantage is
thus gained in every case, where between two op-
posite trees only twenty feet would intervene, of two
feet and one-third, both for the extension of branches,
and the freer admission of both sun and air.

Let then this piece of ground intended for such a
plantation be first described into hues or parallel
rows, twenty feet asunder, on each of which rows
dig cavities twenty feet, also between one and the
other on the same row. But let the first cavity on
the second row be dug precisely opposite to the centre
point between the nearest two on the opposite row ;
and thus continue for every other cavity and every
other row ; and we shall then have a plantation of the
quincunx order. This quincuncial order derives its
name from the numeral V, which is called the single
quincunx; and the numeral X, which was termed
the double quincunx. Of all arrangements, the quin-
cunx order combines the most advantages. More
trees may thus be set at any distance apart on the

THE MULBEUUT TREE. 175

same area than in any other mode. Each tree will
have the same proximity to its neighbours on the
same row, but all will enjoy superior facilities for the
admission of air, heat, and light.

The land where the trees are to be set, will be
much better for the purpose, if previously ploughed,
harrowed, and manured on the preceding autumn.
It will be proper to transplant only handsome, well-
selected subjects, and which are not getting too old
in the nursery, crooked, knotty, or mean looking. It
would be desirable to ascertain the position of the
plant when in the nursery in reference to the south,
which may be easily discovered, even when sent from
a distance, by the magnitude and number of its roots,
which are generally larger and more numerous on
the south side of the tree, as well as by the size and
distance of the rings which form at the forks of the
branches. Direcied by these signs the tree may have
the same side turned towards the south, which it had
before its removal, by turning in that direction the
largest roots and circles.

The transplanting may take place either in spt-in^,
as soon as the frost is out of the ground, or in autiunn
at the fall of the leaf Not a tew prefer the former
season. JNIr. Gideon Smith of Baltimore, whose judg-
ment unquestionably ranks high, gives the preference
to the latter, in order to let " the small fibrous roots
which convey nourishment to the tree, have time to
prepare for their functions by the vegetating season
of the next spring."*

When the plants are grown to the size of onet inch

* From an authority so respectable as Mr. Smith, however, we must
heg leave to dissent. In the south where there is comparatively no
winter, or at least a mild one, his system will answer very well, periiaps
be the better plan ; but in the eastern ami middle stales, where the win-
ters are severe, the method of fall planting, recommended above, would
be exceedingly questionable. The gain would not be so great as to put
to hazard so great a stake where the seasons are so rigid, and the spring
planting, in this climate, is, we think, greatly to be preferred.

i The French practice directs, six inches in circumference at the

176 THE MULBERRY TREE.

in diameter, and from seven to eight feet high, they
are fit to be planted out into the field where they are
finally to remain. Let them be dug up without injury
to the roots, and, whenever practicable, transplant
immediately, or soon as possible, after removal from
the ground, without cutting off any thing.* When-
ever the planting cannot be immediately effected, the
roots must be surrounded with straw wrapped around
them.

Let each cavity for the reception of the trees, at
the distances already stated, be made eighteen inches
deep, and Jive feet in diameter and its lower part
covered with a few inches of fresh mould. The
young tree is placed in its proper range, ascertained
hw a stake fixed at each extremity of the line, and it
is to be held there till its roots are covered with friable
and well manured earth free from stones, which must
then be well trodden down, and watered if necessary.!
A small furrow left round the stem to retain the rain
is very proper.

Leave all the buds which the young trees have
pushed out on the top, till the following spring; when
none are to be left, but three or four branches to form
the head of the tree. These should be so left as to
form a circle round the stem. That the interior of
the tree may be kept open, all buds as they appear
on its body should be pinched off for a few years.
The head of the tree also, for several years, should
be thinned out, cuttina; off such branches as cross

bottom of the trunk, and from six to nine feet in height. Others say,
the plant ought not to be more than three years old when taken from a
rich soil, or four years old, if removed from poor land.

* Except what is bruised or broken just above the defect. Yet some
say the roots should be trimmed.

f The practice in France, with some, is, in order to give immediate
activity to the sap, as well as to make the earth on all sides closely ad-
here to the roots, to pour six or eight gallons of water into the cavity,
which is then filled with earth to the surface. But the season, wet or
dry, and the proprietor's experience and discretion will vary this accord-
ing to circumstances.

THE MULBERRr TREE. 177

Others, or take the lead of the rest : equaHty in growth
and beauty in appearance will be thus preserved.
Every spring, the young trees should be dressed two
or three feet around the trunk ; and stakes also should
be placed by each, and fastened to it at the time of
planting, to prevent its position being altered by
strong winds.

When the trees shall have nearly attained their
growth, two top dressings of manure a year will pre-
serve them in an improved condition. The first may
be given in the month of March, or the time of the
first rising of the sap ; when after hoeing, they ought
to be treated with a proper quantity of manure. The
second tillage must be given immediately after gather-
ing the leaves, in order to promote the August growth,
on which the produce of the following year so much
depends.

Grafting and budding are methods of culture
long practised, especially in Europe, and supposed to
improve the several species and varieties of the mul-
berry. The only reasons assigned by a recent writer
to warrant the neglect here of these methods, is be-
cause with us, land is cheap and labour high. More
weighty and decisive reasons, however, than these
exist; and we shall find them most strongly expressed
by authors, who are themselves natives of the coun-
tries where these methods have been the longest tried,
and through the current of imitative custom, not in-
vestigation, have been the most popular. Count
Dandolo says, " fourteen pounds and a half of wild*
mulberry leaves will produce one and a half pounds
of cocoons; whilst it requires twenty pounds and three-
fourths of the leaves of the grafted mulberry to yield
the same quantity." Again, " Seven and a half
pounds of cocoons proceeding from worms fed on the
leaves of the wild mulberry, give about fourteen
ounces of exceedingly fine silk; whilst the same

* I. e. not grafted.

178 THE MULBERRY TREE.

weight of silk worms fed with the leaves of the
grafted mulberry only yields eleven or twelve ounces
of silk : that the silk worms fed on the wild leaves
are always brisker, and have better appetites." M.
Morin informs its, that " the mulberry trees not
prrafted, last for ages,* whilst the grafted after twen-
ty-five years fall into decay." No other additional
reason needs be assigned for the entire abolition, in
this country at least, of grafting, budding, and in-
onilating, of such vivacious and even indigenous
trees as mulberries, than that the superiority of the
multicaulis, for which no such process is necessary,
is now so far decided, as to render attention to the
engrafted and artificial varieties, so far quite unne-
cessary, that a page or pages occupied with the de-
tail of these tedious and laboured manipulations,
would be at once a misapplication both of our limits
and of the reader's time and attention.

Pruning. Trees left to themselves are liable to
assume forms as unsuitable to the taste of the horti-
culturist, as they are inconvenient to those engaged
in the gathering of their leaves. June is the best
.seasoyi for pruning, when the young twigs that are
taken off may be, with advantage, given to the
worms. But after what has been already said on
this subject, it is here only necessary to add, that the
imperfections in the form and growth of trees, may
easily be remedied by a judicious cultivator, at least
once every two or three years.

Suckers. Trees may also be obtained from suck-
ers. These, each with some roots attached to them,
may be separated from the tree early in the spring,
planted in the nursery or orchard, tivo feet apart,
where they may remain until their size intimates the
propriety of transplanting. They must be treated as

* The black mulberry tree adjoining Greenwich Park, planted in the
reign of James the I., now covers a circumference of 150 feet, and yields
during the season eighty quarts per day of the finest mulberries in
England.

THE MULBERRY TREE. 179

seedlings or cuttings ; watered in dry weather and
kept clear of weeds. Though the white mulberry
admits of this variety in its mode of propagation, yet
no method, as yet, has been found preferable to that
of reproducing it from its own seed or fruit. The
modes of reproduction from cuttings and layers, alike
applicable to both the species and varieties of the
mulberry, are so particularly suitable to the hybrids,
and especially to the multicaulis, that we defer what
is necessary to observe on these subjects to the next
chapter.

In the complete silk establishment, the nursery^
orchard, and plantation, will require their instru-
ments ; as well as the cocoonery its furniture and
uteiisils ; and the manufacture, its machinery. In
the former we should be supplied with the weeding
hook, pruning cAwe/j', and ^Aear* adapted to different
parts of this work, and suited to different altitudes.
For the plantation for full grown standards there
should not be omitted a pair of pruning shears at-
tached by one of the handles to a ten foot pole, which
whilst it is held in one hand, is worked by means of
a cord passing through a pulley, and attached to the
other handle by the other hand. By this means twigs
and branches, though at the height of seventeen or
eighteen feet are taken off with ease, and that so
smoothly as neither to lacerate the bark nor injure
the appearance of the tree. Hoes also will be neces-
sary, particularly one adapted to the mulberry orchard
culture and described by Messrs. Ciieney in the early
numbers of the Silk Grower. In very dry seasons,
the proximity of a pond, or one in the midst of the
plantation, with a forcing pump and hose to send the
water to every part, will be of great advantage.

On the following cut will be found a representation
of the M. alba, M. tartarica, and M. nigra. The M.
alba on the right, the M. tartarica in the centre, and
the M. nigra on the left. They exliibit the leaves
and fruit drawn from nature. It has not been thought
necessary to give a representation of the other species

180

THE MULBERRY TREE.

under this head, as they are different only in size and
in few pecuharities of the leaves which have been
previously described.

CHAPTER III.

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

It is now universally known amongst all expe-
rienced culturists, that the morus multicaulis is a
hybrid ; and as the most judicious and discerning^
amongst them think, that it is a variety produced
from the morus alba and niorus nis^ra ; and there-
fore whilst it yields silk having all the delicacy of the
proceed of the former, combines the strength, with-
out the comparative coarseness of that of the latter ;
and consequently is in itself the complete " utili
dulceP of the mulberry tribe. It is to the national-
stirring industry, and wealth-giving properties of this
tree, that the disciples of Confucius attribute the
prosperity and solidity of an empire that knows no
parallel on the face of this earth. It came here
recently as a stranger, and had its own character to
substantiate ; but with it, as with every thing of
intrinsic excellence, this was soon and easily eifected.
In its favour, the verdict of the well known culturist.

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 181

Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, has been quoted.
"Whoever," says he, "is desirous of entering into
the silk culture, must now abandon every idea of culti-
vating any other kind than this ; as from its superior
fitness, in every respect, to the feeding of the worms,
it would be impossible that any one growing any
other could compete with those who fed with it.
That as there is no offal from coarse fibres, fully one
diird of the labour of gathering will be saved. That
the leaves of the multicaulis yield a finer silk, more
delicate in texture, and brilliant in gloss than any
other kind." But now, independently of all private
opinion, however eminent, by experiment and matter
of fact, a thousand times repeated, whether they
refer to the possibility of its acclimation in our Chi-
nese-parallel climes, its fitness for the worms, the
immense saving of labour which it affords, or to the
superior quality of its produce, its fame is known
and acknowledged, without a dissentient voice, from
Maine to Louisiana, and from the Atlantic to the
Western shores of the Mississippi.

As an object of public attention, it is now one of
such intense interest, that inverted must be the tele-
scope of the man that has not the prescience to discern
that a new and a great era is now about to open in
this country. What will be the ultimate benefits, it is
now impossible to calculate. If the first advantage
accrue to an individual, it extends to his neighbour and
thence to a third, and thus on in the great catena of
society, from link to link, till the individual blesses
the nation, and by reciprocity the nation the indivi-
dual, until national prosperity and individual con-
tentment merge party and comparatively petty dif-
ferences into an equanimity, that may leave China
herself dispossessed of the singularity, in this respect,
of which she at present boasts. As such it would be
almost impardonable, in a work of this nature, not
to give, even as a tribute of gratitude, the history of
a tree, to which we are all likely to become so much
indebted.

16

182 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

The first complete history and account of this
plant appeared in the '' Annales d'Horticultnre/' and
the " Annales Royal Horticule de Fromont ;" and
were afterwards collected and inserted by the Hon,
H. Dearborn in the "New England Farmer" of
1830 and 1831. From which it appears that the
honour of the discovery of this plant, and its intro-
duction to Europe, to Africa, and to America, is due
to M. S. Perrottet, agricultural botanist and traveller
of the marine and colonies of France. This distin-
guished botanist was sent out by the government of
France on a voyage of research to the seas of Asia,
a national ship having been provided especially for
his use. After an absence of nearly three years he
returned to Havre in 1821. He brought with him
eighty-four boxes of various dimensions, containing
one hundred and fifty-eight species of living plants,
of at least eight feet in lieight, to the quantity of
five hundred and thirty-four individuals. All
these productions had been procured on the coasts
of Asia, or gathered in the lands of Cayenne. From
the commencement of the present century there had
never been so vast an importation into France, or
one so extensive in number, and at the same time
each so remarkable for rare genera, species and va-
rieties. In this immense collection was the morns
rmilticaulis, thus called by Perrottet for the first
time, and ascertained by him to be the real Chinese
mulberry ; or as sometimes improperly called the
morus alba sinensis.

It was in descending the river which traverses the
city of Manilla, the capital of the Philippine islands,
and on its banks, and in the garden of a Chinese
cultivator, that M. Perrottet saw, for the first time,
the multicaulis. It was there that he first found it
growing with a vast variety of other precious plants,
which had there been collected from India, from
Ceylon, from Sumatra and from China.

The multicaulis appears from the statements of M.
Perrottet to have originated in the elevated regions

THE MORUS MTJLTICAULIS. 183

of China, and from thence to have been disseminated
over all the plains near the sea shore. It was intro-
duced into Manilla, and into all the islands in the
Asiatic Archipelago, from Canton.

The morns multicaulis has had already many
names assigned to it. It has been called morus ma-
nilla, from Manilla, where first discovered, which is
the capital of the Philippine Islands, hence also its
second name morus philippina ; from the hooded
convex, or bowled form of the leaves, it has been
also termed the morns cuculluta ; from the name of
its first European discoverer the Perrottet mulberry ;
but Perrottet himself called it the multicaulis, many
stalked, or mulberry with many stems ; and by way
of eminence the Chinese mulberry. To the name
moims nigra sinensis there is no objection except
that in it there is no word to express that it is a mere
hybrid or variety ; but to the name morns alba si-
7iensis, which we find has been ascribed to it, we do
object, since its iruit is black and not white. Many
names for the same thing are generally productive
of confusion. This has been verified ; since there
are not wanting several who, from these diverse
names, have supposed the existence of so many
difierent liybrids, or even of so many distinct species.
Had the just conviction of JNI. Poiteau been originally
adopted, who observed that " public gratitude and
justice require that the name of the zealous traveller
should be affixed to the valuable plant, which has
given him celebrity, and he has given to Europe, to
Africa, and to America," the ambiguity would have
been avoided in a way whose propriety none would
have questioned.

From Manilla, the multicaulis was first introduced
by M. Perrottet to the Isle of Bourbon, and from
thence into Cayenne, and afterwards to France,
where, at first, its culture was confined to the Royal
Gardens. At a later period, it was sent from Cayenne
to Martinique, and from France to Guadaloupe, and
also to Senegal. The numerous plants now dissemi-

184 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

nated through the diverse climes of Europe, Africa
and America, are all the proceed of the two indi-
vidual plants brought by M. Perrottet from Manilla.

M. Poiteau, M. Eyries of Havre, and Chevalier
Bodin of Paris, have informed us that this plant has
braved all the winters since its introduction, and
prospered in all climates in France. M. Bonafoux,
the director of the Royal Gardens at Turin, and the
celebrated writer on silk, has also fully attested its
decided superiority in Italy, where he has found that,
by close planting and low pruning, whole fields may
be suddenly covered with a mass of the most luxu-
riant foliage. M. Dupont of Chiron, near Chamberry
in France, also found that, as the silk worms fed on
this mulberry make less waste of litter and of food, so
the chances of disease are diminished from this cause,
and they finish their labours in less time, producing
silk of a more brilliant lustre. He also found that
the saving of labour, in gathering tiic food, is so great
that ten quintals of the leaves of the multicaulis are
gathered in the same time which is requisite to
gather two quintals of the leaves of the common
white mulberry. By the most perfect rules of prun-
ing, he makes this mulberry assume the form of a
quenouille, or vast distaff, fifteen feet high : the form
to be always preserved.

Dr. Deslongchamps, in his experiments at Paris,
had found that the cocoons produced by the worms
fed exclusively on the Chinese mulberry, were even
heavier than other cocoons. And in the report, on
this shrub, to the Academy of Dijon by M. Tilloy, in
1834, we learn that it appeared by accurate experi-
ments that the cocoons produced from this variety
being rather heavier, the fibre was consequently
stronger ; and it was remarked in winding 384
cocoons that not a thread was broken.

Near Montgeron in the north of France, the French
have established an experimental silk farm under the
direction of M. Camille Beauvais. And the extraor-
dinary experiments, which arc there in progress, were

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 185

published in 1835. Already had he succeeded in
producing thirteen pounds of silk from the same
number of silk worms, which in France usually pro-
duced but five pounds, in Italy seven pounds and
a half, and in India twenty pounds. And even in his
climate, M. Beauvais expects soon to be able to pro-
duce, with the aid of the multicaulis, an equal num-
ber of pounds from the same quantity of silk worms
as the old practitioners of 4000 years.

In Tuscany, so fine is their climate, that two suc-
cessive crops of silk are annually produced from the
common mulberry ; and Dr. Deslougchamps has
proved that, by the aid of the Chinese mulberry,
two crops of silk may be annually produced even in
the north of France. And, in this country, the cele-
brated prediction of Dr. Pascalis that, ^'- after the
discovery of this plant, a doubt no longer existed
that two crops of silk may be produced in a single
season,^' has been repeatedly verified.

Every thing relative to the history of the multi-
caulis in this country that is necessary on our part to
give, is combined with other important matter in the
following extract from the correspondence of one on
whose testimony and opinion we can rely. " I was
the first person south of New York, who had the
morns multicaulis. It was sent to me by Wm. Prince
and Sons, in 1S2S,* in a collection of seven other va-
rieties of mulberry. It was not then known by the
present name, but it was called the Philippine mul-
berry. About a year after I received it, accounts
arrived from France of the receipt there of the
multicaulis, and of its great value for feeding silk
worms. On examining my trees, I at once found
that my Philippine mulberry was the multicaulis, and
immediately commenced feeding my silk worms with
it, and from experiment ascertained the truth of all

* From this we may suppose that Messrs. Prince & Sons possessed
the first multicaulis tree in North America; probably in 1827. Mr.
Kenrick dates the time of its first introduction into New England in
1831.

186 THE MORUS iAIULTICAULIS.

the French had said about it. From that time to
this, I have continued to urge upon all, the propriety
of cultivating this in preference to the white mul-
berry. Its advantages are, 1. It is full as hardy
as the xohitc : 2. One pound of its leaves contain
as much nntritive matter as a pound and a half of
the white: 3. The silk made from it is of a finer tex-
ture and more lustrous : 4. Its leaves are so large
that a pound can be gathered at half the expense
and trouble that a pound of ivhite mulberry leaves
require : 5. // can be cultivated loitli infinitely
more despatch than any other kind. These are all
great advantages. In relation to the hardiness of the
raulticaulis, I observe that I have cultivated it for
seven years ; never protected it in any manner what-
ever, and never lost a tree. I have seen the young
tinripened wood of all varieties destroyed by the
winter, and was very early led to adopt measures to
guard against if, and now I never lose a bud."*

The morns multicaulis grows vigorous, upright, and
beautiful ; the leaves are large, soft, and fender, pe-
tiolate, cordate, acuminate, serrated towards the sum-
mit, marked with nerves, always entire ; their upper
surface is convex, bowled or curved ; of a deep and
beaufifnlly shining green. The form and dimensions
of the leaf vary in diiferent soils. In a dry and arid
soil, their size is less, their form elliptical and without
the heart-shaped indentation at the base; their breadth
in this case being six inches, and their length eight ;
but in a light, rich and friable soil, the produce of
the foliage is most abundant, the leaves large and
cordiform; extraordinary specimens having sometimes
measured more than a foot in breadth and fifteen
inches in length.

Each male flower has a calyx of four concave,
oval, membranous leaflets, four stamina, with fila-
ments accompanied with a tridentate appendage ;

* Letter to the Fanner and Guardian from Gideon B. Smith, Esq.,
of Bahimore, inserted in Fessendcn's Silk Manual for February, 1837.

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 187

anthers sagittate, bilocular. Each female has an
ovary, terminated by two divergent styles. The
ovary is unilocular, containing a single pendant seed,
which is frequently blasted or imperfect.

A comparison between the white Italian mulberry
and the moras multicaulis, is thus stated in the third
\-o!ume of the Silk Cnlturist. The ichite Italian
viulherry requires four years* growth before it can
be safely fed from, six years before remunerating
profits can be obtained from its foliage, and twenty
before it can be said to have attained its full growth.

The morns mxdticaulis tree can be fed from the
first season without injury ; the second season it
will yield nearly as much foliage as at any
.'subsequent period. It may be multiplied from cut-
tings to an almost incalculable extent. Every piece
of wood with a single bud, being competent to make
a shrub from four to six feet high the first year :
whereas the white Italian mulberry requires four years
before it can be fed from, and even then to nothing
like the extent of the former.

The leaves of the morus multicaulis are nine or
ten times as large as those of the white Italian mul-
berry ; equally as nutritious, and are eaten with more
avidity by the worms. They will make silk fully as
lustrous and as elastic as those of the white Italian ;
and from tlie great size of the leaves of the former,
it reduces the labour of gathering and feeding seven-
ty, eighty, or ninety per cent.; but for the sake of
accuracy, we will say fifty per cent.

An acre in morus multicaulis, two years old, will
yield by one half more foliage than the same quanti-
ty of ground in the white Italian mulberry, six years
old ; when a leaf of the former is gathered, food is
provided for nine or ten worms ; whereas a leaf of
the latter only suffices one worm. There is no more
trouble in gathering the large leaves of the multicau-
lis, than there is in those of the morus alba. The
labour of feeding is the same, with this difference,
that in feeding with one of its leaves, you accommo-

188 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

date nine times the number. In the leaf of the
multicauUs there are but few stems, and scarcely any
that are not eatable by the worm. In that of the
morus alba the stems or uneatable fibres, compose
fully one-third of its weight, all which is waste and
loss.

In feeding with the multicaulis, the residuum being
but little, there is no vegetable offal remaining to
become noxious by fermentation, and hence a greatly
reduced quantity of labour is necessary to keep the
whole cocoonery in a salutary state. In feeding with
the white Italian mulberry, a large amount of stems
and coarse fibres are left on the shelves, which, if not
speedily removed, ferment and become productive of
disease."

This comparative statement, the Messrs. Cheneys,
who are regarded in the light of practical men, fully
confirm as follows : " It takes jive years, at least, to
grow otf the white mulberry sallicient to afford
foliage to feed many worms. But from the multi-
caulis of the first yearns growth, we have fed worms
in such numbers as to obtain from fifty to one hun-
dred pounds of silk from the leaves growuig on an
acre of land, worth from 250 to 500 dollars." This,
we must remember, refers merely to the amount of
silk that may be obtained from the multicaulis, not
-wiihin five yea7 s as would be the case with the white
mulberry, but within five months of its being planted ;
but we shall hereafter see that the amount of silk to
be obtained the second year is double that of the
former. " It has another advantage of still greater
magnitude. The leaf of the morus multicaulis is
eight times larger than that of the white mulberry ;
therefore the labour of gathering it is reduced in the
same ratio. This is a very weighty consideration,
since the picking of the leaves is the great item of
expense in making raw silk.* The weight of leaves

* The fact, that in two months after the cuttings of the morus mul-
ticaulis is planted, it begins to supply the silk worms, daily increasing
as the worms pass through their several stages, so as to meet their wants,

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 189

which the muUicauhs will produce, is a hundred per
cent, more than the white mulberry aftbrds, when the
trees are of equal age and on the same extent of
ground. This is not all. The multicaulis can be
propagated more abundantly and cheaper than the
morus alba or any other with which we are ac-
quainted. That the multicaulis with proper manage-
ment will endure the climate of New York and New
England, we have abundant evidence. That it will
flourish in Pennsylvania and the southern portion of
the union is not, now, questionable. At the north
the tree must be protected the first winter ; at the
south* even this is unnecessary."

is giving a crop of silk sooner tlian com will give its yield planted on
the same day, together with the easy facility of collecting the leaves,
which, the first year at least, are lower, instead of higher than the
smallest person that can be engaged to collect them, is the reason why
the citizens oi the United States have promptlj^ sought this tree, and
resolved to enter into the silk business at any price within their power
to command.

* Tie cases of making large profits in a short time, both in the
multiplying of this multiplying stem or shoot tree, as well as in the
production of silk, the first year, are numerous. Instead of giving
numberless examples, which it would be in our power to do, we will
give one. " As far as I know I was the first that tried the multicaulis
in North Carolina, by procuring one rooted plant about a foot high
from Baltimore, four years ago, which cost me a dollar, beside convey-
ance. From this one I have since propagated several thousand rooted
trees, not to name cuttings. I have sold to the amount of near a thou-
sand dollars, (a thousand dollars from one in four years) and have a
stock left worth several hundred dollars. My cuttings grew, with few
exceptions, to five and six feet the first year, and in good ground to
eight or nine feet in a season. My first propagated trees are sixteen or
eighteen feet high. It is my purpose to unite in one establishment the
vine and silk culture. And I hope thereby not only to profitably em-
ploj' all the year, widows, and children and the superannuated, or the
otherwise disqualified for hard labour, but to clear 5500 per annum per
acre from the silk, and SlOOO per acre from the vine culture. This
may appear to some an Eutopean scheme, but not to those who know
the profits of the silk business, when properly conducted, nor to those
who have witnessed the abundant and never failing yield of the Scup-
pernong vines." — Sidney Wilier, Brinkleyville, N. C, Nov. 1837.

We have said that we could relate numberless similar examples ; but
it would be amusing to mention the case of the man, in this Philadel-
phia, two years ago not worth one cent ! but his credit was good ; on
which he borrowed 5 100, the whole of which he invested, not in a

190 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE CULTURE OF THE MULTICAULIS.

It was for some time a question whether this in-
vakiable shrub could be reproduced from its own
seed ; and for a time the dye spun doubtfully. It
would be now useless to spend many lines on the
subject : it is decided : the multicaulis is a hybrid,
and cannot, from its own seed, in one case out of a
thousand reproduce its like. It is true that the plant
will produce black berries or fruit, and that but spar-
ingly. It is further conceded that one seed out of
several hundreds, or even a thousand, may produce
the multicaulis ; but all the rest diverge into varieties
so numerous as to defy the patience of the most at-
tentive phytologist to define them. To save our own
limits, we refer to an article, which may be consider-
ed as the verdict of a jury of this country on the
subject, on page 711 of vol. iv. of the Farmer's Re-
gister. We repeat it : the multicaulis is a hybrid.
One seed out of many hundreds may produce its
own like ; the rest will not. Its reproduction, there-
fore, must be either by cuttings or layers. As for
grafting, budding or inoculating, absolutely not one
of them is worthy of either our attention, or of that
of the reader.

It is asserted by a late writer that no kind of mul-
berry tree under cultivation, can be produced from
seed. This is an error, which all experience at once
disproves. It is only the hybrid kinds of which this
may be said. The ivhite, the black, the red, in short

silver mine, but in a tree, which yielded silver more rapidly than could
the mine. After paying his debt, he is now worth considerably more
than $3000 •

THE MORUS MULTICATTLIS. 191

all the distinct species, are constantly under cultiva-
tion from the seed ; and they have thus, questionless,
produced their like, since the creation, as they cer-
tainly have since their distinctive properties were first
known. The error of the author in question can only
be attributed to his utter unacquaintance with the
history, genera, species, and varieties of the morns.
Such inferences may be easily but rashly drawn,
where the writer is unable to distinguish in the order
of classifications, according to the established laws of
phytology that relate to tribes, order, genera, species,
and varieties. Without this knowledge, our expe-
rience is of little worth, since we are thus disqualified
to mark with precision those distinctive attributes
with which every one, that attempts to enlighten
another, should be familiar.

It is further decided that any land suitable for rais-
ing a crop of corn, (some go so far as to say, of only
ten bushels to the acre,) will do for cultivating the
Chinese mulberry. A dry, ivarm, sandy loam is
quite congenial to its nature. A cold, damp, or heavy
soil, will not answer. // luill thrive tolerably ivell
on poor land, but much better on that which is fer-
tile. Sunny exposures, and the declivities of hills,
especially those which slope to the south, east, or
west, are favourable. If the ground is to be prepared
for layers, prepare it, as for corn, and at the same
season furrow it into rows three and a half feet asun-
der. Then scatter icell rotted* manure into the fur-
rows two inches deep. This mulberry should be
cultivated in hedge rows, or not suffered to rise higher
than seven or eight feet. But a few years are requi-
site to raise considerable fields of them in full vigour,
sufficient to supply an immense number of silk worms;
and regular plantations can be formed, by planting
the trees in rows of eight feet asunder, and at the
distance of three feet and a half in the rows; a space
sulficient for the extension of the branches, for sub-

* This distinction is somewhat important, since it is even said, that
jrt&h manure is poLion to the mulberry.

192 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

sequent culture, and for the convenience of gathering
the leaves. With the muiticaulis cultivated on this
plan, we are informed by M. Perrottet, that a child
is sufficient, so flexible are the stalks, and the leaves
so large, to supply with food a large establishment
of silk worms.

We have taken it for granted that it is generally
understood that the several distinct species of mul-
berry trees, or kinds capable of reproduction from
seed, are best cultivated as we have already described
in preceding chapters ; and that all hyby^ids, or varie-
ties* incapable of reproduction from seed, can only be
propagated by cuttings or layers. Of these methods,
a description here for the muiticaulis will suffice for
the rest, and even for a species, whenever any should
choose to cultivate it, in either of these ways, since
in whatever way a hybrid may be propagated any

* To comprehend what is meant by a hybrid plant it must be under-
stood that among the genera and species of trees there are different
sexes. These sexes contain two or more whoi-ls of transformed leaves,
of which the outer are called stamens, and the inner pisfilla. The
stamens have at their apex an organ, called the anther, which contains
a powder or the pollen. This pollen when the anther is mature, is
emitted, and dispersed, or deposited upon the stigma. The action of the
winds may bear it to a distance where other plants may be fecundated
by it, as in some trees, the male and female being distinct trees, are thus
alTected.

The pistillum has at its base one or more cells, in which the ovula are
placed ; and at its apex one or more secreting surfaces called stii^mata.
These ovula arc the rudiments of the seeds. The fecundating power of
the pollen enters or falls on the stigma, and the ovula of the pistillum
are vivified, and become seeds. But it is possible, by artificial means,
to cause deviations from this law of nature.

If the pollen of one species be placed upon the stigma of another
species, the ovula will be vivified, and a hi/brid plant will be the j)ro-
duct. These hybrids are dill'crent from both their parents, but the new
species will have the general aspect of the polleniferous parent, but is,
notwithstanding, influenced in other respects by the peculiarities of the
female parent; a fact, in procuring new hybrid plants, which should
never be forgotten.

Plants capable of being hybridized are those in which the sexual or-
gans are prominently developed. To produce hybrids, therefore, plants
must be selected from different species of the same genus, and should
not be confounded with the spurious formations from admixture with the
same genus and species.

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 193

Other variety or ev-en a species may ; though on the
other hand a hybrid cannot in every way be cuhi-
tivated as a species, or raised from seed. We have,
therefore, purposely deferred the wliole subject rela-
tive to cuttings and layers to this chapter.

Cultivation by cuttings and layers is divisible in
four methods, of which two refer to cuttings, and
two to the method by layers.

1. Cuttings: method 1. By j)vevious forwarding
the budding or vegetative process in frames or under
glass. Let there be prepared, before the month of
March, frames or boxes, of convenient lengths, and
sutficient in number to contain the cuttings on hand.
Let the depth of the front of these frames or boxes,
be about eighteen inches, that of the back two feet ;
and width two feet and a half. If these be boxes,
having bottoms, they must be perforated, to allow of
a constant communication, on account of the draining
otF or admission of moisture, with the external soil.
To these glass frame tops, opening by hinges should
be provided.

Prepare also a mixture composed of rather more
than one half, or nearly two-thirds, of loell rotted*
stable or other manure, and the rest of a light dry
mould, sufficient in quantity to fill the frames, box or
boxes, to the depth, of from twelve to fourteen
inches. Place these on the ground where they are
intended to remain, in a position facing the sun.

The trees intended for this use, cut into pieces of
two, or two and a half inches, or always of such
lengths as to have each at least one bud, which
should be near the end.t In the frames or boxes

* Some have said fresh manure ; though in this case, they always
allow sufficient time for its partial decomposition. It is proper to ob-
ser\'e this, since it has been said that all fresh manure is poison to the
mulberrj-.

j It has been recommended, previous to planting of the cutting, to
take a sharp knife, and to cut a slice off the lower end of about three-
founhs of an inch below the bud, on two sides, somewhat in the shape
of the bowl of a pen. The advantage of this, however, appears to be
doubtful.

17

194 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

containing the mixture already described, about the
Jirst of March, stick these cuttings, with the bud
always uppermost and turned towards the south, but
the whole cutting inclined with its head towards the
north, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. Place
them in rows about half an inch asunder, and at
about the same distance in each row ; or in such wise
that the one shall not touch the other. Press the
earth around them with the finger and thumb, cover-
ing over the bud about the fourth of an inch.*

On mild warm days, open the glass tops to admit
air ; but on the approach of frost, especially at night,
close the glasses, and cover with matting or other
protection. Or rather cover with mattings every
evening before sunset, and keep them on next day,
until the sun has attained considerable power. To
prevent the escape of the heat of the bed from the
sides, let a few inches of horse manure be placed
around them. Two or three times a week, just be-
fore putting on the matting for the evening, let the
bed be gently watered with water that has been pre-
viously exposed for a day or two to the sun. And
when the plants come up and begin to put forth
leaves, some plaster of Paris should be sprinkled
over them.

From the first to the middle of May, the plants
will be from four to eight inches high ; and may then
be transplanted to the place where they are intended
to grow. For this purpose, on ground previously
prepared as already directed, with the plough de-
scribe parallel rows three feet asunder, on each of
which let holes, for the reception of the plants, be
made one foot apart. With a transplanting trowel,

• It has been customary with some to leave the tip of the bud ex-
posed ; but subsequent experience has proved the advantage of the
method prescribed. A hand machine, with a cutter and lever, has re-
cently been prepared, and is for sale at the seed store of Messrs. Lan-
dreths in this city, with which thousands can be cut clean off with one
stroke each. Its price is moderate, and it is extremely useful and con-
venient for the cultivator.

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 195

if possible soon after a rain, take the plants up care-
fully, with as much earth as possible attached to the
roots. Insert these in the cavities prepared, the earth
drawn around, press about them with the finger and
thumb. Water them for two weeks daily, especially
if the weather be dry ; or until the plants give evi-
dence of having freely commenced drawing their sus-
tenance from the soil. If the whole of this be at-
tended to, very general success and with few failures
will be the consequence, and the plants will grow,
during the same season, from four to six feet, and
will ripen their wood so that the ensuing winter will
not injure them.

The advantages resulting from the process of pre-
viously starting the cuttings in hot beds, are several
and self-evident. By this means the culturist can
insure to his young trees at least four weeks' longer
growth in the first season. One bud by this means
only is necessary, but in other cases two, which alone
is a saving of half the expense in trees. The cer-
tainty of success as to each cutting is by this method
much greater. Watering the whole when necessary,
is by the contracted space they occupy much facili-
tated ; and by this forwarding process, the young
plants get such a start, that the weeds, which soon
after spring up in prodigious numbers, cannot so se-
riously injure them.

2. Cuttings : method, 2. By open cultivation
without previous budding. It is strongly asserted
by some that two buds instead of one are necessary
on each cutting whenever planted in open culture.
For this let the ground be previously prepared with
well rotted barn-yard or other stable manure ; or in
the want of it, with a mixture of ashes with fine
mould, in the proportion of 150 bushels of the former
to four loads of the latter to the acre. Having plenty
of this or other suitable compost, manure broadcast,
otherwise in the furrow, or even in the dibble, as is
sometimes done for corn. After ploughing and har-
rowing strike off furrows, north and south, three feet

196

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

asunder, in which, one foot apart, and at an angle of
forty-five degrees, as before, the heads pointed to the
north, place about the last loeek of April the cuttings,
one inch under the earth, with the upper bud facing
the south. Draw the earth around the cutting so as
to cover the bud about one quarter of an inch, and
press the earth tightly around it. Water tliem for a
few days, if there be no rain. As the sprouts appear,
let the lioe draw some mould carefully round them,
so as to give the roots depth of soil for their nutri-
ment. Let the weeds be kept down, and the ground
in all the above cases be kept frequently turned over,
and fresh ; and a good crop of trees may be insured.
By the frequent use of the cultivator, all grass and
weeds between the rows should be effectually kepf
down. To keep the plants clean, and the ground
well stirred and mellow is highly necessary till the
first of August ; after which the ground should not
be stirred, and the trees should be left to ripen their
wood. Plaster of Paris in the proportion of one
bushel to the acre may be strewed over the plants
when they are first forming their leaves whilst the
dew is on them.

Fig. 2.

THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 197

3. Layers : method 3. Layering by the whole
tree, without branches. Trees are either layered by
the whole tree, or by first "taking olT the lateral
branches, and then layering each separately ; the lat-
ter plan is preferable ; since it allows sufficient room
for the young shoots to grow.

For this purpose let the ground be duly prepared
and pulverized by ploughing, harrowing, and if ne-
cessary, rolling ; and manure, at least in the drill,
with the compost already mentioned or slaked ashes.
About the last week of April, run a plough or culti-
vator through the land, as if for corn, in parallel
lines, three feet asunder ; and let each furrow be
three inches deep. One person lays the tree in a
horizontal position in this furrow ; the root of one
plant being placed at the top of the one preceding it,
and proceeds thus to the end of the line. Another
follows him with a hoe, and draws the earth over the
prostrate plant, covering it with mould to the depth
of from one to two inches ; though care should be
taken not to bury it too deep. Wherever the furrow
is not of depth sufficient to admit of covering the
root or thicker part of the tree to that extent, with
the hoe deepen the furrow below the root. In cover-
ing the root and main stem, lightly press down the
earth with the flat part of the hoe, so as to cause the
earth to adhere to both. And, in covering, draw into
the furrow none but the well pulverized mould, that
nothing should impede the ascent of the young leaf-
let. A little additional care employed here, will be
well repaid in the improvement of the crop. Nothing
can be more simple than this process. An additional
advantage would be gained by previously steeping, for
twenty-four hours, the trees in pure water. The
roots and stems being thus all planted, proceed in all
respects with the lateral branches in the same manner.

4. Layers : method 4. Layering by sections de-
serves the attention of culturists. Cut the tree into
pieces of from twelve to fifteen inches ; and having
prepared the soil at the same season as already di-

17*

198 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS.

rected, place these sections i.n the plough trace in such
a manner that there will be a piece of the plant alter-
nating with a space of equal length intervening be-
tween it and the next section. The intention of this
is to admit more freely the sun and air between the
plants, and also to favour the growth of the otfshoots
or branches ; for these by the last method will be,
from the closeness of the trees, few, compared with
the number of buds which otherwise would produce
a plant.

When the morus multicaulis is planted by layers,
a tree does not always proceed from each bud. The
buds, it is true, will frequently all put forth, but soon
some one will exhibit greater vigour than the rest,
and its growth will be rapid ; but the next shoot or
shoots will probably dwindle or dry up. The last
method of planting layers is said to obviate this diffi-
culty, as the several shoots, in their possession of vital
power, are more on an equilibrium, and is, therefore,
on the whole to be preferred. Of the two methods
of preparing and planting cuttings, that of previously
budding them is said to be much the better, though
some prefer the latter. The last spring, cuttings
planted without previously springing them nearly all
failed, while layers were successful. But this was
attributed to the imusual dryness of the season, and
the want of skill among noviciates in the art, who did
not understand many of their peculiarities and wants.

Substitutes for the MULBEnRT tree, in the rearing of silk
worms, have been long and anxiously sought. It has for some time
been an opinion that the mulberry leaf was the only food on which the
silk worm would subsist; but experience has proved otherwise. Among
these substitutes, we find the Madura uuruntiaca of Nuttal; the
scorzunera of Willdennw ; the tragnpogon ; and the lactuca f:aliva.

The MACLCHA, or osaoe ohanoe, it is said, affords a good substitute
for the mulberry, and will make excellent cocoons. This is a spreading
deciduous tree, and at maturity is from twenty to thirty feet high, with
a yellow axillary berry, the size of an orange, but not so succulent,
though said to be agreeable when fully ripe. It was originally found

THE MORI'S MI'LTICAULIS. 199

on the banks of the little Missouri or Washita river ; also on those of
the Red river in Louisiana, and of the Arkansa river in the Arkansa
Territory. It is rapidly spreading over the south-west ; and is a valu-
able tree for hedges as well as for ornamental variety. It begins to find
a place in our nurseries, and will soon be generally knovsTi on account
of its beauty.

The scoRzoyEHA, or viper grass, from scurzon, Sp. viper, on ac-
count of its being considered a certain remedy for the bite of that ref)-
ti!e ; an attribute, however, which we much question, as few plants used
for food possess such active qualities, unless we may suppose the roots
contain medicinal properties not found in the tops, which is sometimes
the case ; and even such roots with particular preparation become safely
edible.

The TRAGOpoGox poRRrFOLitrx, or sakafy, is well known m our
gardens, as an esculent root, resembling in its habits, carrots, parsnips,
&c. That a complete substitute for the mulberry had been found out.
Was recently armounced, and from it, doubtless, the discoverer, from the
supposition that it contained both a cheaper and better food for the silk
worm, expected fame and wealth. It was ultimately ascertained that this
important secret for supplanting the morus tribe, was no other than
salsafy .' The secret, however, died in the act of revealment. We hear
no more of it

The LACTccA SATiTA, or garden lettuce has, in several of its species,
been long known, as affording leaves on which the silk worms will feed.
Cocoons have been made from them, as well as from the leaves of the
trees already named. But they have been used either for amusement,
experiment, or when other more natural and agreeable pabulum failed.
The latter is probably the poorest of the substitutes known. Many
others, may, no doubt, be in time discovered ; but it is not probable that
any herb or leaf, other than that of the mulberry, will ever be valuable
for the silk culture. Though these substitutes have partially succeeded
in the production of silk, yet not in a single instance, so far as known,
of go 3d quality, and therefore the use of them can by no means be re-
commended. Rice fldl-r is said to be used in China for silk; but in
this country were it employed for this purpose, it would soon become
scarce and dear. In short, no food can be supplied in equal abundance,
nor so well adapted to fill the silk-secretors of the caterpillar, as that
which has already been considered to be its legitimate and pecuUar pro-
perty. Other varieties of silk-secreting caterpillars consuming food of a
different description may yet be discovered. It is said that in the Bra-
zils, a caterpillar is found spinning its cocoons in the woods, from which
the natives make silk. But we have no well authenticated accounts
either of the worm, or of the tree on which it feeds.

There are several other kinds of substitutes, as for example the leaves
of the w'tlhiv, or of the mse tree ; but the above are the principal now
used. In England experiments have been made on an extensive scale
to discover substitutes for the mulberry. Among these the succulent
buds of blackberries or the young leaves were offered to the worms and
eaten greedily by them. The elm, the sweet cowsHp, and the primrose
were presented with equal success; but when subsequently the mulberry
leaf was offered, all the substitutes were instantly deserted, and their

200 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

preference for the food tliat nature, not art, ever designed for them was
immediately decisive ; nor could they afterwards he induced to taste the
leaves which before they had greedily devoured. The leaves of lettuce
and spinach were those they would afterwards taste. No flower or leaf
of a roseate hue could they be made to approach.

These remarks we close with observing that those who seek for sub-
stitutes may, it is true, gratify useless curiosit}', but will never thereby
either benefit the public, or increase the quantity of silk.

CHAPTER V.

MULBERRY LEAVES : LEAF-SELLING : MULBERRY TREE-
RENTING : LEAF-MARKET : STATISTICS,

1. Analysis of the mulberry leap. All sub-
sequent writers appear to be indebted to Count Dan-
dolo for information on this point ; but whilst they
have added nothing new on the subject, they have
deprived us of many remarks of practical conse-
quence which may be considered as a comment on
the count's important text, the analysis of the viul-
berry leaf*

" There are five different substances in the mul-

• A recent author on the " Mulberry and Silk Worm," detailing his
experience, commences by decrying all published works as translations of
foreign authors or compilations not adapted to our country. But having
acquitted himself of this difficulty in his path, he at once takes up Count
Dandolo and other authorities, and having darkened what they made
clear, and confused what they had simplified — having minced the most
important intelligence, and left those subjects doubtful where others had
rendered them lucid and well defined, he suddenly leaves his readers in
the mists of conjecture, without a new idea, an improvement, or any
experience of which it was not in the power of every one who chose to
take up any other book but his own to obtain more correct and definite
intelUgence. Having left his subject in " confusion worse confounded,"
he performs one redeeming act, by fixing upon it a price so outrageously
enormous, that it is not likely to do immense injury by its circulation.
To foreign authors, and to the good sense of our able and industrious
fellow-citizens in correcting and improving them, we owe every thing we
know on the silk culture.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 201

berry; 1. The solid or fibrous substance. 2. The
cokniring matter. 3, Water. 4. The saccharine
substance. 5. And the resinous siibstance.

" The fibrous substance, the colouring matter, and
the water, excepting that which composes the body
of the silk worm, cannot be said to be nutritive to
that insect. The saccharine matter is that which
nourishes the insect, that enlarges it, and forms its
animal substance. The resinous substance is that
which, separating itself gradually from the leaf, and
attracted by the animal organization, accumulates,
clears itself, and insensibly fills the two reservoirs, or
silk vessels, which form the integral parts of the silk
worm. According to the different proportions of the
elements which compose the leaf, it follows that
cases may occur, in which a greater lueight of leaf
may yield less that is useful to the silk worm.

'• Thus the leaf of the black m,ulberry, hard,
harsh and tough, produces abundant silk, the thread
of which is very stroiig, but coarse. The tohite
mulberry leaf of the tree planted in high lands, ex-
posed to cold dry winds, and in light s,o\\, produces a
large quantity of strong silk, of the purest and
finest quality. The leaf of the same tree, planted
in damp situations, in low grounds, or in a stiff soil,
produces less silk, and of a quality less jnire and
fine. The less nutritive substance the leaf contains,
the more leaves must the silk worm consume to com-
plete its development. The result must, therefore,
be, that the silk worm which consumes a large quan-
tity of leaves that are not nutritive, must be more
fatigued, and more liable to disease, than the insect
that eats a smaller proportion of more nutritive
leaves. The same may be said of those leaves
which, containing a sufficiency of nutritive matter,
contain little resinous substance ; in this case the
insects would thrive and grow, but probably would
not produce either a thick or strong cocoon proportion
ate to the weight of the worm."

The count, however, does not intend us to under-

202 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

Stand this without some hmitation, as appears from
the following remark : " the quality of the silk does
not solely depend on the food, but also on the degree
of temperature in which the silk worm has been
reare-1," And soon after, he expresses himself thus,
" notwithstanding all this, my experiments prove,
that all things balanced, the qualities of the soil pro-
duce but a very slight difierence on the quality of
the leaf: that which will appear most evident is, that
the principal influential cause of the fineness of the
silk is the degree of temperature in which the silk
worm is reared." To which we shall take the liber-
ty to add, with the risk of little contradiction on the
subject, lastly, to the care with which the little spin-
ners are treated throughout the whole of their inte-
resting economy.*

2. State op leaves proper for feeding. Not-
withstanding all silk-growers that have favoured us
with the result of their experience, have recommend-
ed the feeding with dry leaves, or leaves free from
both dew and rain, two articles appeared in the Sep-
tember number of the Silk Culturist of 1837 aftirminar

* "The following is the result of my experiments on the leaves of the
grafted mulberry tree.

" 1. One hundred ounces of leaves nearly ripe, picked on the same day
from a Tuscany mulberry tree, produced Ihirty ounces (dry leaves)
after dessication.

" 2. One hundred ounces of the leaves of the giazzola produced thirty-
one ounces and a half.

" 3. One hundred ounces of the double-leaved mulberry produced
thirty-six uunces.

" 4. There are few ripe leaves of difTercnt trees which contain so little
liquid as those of the mulberry when ripe ; while on tlie contrary, the
young leaf of this tree contains much licjuid.

" 5. One hundred ounces of the yoimg loaves, such as are given to the
silk worm in the first age, weigh loss than tii^euly-oiie ounces when
dried ; thus it is evident, they contain almost four-fifths of water. This '
abundance of li(iuid accounts for the very great evaporation that takes I
place in the body of the young silk worm, in the first and second
age." Id.

It is however a fact that some writers among us recommend leaves
partially wilted and dry, wliilo others alfinii that tliey may be washed,
the water wrung out, and then given to the worms.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 203

that leaves wet with either were innoxious to the
insect, and not prejudicial to the cocoon. Nothing,
however, can be more contrary to the advice general-
ly given us on this subject. We need not go far to
find precepts of this nature in Count Dandolo ; they
run throughout his whole volume, and form a promi-
nent article of his creed. One is now immediately
before us, " These insects would he injured by eating;
leaves moist ivith either dew or rain,'" p. 33. '' The
stripping of the leaves should not be begun before
the disappearance of the dew, and ought to be con-
cluded before the setting of the sun — it is all-impor-
tant to have always a supply of dry leaves.'^ Count
de Hazzi, p. 65 and 67. " The preservation of the
health of silk worms, depends essentially on the
leaves being perfectly dry when given to them.
Wet leaves invariably produce a diarrhoea." Ma-
nual published by order of Congress 182S, p. 122. It
would be needless to multiply authorities on this
topic ; they are everywhere, except in the two ar-
ticles already mentioned in the Silk Culturist.

But there are other accidents that may render a
mulberry leaf unsuitable to the insect. " The worst
leaf that can be given to the silk worm, and which
always injures it, is that which is covered with what
is termed m,anna, that arises from the diseased state
of the tree. The blighted or rust-spotted, leaves do
not injure. The worm will eat this leaf, carefully
avoiding the spots."*

3. Preserving leaves. Hence to avoid these
accidents, and to supply a resource for rainy days, a
stock should always be kept on hand sufficient for
two or three days ; during which they may be kept
without prejudice in cool places, sheltered from the
light, but not too dry ; such as cellars, storehouses,

* Dandolo, p. 33. " Rusty leaves have not this inconvenience, be-
cause the worms eat only the healthy portion." C. de Hazzi, p. 67.
" Even when leaves become mouldy before being gathered, we need not
regret it, because the worm eats only of it what is uninfected." Mo-
rin, p. 27.

204 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

brick floors, &c. They would lose their freshness in
too dry a place and might rot in one too damp. Se-
parate with care the wet leaves, and those affected
Ijy the secretion called manna ;* dry the former ; the
latter reject. They should not be heaped up too
much together, nor any change of temperature suf-
fered in the leaf-store, such as to promote fermenta-
tion, to which they will be liable when gathered in
very warm weather, or too long left in a state of
compression in bags, panniers, or baskets. On a dry
and clean brick pavement, turn them frequently to
new and dry parts of the floor, and expose them to
the action of the air. Count de Hazzi says, " spread
them in parcels on a clean linen cloth in a dry room,
stir them often, with a rake or fork ; shake the cloth,
and the leaves will soon dry. Dusty leaves must be
cleansed with clean linen." t If the signs of the
weather be watched with ordinary vigilance, much
trouble, however, of this kind may be avoided.

4. Mode of gathering the leaves. Count
Verri recommends to pass the hands from the lower
parts of a branch to the top, and to strip the tree of
its leaves upwards, not downwards, as the latter
mode would injure the buds. This should be parti-
cularly enjoined on children and on others employed
in picking. In short, the whole process requires
caution to prevent the trees, especially when young,
from receiving injury. Nature evidently has not in-
tended that they should be stripped violently of their

* The manna is a disease which seldom affects the mulberry in this
climate, but the information may, notwithstanding, be of great im-
portance.

j- The better way at least with the leaves of the morus multicaulis is
to wash leaves which become dusty, and after wringing out the surplus
water, as a washerwoman would wring a cloth, let tliem remain thinly
scattered in a shady dry place till they become dry of the excess of
water. From experiments hereafter to be adverted to, it will be seen
that dried leaves are used in some places, by preparing them in the fall
and feeding the young worms with them before the tender leaflets have
been sufficiently matured in the spring. Hence we conclude that if the
culled leaves are properly preserved from healing, moulding, ^rc, what
is called wilting will not injure them.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 205

foliage. In the event of having hedges, orchards or
other plantations, begin by pulling the leaves of the
hedges; then proceed to the young trees, when it is
generally prescribed to strip each completely, for, if
any leaves remain on the branches, they attract the
sap, whilst the naked branches are incompletely
nourished.*

5. Repeated defoliations. On this subject

* So far as this inquiry relates to the muUlcaulis, it may be further
observed, that the leaves must be plucked carefully so as not to injure the
bud ; for the plant is nov? of such value that one bud more or less
makes a difference with the purchaser ; as it is well known that each
bud will produce a tree when properly planted and cultivated. It is
generally thought too that leaves perform functions for vegetables ana-
logous to that of lungs for animals. Hence it is recommended not to
strip the mullicaulis of all its leaves during the season, at least, of its
growth. Whilst the tree commands a high price in the market, not
more than one half of the leaves should be taken. In the course of a
few years, when the plant is extensively grown, and its value diminish-
ed, it will be allowable to cut it down as wanted, and pass stalk, limbs,
and leaves through a cutting machine into the hurdles. To obviate all
doubts under present circumstances on this subject, in the event of wish-
ing to raise more crops of silk during any summer than one, the dilemma
may be solved by feeding the second or any successive crops, from dif-
ferent lots of trees kept for that purpose on the same estate.

All climbing on young trees must be avoided. In this case, the use
of a rolling or wheeling ladder is recommended. It consists of two
parts ; a wheelbarrow, the legs of which are to be from seven to eight
feet long, straight, somewhat projecting beyond the wheel, and connect-
ed by four cross sticks ; and a ladder six feet long, which is attached to
the wheelbarrow by a fourth cross stick. With this apparatus, a single
man is able to carry several bags of leaves. The ends at either extre-
mity must be pointed with iron. It forms when only half displayed a
double ladder in the form of a triangle, resting on the ground, from its
vertex at the cross sticks, the wheel of coarse being on one side, then
suspended some inches above the ground. When opened out and fully
extended, it is a ladder of from twelve to thirteen feet long. The leaf-
bags used with this apparatus must be hooped, so as to remain open,
and ought to have a hook to be hung on the branches ; and care must
be taken that the leaves, to keep them free from dust, be not emptied on
the ground. When conveyed to the wheelbarrow or other vehicle they
should be kept sheltered from the sun. For hedge forms and shrub
plantations, as for the mullicaulis, much of this trouble and expense is
unnecessary. Yet light wheelbarrows with long deep bodies, or bodies
with outward and obliquely projecting railing, will be found to be pre-
ferable to a heavy cart, in transporting leaves to the cocoonery or leaf-
store.

IS

206 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

Count Dandolo says, " the mulberry tree should only
be stripped once a year, and that crop should be
gathered so as to allow time for the leaves to shoot
again before the cold weather, otherwise the tree
would shortly die." We have here, however, to re-
member, that the count's precept had no reference to
the superior energy of the vegetative principle of the
multicaulis ; and that frequently what is an orthodox
canon in European agriculture, is nugatory in this
climate ; we must travel round half the globe before
we find its like within the same parallels of latitude ;
and when there, we shall be, as here, in the land of
silk. For the mulberry, multicaulis, and silk, China
is the only American pattern. It is proper to hear
another witness on the other side of the question.

During the present year, experiments have been
made in feeding silk worms, and gathering the foliage
of the Chinese mulberry, several times, during the
season of feeding ; but what is allowable with the
white mulberry is inadmissible with the exotic. It
should never be denuded as the other species are ; —
never more than one-third when young, or one-
lialf when old. That this practice is adopted in
China, is abundantly evident from a volume of
splendid paintings just received, from a gentleman
who has for years been conversant with that coun-
try. It appears from these paintings, that while
feeding, and depriving the plants of foliage, the top-
most shoots must be carefully preserved ; but when
feeding is over, it is then proper to nip off the
leading shoots to promote the formation of Avood,
and at the close of the season head doion the plant,
the stump or root of which in our latitude is to be
slightly covered with earth during the winter.

6. Provisions for early supply of leaves. It
is generally by no means advisable to admit the
hatching of the insects until the early spring vegeta-
tion of the mulberry is sufficiently advanced to insure
a continued supply of the leaf; in which case no

MULBEKRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 207

earlier resource procured artificially is desirable. The
cliuiates in this country, in which the return of these
seasons may be calculated on with tolerable certainty,
may be said to be anywhere to the south of the
fortieth degree of latitude. To the north of this
parallel extraordinary returns, in the spring season,
of unseasonable frosts, occasionally exist, retarding
or checking the movements of the agriculturist. Un-
der these circumstances, it would not be otherwise
than provident to be ready to countervail these con-
tingencies by a secondary resource obtained artifi-
cially. To accomplish this, there are three methods,
one by the green leaf, and two by the dry.

Fh'st method : or hy the green leaf. Let a mul-
berry hedge be provided in a warm situation, having
a southern exposure, and on the north and north-
western extremities, well protected, by buildings,
plantations or woods. Early in the spring, cover the
hedge, with platted straw or matting, to protect it from
the frost by night. Or, as the worms in their first
age consume but little, a garden border will afford
dimensions sufficient for the purpose. Again, we
may sow the seed broad-cast or in drills, in a forcing
border or hot bed, and thus obtain, to meet the first
wants of the insect, an early resource which would
be valuable in the event of temporary disappoint-
ment of supply in the ordinary way.

Second method : or by the dry leaf. This is ac-
complished simply by carefully drying and preserving
the leaves of the early part of autumn before they
begin to fall. It will be requisite to soak them in
pure water, so as to restore to them nearly the same
degree of moisture they had on the tree, and after-
wards to dry them with clean linen cloth, before they
are distributed to the young family in the spring.

Third method : by leaf powder. The leaves for
this purpose towards the close of summer may be
taken from the tree, and dried so effectually as to ad-
mit of being reduced to a fine powder, and after-
wards preserved during the winter. In the spring,

208 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

after gently sprinkling with water as much of this
powder as may be wanted, allow it slightly to ma-
cerate or acquire general moisture ; when if given to
the early hatch, it will be found to attack this powder
with an avidity not perceptibly differing from that
with which it would consume the early leaf

§ 2. Renting of trees or selling of leaves. Of
the " division of labour,'" in the parcelling out of
industry in the mass, in a kind of retail manipulation,
we, proud mortals, sometimes boast, as if it were
peculiar to civilized society, and therefore give the
term a sort of dignity, by heading with it whole
chapters on " political economy," as if that too were
our exclusive property ; without reflecting that both
the one and the other are carried out, even by insect
tribes, in all their beautiful development. There is
not an art, a fabric, a machine, or an edifice but what
exemplifies it. The painter, the artist, the sculptor,
the maker of a penknife or even of a pin, each im-
plies a little host of dependent operatives in his rear ;
and thus what would be an impracticability to one,
becomes an amusement when parcelled out in social
industry. And why should "silk" either in the
whole extent of this term, or in any part of it, be
supposed to require any more difficult manipulation.
Let us contemplate, for a moment, the wide surface
it covers. Here is a leaf/ and we see nothing but
it, and its kindred leaves of the mulberry tree — but
there is a silken shawl worn by a queen ! What
metamorphosis has affected this ? Ovid, himself,
with all his imaginative powers, must yield to this :
his was fancy, ours is reality : the leaves of a tree
are the silken shawl on the shoulders of a queen ! !
But what has accomplished all this ? The division
of labour ! Ask the proprietor of the orchard ; the
horticnltnrist that raised the tree ; the individual
that culled the leaves ; the one that ministers sus-
tenance to an insect that boasts of nothing, but per-
forms wonders, inhabiting a building furnished with
an apparatus both made by others ; another that

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 209

patiently waits on the reel, or the multitudes attend-
ing the filature ; the several machinists in wood and
iron ; the many engaged in throwstitig, dyeing, weav-
ing ; tlie merchant, and his carriers by land or sea to
the retail dealer, \\\Q maker of the shaivl ; and lastly,
though not least, the laondrotis insect, without whose
toil all the rest were vain; and then the ^^ unknown
something^' that has diif'used, if not inspired industry
throughout the whole. In this way, and in no other,
we arrive from the mulberry leaf to the silken shawl
on the shoulders of a queen. Could all this be ac-
complished by one ? — Impossible. Thus what is a
mountain to one, is sportive recreation when parti-
tioned out to the many ; and thus by the division of
labour a toil becomes a pleasure.

But is the division of labour the child of man's in-
ventive ingenuity ? We could give many proofs,
would our limits allow, to show that this is by no
means always the case. Sometimes it has cost man-
kind whole centuries to find out what, when seen, we
all wonder was not for ages before discovered to be
the most simple of all contrivances. Rather then let
it be ranked as the creature of Providence, with which
if we co-operate, we shall be a blessing to the world.

Even in the production and manufacture of silk,
strange to say, there are several parts, that we concede
immediately should be the subjects of the division of
labour ; whilst there are others, that Ave have not yet,
in this country, an adequate idea of the benefits that
would result to society were they equally distributed.
Often to him that supplies the land for the culture of
the tree, it would be an inconvenience to attend to
the production of silk. To another that grows the
trees merely for sale, the tons of leaves that fall in
autumn merely to manure the earth that might be
silk to enrich the nation, are, for the want of the divi-
sion of labour, a serious loss. To a family having
only partial employment, to which it would be, on
account of the avocation of one demanding a city re-
sidence, an inconvenience to remove to an orchard, or
18*

210 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

to a situation in the country, merely to afTord employ-
ment to the minor branches of the family, the esta-
blishment of a leaf-market in cities, and the possi-
bility of rearing silk-worms, and producing and
reeling silk in the otherwise unemployed apartments
of a partially occupied house, would be an incalculable
benefit. By which means too, industry might be af-
forded to thousands of the young, old, infirm, women,
children, and others incapable of hard labour, that
inhabit all our large and populous cities, who thus,
instead of being idle or dissipated, would in enriching
themselves as surely enrich the nation.

Let all then that have both land and trees, and are
willing to sustain the amusing toil of five weeks in the
cocoonery, comprise this much of the general produc-
tion in their individual enterprise. As for the rest,
we must repair to France, to Italy, to Broosa, or to
Turkey and Persia generally for an example; and we
shall there find, that in many cases, the concern of
growing trees or leaves is one thing, and that of pro-
ducing silk another ;* that the one is the business of
the country, the other of the town : and that the con-
nexion between them is established by a leaf-market.
The agriculturist there attends to avocations peculiar
to the former, the manufacturer to that which is com-
patible with others he may have in the latter. Leaves
there inhabit the forest until they visit the market,
where silk worms are citizens, spare apartments are
cocooneries, and towns or cities are the busy hives of
domestic industry.!

* Several years since, a farmer in a vicinity not far from Mansfield,
(Conn.) purchased a farm on which were standing twelve mulberry
trees of full growth. Knowing nothing of the business of making silk,
he supposed them to be of no more than the ordinary value of forest
trees for fuel. A neighbour, however, soon called upon him, and agreed
to pay him twelve dollars annually for the privilege of picking the leaves.
The farmer, to his astonishment, found that the twelve mulberry trees
were as good to him as $200 at six per cent, interest.

j" We do not wish to be understood as saying that the two branches
of business are incompatible. We think quite otherwise, more espe-
cially in this country ; but we do advocate the system of a mulberry leaf

MULBERRY LEAVES AXD STATISTICS. 211

We learn that the friend of a gentleman, now resi-
dent in New York, in the year 1S07, invited him "to
visit a plantation of mulberry trees, which he had just
planted at Fontaine, about fifteen miles from Lyons.
Here sixty French acres, (about seventy-five English)
had just been set out with trees of the mulberry, at
the rate of 200 trees to the French acre. About six
years afterwards he was again invited to visit the plan-
tation, at the time the leaves were fit for gathering ;
and he there found that the leaves of the whole plan-
tation, or of about 10.000 trees, had just been sold on
the trees to the gatlierers, for one franc for each tree,
or about §2000 for the whole.

"These gatherers, {an example of the division of
labour,) are another class, who come at limes from
remote distances with their whole families in wagons,
with cooking utensils and provisions, with ample
means for the purchase of the leaves. Shantees or
sheds only, for their accommodation, are provided by
the owner. It is particularly understood, however,
that the leaves at the tip end of every twig are
always to be preserved, to draw the sap and preserve
the life and vigour of the tree.

"Four years after he was invited to renew his visit,
when he found that the leaves had been sold on the
trees for three francs per tree. He renewed his visit
about seven years after, or seventeen years from the
first formation of the plantation, and he then found
that the leaves had been sold on all the Wees, for five
francs per tree, or for about SlO,000 for the whole;
and that this same quantity, or more would be annu-
ally produced for a long course of years."

Granting that these trees were three years old when
planted, and consequently nine years old from the
seed at the first visit, thirteen years old at the second,
and twenty years old at the third ; from the whole of
this account we learn as follows : 1. That in France

market, as being especially beneficial to citizens in moderate circum-
stances without land.

212 MULBERRY LEAVES ANll STATISTICS.

the leaves of the ivhite mulberry of nine years old
from the seed, are worth one franc, about twenty
cents per tree ; at thirteen years old, sixty cents on
the average per tree ; and at twenty years, or of full
growth as sometimes said, at ^1 per tree. 2. Here
are seventy-five acres, and they yield in the sixth
year after planting ^2000, or ^26. 66 per acre : of the
intermediate years we are told nothing,butin the tenth,
they yield §6000, or ^SO per acre. We now, by the
account arrive at the seventeenth yearof the appropria-
tion of these seventy-five acres to a plantation, when
they yield ^10,000, or §133.33 per acre for a crop of
leaves only ! How valuable then are leaves, if of the
mulberry, even without fruit, without roots. To how
many other kinds of crop* could an acre be devoted,
and yield a profit equal to an income from mere
leaves ? 3. We are told that this rate of profit the
trees would maintain for "« course ofyeurs,'^ we are
not told, however, why such an indefinite expression is
used. The reason, however, is self-evident, and stands
thus; if the trees were the grafted mulberry, chiefly
used in France, it is true that they would thus hold
out only for a " course of years^^ probably not more
than five. This is all the benefit oi grafting, altering
the course of nature by art. For the sake of some
improvement in quality or quantity for a short time,
It is rapid destruction; whereas the natural not artifi-
cial mulberry, will improve, propria IMarte, both in
quantity and quality, as it groivs older, and has been
found exuberant in produce, and in quality more ex-
cellent than its juniors at the venerable age of three
hundred years. 4. Here are ten thousand .y/a?iG?arrf
trees on seventy-five acres : hence, in France, they
plant standards at eighteen square feet between every
four trees.!

* We might say from the vine; or from the beet, not to produce
sugar, which requires machinery', but to fatten cattle ; but this depends
an circumstances, and right management ; and this is not the place to
explain.

-(■ A writer in the Silk Culturist inquires, "Whether farmers cannot
plant trees, and let them out to poor families to make silk on sjiares.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 213

§ 3. Leaf-Market. We know that these are regularly
established on the Continent, not only of Europe, but
of Asia. Time and limits fail to give all the examples;
that of Broosa is enough. There, on all the roads and
avenues to the city we see mules, asses, camels, and
other means of conveyance freighted with mulberry
leaves to the leaf-market in Broosa. In the city
itself, we see nearly every family, on the approach
of the silk-raising season, on the move to clear, and to
make ready for the labours of tho silk worm, every
spare apartment in the house. Two-thirds, three-
fourths, or four-fifths of every dwelling is a cocoonery.
And where is the difficulty ? In the town there is the
leaf-market every day ; and in the house there are the
worms, all the advantages of the town and country
are combined, without the disturbance of other en-
gagements, by the connecting link, the leaf-market.

And it is evident of what accommodation and ad-
vantage this would be to all parties. That to the
leaf-s^rower admits of calculation. M. Bonafoux
found that a jourral of land of Piedmont (four-fifths
of an acre) produced from multicaulis cuttings* of
the second year,t fifty quintals. That is about five-
ninths of a pound of leaves to each : on the third year
from the time the cuttings were set out, the same trees
produced 100 quintals or more than one pound of

and thereby not only extend the culture of silk, and benefit themselves,
but also art'ord a livelihood to those in their employ] The editor
answers : " We have no hesitation in answering in the affirmative. There
are few farms in this country that could not be foiirfoldcd in value, by
adopting this course; besides giving an opportunity to the industrious
poor, not only to provide for the present wants of their families, but to
lay up something in store for the day of adversity. The children of
poor families might be profitably employed in picking the leaves, and
thus contribute much towards fheir clothing and education. Multitudes
of such children are, instead of this, nmning about the streets contract-
ing habits of vice and immorality. We know of no better remedy than
the one suggested by our correspondent."'

* Set in rows two and a half feet asunder, and in the rows each tree
one and a half feet apart; i. e., 11, .537 cuttings to the English acre.

-|- A quintal is equal to 100 pounds. On the jourral of land, at the
rate mentioned of setting, there would be 9,229 cuttings or trees.

214 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

leaves each. And he estimated the maximum to
which they would attain at 200 quintals, (about
25,000 pounds of leaves to the English acre,) or
about two and two-thirds of a pound to each multi-
caulis tree ; which at eighty cents* per quintal of 100
pounds, would be equal to ^200 per acre to the Icaf-
groiver from the multicaulis tree. M. Bonafoux
further calculates that these 250 quintals of multi-
caulis leaves, would produce 312 pounds of reeled
silk, which in this country would be, at least, worth
1^1560. Hence more than ^1300 are to be gained on
the 250 quintals grown in the country, by the fami-
lies in toivn that take the trouble to attend the worms,
and produce the silk.

We say then, on account of the thousands of wo-
men, children, aged, infirm, and otherwise unemployed
people, inhabiting Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore,
and all our large and populous cities, let a leaf-market
be established in each, and let the farmers that have
the ivisdom to enrich their hedges, orchards and fields
with the ivealth-giving tree, be told to bring their
leaves by the horse load, the wagon load, the boat
load, or our very railroads will help them; and then
every citizen that is tied by his duties to the town, but
has hands to spare in his family, and apartments in
his house not paying rent, will provide the worms,
buy the leaves, and put all in requisition ; and our
streets, and our cities will be filled with the scenes of
activity, marking out to all the way to industry, mo-
rality and wealth.

§ 4. Statistics relative to the mulberry tree.
Both theory and practice have reference to statis-
tical consequences. Mere theory often contemplates
them, but without practice arrives at erroneous results.
On the other hand, a career of practice entered on
without previous inquiry of a statistical character,

* A quintal of leaves sometimes attains more than this in the leaf-
markets of the continent; sixty-four cents per quintal, are not far from
the average price.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 215

must often lead into a dilemma or difficulty, easily
avoided by competent information of this nature pre-
viously acquired ; and when this is the legitimate
proceed of the experience of the many, the eccentri-
city of extraordinary cases corrected by the more ac-
curate report of the majority, we have, perhaps, as
great an indemnity against either failure or incon-
venience, in the development of our practical designs,
as the nature of things can possibly admit.

So long as the silk, or any other business, is, in de-
sign, at a distance, statistics may be looked upon as
something abstract, mathematical, dry or uninterest-
ing ; but precisely as we approach the bourne, where
we are to have the object in our grasp, the case be-
comes altered, until statistics appear all-interesting,
of immense consequence. Statistics, in short, in all
things, are too little studied. Without them, theories,
hypotheses, schemes and systems, in art, in science, or
in political economy, may be multiplied numerous as
the phantasms of the kaleidoscope. But begin with
statistics, the true gauge and barometer of conse-
quences, and theories, hypotheses, and schemes ex-
plode by the legion, and leave nothing but truth in
alto-relievo.

Relative to the silk business, no inquiry is more
common, nor, perhaps, more proper, than what is the
weight and value of raw silk which may be produced
from one acre? But it is evident that this question
involves several others, each of which must be
answered or understood, before we can arrive at the
correct solution of this important problem. As 1.
What weight of cocoons will, on the average, yield
one pound of raw silk ? 2. How many silk worms,
will, generally, produce this weight of cocoons ? And
this question implies at least three subordinate in-
quiries relative to the kind of silk worm employed,
the manner with which it is attended, and the leaf
with which it is fed. 3. What weight of mulberry
leaves will sustain and bring to maturity this number
of silk worms ? This again is another question that

216 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

evidently subdivides into as many branches as there
are species and varieties of the mulberry. 4. Tiien
we arrive at another stage of the investigation, i. e.
what weight of leaves will a mulberry tree or shrub,
on the average, produce, at all ages, from a few
months to twenty years ; when, if it be the grafted
mulberry it is said to be at its maximum yield : very
different, however, will be the case, if it has not had
its natural youth vitiated by the artificial device of
man, worse than vaccine inoculation. And here,
again to answer correctly, we must attend to several
important distinctions ; not only according to the
several species and varieties of the mulberry, but also
to the nature of the soil, which must either further or
retard its growth. 5. How many such trees or shrubs
will an acre contain ; and finally, what weight of
leaves on the average, in each case, will an acre
yield? And this last inquiry depends on an almost
unlimited variety of complex distances, that of be-
tween the rows in the acre, and between the trees in
each row, as well as the distinction to be priynarily
entertained in the mind of the inquirer, relative to the
species or variety of the silk-producing tree, and the
soil that fertilizes it.

The wide extent of surface which these several
questions, with their subordinate modifications, evi-
dently cover, requires that the general inquiry, for
distinction sake, be broken down into its proper com-
ponent parts ; and that no attempt be made to answer
the whole, as some have done, en masse ; and there-
fore, have left the mist, like that of the mock-sun in
the sunless climes of Iceland, as thick at the end of
their apparent scrutiny as where it began. We shall
take up, in the course of this work, seriati?n, the
whole of these inquiries. But here, immediately after
the mulberry, our subject is leaves ; or the quantity
of them in weight, which, on the average, accordiwg
to its age, may be expected from one of each species
or variety principally cultivated, or from one acre
charged with its cultivation.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 217

That the yield in foliage of a white mulberry
sta?idard of twenty years old is from 150 to 200
pounds of leaves, is universally affirmed.* The
doubt, then, as to the product of white mulberries, is
not here, but relative to those of minor growth, on
which egregious discrepancy, amongst diflerent authors
exists. My. Cobb tells us that M. d'Homerguet
asserts! that a white mulberry of six years old, will
produce thirty pounds of leaves ! This assertion re-
appears in the first edition of Mr. Roberts' manual,
and has been copied, with the following palpable
contradiction in the second edition of that work,
" The Editor of this§ manual, assumes the following :
it being the best result at which his mind could arrive
after the most careful examination of various authori-
ties— that is, that a tree, as a standard, four years of
age, well cultivated, will yield twenty pounds of
foliage, that at six years of age, it will yield thirty
pounds ; and that if planted in hedge form, an acre
of land will yield an amount of leaves, when six years

* Tliough even here, authors always forget to ?ay, whether the twenty
years be reckoned from the seed, or from the first introduction of the tree
into the plantation of standards : an ambiguity which has frequently
led into apparent contradiction. This appears to have been first af-
firmed bv Mr. Bailiff Hout, of Manheim, in his memoir submitted to the
Agricultural Society of the Grand Dutchy of Baden.

j We quote M. d'Homergue, whose book is in our hands, and whose
residence is at our door, ou the mulberry tree, because he Ls given as
authority on this subject by several recent writers! We admit this
ven^ respectable writer as good authority on X\ie filature. He is. on this
branch of the business, quite au fait. But we have yet to be assured that
he is a safe guide on some other branches of the silk culture, because his
experience is quite limited, and he makes no pretension to any but one
branch. From M. d'Homergue, however, wc have received many at-
tentions ; and on the Piedmontese reel and filature some information,
which we acknowledge with the kindest feelings. But when we see
him quoted on the mulberry tree, as a practical man, we suspect that
there can be no extensive experience among those who do so, since
they demonstrate to us that they are unable to discriminate between
what is theory and what practice.

% Page 40.

§ "This manual," first edition. "The manual." second edition, Balti-
more, 1838.

19

218 MULBERIIY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

of age, more than equal to the support of 540,000
worms: that is, he believes, that each tree at four
years will yield four pounds of leaves, and at six
years will yield seven pounds of leaves; and that its
capacity to yield will increase by the time the hedge
shall have attained its twentieth year, 100 per cent. !"*
From the whole of this passage we are edified as fol-
lows : " each tree at four years old will yield four
pounds of leaves," and in the former part of the para-
graph it is said that a tree of the same age will pro-
duce "twenty pounds of leaves!" Again, "at six
years it will yield seven pounds of leaves ;" very true,
since a few lines above we are informed that such a
tree will yield thirty pounds of leaves! Should we
endeavour to find a salvo to resolve this gross ambi-
guity, it must be from the phrase, " as a standard."
The one tree then is four years old from the seed, the
other four years from the time it became a stan-
dard by transplanting. Allow four years for this.t
and the same for the tree of six years, and we then
have, that a white mulberry tree of four years old from
the seed, will yield four pounds of leaves; of six years,
seven pounds ; of eight years from the seed, twenty
pounds ; of ten years, thirty pounds.

But how far is this corroborated by other accounts?
We find it stated by the same author,t that " one
pound" (of silk) was produced from eight trees,
(white mulberries) eight years old from the seed."
Now, as it requires 100 pounds of white mulberry
leaves to produce one pound of silk, it is evident that
in this case, these eight trees bore 100 pounds of
leaves, or twelve and a half, each. The preceding
statement relative to a tree of the same age, was
twenty pounds. The mean of the two respecting a
white mulberry tree of eight years from the seed,
therefore, is sixteen pounds of leaves.

* How extremely indefinite is all this. 100 per cent, on what? On
the first, second, or on what other year's produce?
■\ See note, page 17G.
% First edition, p. 32, col. 1.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 219

We shall now quote another authority found on
page S, vol. I. of the Silk Grower.* " In one acre
there are, 43,650 square feet. 1,210 trees six feet by
six, on one acre ; or 4,840 trees one and a half feet by
six. Each Italian inulherry tree, six years old, ivill
produce six pounds of leaves. Fifty pounds of leaves,
(some say thirty-six) will feed 1,000 worms; 300
cocoons will weigh one pound ; 3,000 cocoons
(ten pounds) make one pound of silk. 30,000 trees,
six years old, will produce 180,000 pounds of leaves.
The above calculation is made on the white mul-
berry.^'

From the whole of this evidence, we come to the
conclusion, that a white niidherry tree of

Age. lbs.

4 years from the seed will yield 4 of leaves.

6 7t

8 12f

10 20

20 150

Though this is deduced from the best accounts
extant on thi.'^ question, it can only be regarded, espe-
cially when difference of soil is considered, as an ap-
proximation, iDitil the attention of the culturist is
more particularly directed, to derive more accurate
averages from well conducted experiments of this
nature.

As to the product in leaves of the morus multi-
CAULis, it is stated in an article of the Silk Culturistf
that 100 cuttings of the first year, i. e., within a few
months of setting, yielded fifty-five pounds of leaves;
and that 100 cuttings, started the year before, pro-
duced 150 pounds. That is, at the rate of between
eight and nine ounces for the former, and one pound

* And therefore has passed the revision of the Messrs. Cheney.

\ "Each tree at six years of age, with the best cultivation, will pro-
duce twelve pounds of leaves." Kenrick, p. 88. But Mr. Kenrick, in
common with others, does not state whether this if six years from the
seed or from planting. If the former, it is contradicted by several other
accounts, but more consistent with them, if we are to understand it in
the latter sense.

i, December, 1835.

220 MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS.

and a half for the latter. We have besides various
other evidence relative to the same point, now before
us, too voluminous to copy in detail.* The accounts
as to first year's cutting vary, as for example ;
seven, eight, eight, nine, nine, twelve ounces; the
mean of which is eight and five-sixths ounces. This
compared Vvnth the first statement, fifty-five hun-
dredths, or eight and four-fifths ounces, will fully
warrant us in quoting that the average yield in leaves
of a multicaulis cutting of the first year is above
eight ounces or half a pound. But the mean of the
evidence we have before ns, relative to the weight of
the leaves of layers of the first year, is fourteen and
a half ounces. We may, therefore, safely quote, half
a pound for the former, and three-quarters of a pound
for the latter.

Amongst the several thousand pages, in the many
volumes on the Silk Culture, that we have examined,
there is very little of a statistical character, relative to
the average product in leaves of a multicaulis tree of
the second yearns groivth ; and that little is extremely
discrepant and dissatisfactory. Sufficient attention, it
is evident, has not as yet been paid to this subject,
though it constitutes an important element in calcula-
tions relative to the silk culture, without which they
must be comparatively indefinite and vague. We
are aware, indeed, of all that might be said concerning
the variable productiveness of different soils and cU-
raates, but notwithstanding this, an average, a mean,
does and must exist in this, and in all things, and this
is all we aim at. It is true, that this cannot accurately
be had except from a multitude of experiments ; and
until these can be made and their mean determined,
we had rather have an approximate average than
have none.

It was originally stated in the Northampton Courier,
ihat from 100 multicaulis trees of the second year's

» See Silk Culturist, pp. 71. 76. 130. 157; vol. III. 35. Fessenden's
Silk Manual, vol. I., p. 110; vol. II. p. 2.

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS, 221

growth 150 pounds of leaves were obtained; which
is one and a half pounds per tree. This was after-
wards copied into Fessenden's Silk Manual, vol. I.
page 141 ; and also into the Silk Culturist, vol. I. page
71. Yet five pages after in the latter work we read,
" 14,000 Chinese plants on one acre of two years'
growth would yield 35,000 pounds of foliage ;" that
is two and a half pounds per tree. We think that
this latter statement is erroneous and presumptive ;
not merely because it differs from the former, but
deals so much in round numbers, as to wear on the
face of it the absence of actual experiment or calcula-
tion ; and until better evidence can be adduced, we
are inclined to say that a multicaulis tree of tbe se-
cond year's growth will produce, on the average of
trees, soils, and climates, two pounds of leaves.

But what a wide leap have we from two pounds
of leaves, or even from two and a half pounds on the
second year, to fifteen pounds of foliage on the third
year; yet at page 32 of the last edition (183S) of
Mr. Roberts' Manual we read " we assume that each
of these trees (multicaulis) at three years of age, if
properly cultivated, and not despoiled of their limbs
will yield fifteen pounds of foliage !" But how is
this series to be accounted for, first year, one half or
three-quarters of a pound of leaves; second year, two
or two and a half pounds ; third year, fifteen pounds.
Mr. Cheney has somewhere intimated that the ratio
of the increase of the multicaulis in successive years,
is geometrical. But we have not mathematics suffi-
cient to discover what geometrical ratio exists between
three-quarters, two, and fifteen ; and therefore refer
the enigma to the experimental horticulturist to deci-
pher. Were it allowable, however, to go on the
principle of a geometrical ratio, until matter of fact
could correct the series, we should say that the multi-
caulis of \\\Q firat year's growth that produces half a
pound of leaves, would on the 6rco;««' yield two pounds,
and on the third, eight pounds; whilst another that
yielded on the first year three-quarters of a pound,

19*

222

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATLSTICS,

would on the second produce two and a quarter
pounds, and on the third nme pounds. And this,
how^ever, hypothetical it is at present, for want of
facts clearly stated, must be, will eventually, perhaps,
be found to be not far from the truth.

The inquiry relative to the yield of foliage per
acre, whether of the morus alba, multicaulis, or of
any other tree, admits of as many answers, as it is
possible to divide, without injury to vegetation, an
acre into rows, and the several distances from each
other that it would be proper to set the trees in each
row. A hundred inquiries of this kind will be met,
once for all, by the following table, and any interme-
diate cases will be easily calculated. An acre, of
course, we all know, is any piece of ground that con-
tains exactly 4,840* square yards, or 43,500* square
feet. In the following table fractions are rejected,
and the nearest whole number taken.

Table showing the number of trees or plants in an
acre according to the width of rows, and distances
between trees or plants in each row.

li.

111
1

Number of feet distant from tree to tree in each row.

I
43560

2 3

4

6

9

12

15

2904
1452
968
726
484

18
2420

1210

806

20

2178
1089

21780 14520

10890

7260

4840 3630

2

21780

10890

7260

5445

3630

2420 1815

3

14520

7260

4840

3030

2420

1613 1210

726
544
363
242
181
145
121
108

4

10890

5445

3630

2722

1815

1210

907

605
403

268

6

7260

3630

2420

1815

1210

806

605

9

4840

2420

1613

1210

806

537

403

322

242
193
161
145

12

3630

1815

1210

907

605

403

302

201

15

2904

1452

968

726

484

322

242

161
134
121

18

2420

1210

806

605

403

268

201

20

2178

1089

726

544

363

242 181

One acre X 4 X30i=4840 ; and 4S40 x 9=43560

MULBERRY LEAVES AND STATISTICS. 223

The use of this table will be readily perceived from
an example or two. If we have an acre set with the
morns alba six years old, three feet distant from one
another in rows six feet asunder ; it is seen by the
above table that we have 2,420 such trees on the
acre, which at seven pounds of leaves each will pro-
duce 16,940 pounds of leaves. And as 100 pounds
of leaves of the Italian mulberry are equal to one
pound of silk, we are warranted to expect from that
acre 169 pounds of raw silk.

But, if the acre be set whh the multicaulis of the
second year's growth one foot distant as directed,
from one another in rows three feet asunder ; we
shall have, according to the same table, 14,520 trees
on the acre, which, at one and a half pounds of fo-
hage each, will produce 21.780 pounds of leaves ; and
since of the multicaulis eighty pounds of leaves are
equal to one pound of silk, we may expect from the
acre 272 pounds of silk; or 103 pounds more than
from the acre of the morus alba of six years' growth
set as described.

PART III.

ON THE SILK WORM.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE SILK WORM, GENUS, SPECIES, VARIETIES.

The silk worm, or bombyx mori* is one of the va-
rious familiest of caterpillars, that pass through
several transformations into their final state, the
moth or butterfly. All such caterpillars are of the
lepidoptera:}: order§ of insects ; and of these, all
that have four wings in their moth or butterfly state
are capable of producing silk.

Of insects generally, it is proper here to state, that
when they issue from the e^z, they are by naturalists
called LARVA ; but in common language, according to

* Bombyx mori, the silk worm of the mulberry tree ; a proper dis-
tinction, since there are caterpillars producing silk from the cypress,
fir, ash and oak, according to Pliny, D'Incarville and others.

"t" As the carpenter caterpillar, the goat-moth, earth-mason caterpillar,
tent-maker, stone mason caterpillar, leaf-miner, bark-miner, gipsey-moth,
tiger-moth, puss-moth, golden-tail moth, spinning caterpillar, silk worms
of several varieties, &c.

i Ai-rii, iJo;, scale, flake, and itts^jv, wing ; xirtSoTrTi^x scale, or flake-
winged.

§ One of the twelve orders of insects, viz.: 1. Cohoptera, from x'-xeoc,
a sheath, and tts^&v, a wing, sheath-winged ; as beetles, <fec. 2. Strepsiptera,
from ^•T^^^f./c, a turning or folding, and TrTi^'.v, folding-wings ,- as s/i/hps,
xenos, &c. 3. Dermaptera, from h^ixt, skin, leather, and tts§:v, leutlter-
winged, as earwigs, <fec. 4. Orthoptera, from o^Scc straight, and Trrs^iv,
straight-winged ; as cockroaches, locusts, grasshoppers. 5. Hemiptera,
irom yi/ui^u;, half, and tts^sv, half-winged ; as, field-bugs, cicada, water-
boatmen, &c. 6. Trichiiptera, from d^ti-r^i^ot, hair, and ttts^ov, hair-
winged; as, the flies produced by the various kinds of caseworms. 7.
Lepidoptera, as already Ae^niheA, flake-winged. 8. Hi/meiwptera, from
C/M)/, a membrane, and Trtiej-v, niernbranenas-winged ; as bees, wasps.

THE SILK WORM. 225

the genus, species, &c. caterpillar, grub, ox maggot.*
Larvae are remarkably small at first, but grow rapidly.
Some larvae have feet, others are without; none have
wings, neither can they propagate. Tliey feed vora-
ciously on coarse substances, and as they increase in
size, they cast their skin, three or four times ; until
finally they undergo a complete change of form, and
with a few exceptions, cease to eat, and remain
nearly motionless. When an insect, after this change,
does not lose its legs, or continues to eat and move,
it is commonly called a nymph; but when the inner
skin of the larva is converted into a membranous or
leathery covering, which wraps the insect closely up
like a mummy, it is termed pupa, from its resemblance
to an infant in swaddling bands. From the pupae
of many of the butterflies appearing gilt as if with
gold, the Greeks called them chrysalides ; (chry-
salis in the singular;) and the Romans, for the same
reason, aurelise; and hence natm*alists frequently call
a pupa, chrysalis or aurelia, even when it is not
gilt. Hence, pupa, chrysalis and aurelia are synony-
mous, and signify the same state. After a certain
time, the insect which has remained in its pupa-case
or cocoon, is gradually preparing for its final change,
when it takes the form of a perfect insect. This state
was called by Linnaeus imago, because the insect
having thrown ofi' its larva (mask) becomes a perfect
im,age of its species. Of some this last portion of
their existence is very short ; others live through a

9. Neuroptera,imm. vsv^cv, a nerve, and TTTii^ov, nerve-winged; as dra-
gon-flies, antlions, ephemera, <fcc. 10. Dipt era, from it;, twice, and
TTTf^sv, two-winged, ^.sgnaXs, &c. 11. Aphaniptera, from apavii?, obscure,
and TTTie'-^y, obscure-winged. 12. Aptera, from a privative, and ^ts^sv,
without wings, or wingless, as mites, lice, &c.

* The distinction in common language, properly is, that caterpillars
are produced from the eggs of moths or butterflies ; grubs, from the eggs
of beetles, bees, wasps, &c. ; and magguts, which are without feet, from
blow-flies, house-flies, cheese-flies, &c. Maggots are also sometimes
called worms ,- but the common earth-worm is not a larva, nor is it by
modern naturalists ranked amongst insects. It is properly a reptile, a
creature that creeps but nexeijlies.

226 THE SILK WORM.

year, and some exist even for longer periods. They
then feed, at most, hghtly, some not at all, but never
increase in size. The chief object of that state is the
reproduction of their species. The ova are deposited,
and then the greater number speedily die. Hence,
such an insect exists in four distinct states ; it is, 1. an
ovu7n ; 2. a larva; 3. a chrysalis; and, 4. the imago,
butterfly or moth.

The CATERPILLAR is a cold-blooded insect ; has no
heart, but a substitute in a long tubular dorsal-vessel
running along its back, and pulsating from twenty to
120 times a minute, by means rather of a lymph than
blood, but performing a function analogous to the
former. It has no brain ; and the nerves, which are
few, are called ganglions, from being united in little
knobs. They breathe through spiracula, or air-ori-
fices, the number of which varies according to their
species. The spinning apparatus, usually consisting
of two parts, is placed near the mouth,* which are a
part of the silk bags, tliat in some caterpillars are
long, in others comparatively short, but usually slen-
der, floating vessels, containing a liquid gum. These
bags are of ditferent shapes, as well as lengths, but
are generally convoluted sacks closed at one extre-
mity, and opening at the spinneret, larger towards the
middle, and smaller towards the head. Their length,
as in the silk worm, is often several times that of the
body ; and the silk is ejected by a kind of peristaltic
motion.!

* Other insects spin silk from the opposite extremity of the body. In
the great water-beetle (Hydrophikis piccus) that extremity is furnished
with two spinnerets with which it spins its egg-pouch. The larva of the
myrmeleon spins a cocoon in a similar manner, but differs remarkably
in having the silk secrctor in the rectum. Thi^ web of the spider is also
a kind of silk, singular for its extreme lightness and tenuity. It is the
proceed of four anal spinerets which never vary in number.

■\ " Caterpillars have a long body, more or less cylindrical, which is
formed in its length oi twelve metubranous parallfl rintrn ,- which in the
movements of the animal mutually contract and elongate They have
uniformly a sca/t/ /learl, of a substance similar to horn, provided with two
strong jaws, formed like a saw, which are moved horizontally, and not
upwards or downwards as in animals of red blood. They have never

THE SILK WORM. 227

The larva of the bombyx mori, when full grown,
seeks a place, as it were, of concealment, where it
commences spinning its habitation; a protection as
well for its present as for its future state, that of the
pupa, to which it approaches, at once against the
changes of the season and the attacks of its enemies.
In this operation, it throws the liquid fluid or gum
through the silk secretors, which are two orifices,
passing from silk bags in its lower part, and extending,
M'ith many convolutions, to the other extremity of
its body. These two apertures have been long sup-
posed to be separated, and that each filament or fibre
of silk was double; but recent investigation authorizes
the inference that they unite at the point of contact
with the atmosphere. These orifices are like wire
drawing machines, which graduate the diameter of
the fibre ; and the gum bags are capable of discharg-
ing all their contents in the elaboration of the cocoon.
The silk secretors of the caterpillar of the bombyx
mori, are said to be provided with glands, by Avhich
the juices of the mulberry leaf are discussed and
secreted, so as to supply the different organs without
■any admixture of other ingredients.* Without this,

fewer than eight feet, and never more than sixteen. The six first formed
of a scaly substance i^nilar to that of the head, are fixed under the
three first rincrs and can neither be sensibly shortened nor lengthened.
The others, whether two, four, six, eight, or ten in number, are flexible,
and attached in pairs to the back part of the body, under their corres-
ponding rings. These last legs are those which transport the animal.
They are provided with little hooks, calculated to give it support in
cUmbing. All the hinder legs disappear, of whatever kind the cater-
pillar may be, when it changes into a butterfly, and there remain only
six. Caterpillars breathe by eighteen apertures, and situated nine on
each side of the bodj-. Each of these openings is considered as the ter-
mination of a particular windpipe. Some have a smooth skin, as the
silk worm, others are rough ; and some have a skin either partially or
wholly of velvet ; and others with hair or bristles of various colours.
A. great number of caterpillars have eyes, some of them are utterly
blind, but they attain the power of vision when they become butterflies."
Count Dandolo.

* According to Ramdohr, these secretors consist of two transparent
membranes, between which flows a yellow, limpid jell}'. The longer the
secretors, the greater is the quantity of silk expended by tJ? 9 insect in
the construction of its cocoon.

228 THE SILK WORM.

the silk would not be of the quality and texture in
which it is found.

The same cause that makes a crab or lobster throw
off its shell, compels the caterpillar, at stated times, to
throw off its exuvias. As it increases in size, its skin
becomes rigid and tense. It is, to borrow a phrase,
"hide-bound." Confined by a skin, which is desti-
tute of any elasticity proportioned to the rapid in-
crease of its dimensions, it becomes embarrassed, lan-
guid, rejects food, from partaking which it feels an
increase of suflering; and making a few struggles,
the old skin yields, and the regenerated larva disen-
thralled, swells into an enlarged size before the new
envelope becomes of a hardness such as to resist its
further growth. Whilst the new skin is acquiring the
inelastic consistency of the one just rejected, the cater-
pillar eats with voracity. This, however, as before,
is arrested, by the unyielding tension of its new suit,
before it has acquired maturity ; and hence the re-
peated transformations, or moullings, as they are
called, to which it is subject, in its advance to the
ultimate object and fruition of its being.

When the larva of the bombyx mori attains its
full size, it ceases to eat, and instinctively* ])repares
a covering to protect it from the rain, and from either
birds or insects that would otherwise devour it. For
nature ordains it to work under trees ; and it never
changes its mode of operation whenever permitted
to work without artificial control. In building a co-
coon, it encloses itself in three coverings. 1. With a
floss; 2. With silk; and 3. With gum, with which
last, it lines the inside of the cocoon, except at one
end, which it only partially closes, and that end is
where it will have, from the position of its body,

* Instinct alone is a univorse of wonders ; who can adequately de-
velopc it ! ! Visigoths they must be, who never trace instinct to the
exhaustiess source of iniinite and eternal intellig-ence. That which
launches a planet through the iilimitable void of sether, guides an insect
over a leaf! ! And shall this be done every day, and we never derive
the inestimable inference 1

THE SILK WORM. 229

neither inconvenience nor obstruction when the period
arrives for it to make its egress.

The cocoon being constructed, according to the
inimitable rules of insect art, the larva disengages
itself of its fourth skin, and enters the aurelia or
chf'i/salis state. A new state of existence is soon to
be entered on. To this end, the insect taught by a
wisdom that is inscrutable, but that can disseminate
itself to an atom, throws off her skin, with the head
and jaws attached to it ; and the new skin immedi-
ately hardens into a leathery hide. This again, gives
way to a new form, whilst the moth is gradually
unfolding itself, and the wings, the legs, and the an-
tenna acquiring strength and firmness. In ten or
twelve days, the chrysalis swells, bursts, and the
moth struggles out of its leathern envelope into the
chamber of the cocoon. This being accomplished,
the bombyx mori extends its antennae, together with
its head and feet towards the point of the cocoon,
which, as already observed, is less secure, and thence
emerges into day, leaving the head and entire skin
of the late caterpillar, having the resemblance of a
heap of foul linen,* in the antichamber from which
it retires.t We now have a new creature, the worm,
or caterpillar, has become a moth, a butterfly ; a rep-
tile that crept on earth is furnished with wings to
float in air !J

* Spectacle de la Nature ; Count Dandolo and others.

f It is supposed by some, that the moth, before it escapes from the
cocoon uses an acid to dissolve the gum, with which it had coated the
interior of the cocoon. The end of the cocoon is observed to be wet
for several hours before its egress. It is the middle portion of the
cocoon that is unwound in the filature. The outer Jloss, called Jloretta,
answers purposes in manufacture when prepared as cotton.

i- The Hindoos took their notion of the metempsvchosis from the
transformations of caterpillars. These changes afford a natural argu-
ment f(jr the transmigration of souls. " What more probable," says a
writer on entomology, •' than that its apparent resurrection into life,
should be owing to its receiving for tenant the soul of some criminal
doomed to animate an insect of similar habits with those which has de-
filed the human tenement" In the Institute of Menu we find a grade
of crimes and punishments ; some of which are as follows. " A priest
who had druiik wine, shall migrate into a moth or fly, feeding upon or-
20

230 THE SILK WORM.

The worm commonly employed in the production
of silk, is, by Count Dandolo, called, the silk worm
OF FOUR MOULTiNGs, of wliicli he immediately men-
tions two varieties. 1. Those that form a straw-
coloured cocoon; and 2. Those that produce the deep
yellow cocoon ; and gives the preference to the former;
stating that " it requires twenty pounds and three-
fourths of leaves* to obtain one and a half pounds of
cocoons;" which is at the rate of thirteen pounds
thirteen ounces and one-third to one pound of cocoons.
He mentions, however, three other species.

1. The SMALL silk worm of three MOULTINGS.

Of these he observes, " the eggs of this species weigh
one-eleventh less than the eggs of the common silk
worm, 39,168 of the latter forming an ounce, while
42,260 of the smaller are required to make that
weight. The silk worms and cocoons of this species
are two-fifths smaller than those of the common sort."
He adds that these cocoons are composed of finer and
more beautiful silk, and that 400 of them weighed one
pound, whilst 240 pounds of the common weighed
the same. The count elsewhere acknowledges the
general preference to be for the common worm,
though he himself is evidently inclined in favour of
the small; but the reasons he assigned, countervailed
as tliey are by others, do not appear to be decisive,
though the culture of the species may deserve the
attention of the experimentalist.

2. The large silk worm of four moultings.
The eggs of this species, the count obtained from
Friuli. The eggs were only one-fiftieth more in
weight, or 37,440 to the ounce. One hundred of their
cocoons weighed one pound ; and twelve pounds and
a half of leaves yielded one pound of cocoons ; but
the coarseness of the silk, and the other objections

dure. He who steals the gold of a priest, shall pass a thousand times
into bodies of spiders. The man who shall steal honey, shall migrate
into a great stinging gnat ; but he who shall steal oil, into an oil-drink-
ing ichneumon fly."

* Of the wliite mulberry.

THE SILK WORM. 231

specified by the author counterbalance any advan-
tages derivable from the preceding considerations.

3. The WORMS that produce white silk. With
respect to this species he says, " I have raised a large
quantity of these, and found them in all respects
equal to the common silk worms of four moultings.
If I raised silk worms for the purpose of spinning the
silk myself, I would cultivate only the silk worm of
three moultings, and those that produce white silk, as
preferable to any other ; and every year I would
choose the whitest and finest cocoons, to prevent the
degeneration of the species." This kind was intro-
duced into France about the year 17S3, and is there
highly esteemed; but it is supposed to be the same
that we have, under the name of the '■Hohite worin^'*
as it produces two crops in a season.*

To the species enumerated by Dandolo, it will
be necessary to add :

4. The DARK DRAB COLOURED WORM. Thls SpCCicS

is very common in the United States. They are
commonly called the "Z>/acA;" worm. They live lon-
ger, and make a greater quantity of silk than the
larger white worms.

• It appears from this, and other evidence before us, that we are not
yet warranted in pronouncing, as some have done, the two crop silk
WORM as a species distinct from the third species mentioned by Dan-
dolo. If the kind which he designates merely by the term, " tht worms
that produce white silk, and the two crop silk worm be identical, the
name might be altered to the two crop white silk worm. In Tuscany
they make two crops of silk annually. The two crops are obtained by
a peculiar species of silk worm called the " two crop worm," or " white
ivorm." This worm, hatched at the usual season, will finish its cocoon,
and deposit eggs admitting of being hatched and raising cocoons during
the continuance of the same season. This two crop kind moults five
times, not three, as has been said. We shall meet with an account of
an interesting experiment with this species at Columbus, Ohio, by Mr.
Chew, in the Silk Culturist for November, 1837. In Windham county,
Connecticut, it is also well known that there is a small pale ivhite worm,
which eats but twenty days, and produces fine white silk, though in
less quantity than either the common lartfc pale white, or the dark co-
loured worm ,- but it has the good quality of retaining its clean white
colour, and does not turn yellow by washing, or by exposure to the sun
and air. These worms produce also two crops.

232 THE SILK WORM.

5. Silk worms op eight crops.* Of these, there
are two varieties, as appears hy the following state-
ment. Lord Valenciat found at Jungepore, in Bengal,
a species of silk worm, supposed to be indigenous,
called "r/«c^3/," producing eight crops of silk the
year. He also found another variety, but much in-
ferior, which he terms the " China'''' or ^^ Madrassa"
which also yields its silk eight times a year.t

6. The MAMMOTH WHITE SILK WORM. This is
said to be a very superior species, that furnishes
cocoons of a large size, and fine texture.

* The distinction between a one, two, three, &c. crop eggs is not by
some well understood. It means this, that the eggs of the one crop can
be hatched successfully only from the eggs of the previous year, kept
over winter to the following spring. But the two crop eggs may be
hatched first from the eggs of the previous year and next from the eggs
of the first hatch the same season. The three crop eggs will hatch suc-
cessively from the same season's eggs in so many repeated times. The
eggs of the one crop will not produce worms until the following season.

f Travels to India in 1802, 1806, vol. i. p. 78, Lond., 1809.

i This last may be the kind mentioned by Arthur Young, who says
he obtained a silk worm from China, which he reared, and in twenty-
five days had the cocoons; and by the twenty-ninth or thirtieth day, he
had a new progeny feeding in his trays. He remarks, that " they would
be a mine of wealth to those who would cuhivate them." — Annals of
Agriculture, vol. xxiii. p. 235. The variety Madrassa finish the follow-
ing course in forty days ; six days in the egg ; twenty -two days, a larva;
eleven days a chrysalis; and one day, the imago, or moth.

To the species enumerated in the prerrding chapter, we may add
others, that are either yet wild, and, thi'refore, too rarely seen to admit
of any minute observance of their habits, or that produce silk from other
trees than the mulberry.

1. The Pexxstltaniax silk woux. This kind of worm, of which
we have an interesting account in the British Ainiual Register, and
also in the Silk Culturist, was found in Pennsylvania hy the Rev. S.
Pullcin. The reverend author says, that he had discovered the aurelia
of a caterpillar, which, on examination, he found to be not inferior to
the silk worm in the quality of its silk. The cocoon is three inches and
S quarter in length, and one inch in diameter; the shape not so regular
and oval, as the silk worm's cocoon, but nearly resembling a dried blad-
der. Its colour a reddish brown, and its weight twenty-one grains. It
was covered with floss silk. Though perforated by the moth, a part
was unwound in hot water, by which the strength and quality of the

THE SILK WORM. 233

Staple were ascertained. The fibre beins; redoubled to make twenty
thicknesses, it was found as smooth, elastic, and lustrous as common
silk. The common cocoon weighs about three grains ; this seven times
as mitc/t .' The moth is called isinglass by Marian ; it is large, being
five inches from tip to tip of the wings. It feeds in the papilio state,
which the bombyx mori does not, and it makes its cocoon on trees of
the hawthorn or crab species.

The same caterpillar, probably, has been described by Mr. Chambers
of Uniontown, Pa., as taken from an elder bush, having a cocoon as
large as a goose's egg, where others of equal or larger size were also
found. The editor of the Silk Culturist, says it is known amongst natu-
ralists as the attacus cecropia of Linnaeus. It feeds on the currant, elder,
barberry, wild-cherry, and other trees. The silk being very strong, has
been carded, spun, and woven into fabrics of an enduring quality.

The author of this work, many years ago, found a moth fluttering in
an orchard in the state of New Jersey, which exactly answered to the
engraving and description of the insect furnished by the Silk Culturist.
Ke has frequently regretted that he had not, at the moment, the oppor-
tunity to investigate its nature and habits, but he hopes that means will
be adopted by others to domesticate some of these interesting varieties.

The whole of this is fully confirmed in an article from G. B. Smith,
Esq., in the Silk Culturist for October, 18.37. "I see by the papers
that one of our new beginners has discovered, and taken under his care,
a new species of silk worm, an American silk worm, whose cocoon is
some eight or ten times as heavy as that of the common, and from which
he expects profitable results." Mr. Smith, however, does not seem to
have been successful with those he tried. He complains that they
"would not feed kindly, the moths flew away as soon as they escaped
From the cocoons, and the cocoons could not be reeled."

2. The ViRGixiAX SILK WORM. "Mr. Forrest Shepherd, of New
Haven, has presented us," says the editor of the Silk Culturist, p. 19,
vol. i., " with a specimen of the bombyx Virginiensis, or the native silk
worm of Virginia. It is found in great numbers on the plantation of
J. B. Gray, Esq., Stafford county, and is capable of enduring the most ri-
gorous winter. The cocoons are found suspended on the red cedar,
and yield a beautiful white silk of a strong thread.

3. The TussEH or Buciir silk worm is a native of Bengal, exceed-
ing, in size, the common silk worm. The tusseh silk is found in such
abundance in Bengal, and the adjoining provinces, as to have atfordcd,
from time immemorial, an ample supply of a most durable coarse silk,
which is woven into a kind of silk, called tusseh-doot-'hies, which is
much worn by the Brahmins and other ca-tes of Hindoostan. The
caterpillar when full grown, is about four inches in length, and bulky
in proportion. Its colour is green, with a lateral stripe of yellow, edged
with red. When ready to spin, they envelope themselves in two or
three leaves of the jujube tree, the vegetable on which they feed. These
leaves form an exterior envelope, which serves as a basin to spin the
cocoon in, which is then suspended, by a thick silk cord, from the branch
of the tree. It remains nine months in the pupa or chrysalis state, and
three months in that of the egg and caterpillar. The moth expands
from the extremeties of its wings to five or six inches, the female to eight

20"*

234 THE SILK WORM.

inches, and immedlatrly escape. The larva^ feed on the trees, and are
watched day and nic;ht to guard them against birds. The natives of
India pretend that these worms cannot be domesticated. The durability
of the silk woven from it is astonishing. Mr. Lalreille was convinced
that these were the same as the wild worms of (3hina. This kind of
silk would, no doubt, be highly useful to the inhabitants of many parts
of America and the south of Europe, where a cheap, light, cool, and du-
rable dress, is much wanted.

4, The AnniNrr silk wohm is the homhijx cynthia of naturahsts.
It is peculiar to the interior of Bengal, and may be reared in a domestic
state. The food of this caterpillar consists entirely of the leaves of the
common castor oil plant, well known in this country, which the natives
of Bengal call urrindi/. Feeding the caterpillars with these leaves
would, therefore, make this plant doubly valuable. This insect is about
three inches long when full fed. The colour pale green. The cocoons
are remarkably soft, white or yellowish, about two inches long and three
in circumference. This insect remains in the pupa state but twenty
days. The filaments are so delicate as to render it iniiiracticable to wind
oft' the silk. It is, therefore, spun like cotton ; and woven into a coarse
kind of white cloth, apparently of a loose texture, but of incredible du-
rability ; the life of one person being seldom sufficient to wear out a
garment made of it. The coverings of palanquins are made of this silk.
It is said, however, that it must always be washed in cold water, since
boiling water is destructive of its fabric.

.5. The JAiinoo silk woum is another kind also found in India; the
cocoons of which are spun in the coldest month. The silk is of a darker
colour. The mates when hatched invariably fly away, but the females
remain on the asseen tree, (the terminalia (iluta glabra of Eoxburgh,)
on which the worms are placed to feed. They are not impregnated by
the males bred along with them, which fly away ; but in ten or twelve
hours, another flight of males arrives, the females afterwards deposit their
eggs on the branches.

6. The E.MPKnoii moth is represented by naturalists as deserving of
attention on account of the beauty of its colours, and the excellency of
the silk elaborated in the formation of its cocoon. It feeds on fruit trees
and on the willow, and spins a cocoon in the form of a Florence flask,
of a silk so strong, so thickly woven, and so well gummed, that it has
the appearance of damask as to softness, and of leather as to consistence.
The tortrix chloruna, the ffypst/ moth, the rrernn spot, the tiger moth,
the dock weevil, the puss moth, and many others, spin cocoons, the silk
of which when carded, for they cannot all be unwound like the common
cocoon, make a fine and clastic silk ; but are of little use for manufactur-
ing purposes ; and, therefore, are merely adverted to here for the sake
of bringing as much of the whole subject, on this occasion, before the
reader as possible, either for interest or curiosity.

7. The BoMBTX CHnYsouniKKA spins a silken web in company with
a society of its fellows of three or four hundred, round the end of two
or three adjoining twigs and leaves, allowing space sufficient for the
whole of their " body politic^' to retire within. On the approach of win-
ter, this community, or corporate body, whether it has mayor, recorder,
common council or not, shut themselves up in the nest, which by this

THE SILK WORM. 235

lime, with the addition of repeated layers of silk, has become so strong
and thick as to be impervious to the wind and rain.

8, 9. TsorEx-KiF.s and ttax-kiex silk worms of China. These
two kinds may be described together. Du Halde* mentions that in the
province of Chantong;. there is found a species of silk on trees in p:reat
quantities, which is spun and made into a stuff called kient-rhou. This
silk is the production of little insects much like caterpillars, which do not
spin cocoons, but very Ion? threads, which being driven about by the
wind, hang upon trees and bushes, and are gathered for use. The stuff
is much coarser than that made of silk spun in houses. The worms are
wild, and eat indifferently the leaves of the mulberry and other trees.
Of these two Viirieties. the tsouen-kien is much larger and blacker than
the common silk worm ; and the tyan-kien much smaller. The silk of
the first is of a reddish gray; that of the other is darker. The stuff
made of these materials is very close, does not fret, but is very durable,
and washes like linen.-j-

10. The Social silk-xest spixxer of South America. Don Luis
Nee observed on certain trees growing in Chilpancingo, Tixtala in South
America, ovate nests of caterpillars, eight inches long, which the inha-
bitants manufacture into stockings and handkerchiefs.t Great numbers
of similar nests, of a dense tissue, resembling Chinese paper, of a brilliant
whiteness, aTid formed of distinct and separate layers, were observed by
Humboldt in the province of Mechoacan, on the mountains of Santa-
rosa, at an elevation of 10,500 feet above the ocean level, on various
trees. The silk of these nests was an object of commerce, even in the
time of Montezuma ; and the ancient Mexicans pasted together the inte-
rior layers, which may be written on, to form a white glossy pasteboard.
Handkerchiefs are still manufactured of it in the region of the late In-
tendancy of Oaxaca.

11, 12. The Chixese wilb silk worm of the facara axd ash
tree; and the Chixese wild silk atorm of the oak. The memoirs
of M. P. d'Incarville make mention of three kinds of these wild silk
worms, one feeding on the fagara, or pepper tree, one on the ash, and
another on the oak ; but the wild worms of the fagara and of the ash
are the same. There are two kinds of the ash tree in China, the tcheou-
tchun and the kiung-ichiin ; of which the former is the same as ours,
and on it the wild silk worms feed. After all the Chinese patience that
has been expended in taming these little animals, they are pronounced
to be incorrigible. From their cocoon, in which they spend the winter,
they emerge in spring metamorphosed into a moth, when they provide
for their successors and disappear. Were they brought into a warm
place, their exodus would doubtless take place earlier, as that of the
common worm, whose precocious egress is most probably effected by
artificial interference. Hence, the suggestion arises, that were our co-
coons kept in a low temperature from the moment of their first forma-
tion, and brought out on the ensuing spring to produce eggs, instead of

» History of China, vol. ITT. p. 359.

t See H'isioire des Sciences, les Arts rfep Chinois par Mailla, torn. 2. p. 575, and
Robertson's Disquisiiion concerning ancient India, vol. 13, p. 434, note 33. Ma
dame Lottin's Treatise on Silk wurms, Paris, 1757.

$ Annals of Bouiny, 2d, p. 104.

236 THE SILK WORM.

hatching them in the usual way, that they wouIJ, in this case, g;ive fresh
eggs as wanted. And whether nature did not so intend them to pro-
duce is an inquiry worthy of the attention of the culturist.

These wild worms moult four times, each of which is four days dis-
tant from the other. To preserve them from hornets, wasps, and birds,
a net is spread over the tree; and from insects, a trench of water is
formed round it. The cocoons of these worms are said to be as large as
eggs, and are carded, not wound. The larva of full growth is nearly
twice the size as that of the common worm.

Some kinds of wild silk worms that feed on other trees than the mul-
berry are found even on our own continent. In the first volume of the
American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, is a paj)er by the late
Moses Bartram, in which are recorded some experiments in propagating
caterpillars from cocoons found on the black haw, alder, and wild crab
tree. Though, from these and similar productions of nature most at-
tempts as yet have failed to procure a continuous thread ; yet the thread
obtained by Rev. Mr. Pullein from the cocoon of the ismglass moth bore,
when of the thickness of twenty single fibres,*a weight of fifteen and a
half ounces, whilst the thread of the same size of the common silk
worm always broke with fifteen.

Silk, a substance so important to man, hag naturally directed the at-
tention of the entomologist, and his inquiries relative to all the different
animated existences producing this material, have passed the limits of
the caterpillar, or Icpidoptera order, to insects of a very different character.

Of SPIDERS there are many species ; most of them extend their labours
no further than merely to make a web to ensnare and detain their food.
But others are known to go beyond this, and spin a bag in the form of a
cocoon, for the protection of their eggs, nearly similar to that of the silk
worm. The discovery that the fibres of these cells possessed considerable
tenacity induced M. Bonn to a filature of their cocoons. It appears
from authentic documents, that M. Bonn was successful, and that he
not only found out the method of reeling, but also succeeded in manu-
facturing several articles from their silk, particularly gloves. M. Bonn
has noticed only two kinds of silk spiders ; from one of which he pro-
cured the finest quality of raw silk; v^'hirh he allirms is equally beauti-
ful, strong and glossy, with that formed from the bonibyx. 'I'he spider
spins from fine papilla; placed in the hinder part of its body, which serve
the office of so many wire-drawing implements to form and mould a
viscous liquor, which, like that of the silk worm, dries and forms silk on
exposure to the atmosphere, forming filaments capable, as matter of fact
has proved, of being made conducive to human convenience and cover-
ing. Reaumer states that he has seen, whilst this insect has been pro-
ducing its silk, as many as seventy or eighty fibres through a micro-
scope ; and perceived that there were infinitely more than he could
reckon ; so that he thought himself within bounds, by saying, that from
the tip of each of the five papilla;, there were furnished 1,000 separate
fibres, or .5,000 in all to form one filament of a spider's web ! This may
seem questionable to some not accustomed to the microscopic manipula-
tions of nature ; but whoever consults M. Leuwenhock will find that
400 fibres of a young spider are not larger than one made by another

THE SILK WORM. 237

full grown ; that a hundred fibres of the adult insect are only equal to
the diameter of a hair; or that if the fibres and hair be both round, 1,000
fibres will scarcely be equal to the hair of a man's beard. Calculations
mathematically exact cannot be expected concerning such minute ob-
jects ; they are, however, sufficiently so to intimate the astonishing mi-
nuteness of a fibre, and the reason of the strength of the filament com-
posed of them.

" It may interest the curious reader to know by what process Mr.
Bonn proceeded to attain such surprising results. He commenced by
collecting from various places the bags or cocoons of the short legged
spider, to the amount of twelve or thirteen ounces. They were beaten
with a stick until entirely free from dust, and next washed in warm
water, which was continually changed, until it no longer became clouded
or discoloured. After this they were steeped in a large quantity of
water wherein soap, saltpetre, and gmn-arabic had been dissolved. The
whole was then set to boil over a gentle fire, during three hours ; after
which the bags were rinced in clean warm water to discharge the soap.
They were then dried ; in a few days carded, the cards being finer than
those used in carding silk. Thus a silk of a peculiar ash colour, the
threads bemg stronger and finer than those of common silk, was ob-
tained, and capable of standing any trial of the loom.*

M. Reaumer questions the last statement, and thinks it will not bear
a weight as great as that sustained by the fibres of the silk worm. But
this difference of opinion needs produce no quarrel, since it has yet to be
discovered in what way silk bags from spiders can be produced in
quantity sufficient for the use of even one individual. But M. Bonn states
that a female spider produces from 600 to 700 eggs, while of the 100 to
which he erroneously limits the .^ilk wonn, not more than one half he
raised to produce cocoons. He affirms that spiders are more hardy, will
breed more rapidly and with less loss. Of 700 to 800 young spiders
kept by him, hardly one died. He says the spider is not venomous.
When bitten by them, he found that their own silk was efficacious in
heahng the wound. M. Reaumer, appointed by the Royal Academy
of Paris to investigate this subject, declared that spiders were unsocial
beings, their natural fierceness and venom rendering them unfit to five
together ; the larger spiders always destroyed the smaller when put to-
gether, rendering mulberry leaves or any other food unnecessary, and by
which their commonwealth became speedily depopulated. " It appears,"
says M. Reaumer, "that the work of one silk worm was equal to that
of ninety-two spiders ; and that one pound of spider silk would require
the production of 27,648 insects."

We will now turn to the pinna, a little edible muscle of the vermes
testacta order — a hmax, with a bivalve fragile shell, and furnished with
a beard, the valve hinges without a tooth. It does not fasten itself to the
rock like other muscles, but sticks its sharp end in the sand, the other
end being at liberty to open and shut in the water. In common with
the muscle it has the power of spinning a viscid matter from its body
like the spider or caterpillar. Its length is often two feet, and the

* See Lardner, pan II. p. 142, 1 13, 114, &c.

238 THE SILK WORM.

threads it produces are scarcely inferior in fineness and beauty to the
single filament of the silk worm. Like the threads of the spider, its
fibres singly do not possess much strength, but the almost infinite num-
ber which each fish puts forth to secure itself in a fixed position, amidst
the commotion of the waves, make up for their fragility. The pinna
differs from the muscle in the number and superior firmness of its fila-
ments. These shell-fish have been distinguished, the one as the silk
worm, the other as the caterpillar of the sea.

M. Reaumer says that he placed the pinna in a glass vessel filled with
sea water to observe its mode of spinning. They opened the shell, put
forth the tongue, extended and protracted it several times in every di-
rection, and having fixed on a place by feeling, whereon to deposit its
threads, it placed its tongue for some time on a chosen spot, and drawing
it in with great quickness, it formed a thread, one end of which was
fastened to the place selected. This operation it repeated until its
threads were suflicicnt for its purpose. The threads when detached at
one end, were soon replaced by new ones. The pinna is found in the
Indian Ocean, but the largest and most remarkable are in the Mediterra-
nean Sea, on the southern coast of France or of Italy.

The threads of the pinna have been known to the ancients, and were
used by them in the manufacture of certain fabrics. The silk produced
by the pinna, as in the case of the spider, is in quantity limited, but the
fineness of pinna silk, greatly exceeds that of the spider, if it excel not
that of even the silk worm itself. Of this silk, caps, gloves, stockings,
waistcoats, and other garments, whether in simple or mixed fabrics, have
been made to some extent in Sicily, and Toronto in Italy. A pair of
stockings made of pinna silk may be contained in a snuff-box of ordinary
size. They are warmer than those of silk, and more lustrous, though
thinner. The pinnae are raked up from the rocks and sand, with an
iron fork made of a peculiar shape ; and they are sometimes taken in
considerable quantities.

CHAPTER II.

cocoonery: eggs: hatching: statistics.

Every wise man in bringing a progeny depend-
ing on his providence into being, should not only pro-
vide fuod, but also shelter for their comfort and pro-
tection. Relative to the former, the ample details
already furnished when treating on the mulberry tree,
require nothing further to be added ; we will now,

THE SILK WORM. 239

therefore, describe the accommodations requisite,
during the process of feeding the silk worm, for its
growth, health, and maturity.

No small part of the minute directions given by
European writers, arrangements considered by them
as necessary for the successful rearing of the silk
worm, arises from the state of their climate. Although
much attention should be every where paid to this
department of the business, yet the superior excellence
and peculiar adaptation of the climate of the United
States to this culture renders many considerations,
thought in Europe and elsewhere to be indispensable,
here altogether unnecessary. In fact, what is diffi-
cult, complex, and demanding extraordinary care in
Europe, can be performed amongst us with compara-
tive facility and ease. This, however, has induced
some authors, either almost entirely to omit this part
of the subject, or to run into wild extravagance, with
respect to what requires close attention. It has been
said, that the silk worm can be reared with ease
under an open shed, in any room, or almost under
any imaginable circumstance in this felicitous climate.
Without calling in question the practicability, and the
occasional success of this extreme of venturesome
negligence, we affirm that unqualified reliance must
not be placed on sucli statements. Man is rather in-
clined to degenerate than to improve, and if he be led
to suppose that silk worms will almost take care for
themselves ; there then wants but one step to arrive
at the persuasion that they can do it altogether.
Care should, therefore, be taken to furnish something
like system, from which, Mathout the warrant of ex-
perience, no wide departure should be allowed. Not-
withstanding the operations are extremely simple;
yet to secure complete success they demand both
attention and care.

A COCOONERY may be constructed of any indefinite
length, breadth and height. But to be more precise;
we will here suppose one of medium dimensions, cal-
culated to admit of feeding conveniently half a million

240

THE SILK WORM.

of worms. Let the iDuilding be fifty-four feet long,
twenty-two feet wide, ten feet high, and of one story.
In this apartment there may be three rows of frames,
each of eight tiers, fourteen inches above another; the
lowest one foot above the floor, and the upper a
suitable distance below the pitch of the roof These
frames should be constructed horizontally between
upright posts, one on each side, as in the following
figure.

Fis. 3

The posts should stand five feet apart, so that the
shelves for feeding the worms may be six feet by
three feet at the bottom, but gradually diminishing in
width by one or two inches to the upper platform or
frame. The next upper one being lessened equally on
each side. On each shelf, a b b c c c,'\s placed a frame
of net work or millinet resting on a piece of wood
fastened to the sides of the shelf about one inch above
the level of the shelf The shelf itself is stationary,
and rests on slips or slats of wood nailed to the two
posts on each side that compose the shelf The frame
or hurdle resting on the ledging of the shelf, and
about an inch above it, is movable. On this, and on
the shelves the worms are fed, and the intention is to

THE SILK WORM.

241

permit the litter produced in feeding the worms to
fall through, so that by alternating their position, they
may be frequently cleaned without inconvenience.
The above engraving represents one shelf as in a
whole range. In the ranges constructed in the build-
ing above described, there may be eight successive
shelvesfoUowingeach other thus, : : : : the dots repre-
senting the posts and space between the shelves.

The frames should never touch the walls on any
side. A free passage should be left all round for the
convenience of the persons feeding. Silk worms are
the prey of innumerable insects, as spiders, ants,
beetles, and others; against which they should be
carefully guarded, by sweeping all cobwebs ofT, keep-
ing the walls and floors clean, and examining the
premises with repeated and close attention. The
diagram or cut which follows exhibits an end view
of a cocoonery of two stories. The post should be
three mches square.

Fig. 4.

.3 J

^J^-E;i

21

242 THE SILK WORM.

The roof is surmounted by a ventilator (1), another
may be observed on tlie centre of the lower floor (4),
with a sliding board to open and shut ; also two on
each side (2, 3,), one above and one below the floor
of the second story. The view is from one end to the
other. The gangway or passages between the tiers
of shelves being before the eye lengthwise.

Count Dandoio estimates his shelves or wicker trays
to be two and a half feet wide. The width may depend
on the room. If made for the purpose, let it be with
reference to rule. If apartments in private houses
are used, the walls being plastered will not be so apt
to harbour vermin. The ventilators should always be
increased according to the dimensions of the building,
but where the quantity fed in one place is small, there
will not be much hazard in the feeding. In Broosa,
and other places in Turkey, the worms are almost
always fed in the private apartments of dwelling-
houses ; and the litter is never removed, but remains
a pile on the floor, the worms extricating themselves
to keep above the dirt, as well as they can, till they
mount to spin.

The walls of the building should have windows at
regular distances ; we do not mean regularly glazed
windows, though some light is necessary. But instead
of glass, stationary blinds moving on an axis, and ris-
ing or falling by a slip of wood attached to each in a
perpendicular position. The blinds being horizontal.
By pressing this slip up or down the blinds will open
to admit light and air, or close to exclude both, so that
the windows act as ventilators, or for air, as well as
Hght.

On the under surface of the shelves and hurdles, on
which the worms are, and facing downward, are con-
structed the corners, as we may call them, on which
the caterpillars may mount and spin. Many con-
trivances may be made for this purpose, and almost
any one will answer. Some give them a branch of
an oak, some a bunch of straw, others a head of broom
corn, or other means according to the convenience of

THE SILK WORM. 243

the silk grower. We have seen a more convenient plan
tiian any of these, and offering, we should suppose, as
favourable a retreat for the caterpillar to spin, as for
the culturist to collect the result of its labour. This is
by covering the under part of the shelves, or that
which canopies the hurdle beneath, with laths of two to
two and a half inches wide, nailed on edgewise, three
inches apart, over the bottom of the shelves, the under
one excepted. This presents a serrated surface, into
which the worms ascend by the aid of what are called
ladders. These are formed of cotton cord, of sufficient
size, fastened to the sides of the hurdles below ; and
the lowerand inner edge of the serrated canopy above,
running the cord from one end of the shelf or hurdle
to the other, in the same manner as a bed bottom is
corded, except that the latter is constructed vertically.
The worm will not, therefore, have to ascend this lad-
der perpendicularly, but at an angle of about forty-
five degrees. When they ascend, they seek out a
corner, alongside probably of another, in one of these
indentations, and there spins its cocoon. They can
easily be abstracted when the spinning is complete.
The caterpillar always ascends before it spins. Some
will crawl to the roof, if permitted, but most stop at
the apartments prepared for them.

When the shelves ascend above the breast, a safe
and suitable ladder should be provided, so that the
hurdles may be taken out by the feeder in a horizontal
positioij, when he proceeds to clean the shelves.

Having now explained the form of the cocoonery,
or Atelier* as it is called in France, it will be suf-
ficient for us merely to allude to a vast volume of
apparatus recommended by Count Dandolo to the
European culturist, as almost necessary, at least as
beneficial, in the management of a large establishment
of silk worms. The count himself occupies not less
than thirty pages in the description of his thermometro-
graphs, thermometers, hygrometers, barometers, ban-

* Atelier de vers a soie, a workshop, or spinning place for silk worms.

244 THE SILK WORM.

boxes, stoves, flash-fire grates, ventilators, and a
variety of subordinate laboratories. It is universally
agreed among all writers acquainted with this climate
that these are here generally redundant and unneces-
sary. In short, experience and matter of fact, even in
the most unfavourable sections of the Union, have
proved this to be generally the case. A good ther-
mometer, indeed, would, in certain cases, be useful,
and never superfluous, especially where the superin-
tendent is desirous to make notes and record experi-
ments relative to the hatching and operations of the
progeny under his care. Though in actual practice,
more bushels of cocoons may be raised without than
with one, yet a good thermometer cannot be other-
wise than occasionally advantageous in a cocoonery.*

* " Since the publication of this work," says the London translator
of Count Dandolo, "there have been erected large laboratories in Lom-
bardy, which are called, Dandulieres, an honorary testimony to the phi-
lanthrojiical Parmentier of Italy." The name, therefore, is already esta-
blished and acknowledged, and cannot be altered for the better. It is
the name of a species of cocoonery, or of that kind recommended by
the count, more particularly useful for humid climates than for this, and
therefore, furnished with aU the apparatus and correctives which he de-
scribes.

In the outward and general construction, it differs not, except as to
its dimensions, being calculated for twenty ounces of eggs, in anything
essential, from the one already described. It is immediately connected,
however, with a subsidiary laboratory or room, into which the count re-
moved the worms after the fourth moulting. The building was tliirty
feet wide, seventy-spven long, and twelve high, and when reckoned to
the top of the roof twenty-one feet high. There are thirteen unglazed
windows, with Venetian shutters outside, and paper frames inside ; un-
der each window near the floor, are ventilators, or square apertures of
about thirteen inches such as to be closed by a neatly fitted sliding pan-
nel, so as to permit the air to circulate and blow over the whole floor.
When the air is not wanted, the pa|)er frames may be closed. There
are eight ventilators, in two lines, in the floor and in the ceiling, placed
perpendicularly, opposite to one another, in the centre of the passages
between the hurdles or trays. Thi^ have sliding panncls made of thick
glass, to close them, and to admit light from abave. As the air of the
floor ventilators ascends, that of the ceiling ventilators descends, it must
pass through the trays. There are also, other six ventilators, made in
the floor to communicate with the rooms beneath. Tlirceof the thirteen
windows are at the end of the house, and at the opposite end are three
doors, constructed so as to admit more or less air as required. These

THE SILK WORM. 245

The EGGS OF THE SILK WORM are so small that
more than sixty are requisite to weigh one grain. In
appearance they exactly resemble a poppy-seed ; in
colour, they are, when first laid, of a yellowish hue,
but change in three or four days to a bluish, or, as
seen through a microscope to a purplish cast, with a
greyish sprinkle over them. The egg has a small hol-
low, or flattened indentation on its upper surface ; the
under is glued to the cloth or paper, and is flat.
Those that continue of the colour they had at first,
are not fecundated, and, of course, worthless.

The preservation and treatment of eggs. In
some places eggs are sold in bottles, having been not
without detriment previously scraped oft' the cloth.
Eggs of this description no one should purchase, es-
pecially since this mode has facilitated the mixing of
the seed of the poppy with them, a deception, whilst
they remain on cloth or paper, not easily practised. It
is possible not only for a theoretical but also for a prac-
tical man to commit mistakes, some of which may be
even egregious, if not absurd. If the latter should be

doors open into another hall thirty-six feet long, and thirty wide, which
forms a continuation of the large laboratory, and contains trays sufficient-
ly raised to facilitate the care of the worms. In this hall there are six
windows, and six ventilators under them, and also four ventilators in the
ceiling. There are six fire places in the great laboratory, one in each
angle, and one on each side of the centre, and a large stove in the mid-
dle. Argand lamps, that give no smoke, are used to give light at night.
Between the hall and the great laboratory, there is a small room, having
two large doors, the one communicating with the laboratorv', the other
with the hall. In the centre of the floor, there is a large square opening,
which communicates with the lower part of the building. This is closed
with a wooden door. This aperture is used for throwing down the lit-
ter, and for admitting fresh leaves, drawn up by a hand pulley.'' — Xow
if to this we add the thennometrographs, the thermometers, hygrometers,
barometers, and all the other etceteras, of the count's thirty pages, we
shall have that species of a cocoonery called a Dandoliere. And if
ever Sir Richard Philip's grand epoch shall arrive, when by the entire
revolution of the precession of the equinoxes, some twenty-five thousand
j'ears hence, the seas of the Antarctic hemisphere, we are told, shall be
transferred to thoseof the Arctic, and vice versa ; and it should rain here,
as it does at Manchester, where they say it rains always, we will re-
pair to Lombardy to take a more exact pattern of a Dandoliere.

21*

246 THE SILK WORM.

popular, and determined to oppose some favourite
fancy or conjectural benefit to nature, reason and com-
parative investigation, some scores of mere theorists
are ready to follow in his wake, and to echo his pre-
script as something infallible and oracular. Hence it
has been recommended by a number of copyists, to
scrape the eggs off the paper or cloth, to wash them
with water or wine, or to employ other preposterous
and unnatural nianoEuvres, Nothing can be more
evident than that this is an officious interference with
the regular manipulation of nature; any artificial
misdirection of this kind, is, to say the least, super-
erogatory and detrimental.

We, therefore, object to washing, or to any similar
interference with the process of nature, as laid down
by Count Dandolo and M. d'Homergue. The un-
fecundated eggs will not hinder the impregnated from
hatching, nor injure their vitality, as has laeen represent-
ed, by their vicinity. The writer last mentioned says,
"no degree of cold can hurt them, provided they do
not freeze." In this country it has been abundantly
tested that no degree of cold, even down to zero, can
injure them, provided that they are not suddenly
raised or depressed from one extreme of cold or heat
to another. It is a sudden transition of temperature
by which they are injured.* Eggs permitted to re-
main under the influence of a high temperature will
hatch, and young larvae, whether the mulberry leaf
be ready or not, will present themselves, to pass
through all the several stages of the parent.

* The caterpillar in her natural state lays her eggs in situations ex-
posed to the changes of the seasons. They will, therefore, remain un-
injured by freezing and cold. In disposing her eggs, the silk worm
covers them with a gummy substance, which resists the ordinary varia-
tions of the seasons. The eggs of the bonil)yx mori have been deposited
on a board in an exposed situation all winter, through the storms and
tempests of the season, and though frequently covered with snow and
ice, whilst the thermometer has been even below zero, yet tlicy have pre-
served their vitality, and hatched at the natural thermal change, precisely
when the same cause has simultaneously developed the vegetable alimen
intended for the sustenance of their future existence.

THE SILK WORM. 247

Eggs, when laid, must be kept dry and cold, and
preserved in a vessel or by other means from the at-
tacks of insects or vermin ; if in summer or autumn,
in a temperature not exceeding fifty-five degrees.
When spring arrives, they should be placed in an ice-
house, or in some such place where they can be kept in
a temperature not greater than from forty to forty-five
degrees, for though at some degrees above this, they
may not hatch, yet they will be liable to addle, as they
would be if kept in a cellar, where the unavoidable
dampness of such places would promote this accident,
and consequently disappoint the hopes of the silk-
grower. A cellar, therefore, is not a good place for
them. In the winter, a dry cool garret is better ;
where they must be protected from vermin and insects,
by many of which they are devoured. To keep them
from the atmospheric air is not according to nature,
which is the best guide in most cases ; on the con-
trary, wherever kept, they should be frequently aired,
as the exclusion of air is one undoubted means of de-
stroying their vitality. They may, by thus artificially
preserving them, at a low dry temperature, be kept
to any part of the season which is desirable. The
cocoon also, as soon as formed, may be preserved in
a low temperature, and in the spring brought into a
higher one. In this way the chrysalis remains in a
torpid state until the warmth revives it, when it
changes its coat, emerges from its confinement, lays
its eggs, and dies. vSuch eggs, too, will be fresh and
better for a new hatchment than those deposited
during the previous fall. Under all circumstances, it
must ever be remembered, that it is not proper to al-
low a hatch, until the food is ready for the young
larvae in sufficient abundance.

Hatching. No hatching should at any time be
attempted, until the mulberry leaves are springing
sufficiently to promise an abundant supply, during
their first and every successive age, as the larvas in-
crease in size to use them. It is always safer to be a
few days too late than too early. The multicaulis

248 THE SILK WORM.

leaf should be well developed, as when loo youn^
these leaves, as well as others, are less healthy than
when mature. In removing the eggs from the ice-
house for the purpose of hatching them, care should be
taken not to introduce them too suddenly to a change
of temperature. They should be cautiously and gra-
dually brought from a cold to a warm atmosphere,
until the temperature be from seventy -five degrees to
eighty degrees. Otherwise through the injury from
sudden transition, sustained by organization so deli-
cate they either would not hatch at all, or hatch and
die soon after.

The method in hatching eggs pursued at Broosa,
says Mr. Rhind, is, " the temperature of the chamber,
near the place where the eggs are put, should be G3^
degrees. This is etiected by increasing the fire,
should the temperature be less, or by opening the
ventilator or door, should it be more. This should
be carefully maintained for two consecutive days.
On the I kird day, the temperature is raised to 66°;
on the fourth, to 68°; on the ffth, to 70°; on the
sixth, to 72°; on the seventh, to 75°; on the eighth,
to 77°; on the ninth, to 79°; and on the tenth,
eleventh and twelfth, to 81°." This is quoted, to
show that it is not mere precision that is here essen-
tial to success, but rather a gradual elevation of tem-
perature to that maximum of heat which a transition
from the e2,^ to the larva requires.*

* Mr. Smith says, " At the period for hatching-, which in Maryland is
generally about the 1st of May, the eG:c;s may be brought out, and their
papers spread on a common table, called the hatching table. The proper
period is always best ascertained by the state of the mulberry leaves. I
consider the best and most safe lime to be that when the leaves are about
the size of a half-dollar. The hatching table may be kept in the common
laboratory. In large establishments, a small, close room, with a stove,
will lie very useful in hatching the eggs, as the temperature may be
regulated at pleasure. But in this case, a thermometer is almost indis-
pensable, as the necessary equability and gradual increase of heat could
not be secured without one."

M. de la Brousse, who, we must remember, wrote for the climate of
France, says, '' The eggs, on white paper, are to be placed on a clean
table, separating each ounce of eggs, and leaving a space of six or eight

THE SILK WORM. 249

When the eggs are thus carefully exposed to heat,
in the manner we have described, they will show
signs of vitality from the seventh to the tenth day,
and by a good eye, or a glass, may be seen within
the pellicle of their covering. Count Dandolo says,
" The following are the signs of the speedy vivifica-
tion of the silk worm. The ash-gray colour of the
eggs grows bluish, then purplish, it then again
grows gray, with a cast of yellow, and finally of a
dingy white. These shades of colour will vary, and
they depend also on the means used in washing the
eggs." This washing, however, is what we advise
to be left out, as ridiculously superfluous. The ten-
der leaves of the mulberry should now be in readi-
ness, and scattered on the trays, shelves, or table
w^here they are placed, and the attendant should be
up by the dawn of day to watch them. The young
larvae, resembling a small black worm, generally ap-
pear from sunrise to ten o'clock in the morning.
Those that do not leave their shell at the latter hour,
usually remain until the next morning. It is impor-
tant to keep the worms of each day's hatch by them-
selves, which may easily be done by the leaves
placed near them for their early sustenance, to which
those that have left the shell will immediately and
instinctively attach themselves, and are, therefore,
thus easily separated and removed wherever the
person tending them chooses. The hatch of any one
day, particularly if sufficiently large, should, all
through the season of feeding, be kept by itself ; but

inches all around each parcel, for the reception of small leaves of the
mulberry. This table, of a size proportioned to the quantity of eggs
that we intend to spread on it, ought to be placed in a room seven or
eight feet square, and seven or eight in heic:lit, closely wainscoted or
plastered, with a lire-place, or, still better, a stove, for the maintenance
of a proper temperature. A fire must be rr— le in this little room, early
in the morning, at noon, and at ten in the evening, for three days before
the eggs are placed in it, in order that the air and the walls should be
made dry and warm." M. de la Brousse, however, would begin with
the temperature of 77^, increase it on each day 2°, until it attain e
maximum of 92°.

250 THE SILK WORM.

never should the hatches of more than two consecu-
tive days be placed together, as they cannot thus
pass, during the time of feeding, through the several
moultings together; and the consequence will be,
that on the same shelf worms will be found eating
voraciously, whilst others are sick or in the act of
moulting, or worms in different states, requiring dif-
ferent treatment, which will be inconvenient, if not
detrimental. In short, in all cases, worms of the
same age, even to a day, and in the same state,
should be distinctly classed, and always placed by
themselves.*

The silk worm at no time evinces much inclination
for motion ; and if properly fed and provided, will
not travel beyond the distance of two or three feet
throughout the whole of its pilgrimage from the egg
to the cocoon. Bat when the young worm first ap-
pears, unless food be near, it displays considerable

* Count DanJolo, who seems to have obtained credit for his skill in
the rearing of silk worms, as well on account of his factitious details and
minuteness, as of his having in some measure led the way in this
art, but not for either simplicity or brevity, qualities of which he knew
little, gives us an elaborate description of the method of hatching the
silk worm. He informs us that the egg-cloths should be steeped in
water, stretched on a board, scraped off with a dull knife, then washed
in a basin with clean water ; the water skimmed to take off dirt and
bad eggs ; put into another basin, and steeped in wine ; then again
washed, rubbed, drained, and dried on linen cloths !

On this, Mr. Roberts remarks as follows, " Where, we would ask, did
the worms, in their native state, procure the scrapers and persons to use
them ? Where di<l they derive the water to perform their ablutions in ]
Where, let us ask, has science derived the knowledge, that the gummy
substance, which gives to the eggs their cohesive property, should be
removed?"

It seems to us, that when the larva becomes vivified, and is about to
emerge from confmcment, it needs no aid but what nature had provided,
that is, the fixed foundation on which the shell and egg were deposited,,
against which, as against a fulcrum, the insect is enabled to act mecha-
nically, and facilitate its escape from the embryo state. If it emerge at
all without this fulcrum, it performs more than Archimedes could, when
he said, " Ao? tt'ju crru, km tuv ynv Ktvyicrai" — " Give me only a place
whereon I can stand, and I will shake the earth." But this very " too
a-Tce," "place ivfiereon I can stand,'^ Count Dandolo and his copyists
take away, by their scrapers, ablutions, and wine-washings, and leave
the little folks to act mechanically on moonshine, if they can.

THE SILK WORM. 251

activity. Its strong desire to eat, which it imme-
diately manitests, impels it to wander anywhere for
food. But if this desire be satisfied by an adequate
and timely provision, they seldom show an inclina-
tion to leave the shelves on \vhich their wants are
supplied. Should this, at any time, take place, which
will only be occasioned by hunger, the mere smell of
a leaf is sufficient to bring them back to their domi-
cile. This disinclination to locomotion is one of the
greatest advantages of the domestic over the wild
silk worm ; otherwise, the trouble consequent on
their attendance would be immense. Providence,
without our contrivance, has ordained it otherwise,
so that our attendance on their little but important
wants, is an interesting specimen of the coalition of
profit and amusement.

We have not stated any special day or week of the
calendar for the hatching to commence. As already
observed, this should be regulated by the time when
the food is in sufficient abundance on the branches
of the mulberry tree. Before we commence a history
of the life of the insect from the time of its egress
from the es,^, it may be proper to premise, that each
of the moultings through which it is destined to
pass may be considered as a disease. The period of
moulting is about twenty-four hours, during which it
lies in a torpid state, and refuses to eat. They are
then greatly injured by disturbance, and, therefore,
as already remarked, all in the same stage of for-
wardness should be classed distinctly, or be in a place
or places separate from those of any other stage, that
the feeding or attendance necessary to one, may not
disturb another class in a diflerent condition.

Diseases. — The silk worms are, too, through im-
proper or negligent treatment, liable to several dis-
eases, sufficiently distinct, by criteria peculiar to each,
from one another. With these diseases it may be
proper to become acquainted, before we enter on the
important operation of feeding, that the silk grower
may, as he advances, understand, at every step, the

252 THE SILK WORM.

prognostics by which one disease is distinguished from
another, and the remedies necessary to arrest its pro-
gress. Some of these diseases 7nay be engendered
by the climate, but more eitlier by that peculiar treat-
ment of the eggs, which fortunately is better known
elsewhere than here, or by some negligence in the
feeding, or mismanagement during the respective
stages; but the whole of this, whether experienced
in this or in other countries, it is incumbent on us to
bring here, in proprio loco, under one view.

The Congressional Report on the Silk Worm enu-
merates eight causes of disease in silk worms, viz :

" 1. Errors in the hatching of eggs, and in the
treatment of very young worms.

" 2. Unwholesome air of the district in which they
were bred.

" 3. Impurity in the air in which they are kept ;
arising from imperfect ventilation, from the exhala-
tions of the litter and focces of the worms, which
have been permitted to accumulate.

"4. Too close crowding, owing to which cause
their spiracles (spiracula) or breathing orifices were
stopped, and the expiration and inspiration of air pre-
vented.*

"5. The quality and quantity of food.

"6. Improper change of food.

" 7. Peculiar constitution of the air in certain sea-
sons, against which no precaution can avail.t

" 8. Frequent changes of temperature in the room
in which they are kept."

1. Diseases from defect in the eggs. It is said,
that when the department destined for the coming

* Had not mechanical impediment .leen contemplated here, we might
have suspected the philosophical accuracy of this statement ; and sup-
posed that the writer intended to say, that by crowding, the vital princi
pie, or oxygen, in any proxi.nate volume of air was impaired ; which we
yet suspect is more or less, on such occasions, combined with any impe-
diment tliac is mechanical.

f Indeed ! What, not even a Dandoliere, nor the Count's fumigating
bottle, nor the chloride of lime ! Credat Judseus, non ego.

THE SILK WORM. 253

forth and laying of the eggs of the moth, is too cold,
below fifty-nine degrees, (say sixty degrees) the im-
pregnating liqnor will not be perfected ; and conse-
quently, it does not give them then* ashy, yellowish
colour, which in the course of fifteen or twenty days,
indicates the perfect impregnation. Those imper-
fectly fecundated bear in them the elements of dis-
ease. Let those who select eggs notice this ; an im-
portant hint, whilst the eggs are so dear. A room
too hot, seventy-seven to eighty-one degrees, is also
injurious. If the male delays coition, he loses much
of the impregnating liquid ; if he couples too soon,
before the female has discharged a fluid with which
she is loaded, her eggs become imperfect, and their
larvce will be liable to disease. Or when the place
where the eggs are kept, is too damp, or they are too
thickly heaped together, in either case they are m-
jured. In the former, the evaporation or drying
requisite to their maturity is prevented; in the latter,
they heat, and the embryo is impaired.

No disease, however, from any of these causes will
occur, when 1. the temperature of the room, appro-
priated to the moths and their evolutions, is kept be-
tween sixty-eight and seventy-five degrees; 2. when
the apartment is dry; 3. when the cloths or paper on
which the eggs are deposited are not too much folded,
and are properly hung on frames. — Diseases, also
arising from ilii m,ismanagem,ent of good eggs re-
main to be mentijuad under this head. When the
temperature, whilst the embryo is approximating to
the state of the larva, is too suddenly elevated, the
organization suffers partial decomposition, indicated
by the reddish colour of the shell, which is a prog-
nostic of disease in the insect. Injurious consequences
also follow a sudden depression of temperature; in
short, sudden transitions are to be avoided throughout
tlie whole existence of the animal.

2. Diseases from the bad air of the district in
ivhich silk worms are reared. Low marshy places,
productive of noxious vapour; all situations where

254 THE SILK WORM.

the air is liable to become stagnant ; and certain ef-
fluvia, especially that from tobacco, or tobacco smoke
from segars are injurious, the latter being speedy
death to the worm. On the contrary, high and ele-
vated places, Avhere wholesome air exists, are salu-
tary to the worm, and favourable to the quality of the
silk, the product of its labours.

3. Diseases from impurity in the air of the co-
coonery. When the air of the cocoonery is not fre-
quently renewed, particularly in the two last ages, a
large volume of evaporation Tvnd eflluvia from the in-
sects and their litter, stagnates, the transpiration is
checked, the foeces and decomposition of the litter
emit noxious exhalations, and the worms become re-
laxed, and disease follows in a few hours. That
cocooneries and all apartments in which numerous
silk worms are kept, should be well ventilated, is,
therefore, indispensable ; and for this very purpose,
in all regular establishments ventilators are con-
structed.

When the air is liable to acquire a morbid ten-
dency, besides the ordinary ventilation, its noxious
qualities may, by fumigation and other means, be
chemically neutralized. This, however, must be done
with care and judgment. Nothing should be con-
sumed in the midst of the cocoonery, but under some
chimney, or in some fireplace constructed for that
and similar purposes, to which the bad air may be
drawn in a current and consumed. Mr. Nysten, page
105, has given his opinion as to the total inetficacy,
as a corrective, of all inere perfumes, though he has
not assigned the reason ; which is, that from them
there is only mechanical dilfusion in the air, but no
chemical action, and consequently nothing is neu-
tralized. For establishments containing numerous
insects, those from five ounces of eggs or more, the
occasional and prudent use of the chemical fumiga-
tory, is to be recommended. For this purpose put
six ounces of common salt, well mixed, with three
ounces of the black oxide of manganese into a bottle,

THE SILK WORM. 255

to which add two ounces of water ; which keep well
corked remote from any stove or fire. In another
bottle provided with a ^^lass g?-ound stopper, (since
acids carbonize and destroy all corks, by which the
acid itself becomes injured,) put a pound and a half
of sulphuric acid ; and be provided with any small
china or delf cup or glass,* by which the quantity of
two-thirds of a spoonful, by any mark within or other-
wise, may be ascertained when fumigation is required;
in the glass, or earthen cup, measure two-thirds of a
spoonful of the sulphuric acid,t which pour into the
first bottle, and immediately a whitish vapour will
ascend. Let this, always held at an elevation above
the head or nostrils± be carried backwards and for-

* Instead of this in the books we find an iron spoon recommended.
Tliis, however, is somewhat singular, since it is well known that all
metals, particularly iron, decompose the water of the mineral acids, and
consequently hydrogen gas is evolved. But no acid except the fluoric,
has any action on china, glazed earthenware or glass. In practice, a
small cream jug. or vessel having a spout, will be found to be the most
convenient. Chlorine gas is wanted from this fumigatorv-, which has a
powerful disinfecfin^ power; but any hydrogen gas would be improper.
" Accounts have been received from Spain." says the well-known che-
mist, Sa;nupl Parkes, " that i;i tlie midst of the dreadful contagion which
reigned in that countiy, the inhabitants of those houses where fumiga-
tions oi chlorine gas were used, had no attacks of sickness, and enjoyed
the best health."

•j- Before the nomenclature of Fourcroix and Lavoisier, or in the lan-
guage of mere alchymy, sulphuric acid was called the oil of vifnol. It
is so, in some measure yet, but very improperly, sinre not a particle of
vitriol exists in its composition. It will be here necessary to caution all
unaccustomed to its use. If a drop, or the smallest quantity fall on the
clothes, the colour is changed, and the fabric in that place destroyed ; if
it fall on the hand or skin, the epidermis is destroyed, but if a particle
fly into the eye, or reach that tender region by a ringer not previously
well washed even after handling the bottle, painful or destructive conse-
quences to the sight will follow. In this latter case apply immediately
and liberally soap-suds, or alkali, and wash off with water. On the
clothes apply dhecili/ liquid ammonia, and both colour and texture are
instantly restored. For this purpose these materials should always be at
hand.

± In the books it is recommended to carrv the bottle above the head ;
but the proper expression would be above the eyes, mouth or nostrils,
since chlorine gas notwithstanding all its disinfecting power, is far from
being tit for being breathed, especially in its undiluted stale, and in that
etate would be injurious to the organs of vision. When in a highly

256 THE SILK WORM.

wards several times through the cocoonery, and when
the vapour ceases return the cork, and replace the
bottle. If the state of the room require it, let this pro-
cess be repeated, /;ro re natu, during the two last
stages particularly of the worm. If the cocoonery is
large, either repeat oftener, increase the mixture, or
which is better, have two bottles containing the mix-
ture of the first. In the last days of the worm, the
bottle may, particularly if on some elevated and cen-
tral place, be left open an hour or two each day, or
moved when elevated into various parts of the co-
coonery. This remedy should be repeated as often
as foulness is indicated. When a fireplace is in the
laboratory, a few shavings may be occasionally burned
in the last stages, which will draw in a fresh current
of ajr ; but even this, if cleanliness be strictly attended
to, is scarcely requisite. In short, we may remember,
as the Chinese have done for ages, that cleanliness is
a "shie qua 7ion" in raising silk.

4. Diseases from want of room. Wlien silk
worms are on the shelves, crowded too much, they
become unhealthy. In removing them, the hand
need not be applied to the insect. It is only neces-
sary to apply another hurdle with fresh leaves in it
to the side of the shelf or hurdle, where the crowded
worms are; which, by the smell of the leaves, they
will perceive and crawl over to them. When a suffi-
cient luimber has passed, the hurdle can be applied to
another shelf, and so on, till the crowded shelves have

diluted state, i. e. as when smelt at a short distance, it occasions cough-
ing; but if a small quantity of the gas, whilst yet undiluted with atmo-
sphtric air, enter the mouth or nostrils, painful and extreme irritability,
if not confinement, is the consecjuetice. The death of the ingenious
chemist Pelletier was occasioned by inhaling by accident a large portion
of this gas. His lungs were instantly iiTetrievably injured, and con-
sumption and death followed. On the contrary, by being first held high
above the mouth or nostrils, the gas rises by its specific levity, is diluted
by a large volume of atmospheric air, in which whilst it disinfects or
neutralizes noxious mixtures, becomes itself neutralized, and conse-
quently innoxious before it reaches the respiratory organs of man or in-
sect. It is proper here to be remarked, that the use of tiie chloride of
lime instead is free from these inconveniences.

THE SILK WORM. 257

Deen sufficiently thinned. Silk worms breathe through
little orifices, or spiracula, situated on each side, near
their legs. Consequently being crowded, to them is
a greater mechanical obstruction than it would be to
animals otherwise circumstanced.

5. Diseases from the quality or quantity of food.
On this point little need he said. The worms should
be fed with great attention to their peculiar wants.
The leaves should be given dry. Wet leaves pro-
duce a diarrhoea, according to some ; but others, on
the contrary, state that they have washed dry leaves,
squeezed out between two moist cloths the excess of
water, and given them with a quantity of humidity,
as nearly the same they had when fresh, to the
worms. It is proper to observe that fresh leaves
seem to be such as nature intended for the worms,
which at all times have a degree of natural moisture,
though externally they may be either wet or dry.
But we approve of dry leaves, though fresh as possi-
ble, being given. It is better that they should be
even a little wilted, than externally moist or wet.
The experience of American culturists vary on this
subject. It is more than probable that a degree of
that care which may be really requisite in a climate
not natural to the insect, is redundant in this country,
which at all latitudes is isothermal with China, and
consequently, the only one, perhaps, in the world,
equally favourable to its exigencies. The leaves
should be given after having lain a day in a cool
place, thinly spread to prevent heating. In the anti-
cipation of rainy weather, a supply for three days
may be procured. Leaves taken from trees growing
in moist soil and shady places are not proper. Over
and under feeding may equally produce disease. The
leaves after being pulled may be exposed to the sun
a few minutes, and then set in a dry place to
cool.

6. Diseases from improper change of food.
Changing the leaves of the red for the white or other
species of mulberry tree is sometimes detrimental,

22*

258 THE SILK WORM.

or whenever this order is reversed. The leaves of
different species or varieties of mulberries should not
be given at the same time ; mucli less any leaf of in-
ferior quality be administered witiiin the last ages of
feeding; since this would occasion derangement in
the animal, imperfect spinning and inferior silk: ex-
ceptions to this consequence are rare.

7. Diseases from a peculiar constitution of the
air. The eudiometer does not seem to be an instru-
ment at all times adequate to detect the variable cir-
cumstances that may disturb, the heterogeneous sub-
stances held in solution that may enter, or the different
states, greater or less rarefaction, tliat may affect the
general constitution of atmospheric air, and conse-
quently vegetable and animal life. Count Dandolo
complained of the year 1814. The farmers in Eng-
land will ever remember the year 1S16. The farmer,
the horticulturist, the orchardist, all complain of unfa-
vourable seasons; and the medical man, or his patients,
of endemical and epidemical times. And whether
we have the influenza or the cholera, we lay the
blame to the air, and demand of the meteorologist its
component parts. His answer is ready, and he re-
plies in three terms, and we are no wiser. But all
this time a myriad evanescent things, hidden from eye,
from ear, from sense, may be in operation. We know
not what magnetic currents, what mundane plates
of electricity, positive and negative, may be in play,
high in aerial climes, but affecting below all animal
and vegetable life. All that we can do, in cases that
transcend all ordinary experience, is to use the pre-
cautions already prescribed, or such of them as the
variable circumstances of the season may require.*

* The year 1816, was, in England, one of unprecedented rain and
humidity. The rain began to fall, soon after the earth got warmed by
the sun, and the evaporation was abundant. After this, the alternation
between excessive evaporation from below, and torrents of continuous
rain from above was incessant during the summer and a large part of
the autumn. The farmer sought hedges or walls on which to dry his
hay, for the ground was unfit. The reapers were in some places up to

THE SILK WORM. 259

8. Diseases from sudden changes of lernpcra-
ture. We must ever remember that the insects,
which we suppose to be now under our care, are
tender, and of a delicate constitution ; and therefore
we should be provided with every suitable means
to correct any sudden, extraordinary or unexpected
variation of temperature. And this care should be
continued not only during their feeding, but also
through their spinning season; especially since the
liquid gum in the secretor from which they spin, if
the temperature be too low, congeals, and arrests,
unless due warmtli be immediately restored, the spin-
ning process, and the silk in this case is lost. The
directions already given, will on this point, and m this
climate be sufficient.

On the air, the quality of the food, and the degree
of care and attendance which the caterpillar receives,
through its several ages, and even during the fabrica-
tion of its cocoon, depend the time it occupies in its
respective changes, and the excellency of its silk. It
has not been generally customary as yet to feed it
through the night, but experience has proved that
where night feeding has been attended to, the worms
are stronger, the cocoons heavier, the silk superior,
and the time shorter between the e^s, and the con-
summation of its toil.

Particular Diseases. The names ordinarily
given to the diseases of silk worms, are not those em-
ployed to signify the same in Lombardy, but those
given in L'Abbe Rozier's Cour d'Agriculture, which
is an excellent compendium of all written on silk
worms by French authors.

the ankles in mud to cut the wheat, and the sheaves, for want of sun
to ripen, had to remain in the fields until the snow of an early winter
began to cover them ! Who would not say, that had silk worms been
rearing in such a climate and in such a season, that a Dandoliere, with
all its apparatus of stoves and chimney-places, for sudden flash fires, and
other corrections of excessive humidity, would have been desirable 1 In
the same year (1816) there was almost no summer in the United
States. Frost occurred in this state every month in the year save one,
and the changeableness of the season was disastrous to vegetation.

260 THE SILK WORM.

1. The Passis. — This is a vague expression, and
means little that is special, since it is derived from
passKfi, that merely signifies .stijferhig. Custom how-
ever has arbitrarily applied it to signify in the insect
a kind of marasmus, atrophy, or simple waste of
muscular substance. This disease is knoivn, 1st,
from the yellow tinge of the worms ; 2d, from its
lengthened spare shape and wrinkled skin ; 3d, from
its sharp and stretched feet ; 4th, it eats little, lan-
guishes, and is evidently in a state of atrophy.

The cause is said to be an excess of heat main- .
tained during the dormant states, or convalescences
immediately after the respective moultings, or to the
length of time the worm is suffered to remain under
the pressure of litter. The reviedies are instant re-
moval from the healthy worms to an apartment which
is well ventilated, and where they can be distinctly
attended to. They slionld have a due supply of ten-
der leaves, a uniform temperature, but a little higher
than that required by the worm in a state of health.

2. The Grasserie, derived from the French gras,
grasse, fat, full, &.c. This disease generally appears
towards the second moulting, rarely later, and is
scarcely known in the fourth age. The symptoms
are, 1st, they eat, but do not digest their food ; hence,
2dly, they swell and become bloated; Sdly, their bodies
become opaque and of a greenish colour ; 4th, the cir-
cumference around their breathing apertures, become
of a citron colour, or of a dirty white ; 5th, their skins
tear from the least touch, and sometimes sponta-
neously burst from over distension ; Gth, they are co-
vered with a viscous, oily humour; 7th, they appear
disposed to obtain relief from distension to stretch
their feet; 8th, the acrid humour proceeding from it.
The last stage of this disease is death to any worm
with which it comes into contact.

The causes are said by Mr. Nysten to be the too
glutinous nature of the food given to the worm in its
second and third ages; by Mr. Roberts, the too sub-
stantial food for the young worms, occasioning indi-

THE SILK WORM. 261

gestioii ; by La Broiisse, too abundant nourishment,
badly regulated, or to the neglect of drying the
leaves when wet by rain or dew, and to the lack of
fresh air during the last changes of the worms. The
7'emedies are, if not too late, 1. instant remov'al to a
distinct room or place ; 2. lessen the quantity of
nourishment ; 3. give the thin leaves of the wild, or
of some inferior mulberry ; and 4. ventilation and
moderate temperature.

3. LuisETTE, from luire to shine. There are but
few worms attacked by this disease, which seldom
appears till after the fourth moulting, or fifth age.
The symptoms are l.the luisettes, or shiners, feed and
grow like others, except in thickness ; 2. their colour,
first of a clear red, soon changes to a dirty white ;
3. if attentively observed, it will be seen to drop a
viscous humour from its silk tubes ; 4. their body
becomes transparent, which has occasioned the name
of the luisette or gloiv icorm.

Causes. On being opened, their stomach has been
found empty, except of a glairy transparent fluid,
which has led to the inference that this malady is
occasioned by negligence in feeding, or by a partial
supply of food ; a theory since proved by JNI. Nys-
ten,* who produced the disease by starving some
worms for twenty-four hours.

Remedy. The translator of Count Dandolo, and
M. la Brousse prescribe a short remedy, viz. " throw
them away." Others have either more patience or
more mercy, and advise 1. instant removal; 2. a
supply of food, gradually, not suddenly increased,
until perfect restoration.

4. The Yellows is the name of a disease that ap-
pears about the fifth age, when the worms are filled
with a silky fluid, and are about to spin.

Symptoms. 1. The body swells, and the enlarge-
ment of the rings gives to the feet an appearance of
being drawn up from the tumescence of the adjacent

* Recherches sur le Maladies des vers a soie, par P. H. Xysten, Paris,
1S08. Des Vers a Soie, par M. Reynard, Paris, 1824.

262 THE SILK WORM.

parts ; 2. the worm acquires a yellow colour ; 3. they
cease to eat, and run about, leaving stains of a yellow
fluid ; 4. the yellowness first appears around the spi-
racula, and is thence dift'used over the external sur-
face ; 5. the insects soon become soft, and burst ; 6.
the morbid humour issuing from them is fatal to the
worm that touches it.

Causes. The Abbe Sauvage ascribes this afiection
to sudden exposures to great heat. It is also else-
where imputed by him to indigestible food, and
exposure to the iniluence of rainy or moist weather.
It is said also to be an anasarca, or dropsy of the
skin, arising from a defect in the absorbent vessels of
its system.

Remedy. 1. Instant removal, as on all similar
occasions ; 2. ventilation or a change of air, assisted
by fires if necessary ; 3. in two cases, oak leaves
were given, with success.

5. The MuscARDiNE, or numbness. This disease
appears in the fifth age.

Symptoms. 1. Black spots appear in different
parts ; 2. they next become yellow, and finally red,
or of the colour of cinnamon, which is diffused over
the whole body ; 3. Tlie worm becomes hard and
dry, and covered ultimately with a white mould.

Cause. 1. A continuance of a hot, dry, and close
air.

Remedies. 1. Removal; 2. purify the air by re-
peated fumigations ; 3. and promote an active circu-
lation in its current, by ventilation.

6. The Tripes, or mort blanc. We are informed
that M. Rigaud de Lisle, inhabitant of Crest, first
discovered this to be a distinct disorder. Sy7npfoms,
the worms become flaccid and soft. When dead,
they preserve a fresh and healthy appearance, and
on being touched, they feel, it is said, like tripe :
hence the name.

Cause. The disease appearing chiefly during
most or rainy weather ; and M. Nysten's experi-
mental proof that it may be produced from the vapid

THE SILK WORM. 263

exhalations from the litter of annncleansed cocoonery,
siitliciently indicate that an excess of moisture, held
in mechanical dift'usion in the atmosphere, is incom-
patible with the health of the insect.

Remedies. 1. Instant removal as before ; 2. dry
the air of the infirmary apartment by sndden flash
fires, under chimneys provided for the purpose, and
keep up the warmth and dryness of the room by
continuous fires in stoves at a proper temperature.*

Though it is necessary in a work of this kind to
mention the diseases that occur through either negli-
gence or mismanagement, yet we may rest assured
that if only the cautions and treatment prescribed in
this work, suited to the several stages of our insect
colony, be observed, the worms of our establishment,
however numerous, will be preserved in perfect
health. Of worms, thi'ough negligence, the French,
M. Beaiivais informs tis, formerly lost fifty per
cent. ; lohilst the Chinese, bringing their experience
of 4000 years to bear on their charge, scarcely
lose one per cent. ! This difference carried out into
the million, is 490,000 looi^ms ; or a difl'erence in
silk of 163 pounds, worth ^S15: sufficient to show
the value of the timely care and vigilant attention of
our fn.<e tveeks' services, for which the little generous
animals will pay us so liberally.!

* The discovery of and remedy for this disease has been aseribed to
Mr. G. B. Smith, of Baltimore. How long a time has elapsed since the
discovery, we know not ; but we find the remedy recommended in
Lardner and others, and it was probably known from ten to fifteen
years ago at least. The chloride of lime, as a fumigator and purifier, has
been known since its first discovery, and the application of such a
chemical preparation, })ublicly known to possess such properties, is a
discoveiy which would have suggested itself to every one requiring its
aid. Tlie disease itself may have been first pointed out by the very
respectable gentleman above named. But the remedy claimed for Mr.
Smith has been known to others, at a prior date, and has been men-
tioned by Lardner at least, without knowing that such suggestions had
been followed elsewhere. Vide Lardner, 133.

■j- Besides the diseases commonly mentioned by writers in this coun-
try, the following, which are evidently distinct morbid alfections, are
also described by Italian and French authors.

7. The Scarlet. Tliis disease is so called from the more or less

264 THE SILK WORM.

Enemies to Silk Worjis. The enemies of silk
worms are spai'j^ows, sivallows, robbins, the titmouse,
and poultry. Care must therefore be taken to ex-
clude them, by keeping, when necessary, the win-
dark red colour which the skin of the silk worm assumes when issuing
from the egg. Tiic worms attacked by this disorder seem cramped, stu-
pified, and suffocated. Tlieir rings dry up, and they look exactly like
mummies. The red colour then becomes ashy and white. This disor-
der does not always kill the worm in the first moulting, nor yet in the
second ; and sometimes, they do not die until after the fourth moulting.
When, if they live so long, it becomes more diOicult to distinguish them,
as their colour becomes less dark, and cannot be so easily separated
from the healthy, since they might be mistaken by the most practised
eye. They will even weave cocoons, which are good for nothing, called
cajignons, from being soft and ill-woven.

8. The Drageks. This is not properly a disease of the silk worm,
since the cocoon is already formed, when it is called a dragee. A dragee
cocoon does not contain a chrysalis, but a worm short and white, like a
sugar plum: hence it has been also called the iv/ii/c conifil. If the
worm, after having made the cocoon, has not been able to change into a
chrysalis, it is a proof that, in that state, it was sick. But it is not likely
that a disease that never occurs except in a chamber hermetically sealed
from all observation, can be accurately defined by the fuculfi/ that attend
on silk worms or on any other kind of patients. In Europe, whole
broods have been found, of which nearly all the cocoons are affected
with the dragee. This, however, except as to the eg'^s, is not a loss,
for the cocoons are unimjiahed in qnality. As an article of sale, thiy
are undervalued, but the i)ro])rictor that reels himself, finds them as pro-
fitable, both as to quantity and quality, as any other cocoons. A dragee
cocoon is known by shaking it, when the sound resulting from a dried
sultstance may be perceived.

9. The Calcinaccio. " Calcination,^'' says M. Dandolo, " is not a
disease observed in any other species of worm, not even in the caterpil-
lars that live in the open air ; whirh evidently proves that it proceeds
from bad management. This disease is the result of certain chemical com-
binations, which may decompose the component substance of the silk worm
at any period of its existence. The causes which produce it are such,
that sometimes it will declare itself rapidly, or sometimes it will remain
dormant until the moment of rising on the hedge, and even when it
has formed the cocoon. It becomes general in a laboratory, or is partial,
according as the chemical element that produces it is spread or confined
to peculiar parts; but it is never contagious. A worm having died by
calcination, put in contact with a healthy worm, will in no degree affect
it." M. Decajtitani having publicly asserted that calcination was the
result of catarrhal affection, the count, in 1818, entered into a series of
ten experiments, which successfully proved the error of the hypothesis
of M Decai)itani.

10. The Gattine. By Gatiina (Hal.) or Gattine (i'VeracA) is gene-

THE SILK WORM. 265

dows closed. Besides these, such vermin as mice,
rats, weasels, lizards, ants, and spiders, are to be ca-
talogued as enemies. The last are said to make the
most active war against silk worms. Spider webs
ought, therefore, to be carefully cleared away, and all
possible precautions should be taken against the other
enemies that beset them. To prevent the attack of
ants, or other creeping insects, the posts supporting
the fixed shelves, or any part of the frames, ought
not to touch either the ceiling or the walls ; and the
legs of the posts ought to be smeared with molasses,
or placed in basins of water, where ants are known
to harbour : both these methods would be a more
secure preventive. Vermin of other kinds, as mice,
rats, etc., must be trapped and killed in the usual
way.

Statistics relative to silk worm eggs and space
requisite for feeding. Whether we are about to com-
mence the silk culture on the small or large scale,
it is of importance to know how many silkworms, at
least on the average, we may expect from an ounce
of eggs. But here as usual, instead of having any
thing like certainty and precision, in what may be
considered to be an element in statistical calculation
on this subject, we have by the irreconcilable state-
ments of all that have written on this topic, for at least
the last twenty years, all that sort of obscurity which
may be conceived to arise from the twofold source of
error, discrepancjj and ambiguity. We have before

rally unJerstood a worm that cannot accomplish the functions of nature to
which it is destined according to the degree of change that it has expe-
rienced. This disease is indicated by restlessness, seeking seclusion,
loss of appetite ; though some eat well, live through several ages, and
then, from instinctive desire of separation, die off the tray, or on the edge
of it, but not on the Utter, unless attacked by the disease suddenly, and
have no strength to retreat.

The catiifs assigned hy Count Dandolo and Morin, are, 1. Injur)' as
to the eggs, from error in the preservation, hatching, removal, or carriage;
2. Subsequent negligence as to temperature, air, or food. " There can-
not exist disease," says the count, " when the e^^ is well impregnated,
well preserved, and the silk worm well attended to." Xo remedies, ex
cept the preventive, have as yet been prescribed for this malady.

23

266 THE SILK WORM.

US Statements relative to the number of eggs in an
ounce, that vacillate at aU points between the two ex-
tremes of 42,000 and 20,000 per onnce; and others
condescend not even to say whether, by the number
they quote, they mean simply the eggs, or the num-
ber of worms we may expect from an ounce, or the
number at the hatch that will weigh an ounce.

AU, however, in this, whether Italian, French, Ger-
man, English or American writers, seem to follow
Count Dandolo. Notwithstanding the count's very
venial but yet evident eccentricities, wherein he has
carried the favourite pursuit of his life beyond the
" est modus in rebus,'' yet is he to this day, in several
points relative to silk culture, the facile princeps.
Had any one or two of the numerous copyists that
have followed in his wake, exemplified the same in-
defatigable patience in minute investigation, all incer-
titude on this, and on certain other points, would have
been at an end ; since, thus, in the mouth of two or
three witnesses, )ioi copyists, every thing had been
established.

Of those that have stated 42,000, 40,000, 35,000,
30,000, 29,000, 22,640, and 20,000, to the ounce, we
could quote the principal and most popular authors
that have written on this subject within the last
twenty years, in this country, or in Europe. The
42,000 is a number that is some second edition of
Dandolo's statement of 42,260 eggs to the ounce of
his little worms, of three moultings, and therefore has
nothing to do with the calculation. The 40,000 is
the convenient echo in round numbers of the count's
discovery that 39,168 eggs of the common silk worm
weigh one ounce. This and all the rest, however
modified, by taking off one-third for, as we are told,
presumed loss, or for other reasons, are evidently de-
rived, seldom with acknowledgment, but without
any thing independent, anything new on the subject.

The whole, therefore, whether Italian, French, Ger-
man, English or American writers, on this point, being
plainly convicted, on the prima facie evidence of the

THE SILK woRnr. 267

trial, of a second-hand character, we shall repair at
once to our Pythagoras, not with servile obsequious-
ness '■'■jurare in verba magistri,'" nor to echo an
"7/;.ye dixit, ""^ but to institute an inquiry, relative to a
point in silk culture, which may be considered as an
element, and, therefore, important in statistical calcu-
lation.

The count says,* " to make one ounce of picked
eggs, there should be, for an average weight, 39,168
eggs. I observed with some surprise, that there loas
little difference in the iveight of eggs belonging to
above twenty persons.^' Dandolo, therefore, had as-
certained this fact by at least twenty distinct trials !
Where have we another example of patient investiga-
tion equal to this ? Not one ! So easy is it to copy,
or to quote the words of another as our doctrine ; so
difficult to be original. The count adds,

" I have had the patience to count many hundred
thousand eggs, in hopes that it might be useful," (true
patriotism exercised in that whence least expected;
" in tenui labor,^^) "in the art of rearing silk worms.
The best eggs when weighed atlbrded no more than
sixty-eight eggs per grain. t And the inferior quality
of eggs did not afford more than seventy eggs per
grain." He afterwards adds, "one ounce is com-
posed of 576 grains."

But what is to be inferred from this ? The count
'ived at Vareset near Milan in Lombardy, a region
where both the number of grains in a pound, and the
grain itself as weighed by any standard unit is con-
stantly shifting every fifty or sixty miles. In Florence

• P. 73 and 74.

■(■ This would be equivalent to seventy-three to the English grain.

i Count Dandolo made those experiments on his estate, Varese, near
Milan, where he opened a real school for the silk culture, and where he
gathered around him some young men, to whom he read lectures on this
art. The count died of apoplexy on the 12th of December, 1819. His
laboratorj' still exists at Varese. and had been imitated in several places.
It is indeed a perfect model. The Italians call these laboratories, Dan-
dolieres, from gratitude to the person throus^h whose instruction the
crops of silk have increased tenfuld in Italy, and who has secured to hia
eountry an abundant source of wealth." Count de Hazzi.

268 THE SILK WORM.

the pound is equal to 5286* grains English ; the
pound at Genoa to 4426 ; at Naples to 4952 ; at
Rome to 5257 ; at Turin to 4940 ; and at Venice they
use two pounds, the greater and the less; one of
6826, and the other of 4215 English grains. But we
are nowhere accurately informed what the natives of
these places respectively term a grain, nor how many,
in each case, they reckon either to the pound or ounce.
The number of grains, 576, in Dandolo's ounce being
one-tenth of 5760, the number of Ens;lish grains in a
pound troy, added to a vague report from the neigh-
l)Ourhood of Naples, either that an Italian pound
consists often Italian ounces, or is equal to ten Eng-
lish ounces, has led some to conjecture that Dandolo's
ounce was equal to one-tenth of a pound troy. But
since the 576 grains quoted by him are no aliquot
part, neither tenth nor twelfth at least of any one, on
the list now before us of the sixty-five European
pounds, whose quantities are expressed in English
grains, it is sufficiently evident, that Ave are to under-
stand 576 Italian not English grains. The count,
however, has elsewhere informed us that the Milan
pound consists of twelve ounces, and consequently of
6912 Milanese grains, and that twenty-eight ounces
of Milan are equivalent to about twenty-five French
ounces; without however stating of what French
pound.t Dr. Lardner, however, without quoting
authority, undertakes to decide that 533 Milanese
grains are equal to one ounce avoirdupois. That is,
39,168 silk worm eggs weigh 576 Milanese grains:
therefore, at the same rate, 36,244 are in weight equal

* Though no notice is taken in avoirdupois tables of any denomina-
tion lower than a drachm ; yet an avoirdupois pound is equal to 7000
grains; and no grain is used in English weights but that in troy and
apothecaries weights, which are the same. Of these the pound troy
contains 57G0; the ounce troy 480, and the ounce avoirdupois 4372.

j- The following list will be sulhcient to show the necessity of being
special in quoting foreign weights or measures, when that of a single
nation can shift into shapes as many as those of the Protean god. The
oound of Avignon is equal to 6217 English grains: of Bordeaux to
7460 of Lisle to 6544 ; of Marseilles to 6041 ; of Montpelier to 6217;

THE SILK WORM. 269

to our avoirdupois ounce of 437^ grains. We are not
warranted, therefore, making some deduction for loss,
to quote more than 35,000 eggs to the English avoir-
dupois ounce.

Mr. Roberts, to make allowance for a possible loss
of one-third, or thirty-three per cent., gives 20,000 to
the ounce. Here then is meant, eggs that succeed in
the hatch, which evidently agrees, accounting for the
deduction, with the statement we have given. But
we see no need for loss to any such extent, since the
Chinese can boast that their loss exceeds not one per
cent.*

We cannot here omit to mention another interesting
discovery, relative to the eggs of the silk worm, that
did not escape the vigilance of Dandolo. He found
that 576 grains, or one Milanese ounce of eggs, lost
on being brought into the store room, in order to
hatching, or at the temperature of 64°, forty-seven
grains by evaporation ; and that the shells or husks,
after hatching weighed 116 grains. Hence, 163
grains deducted from 576, leave the weight of the
39,168 worms immediately after hatchment to be
413 grains. " At this rate," says he, " 54,526 young
worms are required to form the weight of one ounce,"

the f:Uk pound of Lyons to 6916, the common to 6431 ; of Nancy to
7038; of Rouen to 7772; of Toulouse to 6323 ; and of Paris to 7561.
Neither the hecatogramme, nor the chiliogramme of the French Na-
tional Institute is, in quantity, any thing near to one pound. We are
informed, it is true, that the Milan pound is equal to 5400 French
grains, which are equal to 4430 English grains, or 369 English grains
to the Milanese ounce ; but this would give the doubtful result of 46,439
silk worm eggs to the avoirdupois ounce.

* We take this opportunity to advise every future and ingenious cul-
turist to provide himself with a set of apothecaries weights and scales.
He will find it useful for many domestic purposes. It will contain the
following weights: of grains, from the half grain to six grains; the half
scruple equal to ten grains ; the scruple twenty grains ; two scruples or
forty grains ; the drachm sixty grains, eight of which are equal to one
ounce troy or apothecaries, or 480 grains ; and the two drachm weight.
Let him by repeated trials find the number of eggs that weigh five
grains, and multiply the number by eighty-seven and a half; he will
then have the number of eggs weighing an avoirdupois ounce of 437^
grains.

23*

270 THE SILK WORM.

i. e. Milanese ounce of 576 grains, equal to 533 Eng-

54,526 X 533
lish ffrains. Hence ^^r--. =50,548 newly

° bib ^ •'

hatched worms ; which are equal to ounce avoirdu-
pois.

The Count, besides informing us that it requires
immediately after hatching 54,626 young worms to
weigh an ounce, also states, that after the first moidl-
ing, " 3S40 are sufficient to make up that weight ;
and that the \vorm, therefore, has increased in six
days, fourfeoi li)?ies its own weight:" that after the
second moulting 610 will form this weight ; or that it
has increased its average weight sixfold; that at the
end of the third lyioulting, 144 worms weigh an
ounce, implying an increase more than fourfold;
that at the end of the fourth moulting, only thirty-
five are requisite to the ounce, proving again 2i four-
fold increase ; and that at the close o{ the fifth moult-
ing even six silk worms weigh the same as 54,526
immediately after hatching, nearly an increase of six
tirnes their size in the preceding age ; or an entire in-
crease in all of 9000 times from the first commence-
ment of the larva state. From these premises, it
must necessarily follow that one English ounce of
worms immediately after hatching, will, on the sup-
position that none are lost, weigh 9000 ounces at
mounting to spin the cocoon ; or 5 cwts. 0 qrs. 2 lbs.
8 oz. for every ounce of worms ! !*

The whole of the history of this little insect, is to
the naturalist too interesting, and to the culturist too
important, to allow any thing of a statistical charac-
ter to pass unobserved. We have already remarked,
that according to the calculation of Count Dandolo,
these almost microscopic animalculas require, imme-
diately after the hatch, 54,626 to weigh one ounce;
but at the end of the first age 3840 worms ; at the end
of the second 610 ; at the end of the third 144; at the
end of the fourth 35 ; and at the end of the fifth only six

• See Lardner, p. 105, and Dandolo, passim.

THE SILK WORM. 271

are required to weigh one ounce. These numbers,
however, are respectively adapted to the Milan ounce
of 57G Milanese grains ; to 533 of which, one avoir-
dupois ounce of 437-5 English grains, is equal; to
which if the above numbers and ratios are reduced,
they will stand as follows:

Immediately after hatching, it will require 50,548
silk worm iarva3 to weigh one English avoirdupois
ounce ; at the end of the first age 3553, when the
ratio of increase in weight is more than fourteen times
the first state of the larva; at the end of the second
age, 564, the ratio of increase exceeding six times the
weight at the end of the first age ; at the end of the
third age, 1 33, the ratio on the maximum weight of the
preceding age being more than quadruple; at the end
of the fourth age, thirty-two, the ratio being more than
four; at the end of the fifth age, 5,552, or little more
than five and a half worms, if well fed, will weigh one
English avoirdupois ounce, the ratio of increase ex-
ceeding that of the quintuple on the former state of
existence. But the whole ratio of increase from the
hatchment to the full size of the last age, will be
908S; or, in round numbers, a single ounce of the
insects, each of which at the hatch weighed less than
nine one-thousandth parts of a grain, iii less than
five weeks, will weigh more than 9000 ounces ! ! ! That
is, a single worm will at the following specified stages
of its existence weigh respectively as stated below.

English Grains.

At the hatch one worm will weigh '00865

At the end of the 1st age it will weigh -12313

2tl -77570

3d 3-28947

4th 1.3-67187

5th 78-86023

or 9000 times its first weight !

But how does a unit of any dimensions become in
live weeks 9000 such units ? Here we cannot but re-
member that the leaves of the mulberry, by insect-
chemistry, arc marvellously converted, 1st, into a
worm: 2dly, into a silken cocoon: then Sdly, by art

272 THE SILK WORM.

into raw silk, and lastly into fabrics finer than which
nothing can adorn the persons of emperors or qneens,
nor embellish their palaces and thrones. During the
five weeks, one worm has consumed, on the average,
about 340 grains, or twelve drachms eleven grains
avoirdupois of leaves; more than three-fourths of
which have evidently passed off by the pores and
other emunctories; and there remain of the 340 grains,
seventy-eight and forty-three fiftieths* grains, trans-
formed into the substance of the worm.

The whole of this statement deduced from Count
Dandolo, is, however, somewhat at variance with
what he has himself taught us in the latter part of his
volume.t He there observes that 360 worms pro-
duce, on the average, one pound and a half of co-
coons, and that the silk worms proceeding from five
ounces of eggs will yield 600 pounds of cocoons.
Hence it is evident,! that his calculations all through,
are for 144,000 surviving worms from five ounces
of eggs; and not for 200,000, as some, calculating on
40,000 worms from each of the five ounces, have
supposed. But this 144,000 from five Milanese
ounces are only equal to 133,250§ worms from five
English avoirdupois ounces; ox io 2Q,Q50 surviving
worms from each avoirdupois ounce. If Mr. Roberts
calculates only for 100,000 surviving worms from
five ounces of eggs, or 20,000 from one, the difl'erence
of 33,250 is between him and the count, in favour,
however, of the latter; or rather in favour of the
count's argus-eyed vigilance and care, and of the
superiority of the dundoliere and its almost self-
regulating correctives, over that of the comparatively
chance-helmed cocoonery. That difference, how-

* 27'34375 grains are equal to an avoirdupois drachm ; but sixty
grains to a drachm apothecaries, eight of which make an ounce of apothe-
caries, or troy weight.

f Page 195, et seq.

o7o

THE SILK WORM. 273

ever, is one of thirty-three per cent., in favour of
the ItaHan patriot in silk culture. It follows that
when our zeal, our enthusiasm, are equal to those of
the indefatigable Dandolo, we shall have 26,650 sur-
viving insect artisans from every ounce of eggs ; or
26,650 that live to the cocoon out of every 36,244
originally in the shell.

But the 133,250 survivors from five ounces of eggs,
would at the moment of becoming larvse, weigh only
2 ounces, 10-177 drachms avoirdupois.* To trace
now with accuracy the actual increase in weight from
the incipient larva to the completion of the fifth age,
and then the decrease in insect substance, and vege-
table consumption, to the cocoon, we refer once more
to our most assiduous experimentalist. At page 195
he observes, "the result of my experiments proves
that 360 silk worms, which produce about one pound
and a half of cocoons, weigh, when at their highest
grov\'tli and size, three pounds, three ounces and a
half. The silk worms, after this, are ready, in the
course of two or three days, to begin their cocoons,
and then weigh only about two pounds! seven ounces.
^^'hen the silk worms begin to rise, they void a quan-
tity of nearly pure water, part of which is sometimes
discharged through the silk-drawing tubes, and by
transpiration. They also evacuate a small quantity
of solid substance, and then form the cocoon in three
or four days : these cocoons altogether weigh about
one pound and a half. Let us now imagine a labo-
ratory calculated to contain the silk worms proceeding

• 1 X 1332.50 „

— ,^,,„ — =2 ounces 10*177 drachms.
50548

f Some discrepancy either in the original translation or type is evi-
dent throughout the whole of this statement ; for here two pounds, seven
ounces, are made equal to the forty-two ounces mentioned a few lines af-
terwards. Again, notwithstanding that in the appendix we are told that
twelve ounces make the Milanese pound, it is evident here, that all the
count's reckoning is hy some pound of sixteen ounces ; since

^ '- — -^ ^=3 lbs. 3^ oz. which agrees with his statement ;

1050X to
whilst twelve ounces to the pound do not.

274 THE SILK WORM.

from five ounces of eggs, and sufficient to produce
about six quintals* of cocoons ; the following will
offer the result. If 360 silk worms weigh three
pounds, three ounces and a half, when in their utmost
growth and perfection, it must clearly appear that the
whole of the silk worms of the laboratory, which pro-
duce 600 pounds of cocoons, will weigh 1,285 pounds,
three ounces, when they reach their utmost growth.
And if the 3G0 silk worms, previous to beginning
their cocoons, only weigh forty-two ounces, it must
appear equally clear, that the whole of the silk worms
of the laboratory will be about ten quintals, fifty
pounds. And therefore, in three days, the silk worms
must have lost 231 h* pounds weight of substance,
either solid or liquid, from exhalation or steam.
And if after two or three days, the silk worms that
are reduced to ten quintals and fifty pounds weight,
are changed into 600 pounds of cocoons; it is evident
that in three or four days, they must have lost 450
pounds weight of substance either in liquid, vapour,
or gas. In the space of six or seven days, therefore,
the bodies of the insects requisite to produce only 600
pounds of cocoons, must have lost 700 pounds in
weight and substance. This astonishing quantity
excreted from the bodies of the worms in so short a
time, is of greater weight than the total weight of the
cocoons and aurelias, which only weigh 600
pounds."

By an attentive investigation of the preceding
statements of Count Dandolo, it will be suificiently
evident that he is calculating by the poids de marc
of Charlemagne, equal to 7561 English troy grrans.
Consequently, the 144,000 surviving worms of the
laboratory, to which his calculations refer, and which
he says at their maximum size weigh 1285 lbs. 3 oz.
weigh 9,717,301 English grains; or 67-48 grains
each. And the 50,548 larva) that immediately at the

• A quintal is equal to 100 pounds.

•f (128r) lbs. 3 oz.— 1 050) =,233 lbs. 3 oz. ami not 237^ lbs.

THE SILK WORM. 275

hatch weighed one ounce, will at their maximum
size weigh 4 cwt. 1 qr. 11 lbs. 4 oz. 10 dr. 17^ grains ;
that is, one ounce of worms at the hatch, if well fed,
will in five weeks weigh 487 lbs. 4 oz. 10 drachms,
17i grains! ! We prefer this result to the former ;
the premises of which are comparatively vague and
approximate.

But if the calculation be referred to the count's
144,000 surviving silk worms that were originally
five ^Milanese ounces in the shell, and 1285 pounds,
three ounces of the same weight at their maximum
size, and finally only 600 Milan pounds in the cocoon,
and we find that they have consumed in their growth,
according to the same authority, 7520 Milan pounds,
of the white mulberry leaves, it is evident that nearly
Jive-sixths of the entire quantity of food consumed
by these insects have passed ofl' by evaporation and
otherwise before they attain their maximum size, and
more than eleven-twelfths before the completion of
the cocoon. Here are, therefore, eleven-twelfths, at
least, or 6S86 lbs. of the 7520 lbs. that must pass otf
by evaporation, ventilation, or in litter, before we have
the consummation of the laboratory in cocoons. " It
is scarcely credible," says Dandolo, " that the bodies
of the silk worm should yield so much noxious mat-
ter in a few days, were it not demonstrated by posi-
tive facts. It is needless to remark how much this
large body of exhalation, were it stagnant in the
laboratory, might in the latter days generate disor-
ders, and cause great mortality at the very moment
when the abundant crop of cocoons was confidently
expected. We must, therefore, deeply feel the neces-
sity of attentively following the prescribed directions
for avoiding this evil."

This is more minutely and clearly stated by the
count in a calculation that he afterwards enters into
for a single ounce. " The result of the most exact
calculation is, that the quantity of leaves drawn from
the trees, employed for each ounce of g^2,s, amounts

276 THE SILK WORM.

to one thousand, six hundred and nine pounds, eight
ounces, divided in the following manner.

Sorted leaves. Refuge picked Loss by evaporation &c.

from llie leaves. during the wiiole period

lbs. lbs. oz. ol' picking.

1st age 6 1 8 lbs. oz.

2(1 18 3 0 105 0

3d 60 9 0

4th 180 27 0 142 8

5th 1098 102 0 1362 0

1362 142 8 1C09 8

Relative to the refuse to be picked from the leaves,
he observes : " Great care must be taken in picking
and sorting the leaves for the feeding of the worms
of the first ages, such as picking ott' all twigs, stalks,
spots, &c.; and to clear them as much as possible from
all useless parts. This operation is most essential in
the two first ages, when the leaves are to be chopped
very small. In the third age, the sorting and picking
is not of so much consequence, and still less so in the
subsequent ages. The sorting and picking is of im-
portance, inasmuch as it enables you to put fifteen or
twenty per cent, less substance on the shelves, than
would otherwise be done, which the worms do not
eat. This substance increases the litter and the mois-
ture, without necessity or motive. In the two last
ages, leaves mixed with a quantity of boughs and
stalks may be put on the hurdles, although it is known
that the worms do not eat them ; because at that
period it would be too troublesome to sort so large a
quantity perfectly, nor is there the same motive to do
so. These substances being by this time grown large,
hard and woody, are less liable to fermentation, al-
though they may accumulate as litter.

It has been observed that the leaves distributed on
the hurdles /?ey ounce of eggs were 1362 lbs. During
the life of the silk worms there has been carried away
from the hurdles,

THE SILK WORM. 277

In gross litter. Of which in frcal substance

existed
lbs. oz. dr. lbs. oz. dr.

IntheLstage I 4 0 0 1 4

— 2d 4 8 0 1 3 0

— 3(] 19 8 0 3 9 4

— 4lh 60 0 0 18 9 4

— 5th 660 0 0 132 0 0

745 8 0 155 7 4

Deducting 155 lbs, 7 oz. 4 drs. from 745 lbs. 8 oz.,
there will remain 590 lbs. 4 drs. of vegetable substance;
namely, in stalks, fruit, fragments, &c. not eaten by the
worms; and subtracting the 590 lbs. 4 drs. from 1362
lbs. that had been laid on the hurdles, it will appear
that the worms have only really consumed 771 lbs.
7 oz. 4 drs. of pure leaves. From which statement it
ensues,

1. That to obtain a pound and a half of cocoons, it
requires about 20 lbs. 4 oz. of leaves, as gathered from
the trees; and that it requires 1G09 lbs. 8 oz. to ob-
tain 120 lbs. of cocoons^ivhich an ounce of eggs should
yield.

2. That this quantity of leaves gathered from the
tree, deducting 142 lbs. 8 oz. of refuse and sorting,
and 105 of decrease, by means of evaporation, it only
requires 16 lbs. 8 oz. of pure leaf per lb. of cocoons,
or 1362 lbs. for 120 lbs. of cocoons.

3. That subtracting from the 1362 lbs. the 590 lbs.
4 drs. of residue, such as branches, stalks, fruit, &c.
which were taken off the hurdles with the litter, 9| lbs.
of pure leaf have been sufficient to obtain 1^ lbs.
of cocoons; and consequently 771 lbs. of leaves
effectually eaten have sulficed to obtain 120 lbs. of
cocoons.

4. That the 1362 lbs. of leaves distributed on the
hurdles, having only yielded 745 lbs. 12 oz. of gross
litter, and 120 lbs. cocoons, in all making 865 lbs. 12
oz.; there is a loss escaped in gas, vapour and steam
in the laboratory of 496 lbs. 4 oz.

24

278 THE SILK WORM.

5. That in a laboratory conlaining the worms pro
ceeding from 5 oz. of eggs, there must have escaped
on each of the last six days of the fifth age, 300 or
450 lbs. of gas and vapour, invisibly to the eye.

These latter statements present strong evidence
how formidable the enemies are which assail the
laboratory, and the need of ventilation.

It is considered astonishing that one single worm,
which, when first hatched, only weighs the hundredth
part of a grain, should consume, in about thirty days,
above an ounce of leaves ; that is to say, that it de-
vours in vegetable substance about 60,000 times its
primitive weight.

Fads relative to the increase and decrease of silk worms in weight
and size.

Progressive Increase. grs.

100 worms just hatched weigh 1

After the 1st moulting , 1&

— 2d 94

— 3d 400

— 4th 1628

On attaining the greatest size 9500

Thus have they, within five weeks, increased 9500 times their primi
tive weight.

Progressive Decrease. grs.

100 silk worms, when arrived at the highest > 77fjA

state of maturity, size, and perfection, weigh 5

100 chrysalides weigh 3900

100 female moths weigh 2990

100 male moths weigh 1700

100 female moths, after depositing eggs ....... 980

100 female moths dying naturally, after having 7 o.^

laid the eggs, and nearly quite dried 5

Space Statistics. Animals that increase so ra-
pidly in weight, must also increase in size. The
infant worm, at the moment it ceases to be an em-
bryo, is only one line, (one-twelfth of an inch,) in '
length : or its length through its successive periods
may be thus stated :

THE SILK WORM. 279

lines. inch.
The length of the silk worm when just hatched is equal to 1 = JL
After the 1st moulting its length is 4 = |

— 2d 6=1

— 3d 12 = 1

— 4th 20 = If

— 5th 40 = 3A

The length of the silk worm is thus increased forty
times within five weeks. But its length, from the
period of the largest growth until it changes into the
chrysalis, diminishes about two-fifths.

The increase, however, in bulk of the silk worm,
throughout its progressive ages, is a matter of prac-
tical consequence. All writers on this topic, except
Mr. Strong, seem agreed, jurare in verba magisfri,
to follow Dandolo. The latter says, the worms pro-
ceeding from one ounce of eggs, should have a space —

ft. in.

In the I st age of. 7 4 square.

— 2d 14 8 —

— 3d 34 6 —

— 4th 82 6 —

— 5th 183 4 —

Dr. Lardner increases a little these dimensions.
But as, in a case of this nature, too much rather than
too little, is the better error of the two, by merely
rejecting the fraction, and taking the next greater
integer, we furnish the following table, adapted to
any quantity of worms, proceeding from one ounce
to ten ounces.

Ages.

Feet square requisite on the shelves, for woi~ms proceeding
from

Ooe
Ouuce.

Tno

Ounces.

Three
Ounces.

Four
Ounces.

Five
Ounces.

Sis

Ounces.

Seven
Ounces.

EishI
Ounces

Nine
Ounces.

Ten
Ounces.

1

8

16

24

32

40

48

56

64

72

80

2

15

30

45
105
249

60
140
332

75

90

105

120

135

150

3

35

70

175

210

245

581
1288

280

664

1472

315

350

4

83

166

415

498

747

830

5

184

368

552

736

920

1104

1656

1840

280

THE SILK WORM.

Mr. Strong of Germantown, from an experiment
with five ounces, furnishes from the seventh to the
thirty-third day, the following statement, by qnoting
the number of hurdles requisite each twelve square
feet.

Days.

HurJles.

Days.

Hurdles.

Days.

Hurdles

7...

lU

16...

34

25. . .

70

8...

13

13

17...

18...

34

34

26...

70

9...

27...

87

10...

13

19...

34

28...

87

11...

13

20. . .

34

29...

87

12...

18

21...

34

30...

87

13.

27

27

30

22. . .

51

31...
32. . .
33. . .

90

14.

23

. ..51

108

15...

24...

70

....112

CHAPTER III.

ON THE REARING OF SILK WORMS FROM THE FIRST
APPEARANCE OF THE LARVA UNTO THE CHRYSA-
LIS OR COCOON.

In the preceding parts of this work we have already
attended to the preparation of the food, the house,
the establishment, and furniture for the insect family,
that, for five or six weeks, we intend to be our sum-
mer guests, and we have not been negligent in giving
precaution against the contingencies that might assail
it from disease or vermin. That family, after the
hatchment, to which also we have paid due atten-
tion, is already announcing its approach on our
threshold ; and the all-important question is, if it is
ready to partake of our bounty, and repay us libe-
rally in silken wealth, are we equally so, to satisfy, to
the utmost, its physical wants, and to protect it against
the insidious enemies, visible or invisible, to which it
is liable.

The food necessary to supply its wants, and the

THE SILK WORM. 281

means requisite to maintain its health, must become
prominent parts of this chapter. In a word, la table
d^hute, the air, ventilation, temperature, and all the
etiquette of daily service, must constitute the parts
and parcels of the panoramic evolution now before
us. Perhaps we had better put something of the
latter first, since, when health is wanting, the host
has little to do in the market ; for when the doctor is
wanted, the cook has a holyday.

Notwithstanding our propensity to vituperate the
men of two thousand years ago, for their heathenism,
superstition, &c., their common sense maxims, un-
altered in validity to this day, are often, against our
resolutions to the contrary, occurring to our recol-
lection. ^^Est modus m rebus ; stent certi denique
Jines, quos ultra, citraque neqidt consistere rectum.^'
There is a medium (a middle path between two ex-
tremes) in all things ; in short, there are certain
limits on either side of which, rectitude (prosperity or
success) cannot exist. By observing which -' aurea
inediocrifas,^^ golden mean, we may in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred, escape the Scylla on the one
hand, and the Charybdis on the other.

If we peruse the works of European culturists,
we read the works of men that have to combat Avith
the north-western blasts, nearly three-fourths of all
that blow in the year, that sweep the immeasurable
vapours of the Atlantic on European shores. Hence
we hear of the artillery of their thermometers, ther-
mometrographs, barometers, hygrometers, pluviome-
ters, eudiometers, flash-fires, and all the paraphernalia
of a Dandoliere. Here is one extreme ; suitable in-
deed, at least to western Europe, and for some parts,
even this is scarcely sufficient. On the other hand,
the extreme, the unparalleled felicity of this climate,
by some is so preached up, a climate so isothermal
with that of China, where silk worms, as some dream,
will live and thrive, whether any attention is paid to
them or not, as if here care as to temperature is
never necessary, whether a similar season to the year

24*

282 THE SILK WORM.

181 G should occur again or not, or without inquiring
at what degree all the liquid gum in the secretors of
the insect congeals, when all its previous toil, without
an instant restoration of warmth, is rendered nugatory
and useless.

Unless we can in all climates of this Union from
Maine to Louisiana, and in all years, through May
and June at least, promise ourselves a temperature
not less than 75°, the use of a thermometer, and of
means requisite, if necessity exist, of raising the tem-
perature to that degree, is advisable. Count Dandolo,
in giving us his prescript, as to the successful rearing
of the silk worm to the cocoon says, " 1 must suppose
that the silk worms are kept until the first moulting
at 75° of temperature ; between 73° and 75° until the
second moulting ; between 71° and 73° until the third;
and lastly between 68° and 71° until the fourth moult-
ing." One of the foundations of the art of rearing
silk worms is to know the various degrees of heat
in which the silk worms should live ; if this precept
be not enforced, nothing can be performed with ex-
actness.*

* On this subject the writer of an article on silk worms inserted in M.
Rozier's Course of Ac^riculture, Paris edition, 1801, thus expresses him-
self relative to heat suitable to the constitution and operations of these
inilustrious animals.

" It cannot be said that silk worms are injured by any deijree of heat
in these climates, however considerable it may be. Native of Asia, it
must needs be accustomed to heat more intense than it can experience in
Europe. But the sudden changes from moderate to violent heat, or the
reverse, are injurious. In its native climate it is not exposed to those
vicissitudes, and, therefore, thrives well, without requirinn all the care
we are obliged to bestow on it. We must not lose sight of the fact, that
it is not heat that alVects the silk worm, but sudden transitions from one
temperature to another. Such as making it pass from fi8° to 77°
in one day. If it be necessary to hasten the worms in consequence
of the advanced state of the mulberry leaf, which cannot be retarded,
it should be done gradually, so that they perceive not the alteration.
M. Boissier de Sauvagues will show us by his experiments, to what
degree the heat may be raised in rearing silk worms, without fear
of injuring them. ' One year, when hurried by the early growth
of the mulberry leaves, which were developed towards the latter end
of April, I gave the silk worms 100° of heat during the two firs^

THE SILK WORM. 283

On the subject of the amount of food necessary to
be given to any given quantity of worms, Mr. Com-
stock says, " though we have not much faith in feed-
ing worms by arbitrary mathematical rules, yet as
they may be of some practical use to the culturist, in
ascertaining the amount of food necessary to be pro-
vided for his family of worms, we give them, in brief
extracts, from the manual published by authority of
Congress in 1S28, In doing this, we shall give the
amount prescribed on each consecutive day of

days after hatching, and about 95° during the remainder of the first
and second age, there elapsed only nine days from the hatching until
the second moulting inclusively. The walls and wicker hurdles were
so heated that they could scarcely be touched. All thought they must
perish ; but all went on well, and to their great surprise, I had a most
abundant crop. I afterwards tried giving the silk worms in their first
age from 93° to 95° ; 89^ to 91° in the second aG;e, and it is remarkable,
that the duration of these two ages was nearly similar to that of the pre-
ceding experiment. It is singular that these worms thus hastened in their
two first stages, consume only five days m moulting the tiiird and fourth
time, although with only a tempeiature of 82°; whilst those worms that
have not been hastened, take seven or eight days for each of the two last
moultings in an exactly similar di^gree of temperature. It appears suf-
ficient to have given the constitution of the insect an impetus to re-
gulate the quick succession of its changes. This mipetus which we
have descrihed, as productive of such accelerated growth, also gives the
insect additional vigour and activity, which they preser^'e through their
after ages, and prevents diseases. Thus the hastened or forced cultiva-
tion presents a double advantage. It also shortens the care and at-
tendance necessary for silk worms, and sooner terminates the solicitude
of the cultivator, who must necessary feel anxiety until the cocoon is
gathered. To follow this method it is requisite to observe well the ad-
vancement of the season ; the shooting of the mulberry leaf, whether it
is checked by cold; if, again, the growth of the leaf is delayed, and the
heat shoulJ soon after set in, and ripen it more quickly than was ex-
pected, it would be advantageous then to hasten the vi'omis by heat; for
if they are allowed to delay from want of heat, their first age is prolong-
ed, and the mulberry leaf will grow, and harden, and become unfit for
them. The essential point is that their progress should follow that of the
mulberry leaf. If cultivators adopt this metliod, they must put the eggs
to hatch ten days later than they would require to be laid to hatch in
the ordinary way. And they must calculate the duration of the dif-
ferent ages of the worm, and so manage that the completion of the rear-
ing or fourth age should fall into die time in which the leaf has attained
its full growth.' "

284 THE SILK WORM.

their life, without regard to the day of their respective
ages."

But that work as well as every other manual pub-
lished in this country, are evidently derived from the
canons of Dandolo : and what is certainly very singu-
lar, every one of them appears to be under a complete
misconception relative to the number of worms for
which the prescript of our Italian oracle is given.
Hence Count Dandolo, Count de Hazzi, and M. Bona-
foux, have been understood as prescribing diiferent
quantities of leaves for the same number of worms.
Whereas a little investigation would have shown that
instead of discrepancy, the different, not the same
number of worms as most imagiiie^they contemplate
being considered, there is evidently a remarkable
agreement in the three authorities quoted.

To show, however, that some discrepancy in their
proportions have been commonly understood, it is
only necessary to quote as follows from Mr. Com-
stock : " Count Dandolo calculates that 200,000
worms will consume 7000 lbs. of leaves. Count de
Hazzi calculates that the same number of worms
will require 10,000 lbs. of leaves. Mr. Bonafoux
says that 200,000 worms were sustained by 7217
lbs. of leaves. The quantity, however, given them
between the regular meals was not taken into the
account, and the leaves were chopped during the
first stages, which enables the worms to consume
them with less waste."

We now arrive at another version of Count Dan-
dolo's meaning, in Mr. Roberts' Manual, where we
read, " the quantity of food is the proportion given
to the worms hatched from five ounces of eggs,
which according to our reading, means 100,000 !"
Here is discrepancy, the one supposes the count, by
five ounces, to mean and provide for 200,000 worms,
the other for only 100,000 ! How ungracious must
this said count have been, to put our mathematics to
so severe a test as to divine what number of worms
he really did mean by five ounces of eggs.

THE SILK WORM. 2S5

Though the count does not inform us of the num-
ber of worms of the feeding of which he furnishes
us an example, yet his statistics are clear, and will
atibrd data sufficient to satisfy such further inquiries
as are necessary. They are founded on a basis,
fixed, from which, in general illustration, he does
not swerve, that whilst it serves as a well defined
unit, in consequence, admits of variations such as
the contingencies he supposes may occasion. Hence
we are duly informed that in the example given for
general instruction, the experiment is not with the
small worm of three moultings, for then should we
have 42,620 eggs to the Milanese ounce ; nor yet with
the large silk worm obtained from Friuli, when our
calculations would have reference to 37,440 eggs to
the ounce ; but to what he defines as the " covimon
silk luorm of four viotiliiugs," whose eggs he inva-
riably quotes at 39,168 to tlie ounce of jNiilan. This,
then, is the common measure, or measuring unit of
the count's statistics, and to which his subsequent
proportio'ns refer. It is not 39,168 Avorms, but 39,168
eggs ; and how many of the former the latter will be,
we are duly inf.nmed will depend on circumstances,
not merely on the quality and preservation of the
eggs, but on our careful and vigilant attention, not
only in the hatch, but in the whole management of
this interesting and profitable animal. From this
unit, //;/.$ starti7ig place, we are, then, guided by a
skilful hand, and our next step is to know that the
quantity to which the count's feeding proportions
refer, is the worms proceeding fro-m five ounces of
the kind of eggs specified. Hence the assumption is
not warranted that the Italian experimentalist is
giving us a lesson on feeding five times 39,168 or
195,840 worms, much less 200,000, as some have
supposed, as if 40,000 were the proceed of an ounce ;
nor is tliere on the other hand, any need, in making
liberal allowances for negligent culture, to sink so
low in the calculation, as to suppose that five ounces
will only yield 100,000 surviving worms, or 20,000

286 THE SILK WORM.

to the ounce, provided that we devote to the under-
taking any thing hko the almost paternal care of the
patriarch Dandolo. He that manifests devotedness
like his to any grand object of mitional industry, is
questionless the true patriot ; a word, whether derived
from pater or patina, in spite of our etymological
subtleties, implies some thing parental. We are
aware of the allowances to be made for the occa-
sional foibles of every devoted parent : we have
made them ; we have rejected the chaff and retain
only the wheat ; and have the offspring, the silk
culture, of full stature and healthy condition, and
such as is capable of the reproduction of its own
like in these transatlantic climes.

After making these allowances, we are prepared
to say, that out of all the numerous authors on this
subject, whether of Asia, Europe, or America, with
which we have long been acquainted, we know of
not one to whom he is second. All the rest are
either copyists, or the care, the minuteness, the
science, they exemplify, will admit of no comparison
with those of the archetype of Varese. It is, per-
haps, time, therefore, that he should speak for him-
self.

At page 195 he says, "The result of my experiments
proves that 360 silk worms, produce about one pound
and a half of cocoons." Therefore 240 silk worms
of the kind, constantly implied, and fed from the white
mulberry with the care he supposes, yield, on the
average one pound of cocoons. And from this doc-
trine he does not vacillate throughout the whole of his
statistical inferences. Deviations, indeed, he supposes
possible, but they are always considered by him as
the result of some corresponding variation from the
management, the example of which he proposes to
our view as the standard. We thus, therefore, obtain
a kind of measuring equation, which will enable us
to decipher not only the contingent fluctuations above
or below the zero, which he contenrplates as the
standard, but also to ascertain the number oi surviving

THE SILK WORM. 287

worms which he evidently supposes, whether from
one, five, or any other number of ounces, to be varia-
ble and not fixed, unless the conditions he specifies be
fulfilled.

On this point his language is sufficiently definite.
" I must make a few general remarks on the enor-
mous difterence in results, which real care," or the
want of it, "produces. I do not here mean to allude
to the slight and partial dilTerences, that may be con-
sidered as only exceptions and accidental, but of those
which are caused by ignorant and ill-directed ma-
nagement. Hitherto it has been generally thought, in
quoting facts and experiments, that whatever were
the quantity of eggs intended for a laboratory, the quan-
tity of cocoons never bore any proportion to that of the
eggs; but that on the contrary the greater the quantity
of eggs, the less the proportion of cocoons." This is,
questionless, an expose of the mismanagement and
negligence existing even in the silk districts of Italy,
before Dandolo taught there a more correct and phi-
losophical doctrine.

" These diff"erences it should be known, do not de-
pend on the organization or natural condition of the
silk worm, but are solely to he ascribed to error and
ignorance. Facts, and most evident reason surely
prove that, if the silk worms have had space, if the
degrees of temperature have been exactly regulated,
if the necessary quantity and quality of food have
been given, and that all the care I have recommended
has been practised, the quantity of cocoons should be
and always will be, proportioned to the quantity
of eggs that were hatched. Those who do yiot obtain
this result should attribute their failure to the er-
roneous system they have adopted. My laboratories
are of various sizes ; that which I am going to de-
scribe is calculated for the reception of the tuorms
proceeding from five ounces of eggs. The other
laboratories equally yield cocoons in proportion to
the eggs which I have hatched."

288 THE SILK WORM.

"I should allow the advantage of my manner of
rearing silk worms to be most trifling, if it were only
in the produce of the 110 or 120 lbs. of cocoons
from each ounce of eggs, which otliers obtain, con-
suming the same quantity of leaves, and ditfering only
in the hatching of two ounces of eggs. But as I said
before, the great and principal aim of the art of rear-
ing silk worms, is to obtain from one given quantity
of mulberry leaves the greatest possible number of
cocoons of the finest quality. It is not the trifling loss
of an ounce of eggs which should induce a change of
system, but the following advantages : for it is a true
fact, that

"1. When, with one ounce of eggs, 110 or 120 lbs,
of cocoons are obtained, about 1650 lbs. of the mul-
berry leaf will be used.

"2. That when only 55 or 60 lbs. of cocoons are
produced from one ounce of eggs, about 1050 lbs. of
mulberry leaves have been used." Under this sup-
position it would appear that 2100 lbs. of leaves
are requisite to produce llOo;- 120 lbs. of cocoons!

"3. That 110 or 120 lbs. of cocoons obtained from
one ounce of eggs, are worth a great deal more than
a similar quantity procured from two ounces of eggs.
It is easy to prove these facts rational.

" I stated that 39,168 eggs, which constitute one
ounce, might produce about 165 lbs. of cocoons."
That is on the supposition that the 39,168 eggs be-
come 39,168 worms, and that they survive, and pro-
duce each a cocoon.

" If, on this statement, we consider the loss of
worms to be great, when we obtain only 120 lbs. of
cocoons from one ounce of eggs, the loss will be
essentially greater, should we only obtain 60 lbs. It
is natural to suppose that by this s^rcater mortality,
a greater consumption of leaves should result, as the
worms which do not reach the consummation of the
cocoon, feed more or less, as well as those which
uccomplish the cocoon.

THE SILK WORM. 289

" The great mortality of the worms must also affect
the quality of the cocoon. For who could suppose
that two-thirds of the ico7'ms proceeding from one
ounce of eggs should die without some error or want
of care? In this case, are we not justified in think-
ing that part of those that remain are weakened
and injured? This inference would be still more
forcible, if, as it frequently happens, that the 60 lbs.
of cocoons be reduced," (what, in Italy?) "to 45, to
30, 15 lbs., &c.

" Whereas, if one ounce of eggs should produce, by
the means I have stated, 120 lbs. of cocoons, they
tvill be fine, and will sell ivell. 360 worms will pro-
duce Ih lbs, of cocoons, (i. e. 240 to the pound,) and
11 or 12 ounces of these cocoons will yield an ounce
of exquisitely fine silk. But when only 50 or 60 lbs.
of cocoons proceed from an ounce of eggs, it may be
generally presumed that they are of inferior quality
and uot so valuable, and that it will require 400 at
least to make 1^ lbs., (about 267 worms to one pound
of cocoons,) and above 13 ounces of these cocoons,
instead of II or 12 ounces, will be wanted to form one
ounce of silk.

" Moreover, when the worms have not been pro-
perly managed, there is no certainty as to the quan-
tity of cocoons that will be gathered ; and it happens
continually, tliat the same cultivator will, from the
same quantity of eggs, and the same quality in the
leaves, obtain at one time a number of cocoons, at
another time few, and sometimes none. It would be
interesting therefore, as well to the government as to
the individual, to compare the quantity and quality
of the cocoons produced on my plan with those pro-
duced on the system which is generally adopted. If
it were afterwards calculated, the loss occasioned by
ignorance every year would doubtless cause astonish-
ment."

Independently of the valuable information of prac-
tical consequence, that we gain through these re-
marks, we also learn that the count's ratio between
25

290 THE SILK WORM.

the number of worms that arrive at maturity to spin,
and tlie weight in Milan pounds of cocoons is 240;
that is, if the whole be conducted with that degree of
skill and care, which is necessary to constitute the
medium, the unit of statistical calculation, and that to
which the count's proportions, given in the diary, con-
stantly refer. And as he also reckons, on the same
condition, on 120 lbs. of cocoons to the ounce of
eggs, it is evident that he is supposing that he is
making a continued provision for 120 times 240 for
every ounce of eggs in his laboratory ; or for 28,800
siirviviuff worms proceeding from the 39,168 eggs
that constitute a Milan ounce ; which makes the am-
ple allowance of 10,368 for such contingency and
mortality as might occur, on the average of seasons
and circumstances, even under the unremitting vigi-
lance of a Dandolo. Now as he here expressly in-
forms us that he is making provision for live such
onnces, or five times 28,800, and since he elsewhere,
at least, twice says, that experience authorizes him to
expect from such an example as he presents us for
general illustration, 600 lbs. of cocoons, which as
before observed are at the rate of 240 worms to the
pound, from these separate and distinct premises,
240 X 120 X 5, and 600 x 240 we arrive at the
same resnlt, viz. 14 1,000 surviving ivormfi, or the
ivorms which out of Jive Milan ounces of the eggs of
the common silk worm of four moultings will, with
the very practicable care, and laudable zeal of Dan-
dolo, on the average of seasons and circjunstances,
ultimatebj, spin cocoons. But it is here unnecessary
to reduce these Milan ponnds or ounces, or the num-
ber of eggs or worms to which they refer, to English
ounces or pounds ; since as the quantity of leaves
prescribed for each day, is administered by the same
kind of weight, the proportionality will be not dis-
turbed. Hence the quantity of leaves prescribed for
every day of the diary of Count Dandolo, is neither
for the 200,000 worms seen through the co/ivex glasses
of Judge Comstock, nor for the 100,000 viewed

THE SILK WORM. 291

through the concave lens of Mr. Roberts, but for the
144,000 surviving worms /;re^e5^/;za/e<i not by Cal-
vin's but by Dandolo's decrees, under implied cir-
cumstances, out of five JMilanese ounces, to spin
cocoons. "With this understanding we shall find that
the proportions prescribed respectively by Count Dan-
dolo, Count de Hazzi and jNI. Bonafoux, are consist-
ent, and are not either discrepant or contradictory
as they have been erroneously represented. The
xchole consideration terminates in the simple re-
sult that 10,000 lbs. of white mulberry leaves
are necessary, during the Jive iceeks of feeding for
200,000 silk worms ; and consequently 0)ic pound
of the same kind of leaves are requisite for every 20
ivornis. That is, 350 grains at least to constitute
from 68 to 73 grains in the substance of the insect
at its maximum size ; and therefore 12 lbs. of white
mulberry leaves, at least, are necessary, to produce
one pound of cocoons, and between eight and nine
times that quantify, or 100 lbs. of the same leaf, to
yield one pound of silk.

After these preliminary observations it is now re-
quisite that we turn our attention to our young family,
which by this time will have important claims on our
services. Prior to our entrance into the cocoonery of
a large scale, or one of five ounces, the count gi"wes
an example of a smaller establishment, or the labora-
tory of a single ounce. Of this, since in certain cases,
it may have its use, we shall here give the outline.

The silk wovms proceedi}ig from one ounce of eggs
consume

Ix THE FIRST AGE ; 6 Ibs. of ichitc m.ulberry
leaves well sorted, and chopped very small ; to which
5 lbs. of the leaves of the moras multicaulis will
be equal.

Ix THE SECOND AGE; of the ivhitc mulberry leaf,
they consume IS lbs. ; sorted, clean, and chopped
rather more coarsely than in the first age ; of the
multicaulis leaf, about 15 lbs.

In the THIRD age; of the white mulberry leafy

292 THE SILK WORM.

ihey consume GO lbs. well sorted and less chopped;
of the niulticardis 50 lbs.

In the rouuTH age; of the white mulberry leaf,
180 lbs. well sorted and still less chopped than that
of the third age : of the ntulticaulis 144 lbs.

In the fifth age; of the white mulberry leaf
1100 lbs. ; of the multicaiiUs 880 lbs.

The above, of course, is given as a general rule,
or one on the supposition of ordinary circumstances
and care. We are informed that even a variation in
the season will have an influence on the requisite
quantity of leaves. If the leaf be injured by the
season, and the proportion of nutritive matter it con-
tains lessened, a greater quantity to produce the same
effect will be necessary ; and vice versa, if the nutri-
tive proportion of the leaf be increased, a quantity
less than the medium prescribed will realize the
hopes of the culturist.

The above will serve as an outline of manipulation
on a small scale. In following out the detail, how-
ever, for the sake of variety, we will repair to the
large laboratory, or establishment for ivorms pro-
ceeding from five ounees of eggs.

For small quantities, of course, as already observed,
spare buildings or apartments, may often serve; but
we must now suppose the previous building of a re-
gular cocoonery, of which we have already given an
example. It is proper that at the commencement, the
shelves should be numbered, 1, 2, .3, 4, &c. through-
out. The quantity of eggs to be hatched ought not
to be more than will leave room, within the cocoonery,
and according to the number of shelves that we can
conveniently furnish therein, sutiicient for the full de-
velopment of the worm, or for their accommodation
at their utmost growth.

The eggs should have been divided by weight into
ounces or half oimces, and each parcel kept apart.
It would be better, supposing the lumiber of shelves
to be 30, 35, 40 or upwards, to divide into half ounces,
and so to apportion thorn, as to leave a number of

THE SILK WORM. 293

spare shelves; and if the eggs be good, and the pro-
duce more than an average, to distribute them into
more space than they would ordinarily occupy. But
the distribution on the shelves according to the order
or date of their hatching, and according to distinctive
numbers on the shelves and as duly recorded in a
diary, which will be kept by every accnrate culturist,
should be observed throughout.

We have already remarked that several recent
authors have estimated from .-35,000 to 40^000 or even
upwards to the ounce ; and Ave have seen that Count
Dandolo quotes the definite number of 39,168 eggs of
the common silk worm of four moultiiigs to tlie Milan
ounce; of which, it is evident, that the whole of his
prescriptive measures are proportioned to the suppo-
sition, that with the standard treatment, he sanctions
28,800 worms will survive to the cocoon, which we
have already determined to be equivalent to 36,244
eggs and to 26,650 sio'viuhig worms to the English
ounce avoirdupois. In the application of space, this
latter number is to be regarded as a necessary element
in our calculation ; but as it is quoted as a inedhnn,
and a contingent deviation, if any, might be in our
favour rather than to the contrary, it will be acknow-
ledged that of too much or too little space, an appro-
priation of the former, will be the less evil of the
two.

With this allotment then of space, which in all
cases should be such, that there be no necessity for
the worms touching one another, we may suppose
that the worms are now properly distributed on the
shelves, and each in the enjoyment of as much or
more space around, as its exclusive province ,or prin-
cipality, as existed in the sweep of the eye of Thomp-
son's insect on the dome of St. Paul's cathedral. All
things then are ready, and we expect that the super-
intendent is more than ready, and has counted, long
since, the heads of his future manipulations, on the
tips of his fingers, as accurately as the Roman orator.

We see him then at work. The panorama of the
25*

294 THE SILK WORBI.

cocoonery, the tout ensemble is before us. We see
that zeal, the sphit of his office, actuates the man;
which whilst it is the logic that suits his own pocket,
benefits the nation. Patriotism, or even a nondescript
philanthropy, not provided for by Linnaeus, often
eifects the most, when it begins with a little thing, an
insect for example ; and here even seliishness, how
ever paradoxical, must benefit another ! This zeal,
we perceive, has dictated to this superintendent the
propriety of a book of record, a diary, a book of me-
moranda, or a faithful register of every event, each
according to its respective date, of every thing that
can concern the hatch, or hatches, if he liave more
than one, the moultings, the ages or quantity of leaves
administered during each, the temperature, in short,
every occurrence, especially of a statistical character,
that can be comprised within tiie whole history be-
tween the egg and the reel.

Leaves are now to be thinl}^ scattered over the
shelves. It is not absolutely necessary that the hur-
dles should be used till the third age. The young
larvcB will run about, and leave the shelves, if food
be not given them immediately after their exodus
from the shell. They will never leave the feeding
shelves till they rise to spin, provided that they be
duly supplied with food, proper in quality, sulficient
in quantity, and at the time they require it. The fol-
lowing cut represents the worms just emerged from
the shell, during the first age.
Fis;. 5.

REARING OP TIIE WORMS.

First age : First day. To the worms proceeding
from five ounces of eggs, on the first day of their
existence in the larva state, are to be given, in proper
proportions, at successive meals, two hours apart, of
the luhite mulherry leaf, about 33 lbs., chopped very
small ; giving the smallest quantity for the first feed-

THE SILK woRar. 295

ing, and gradually increasing the quantity at each
successive meal ; of the multicauUs leaf, the quantity
may be 3 lbs.

The benefit of giving the leaf, at this early stage of
the worm, in a state of minute division, by chopping,
is evident. The more the leaf is chopped, the more
fresh cut edges exist, on which the little mandibles
of the infant operatives can listen. In this state,
they bite the leaf quickly, and consume it before it is
withered.

If care be not taken thus to chop the leaf small,
and to give the young worms sufTi'cient space at first,
and more as they need it, a greater number will be
liable to perish, by disease, or from difficulties they
want strength to encounter at an age so early. The
worm that cannot eat, dwindles, becomes extenuated,
weak, and tmsupported, and, consequently, perishes
under the leaf.

Count Dandolo fed his worms regularly four times
every day. From this medium, in practice, there are
at least two variations. Some give the whole quan-
tity for the day at once ! This mode is liable to seve-
ral objections ; others divide Dandolo's four meals
into from eight to twelve, which, we think, gives an
indication that the party is determined to realize good
cocoons. The worms, too, should be fed not only by
day, but by night. Whatever number of meals are
given during the twenty-four hours, it will be easy to
give the whole quantity of leaves prescribed for the
day, in corresponding proportions.

Second day. On this day, of the ivhite mulberry
leaf, give, at four regular meals, about 6 lbs. chopped
very small. Let the first meal be the least, and in-
crease gradually to the last : of the multicauUs, give
about 5 lbs.

There will now appear some evident change in the
appearance of the worm. It begins to lose its dingy
and bristled aspect, and the head perceptibly enlarges
and whitens.

Third day. Give at four meals this day, of soft

296 THE SILK WORM.

white mulherry leaves, chopped very small, about
12 lbs,: of the miiUicaiiHs, about 10 lbs. The worms
are now feeding with avidity. The head of the worm
continues to become whiter, the insect to grow larger,
the former bristly appearance to vanish, and the skin
is assuming a sort of hazel colour. When viewed
through a convex lens, their surface looks shining,
and their head, a silvejy white, somewhat like mother
of pearl, and transparent.

Fourth day. As the worm approaches the
moulting, a diminution of appetite occurs. Of the
tvhite mulberry, give about 6 lbs. 12 oz. ; let the first
meal be about 2 lbs. 4 oz., and the rest gradually de-
crease to the last. Of the 7nuliicauUs, give about
5h. lbs. And let it be remembered, that in this first
age, it is of importance to give the insects plenty of
room, by gently separating and spreading them, to
avoid as much as possible their sleepnig, on the verge
of m.oulting, in heaps.

At the beginning of this day, the first appearances
of the approaching change are indicated. The
worms begin to shake their headSj and thus express
uneasiness at the increasing tension of their skin.
Some are now eating very little ; keep their head in
an elevated position ; their body appears transparent;
those nearer the mouUing time, when seen against
the light, are of a yellow, livid tinge; but the greater
number, at the close of the day, appear torpid, and
cease to eat.

Fifth day. Of the young leaves of the u^hite mul-
berry, \h lbs. only, chopped small will be suificient.
These chopped leaves scattered lightly on those parts
of the shelves, where worms appear to be still feed-
ing. Of course, where variations from the general
state be perceived, and some are still willing to eat,
more leaves may be given. The discretion of the
careful superintendent, here and in all similar cases
must be exercised.

Towards the end of the day, however, in the gene-
ral case, the worms are torpid, and a few begin even

THE SILK WORM. 297

to revive. After the first moulting the silk worm is
of a dark ash colour, showing distinctly a peculiar
vermicular motion, and the rings that mechanically
assist that motion contract and dilate their intervening
distance more freely than before.

When the weather admits of it, the leaves should
be gathered several hours before the meal is given ;
they last very well a day, and more if kept in a damp
cool place.

General remarks on the first age. — The first
age of this industrious animal, at the temperature here
assigned as a medium, is almost always one of five
days. In this age the silk worms proceeding from
five ounces of eggs have, of the white mulherry
consumed about 30 lbs. sorted, picked and chopped
leaves. If the refuse of the leaves picked ofi" and
rejected be estimated, its proportion will be about
42 lbs. making the quantity taken from the trees to
be in all 34A lbs., or about 7 lbs, of leaves to each
ounce of worms. In this age, the air of the cocoon-
ery should be renewed only by opening the doors.

Second age. — About 73 ft. 4 in. square of shelf
space will be, for the accommodation of the growing
family proceeding from 5 ounces necessary until the
accomplishment of the second moulting, or comple-
tion of this second age. These, as before observed,
should always be covered with strong paper, or pro-
per pasteboard. The temperature during this age, as
recommended by Dandolo, ^^ should Z>e," says he, be-
tween 73° and 75°. Prescribing as to temperature
in a hot country in juxtaposition with June or July,
appears of course, a little arbitrary ; a subject, for
want of room here, we shall further consider in the
subjoined note.* The insects should not be raised

* We must remember that Count Dandolo wTote in the northern
parts of Italy, between the elevated regions of the Alps on the one side,
and the Apennines on the other; by the fanning breezes of whose snow
capt tops, and his ventilators, what cooling zephyrs Dandolo could
command, we poor panting lijards in an American July know little. It
has been very properly asked, how are we to command the temperature

298 THE SILK WORM.

from their litter until they are nearly all revived.
There will ensue no detriment if we wait till nearly
all discover a disposition to move, even should it
be for twenty or thirty hours from the time when
they first began to revive.* Important changes are

to walk down to 73° or 75°, wljen even in the shade without, the
thermometer is raging from 90° to 100°. At this time little current
exists in the external air, and consequently all common ventilators are
then of little promise. This reminds us of an admirable convenience
in common use, particularly amongst the affluent voluptuaries in Bengal
and India, but as yet too little known in this country. Since there, even
in the latter part of January, the thermometer sometimes rises to 90°,
we may easily conceive what the tropical temperature of India fre-
quently is in the months of June, July, and August, especially to those,
whose means allow them not the luxury of spending their days under
the p'lnJtha.

The punkhfi is a large frame, or in longer rooms, frames of wood,
each covered with painted canvass, and so caused to be su'^pended by
ropes, or to swing on hinges, that when the one is moved, they all oscil-
late with the same (jsndulous vibration, and according to their extent of
surface, command, a less or greater current of air in the room. It is
generally hung over the dining table, and is there intended to answer
the end of a fan. In India, a servant stands on one side of the room,
and holds the rope, fastened to the middle of it, and keeps drawing the
punkha to him, and then letting it go again. In this manner, the air
being agitated, the region under the punkha becomes comparatively cool.
In hot weather, some Europeans sit under the punkha from morning to
night, and put their couch under it, in the day, when they take a nap.
We understand, also, from respectable authority, that the flies, mus-
quitoes and gnats, that prowl in the air, and take the liberty, without
asking leave, of going a pilgrimage across the Indian aristocrat's nose,
when he is enjoying his afternoon sieste, are particularly op|)osed to
this iimovation of their privileges. Several of these punkhas are kept
going in the mission church at Calcutta during divine service. A valu-
able hint for American churches, in June and July. An evident im-
provement would be, instead of using a servant, to let the whole move
l)y a pendulum. When a current is suinciently produced in the co-
coonery, stop the pendulum, or set it agoing when wanted, ad lihi'um.
(If we can persuade our friend, who talks of manufacturing an im-
proved pattern of the punkha, he will send it to the cocoonery office, or
establishment of the Morodendron Silk Company, for inspection. It is
time that we Americans, in our houses, our courts, our churches, our
cocooneries, in June, July and August, should know the value and use
of the Indian punkha.)

* During the first age too many cultivators destroy the health and life
of a number of worms for want of sufficient attention ; ansl consequently
beyond that age, they have worms of unequal growth and advancement,
an inconvenience never after remedied. This inequality and the evils

THE SILK WORM. 299

efFectod by the first moulting. The organs assume
greater consistency. The scaly muzzle which they
lose by moulting is replaced by another which the
air indurates ; and till the small jaws or mandibles
have acquired sufficient hardness, they cannot, in
certain cases, with an expedition equal to what their
seasonable advance to maturity requires, divide the
leaves. With the aid of a convex lens, we immedi-
ately perceive the etibrts, to the expense of which,
an unassisted worm of this age, is liable, in gnawing
the leaf.

Sixth day. Of the ivhite mulberry give now
9 lbs. of young tender shoots, and 9 lbs. of leaves,
well picked and chopped small.* Of the multicaulis
this is equal to 15 lbs.

Experience has proved that the silk worms like the
tender boughs so much, that they remain crowded on
them even when the leaves are consumed, and evince
a reluctance to return to the litter below. This re-
mark will doubtless atFord a hint to the provident cul-
turist in affording the requisite accommodations for the
health and comfort of animals that repay in propor-
tion to the care expended on them. When the worms

resulting from it, are caused, 1st, By not having placed the silk worms
in space proportional to their growth in the course of their first age,
which has allowed of some feeding well, whilst others could not feed, of
some remaining under the litter, others on it, the latter having the bene-
fit of free air, the former not. In moulting, if those that moult sooner
tha[) others, and are under the leaf, this important change is retarded.
2dly, By not having placed the sheets of silk worms hatched on the first
day in the coolest parts of the laboratory. 3dly, By not having placed
the latest hatched worms in the hottest parts of the laboratory. 4th, And
lastly, by not having given the last hatched worms intermediate meals,
to bring on their growth a little faster.

* In recommending that the leaves be chopped small, we are rather
inclined to follow experienced culturists in Europe and America than
our own judgment and experience in the matter. We think, excepting
perhaps in the first age, that nature has furnished the silk worm with
means to devour food, if they can get it, whether chopped or not. Their
own choppers are machines which never foil them. But in some cases
nature may be improved upon, more especially if art and nature are
combined.

300 THE SILK W0R1\I.

have been removed to clean hurdles, those they have
left should be thoroughly cleansed.

From the first day of the rearing of silk worms, un-
til the first moulting, these insects have consumed
30 lbs, of leaves; 22 lbs. 8 oz. have contributed to
their growth, or have evaporated in the first age.
The worms void a small portion of focces resembling
fine black powder, of the 7 lbs. 8 oz. of remaining sub-
stance there are only about 10 oz. of excremental
matter.

Seventh day. Of the white mulberry give 30 lbs.
of chopped leaves; divided into four portions to be
given at intervals of six hours; but an improvement
would be to divide into ten or twelve portions, given
at intervals of two to three hours each. The first
meals less plentiful than those which follow. Of the
multicauUs, this quantity is equivalent to 24 lbs.

The body of the worm now acquires a clear hue ;
the head enlarges and becomes whiter. Continue to
pay an unremitting attention to the equal distribution,
as to space, of the worms. Place boughs wher-
ever they appear to be too thick, on which they will
immediately fasten, and may thus be removed or dis-
tributed to fill up places not sufficiently covered.

Eighth day. Give now, of the ivhite mulherry
33 lbs. of chopped and well picked leaves ; and at this
time let the two or three first meals be the largest.
Of the multicauUs leaves, give 27 lbs. These leaves,
distribute at each meal with attention, and as far as
possible proportionate to the degree of avidity disco-
verable by the worm ; since it becomes again the
period when the voracity of the worm, consequent
on the approach of the second moulting, begins to
abate, which they soon indicate by tbe usual prognos-
tics of rearing their heads and declining to eat.

Ninth day. Of the ivhite mulherry, 9 lbs. only
of picked leaves and chopped small, will be re-
quired, distributed in the same manner as before.
Scatter the proportions lightly, and with discriminat-

THE SILK WORM. 301

ing care over the worms. Of the multicaulis, about
7 lbs. will be sufficient.

On this day our metempsychosin insect, which
seems almost to have been the primitive instructer of
the Samian philosopher, is again discovering its pe-
riodic restlessness for change. It is sinking into a
torpor. The next day its old wardrobe is disposed
of, and it becomes as eager or more of its third life, as
it Avas of the first.

Fis. 6.

General remarks on the conclusiox of the
SECOND AGE. In the four days of this age our young
colony has consumed about 90 lbs. of picked leaves
of the white mulberry. If to this we add a refuse of
15 lbs. rejected from the picked leaves, 105 lbs. have
been drawn from the trees, that is, at the rate of
21 lbs. for every ounce of silk worms. To these three
proportions, 72 lbs., 84 lbs., and 17 lbs. of the multi-
caulis respectively correspond.

Their colour now is become of a light grey, the
hair has become so much shorter as to be hardly per-
ceptible to the eye. The muzzle, which in the first
age was very black, hard and scaly, became im-
mediately on moulting white and soft, now becomes
again black, shining and shelly as before, and as the
insect becomes older, at each moulting, its muzzle
hardens, because it needs to saw and bite larger and
older leaves.

Third age. — Tenth day. Give of ivhite mulberry
1 5 lbs. of small shoots and 1 5 lbs. of the picked leaves,
chopped small. At the close of the age, they may be
more coarsely chopped. To this quantity, 24 lbs. of
the multicaulis are equivalent.

The worms that have accomplished this age should
not be removed from the shelves until they are nearly
roused. Part will rouse on the ninth and part on the
tenth day. No injurious consequence will ensue, if the

26

302 THE SILK WORM.

part that has revived should wait 12 or 15 hours till
the rest are ready. A uever failing sign that they are
roused is the undulatory motion they display with
their head, when horizontally blown over.

It will ever be incumbent on the superintendent, or
person who has a leading interest in the concern, fre-
quently to inspect the operations of the feeders, to see
that the food is at all times equally distributed, ac-
cording to the varying wants on ditferent portions of
the shelves. Redundant leaves, though a loss, is still
an inconvenience less than the accumulation of an un-
necessary portion of litter, which may ferment and
produce noxious evaporation and disease.

Eleventh day. Of the white mulberry, give at sepa-
rate meals 90 lbs. of picked and chopped leaves ; of
the raulticaulis 72 lbs. The first meals should be the
least ; the reason of this, the worms themselves will
explain, since it is in the latter part of the day, that
they now become voraciously hungry.

Twelfth day. Of the white mulberry, 97 lbs. of pick-
ed leaves will be wanted, chopped and divided into
the usual number of meals ; the first being most
plentiful. Towards evening, the hunger begins to
abate, the last meal therefore on this day should be
the least. To this quantity, of the multicaulis,lS lbs.
will be equivalent.

The worms now grow fast ; their skins become
whiter, their bodies semitransparent, and their heads
longer, and the contortions they make show that their
change approaches.

Thirteenth day. 52h lbs. of chopped white mul-
berry leaves will now be sufficient. 42 lbs. of the mul-
ticanlis. Give in the usual number of meals, the
largest first, the last meal the least, feeding those only
that require it. Should a greater number of silk
worms on one table be torpid, whilst others continue
to require food, give only a slight meal without wait-
ing for the stated hour of feeding, in order to satisfy
them, that they may sink into torpor speedily. Care
of this kind is important, and intermediate meals OC'

THE SILK WORM. 303

casionally given, and by discretion administered, is
beneficial.

Fourteenth day. Of the white tnulherry, 27 lbs.
of picked and chopped leaves will be sufficient, in or-
dinary cases, more or less, as occasion requires. To this
medium supply, of multiccndis leaves 22 lbs. will be
equivalent. Indications of silk now begin to appear
from the occasional depositions of the insect.

The worm now manifests inclination for solitude
and free space to slumber in. It either climbs the
edge of paper, the elevated stalks or leaves, or in
failure of that, on the litter ; it rears its head and ex-
presses its uneasiness. Immediately on the verge of
change, they void all gross excrementitious matter ; a
yellow and semitransparent lymph only occupies the
intestinal tube, and constitutes nearly the only fluid
remaining in the animal. This also is that which
prior to their change gives them a yellowish white
colour like amber. Whilst the worms thus prepare for
the moulting, sufficiently clear,by moderate ventilation,
the air of the cocoonery.

Fifteenth day. On this day, the rousing of the silk
worms, which they begin to manifest, is an indication
of the completion of the third age.

Fig. 7.

General remarks ox the third age. In six
days, under ordinary circumstances, the worm passes
through its third age, in which those proceeding from
5 ounces of eggs, on the same condition, have con-
sumed 300 lbs. of leaves and young shoots. If to
this be added 45 lbs. of refuse rejected by picking,
345 lbs. have been taken from the trees : i. e. at the
rate of 69 lbs. to the ounce.

The muzzle of the silk worm, during the third age,
has maintained a reddish ash colour ; it is no longer

304 THE SILK WORM.

shining and black, as it appeared in the first ages, but
now becomes more lengthened and prominent. The
head and body also are much enlarged since the cast-
ing even of the skin, or before they have eaten at all ;
a proof that they were straitened in the skin they
have cast, and being now unconfined, the natural speci-
fic density or rarefaction of their substance, has expand-
ed them at the ordinary rate of atmospheric pressure.

At the completion of this age, the body of the silk
worm is more wrinkled, they become of a yellowish
white or fawn colour, and, without a glass, no hairi-
ness is visible. In this third age, we first hear a pe-
culiar hissing noise, when the worms are feeding,
similar to that produced by the burning of green
wood. This noise does not, however, proceed from
the action of the jaws, but from the continual motion
of the feet, sounding not unlike a soft shower of rain,
until the worms fasten on their wood, when this co-
coonery music ceases.

Fourth age. The worms, with proper care, sur-
viving now from five ounces, should have a space
equal to 412 square feet, and should be equally dis-
tributed as already prescribed, and the temperature
should be not less than 68°, nor higher, if possible, ac-
cording to Dandolo, than 71°, but whenever it rises,
as, at this season, it inevitably may, higher, compen-
sating means must be sought by the instant removal
of all litter liable to fermentation, and promoting, by
ventilators and other means, a due circulation of air
in the cocoonery. We must again insist on the im-
propriety of lifting ofi' the hurdles those silk worms
that have completed their third age until nearly all
are roused. The one part waiting a day, or even a
day and a half for the other, is, as said belbre, not in-
jurious. It is, however, advisable to place the early
roused in the coolest part of the laboratory, and the
late roused worms in the warmest* part ; and if this

* Be it remembered that moderate increase of heat sharpens the silk
worm's appetite, and consequently accelerates its tjrowth, and vice versa,
that ap[>etites, a.s well as growth, may be thus artiiicially retarded.

THE SILK WORM. 305

be inconvenient or impracticable, to give to the former
less, and to the latter more space ; and by one or
the other, or by both these means, their advance
towards the maturity of their fourth age, will be so
preserved that they will, which is important, moult
together.*

Sixteenth day. On this day give STi lbs. of the
3''onng shoots, and 60 lbs. of picked leaves of the ivhitc
■ninlherrij coarsely chopped with a large blade. To this
quantity 7S lbs. of the multicaulis will be equal.

When the moment of removing the worms from
the hurdles arrives, one or two hurdles onh?" at a time
should be covered with young shoots. These shoots,
loaded with worms, are afterwards put on the empty
shelves, and removed, as in the first moultings.
Should there not be a sufficiency of small boughs,
branches of 15 or .20 leaves (wliite mul.) tied to-
gether by the stalks, will answer the purpose. The
removal should be effected by three persons: one to
fill the shelves, one to carry them, and another gently
to remove them from these shelves on the luirdles, in
the space allotted to them.

When those which have revived are removed,
others yet remain torpid on the 174 feet square of
hurdles, or that have not yet strength to climb on the
shoots or branches of leaves. But it will be disco-
vered that the early roused have probably by this
time eaten all the leaves on the young shoots or
branches that served to carry them, and that they re-
main without food on the shelf They should then
be supplied with 30 lbs. of white mulberry leaves,
chopped a little, or with 24 lbs. of those of the mul-
ticaulis. The other 30 lbs. of leaves should not be
given until the second meal has been thoroughly con-
sumed. At the end of this day, the worms begin to
evince renewed vigour: they move more nimbly,
they grow perceptibly, they lose their ugly colour,

* It will be advantageous to have marked on each shelf, its dimen-
sions in square feet : or the product of its length multiplied by ita
breadth.

26*

306 THE SILK WORM.

become slightly white, aiid assume more animal
vivacity.*

Seventeenth day. 1 65 lbs. of the white mulberry leaf,
slightly cut up, will now be wanted. The first meals
should be the lightest, the last, most copious. 132 lbs.
of the multicunlis. The worms now grow fast, and
their skin continues to whiten.

Eighteenth day. 225 lbs. of the sorted leaves of
the lohite rmilber^ry, a little cut; or 180 lbs. of the
leaves of the multicaiilis are, at this time, the proper
proportions. The former meals of the day to be the
most plentiful.

Nineteenth day. Of the lohite mulberry, the cut
leaves to be distributed at successive meals, should
amount to 255 lbs., the first meals of the day still
being the larger, in the proportion of about 5 to 3,
To this quantity, 204 lbs. of multicaulis leaves are
equal. The worms contiiuie to become whiter, and
in size, increase to Ih inches long.

Twentieth day. Reduce to 128 lbs. of the picked
leaves of the ivhite Tiiidberry, since on this day, the
appetite of the larvoe diminishes ; or of the multi-
caulis leaves, give 103 lbs. Let the first meal be the
largest, and gradually lessen till the last. Several
are beginning to become torpid, therefore, with dis-
crimination, give leaves, to prevent both waste/ and
avoidable fermentation, only, as they are wanted.
The worms are now 13 inches long.

Twenty-first day. Of the picked leaves of the
white mulberry, 35 lbs., of the multicaulis, 28 lbs.,
are sufficient for the day. The changeable animals
under our care are now decreasing in size, since they
lose part of their substance before they sink into
torpor. The greenish colour of their rings becomes
changed, and their skin is now wrinkled.

* In the third age, about 300 lbs. of picked leaves (240 lbs. of multi-
caulis) have been put on the hurdles ; and the litter, in the former
case, is about 93 lbs. in weight. Consequently, 207 lbs. of leaves have
been transmuted into increase of animal substance, or expended in
evaporation. The fceces of the insect, during this age, would weigh
about 18 lbs.

THE SILK WORM. 307

Twenty-second day. The worms rouse on this
day, and thus accomplish their fourth age.

Fis- 8.

General remarks on the fourth age. In
about 7 days, the Avorms have accompHshed their
fourth moulting: their old skins have gone, and they
have new ones. In this period, they have consumed,
of the white mulberry leaves, 900 lbs., from which
tiie refuse rejected was 135 lbs. being in all 1035 lbs.
of leaves drawn from the trees for 5 ounces ; or at
the rate of 207 lbs. per ounce. The proportions of
the 7nul licaiilis e(\mvdi\ew\. to these quantities respect-
ively, are 720 lbs., S2S lbs., and 166 lbs. The insects
now are assuming a darker colour, or grayish, with
a red tinge. It may be here remarked, that whenever
cocooneries are kept in proper order, the internal air
is perceived to be preferable to the external, from
the agreeable odour of the fresh mulberry leaves.

Fifth age. General Remarks. This age of
the silk worm is the longest and most decisive. It
requires some experience and practical good sense, to
conduct them through to maturity. As they grow in
this age, they are liable to three evils, which attack
them according to their strength, and to their distri-
bution in the cocoonery, and may inflict weakness
such as to cause their destruction : these are —

1st. The quantity of fluid disengaged every day,
which through this age is incredible, from the body
of the insect, by transpiration and evaporation of the
leaves. 2d. The mephitic exhalations, daily emitted
from the excrementitious matter of the insects, and
fermentations of the remains of the leaves, which now
are liable, without constant removal, to accumulate
daily to a large amount.* 3d. The damp as well as

* It is surprising to find how large a volume of misisma disengages
itself, in the fifth age, fi-om the silk worms. If one ounce of their fasces

308 THE SILK WORM.

hot state of the atmosphere of the cocoonery, which
at this time may result from the compound cause of
the heat and rarefaction of the external air and that
of the exhalations, which now are greater, not only
in proportion to the magnitude of the accumulation,
but also to the increased temperature of the season.
The combination of these adverse circumstances may
inflict also injuries on our patients in three ways :
1st. The skin of the worm, by these means, is liable
to relaxation, to lose its elasticity, languor, decrease
of appetite, morbid secretions, and unless the causes
be arrested, death may ensue. 2d. The quantity of
vital principle in the air, by these means, is dimi-
nished, and, consequently, the breathing of the insect
is not only impeded, and rendered more laborious,
but also less effectual in every equal volume of air,
and space of time, to its continued health and exist-
ence. 3d. The increased vegetable fermentation and
foecal exhalations, aggravated by the heat of this
usually hot season, disturb the electrical constitu-
tion of the air, which injures animal vitality, for a
cause analogous to that which turns milk sour, from
the disengagement of oxygen in air by electrical ac-
tion. On the effect of electrical phenomena on animal
and vegetable substances, see Rozier's Cour d'Agri-
culture.*

be placed in a bottle of three half-pints capacity, and hermetically-
corked, in eight hours, the air in the bottle will be fcnind, on experiment,
to be destructive to animal life. A small bird placed therein would die
in a few moments, and a lighted candle would be instantly extinguished.
The cocooneiy, in this age, contains 1200 lbs. of fcEcal matter, sufficient
to vitiate, in one day, a volume of atmospheric air c;iual to 1696 cubical
feet. " Dictum sapienti sat est," though a very old adage, will hold true
as long as the world stands : " A ivurd to a wise man is enough;" and
not one word need be said on the imperative necessity of getting rid,
almost hourly, if possible, or daily at least, of this rapidly accumulating
compound, causing mephitic exhalation from animal residua and fer-
menting or decaying vegetable matter.

* Vegetables, under the sun's rays, give out oxygen useful to animal
life ; but in the shade and darkness, part with carbonic acid gas noxious
to the same. Into a wide-necked bottle of the capacity of 2 lbs., place
one ounce of fresh mulberry leaves, which, after corking and exposing
to the action of the sun for an hour or more, uncork, invert, and intro-
duce a lighted taper : the light will become brighter and larger, evincing

THE SILK WORM. 309

Tiventy -third day. At this time nearly all the
worms are roused, or have accomplished their fourth
moulting. The laboratory should be of the tempera-
ture of 68 or 70°; and the tenants, for they pay good
rent, must be accommodated with premises equal to
917 square feet, or 183^ square feet to each ounce of
eggs. In the first day of the 5th age, the worms
should fill a space of about 508 feet square on the
shelves, which added to the 413 feet which they oc-
cupied during the last age, and which should now be
cleaned,* form together the 921 feet square on which
they are gradually to spread until the termination of

the disengagement of oxygen from the vegetable. Into another similar
bottle, put also an ounce of leaves, which, after corking, place in obscu-
rity for about the same time ; then introduce a bird, or a lighted taper,
and the bird will perish, or the light be extinguished, demonstrating the
evolution of carbonic acid gas, instead of oxygen, as in the former case,
from the same volume of vegetable matter in darkness and not in light

Many have thought that light was injurious to silk worms. How
long before the days of alchemy, astrology, and Canidian conundrums
end ! Were they made never to see the light in their native climes, or
to live with owls and bats in Cimmerian caves, or to browse on Egyp-
tian mummies, in darkened pyramids instead of mulberry leaves] On
those sides of the hurdles on which the sun shone more freely. Count
Dandolo found the silk worms more vigorous. He adds, " I have even
seen the sun shining full on the worms, without their seeming annoyed
by it. Had the rays been too hot, and shone too long on them, they
might have suffered ; but this need not occur, and does not affect the
question ; as I do not propose exposing the silk worms improperly to
the sun, but only desire to show that the air is more vitiated, and that
there is more damp in a dark laboratory than in a light one."

* The young shoots should be directly distributed on 5 or 6 shelves,
and should the shoots fail, bunches of leaves as before directed, may be
substituted. As soon as the shoots are loaded with worms, they should
be taken off. If the worms of one shelf be almost all roused, they will be
suflicient to fill the space of rather more than two shelves. When 508
square feet are filled, the shelves that are left empty should be cleansed.
If in cleaning, any remaining worms should be found roused, by pre-
senting some shoots or leaves, they may be taken off like the others.
The sheets of paper with the litter, must be rolled up, and poured into
the basket for this purpose ; notwithstanding that the litter which is just
removed appears to be green, and without any unpleasant smell, yet the
chlorine gas from the fumigatory bottle, or the chloride of lime should
be used as before directed.

In a large establishment of five ounces, at this moment, the attend-
ance of six persons will be necessary. Two should lift and put the
worms on the shelves, two carry them away, one should remove aiwl

310 THE SILK WORM.

this State. This day about 90 Ihs. of the young
shoots of the white mulberry, or of common leaves
not sorted, and also 90 lbs. of picked and sorted
leaves; in all 180 lbs. which is equal to 144 lbs. of
the leaves of the multicaiilis.

The 90 lbs. of shoots and leaves on which the silk
worms were removed, furnish an abundant meal ;
the other 90 lbs. of sorted leaves should be divided
into four meals, which should be given them every
three hours. In giving the first meal, care must
be taken to straighten the lines of the strips on the
hurdles, by sweeping any straggling leaves or worms
into regular order with a little broom.

In the preceding age, 900 lbs. of leaves were dis-
tributed, and the litter of that age, weighed 300 lbs.
The worms therefore derived sustenance from 600
lbs. of the substance including the loss by evapora-
tion. The excrement weighed about 93 lbs.

Twenty-fourth day. There will be wanted on this
day, of the white mulberry, 270 lbs. of leaves sorted,
and divided into eight feeds. The first should be the
least, of about 26 lbs., and the last the most plentiful,
or of about 48 lbs. Of the multicaiilis 216 lbs. for the
day : of which the first and last feeds 21 lbs., and 39
lbs. respectively : the intermediate feeds increasing by
a corresponding ratio.

Twenty-fifth day. The worms will now require
of the white mulberry 420 lbs. of sorted leaves ; di-
vided into eight meals, the first smaller increasing to
the last; the intermediate feeds accordingly. Of the
viulticaulis 336 for the whole day. On this, and the
preceding day, the worms continue to whiten ; many
are now upwards of two inches in length.

Twenty-sixth day. Our proportions, must be now,
of the white mulberry, 540 lbs. of sorted leaves ; the
intermediate feedings increasing by a corresponding

place them on the hurdles, whilst the other must roll the papers and lit-
ter, clean the hurdles, and carry out the dirt; and if judged necessary,
an additional person may be cini)luyed in distrilmting shoots to the later
silk worms, that all things may proceed without bustle or confusion.

THE SILK WORM. 311

ratio, of the multicauUs for the whole day 432 lbs.
The voracious period of the worm is now rapidly ad-
vancing. Some are now 2\ inches long.

Twenty-aeventh day. Of the white mulberry for
the whole day, 810 lbs. of picked leaves will be
wanted. Of the ^nuUicauUs, 648 lbs. for the whole day.

If necessary the worms should now have interme-
diate feeds. When the regular distribution of leaves
is devoured in less than an hour and a half, the worms
need not receive any until the regular feeding, which
it is understood is every three hours.

Twenty-eighth day. Give now of the ivhite mul-
berry, 915 lbs. of picked leaves, divided into eight
feeds, the last of which to be the most abundant. Of
the multicauUs 780 lbs. similarly divided. The silk
worms eat now most voraciously, and some even at-
tack the fruit which is among the leaves. An inter-
mediate meal may be added when it appears neces-
sary, as may be inferred when the full quantity ne-
cessary to constitute a meal, is devoured within an
hour. Some of the worms are now three inches long ;
have become whiter, and present to the feeling a vel-
vet surface.

Tiventy-ninth day. 900 lbs. of white inulberry
well sorted leaves will be required this day ; or 720
lbs. of the multicauUs. The first meal should be the
largest, the latter diminish gradually, but should the
necessity of any intermediate meals be indicated, as
it would by the sign already stated, it should at this
important crisis be given.

Some of the worms are now upwards of 3 inches
in length : in certain cases, from extraordinary health
and good attention, they are known, in this country
to attain the length of even 4 inches. The extremity
of the insect begins to grow shining and yellowish,
their voracity to abate, which intimate their arrival
at maturity: in size and weight, on an average, eleven
of them will weigh 2 English ounces avoirdupois.

Thirtieth day. The diminished appetite of our
cocoonery-boarders requires now only 660 lbs. of the

312

THE SILK WORM.

white mulberry leaves, well sorted; of the multi-
caulis, 528 lbs. to be given at eight meals; the sub-
sequent feeds to be gradually lessened. Give to
backward worms, if necessary, intermediate meals.

The increase of the yellow colour extending from
ring to ring, the loss of the dark green colour before
marking the rings, the shining of the backs, their di-
minishing bulk, and propensity to attach themselves
to the edges of the hurdles to part with redundant
matter, severally indicate their advance to maturity.

Thirty-first day. Diminished wants now lessen
our care to the provision of 495 lbs. only of the luhite
mulberry, or of 396 lbs. of the multicaulis ; which
nuist now be distributed with care and discretion as
wanted.

Fig. 9.

General remarks on the fourth age. Reckon-
ing 240 lbs. of sorted leaves which are to be given
to-morrow, or on the 32d day, the worms M'ill have
consumed during this fifth age, 5,490 lbs. of picked
leaves. Adding to this, 510 lbs. of additional feed if
required ; the total weight taken from the trees will
be 6,000 lbs.

The total weight of excrementitious matter drawn
from the shelves in the fifth age, is about 3300 lbs.
which demonstrates, that of (5490 — 3300) 2190 lbs.
a part served to nourish the silk worms, and the rest
exhaled in vapour. Calculating the weight of the
leaves, and the loss by evaporation, the worms, it ap-
pear, have consumed in their fifth age alone 1200
lbs. of leaves per ounce.

Thirty-second day. During this day the fifth age
will be terminated and the rising begin. Every thing
should be cleaned and kept clean. The silk worm
will be now perfected, which may be known by the
following signs, 1. When the insects, instead of eating

THE SILK WORM. 313

leaves put on the hurdles, get on them, and rear their
heads, as if in search of something else. 2. When, on
looking at them horizontally, the light shines through
them, and they appear of a whitish yellow transparent
colour. 3. When numbers of the worms which were
fastened to the inside of the edges of the hurdles, and
straightened, now get on the edges, and move slowly
along ; instinct urging them to seek change of place.
4. When numbers of worms leave the centre of the
hurdles, and try to reach the edges and crawl up upon
them. 5. When their rings draw in, and their green-
ish colour changes to a deep golden hue. 6. When
their skins become wrinkled about the neck, and their
bodies have more softness to the touch than before ;
and feel like soft dough. 7. When on taking a silk
worm in the hand, and looking through it, the whole
body appears to have assumed the transparency of a
ripe yellow plum. These signs are prognostics of
their rising. Of course every thing, before this, should
have been prepared for the accommodation of the in-
sects, that those which are ready may not waste their
strength and silk, in seeking for the support they require.

In another place, the arches, corners, angles or ca-
bins, in which the silk worm spins, have been described
as being part of the apparatus of the cocoonery. Some
furnish them with oak branches, others with faggots,
with straw set on end, and tied near the middle, or
with other conveniences. Much depends on the taste
of the cultivator ; for on this point, though some
methods are preferable to others, still opinions will
differ, and not much difference will ensue in the co-
coons when spun,*

In adopting the plan recommended under the head
of cocoonery, none of these slovenly appendages are
required. They are in a few minutes in their cabins,
and after looking about to ascertain in what position

* The time occupied in feeding may he accelerated or ret.irded by the
manner of feeding. Two or three hours are recommended in this book
as the period between the times of feeding, and two feedings in the night,
111 tliis way they will mount a day or two and sometimes tliree days

27

314 THE SILK WORM.

they should arrange their building,for the larva is pro-
vident and has forecast, it commences to throw the floss
around it. The spinning is now fairly commenced.

Fig. 10. Showing the form in which the silk worm throws about its
thread.

^^ r-

The care hitherto commended has tended : —

1st. To preserve the silk, contained in the secretors
of the silk worm, in a constantly fluid state.

2d. To keep the skin of the silk worm sufliciently
dry, and constantly in the degree of contraction neces-
sary, and without which the silk worm would perish.

3d. To prevent the air from being corrupted, and
which might make the silk worm ill, or cause its suf-
focation, at those very periods when it most needs its
highest vigour to pour out all the silk it contains.

The silk worm has now mounted to spin, but some
may yet linger. Proper care should be taken thorough-
ly to clean the shelves and hurdles ; the lingering
worms should be placed on a separate shelf, that all
the cocoons formed in the cabins above it may be
completed and gathered at the same time, which can
thus be done at the earliest moment. To those re-
moved a very small quantity of leaves should be given;
but the slightest injury at this age should not be given
them, being particularly hurtful. To these removed
worms, instead of the usual cabins as in other cases,
it is better to place in their way boughs of oak, or
heads of broom corn. The lazy worms will soon be
distributed among the branches and begin their work.

When the worms begin to rise the greatest care

earlier than when only fed three or four times in tlie 24 hours. But
over feeding is injurious. The quantity recjuisite should be divided into
proportions according to the {)eriod of the age. In coming out of the
moulting or going into it, the feed should, as before remarked, be in-
creased or diminished, the appetite of the worm sharpenmg or failing at
such periods.

THE SILK WORM. 315

should be taken to keep the temperature equable. It
should stand from 68° to 71° Faln-enheit, by means of
the ventilators in the sides, roof and floors. They
should also be kept as dry as possible, and all mois-
ture from excrementitious or other causes must be
carefully removed. Those that drop down while
spinning must be carried to and placed with the lazy
ones spoken of above. The air may be admitted freely
when the cocoons have become of a proper consistency.
Every diseased or dead worm, and all bad smells
should also be carefully removed.

Fig.U.

Sixth age. This age commences in the pupa
state, and ends when the moth emerges from the co-
coon. The following are the necessary things that
remain to be done : 1st. To gather cocoons : 2d, To
choose the cocoons which are to be preserved for the
eggs or seed : 3d, Preservation of cocoons until the
appearance of the moth : 4th, The daily loss of weight
which the cocoons suffer from the time they are
finished until the appearance of the moths.

Gathering the cocoons /or seed. In our description
of the cocoonery or afeliere, some account of a place
was also given for the matured caterpillar to mount
and spin. We have seen them cease to eat, ascend
to their cabins, elaborate their cocoons, and retire
from the gaze of mortals. In three or four days from
the commencement of the spinning the silk worms have
finished their cocoons, and in seven or eight days* they

* M. D'Homergue, says, eight days, but six days if there have been
no thunder-storm, to interrupt the labours of the moth.

Dr. PascaUs informs us that with the use of electricity, his silk worms
have spun in 27 days from the hatchment.

316 THE SILK WORM.

will be ready for picking from their arches, cabins,
bushes, or corners. The gathering should be perform-
ed with care, as much waste of silk is thereby oc-
casioned. The cocoons may be gathered in five days
from being finished, but where they do not all mount
on the same day it is possible that those may be cidled
that are not quite ripe with those that are.

Ingatheringthey should not be bruised,butcarefully
taken from their arches with all their floss. The floss
should then be taken off with great delicacy, the fibres
not pierced, and the cocoons not flattened or bruised.
They should then be sorted ; this is best done at the
time and by the person who takes off the floss. Sort-
ing is selecting those intended for seed, by placing them
in a separate place, always putting the imperfect, soiled,
or those otherwise injured by themselves. Fourteen
ounces of selected cocoons are equal to one ounce of
eggs, and one ounce of eggs will make 120 lbs.
weight of cocoons. In selecting the cocoons for eggs
the white are to be preferred. An equal number of
the male and female cocoons should also be selected ;
which may be known by the male cocoon being
sjnaller than the female, depressed in the middle as it
were with a ligature, and somewhat sharp at one or
both ends, with a greater degree of hardness in those
parts. The female cocoons are larger than the male ;
are round, full, not much, and often not at all depressed
in the middle, and more obtuse at each end. The
moth makes its appearance in from ten to fifteen days.
Some think that all balls perfectly formed are equally
good — others deny this; the truth seems to be that
few well constituted balls will not give well constitu-
tioned moths and eggs.

3. Preservation of cocoons intended for producing
eggs. Experience shows that where the temperature
of the room is above 73° the transition of the chrysalis
to the moth state would be too rapid, and the coupling
would not be productive. If below 6G° the develop-
ment of the moth is tardy, which is also injurious.
Damp air will change it into a weak and sickly moth.

THE SILK WORM. 317

The apartment should, therefore, be kept in an even
dry temperature, between 66° and 73°. When col-
lected, spread the cocoons on a dry floor, or on tables,
and strip them clean of down or lioss, to prevent the
feet of the moth being entangled in it when coming
out ; while cleaning them, all those that appear to
have any defect should be laid aside. This is the
time, also, to separate the male and female cocoons, as
far as we can distinguish them.

4. 7'Ae daily loss in loeight of cocoons of 1000 oz.,
from the time of formation, till the moth escapes from
them, is thus tabularly stated by Count Dandolo.

ounces.
Gathered from the cabins, fagots, &c., and cleaned, the 'i » _ .

cocoons weighed 5

First day following, the said cocoons weighed 991

Second day 992

Third day 975

Fourth day , 970

Fifth day 966

Sixth day 960

Seventh day 952

Eighth day 943

Ninth day 934

Tenth day 925

It is a loss for the purchaser of cocoons, to receive
those that are of d liferent ages, because, when in
some cocoons the moth is preparing to come forth, and
other cocoons are not so forward, the spinners are at
a loss whether to let it come directly, or to kill the
chrysalis to preserve the cocoon. If the rules which
have been given, be exactly followed, this loss will be
avoided, and the cocoons will be perfectly formed, and
ready to be reeled off, at the end of seven days, reck-
oning from the day they first rose on the bushes or
frames. By reeling off the cocoon between the period
in which they are formed, and that in wliich they
pierce the cocoon to make their exit, the silk is of a
much better quality, and the necessity of killing the
chrysalis is obviated.

Fig. 12. The pupa of the bombyx.

318 THE SILK WORM.

The Seventh age of the Silk Worm. This age
completes the entire Hfe of the moth.

When the pripa, aurelia, or chrysalis, has com-
pleted its transformation in the cocoon, and is ready
to depart, it puts forth a liquid, some affirm an acid,
to dissolve the gum ; and having softened the point
through which it intends to make a passage, in defi-
ance of the maxim vestigia nulla retrorsum, it
forces its beak through tlie fibres of the cocoon, and
with two or three efibrts, makes its exodus from its
prison into open day. Sometimes the moth does not
injure the cocoon from winding, but generally it does
so, and such cocoons are theret'ore usually set aside
for floss, to be carded and spun like cotton. Some-
times the moth gets entangled in the fibres, or the
cocoon is too hard for the feeble moth, and she depo-
sites her eggs in the cocoon, and dies there, or dies
before this deposit. They should always be left to
their own unassisted etlbrts. Nature will do more
for them than art, and if a few should die, that iew
will be less than if the operation which some resort
to of cutting open a way for them were resorted to.
At such times, the cocoons should be spread thin on
tables ; their natural mode is to put forth their heads
and legs first, as they help themselves by laying hold
on something with their feet and antennae, to drag
out the remainder of their body. They live, after
leaving the cocoon, from five to twelve days, accord-
ing to the temperature to which they are exposed.
The moths do not come forth the first and second
days: they are chiefly hatched the fourth, fifth, sixth,
and seventh days, according to the degree of heat
in which they are kept. The hours in which the
moths burst the cocoons in grea.test number, are the
first three or four after simrise, if the temperature be
from 64° to 66'', The male moths, the very moment
they come out, go eagerly in quest of the female. When
they are united, they must be placed on sheets of
newspapers, or some such thing, so that when soiled
they may be thrown away. Much care must

THE SILK WORM. 319

be taken in raising the united moths. They must
be held by the wings, so as not to separate them ; but
it is better not to remove or disturb them when cou-
pled. It is sometimes the case that the male and
female must be brought together. When a shelf or
table is filled with moths in a state of union, the room
should be made so dark that a person can hardly see
in it. If there be more males than females, separate
the unmated from them. They may be easily known,
as the body of the female is nearly twice the size of
the male ; besides, the male keeps constantly flutter-
ing in the light. The hour of junction shonld be
noted, and if any disunite, they ought again to be
brought together ; light injures them; the fluttering
weakens, and causes a loss of their vital, and conse-
quently fecundating powers. The cocoons from
which they emerged should be put away, and as soon
as the moths separate, after a sutRcient time for con-
junction, the males should be thrown away. During
this period, the attention must be minute and constant.
Separation of the moths and laying of eggs.
The male and female moths, at the proper time, if in
proximity, will usually unite of their own accord;
but where they do not, they should be brought by
the superintendent into juxtaposition. After being
coupled, they should be permitted to remain till they
separate of themselves. European writers recom-
mend that they be separated after six hoiws ; but
this is not consonant with the laws of nature, which
are always the best guide in the instincts of insects
and animals. If they separate prematurely, they
ought again to be brought together. Let the place be
dark. The most vigorous of the males must now be
placed with the unmated females. Should the males
be deficient in numbers, let the separated males be
pm m a dark box, and united to females having no
mate. The females are not injured by waiting for the
males a few hours, the only loss sustained is a few
unimpregnated eggs. While they are thus united,
have clean cotton calico, white or coloured; or sheets

320 THE SILK WORM.

of white printing paper ready. M. Deslongcliamps
says, he has used the male moth successfully for six
couphngs, and the male, after the sixth union, was as
lively and brisk as at first ; and it is said the eggs of
the thirteenth coupling had all the characters of those
of the best quality. The disunion, however, had
always to be effected with the hands. Should this
practice be found to answer, many cocoons may be
saved for winding, which otherwise would be pierced
by the male moth.

The moths having all been separated, and the
males thrown away, the females are laid upon white
or any light-coloured paper, calico, or linen, in such
order that they may deposite their eggs. They should
have space to deposite their eggs, and to remain from
36 to 40 hours luitouched. If the papers or cloths
are not covered, other females should be laid in the
vacant spaces. The temperature should be 65° to
80°. Unimpregnated eggs will appear yellow, and
remain so. Those imperfectly so, reddish, and will
not produce worms. If a moth of a sulphur colour
be united with one of a white, a handsome orange
will be produced. The colour, says Mr. Swayne,
depends chiefly upon the female. Eight or ten days
after the deposition of the eggs, the jonquil colour
peculiar to them will change to a reddish gray, and
afterwards hito pale clay hue ; the form is lenticular,
with a slight depression on both surfaces.

Preservation of the eggs. When the eggs
have been deposited on dry cloths, and passed
through their several changes of colour, as before
described, the cloths or paper on which the eggs have
been deposited, must be folded so as to admit air into
them, to prevent them from heating. The air should
be dry, not above 50°, and not below zero. Some
th'iuk they should not be exposed to frost ; but this is
an error ; they have been repeatedly so exposed down
to zero, and have subsequently been hatched, and
produced an abundant crop. It is, as before said,
sudden changes that affect the e2:g. Much has

THE SILK WORM.

321

been said and written upon this subject, by men pro-
fessing great experience, certainly without having
made an experiment. If they can be kept between
32° and 55°, without injury from damp, the eggs may
be regarded as perfectly sound. They must be pre-
served from all insects, vermin, and other enemies, as
all insects, birds, and vermin greedily devour them.
" Good keeping will produce good worms," said Mr.
Fally, and if properly treated, ivill never degenerate
in this climate.

Fig. 13.

Fig. 14.

Stifling thk Chrysalides. — Where the quantity
of cocoons is small, the necessity of curing may be su-
perseded, by immediate reeling ; or if the culturist has
on his premises an ice house in which to deposit the
cocoons, the necessity is obviated, as the chrysalis will
remain in a passive state, until brought to a temperature
of from 40° to 50°. This system is advisable where
practicable, since stilling by baking and other pro-
cesses, is in some degree injurious. Otherwise, the
moth must be destroyed, between the 4th and 12th
day at furthest after the completion of the cocoon, or it
will cut its way throush, and thus render the reeling
of its work impracticable. There are several methods
of killing the pupa. 1st, by baking in an oven of the
temperature of 88° or 89° wherein the cocoons are
shut from 4 to 6 hours, after being first placed in bags
which must be occasionally turned or moved to effect
an equal exposure. 2d, by the siui's rays at a tem-
perature of about 88°, in which they may be left ibr
three days from 9 o'clock a.m. to 4 p.m. 3d, by steam..
For this purpose, place the cocoons in a basket lined

322 THE SILK WORM.

with three or four folds of woollen cloth to promote the
equal dispersion of the steam. Suffer the cocoons to
remain in this basket, of dimensions such as to cover
the mouth of the kettle, after the basket, raised on
two pieces of intervening wood, has been placed over
the kettle with water keptboiUng over the fire. 4th,
hy suffocation in the gas from charcoal, which is
effected by simply shutting the cocoons up for a night
in a close room, wherein a pot of burning charcoal is
placed. This last process is said to be the invention
of G. B. Smith Esq., of Baltimore, and to be the least
injurious.

PART IV.

REELING, THROWSTING, DYEING, AND WEAVING.

CHAPTER I.

Reeling. — The word filature has two meaning's ; if is called
by some reeling, and by others \\\e place where the reeling is per-
formed. The operation of winding or reeling from the cocoon is
called, in French, ^/er, to spin ; the word filature, a derivative from
filer, means, therefore, an establishment where the reeling is per-
formed.

Reeling. Before the process of reeling is described, the cha-
racter of the cocoons to be selected for the filature should be under-
stood. In another place has been mentioned the method of sorting
the cocoons for breeding, the cocoons not thus appropriated are
divided into nine different qualities, namely : —

1. Good Cocoons, or those fully brought to perfection. These
are not always the largest, but are compact and free from spots.

2. Pointed Cocoons, or those having one end rising in a point,
these give out their thread in reeling a short time, then break or
tear at the point where the silk is weak, and can be wound no
further.

3. CocALONS, or cocoons that are larger than the regular co-
coons, but do not contain more silk ; their texture being less com-
pact. These in winding, must be immersed in cold water, as
they furze and become tangled in tjie operation. They should be
separated from the others and laid by themselves.

4. DupioNS, or double cocoons. The threads of these are so inter-
twined that they frequently break in reeling, and sometimes can-
not be wound at all. These are usually one per cent, of the whole
quantity.

5. SouFFLONS. These are very imperfect cocoons, with a loose
contexture, and are often transparent. They cannot be wound.

6. Perforated Cocoons. Or those that have been pierced at
the end, and the filament broken by the moth, they cannot there-
fore be reeled.

7. Good Croquettes. Or cocoons, wherein the insects have
died before perfecting the task. These when shaken do not rat-
tle, the worms adhering to them. These are as fine, but not so

323

324 REELING.

Strong and brilliant as the first named. They are apt to furze and
must be reeled separately.

8. Bad Choquettes. Or defective cocoons, spotted or rotten.
They furnish foul bad silk, and of a blackish colour.

9. Calcined Cocoons. Or those wherein the worms, after
completing their cells, are attacked by a peculiar disease, which
sometimes petrifies them, and at other times reduces them to white
powder. In the former case they are called comfit cocoons.
These cocoons are of the very best quality, and in Piedmont sell
for half as much more as good cocoons. Tliey are rarely met
with.

The cocoons on the mountains are considered better than those
produced on the plains. They contain more of the white, but the
balls are less, and the worms in proportion smaller.
The relative value of cocoons has been stated thus : —

Good cocoons 100

Perforated 33^

Soufflons 25

Royal cocoons for seed 250

Royal cocoons not for seed 200

Royal cocoons pierced by the moth are spun with the soufflons, &c.
Much pains have been taken by a recent writer to throw mystery
about the operations of the filature, and he would make us believe
that the business is impracticable without an apprenticeship of
seven or ten years. There is no doubt much of the secret lies in
practice ,• but among the intelligent classes of Americans who read,
think, and act — who have well constructed minds and ready hands,
to acquire this art will neither require seven i/ears, nor, we had al-
most said, seven weeks. It is an operation of every day's perform-
ance, and the person who devotes himself to the work will soon
know his business correctly if he possess good sense.

Before explaining the operations of the filature, an explana-
tion of the Fiedmuntesc reel, certainly the best known to us, not-
withstanding all the improvements* that have been made to it by
various mechanics throughout our country, may be proper.

The Silk Reel of Piedmont.

The frame is 6 feet 5 inches long, 4^ by 3 inches thick. Dis-
tance of the upright posts A, B, 4 feet 4^ inches.

C C. Length of the braces of the frame, 20 inches in the clear.
D D, legs of the frame, 2 feet 3^ inches long. E, shaft with
a crown wheel at each end. The wheel F, 9 inches and ^^ in
circumference, has 22 teeth. The wheel G, 10 inches and y-^ in
circumference, has 25 teeth. This shaft has an iron pin at each

* The improvements heretofore made on the Piedmontese reel in this
country, put-s us in mind of the account presented by an Irish farrier to
a nobleman for whose horse he liad prescribed. One item was, " to cur-
ing your honour's horse that died."

REELING.

325

M li I (J :Nt

end, 1 inch long. The pin at the end G plays in a hole in the
«!houlder near the top of the post O, so as to enable the teeth of
the wheel to catch and work in those of the pinion at the end of
the axle of the reel, which axle, by means of a pin at the end, also
plays in a hole in the post O. The pin at the other end of the
shaft, plays in a hole of the post K, and the teeth of the wheel F
work in the pinion H, fixed on the top of the post K by means
of a burr screwed on the pin projecting from the post, and passing
through t!i 9 centre of the pinion. This pinion has 35 teeth.* On
the top of the pinion H is a crank, having a sweep of 4 inches,
and receives, on its top, the end of the iron (it should be brass)
wire carrier of the trwersingr bar I. The crank is fixed half an
inch from the commencement of the grooves of the pinion. This
crank is shown in the figure H. I, a traversing bar, 2 feet 10
inches long, | of an inch wide, ^ of an inch thick, and playing
through the posts B, K ; height of the post from the frame 17
inches.

L, a brass carrier of wire. No. 1, IS inches long, fixed to the
bar I, to work free by a screw. The other end is fixed by a burr,
to the pin passing through the centre of the pinion H.

jM M. Two wire hooks or eyes, (rampins,) 7^ inches apart,
at equal distances from the ends of the traversing bar, through

* In all the works published in this country which we have seen, the
word here put teeth is erroneously called feet. We are indebted to M.
d'Homergue for this correction, though his own book contdins tlie error.

28

326 REELING.

which they pass. The wires to the commencement of the turns
of the hooks, are 5 inches in lenjrth.

N, the reel arms, 2 feet 2 inches and yV lon^ in the clear; 1^
inches wide, and y^„ of an inch thick ; rails 20;J inches long, 2
inches broad, J,- of an inch thick ; two of the arms are jointed, to
allow the skeins of silk to be taken off, when reeled and quite dry.
There ought to be an extra reel to put in the place of the one
taken off, to prevent the work stopping.

0, upright support for the axle of the reel, on the ends of
which the pinion is fixed, to work with the wheel G at the end
of the shaft E. The pinion of the axle has 22 teeth. P, a brass
plate with 4 holes 20 inches (not 12 inches as quoted by various
authorities) in the clear, slightly hollowed, projecting 3^ inches
from the bar; the piece thus projecting 3^ inches from the bar,
contains four holes, so arrranged that from the centre of the one
to the centre of the other is | of an inch, but the four to be in the
exact centre, that is, equidistant from each end of the bar. Dis-
tance from the two inside and nearest holes 4 inches and f^.

Q, the copper basin to contain hot water, in which the cocoons
are immersed when reeling off. It is 18 inches long, 1 foot bread
and 4^ inches deep.

R, the furnace to contain charcoal and keep the water hot.

Distance from the centre of the posts A, B, and O, K, 36^
inches. Circumference of the reel or aspel G'.k feet. Distance
from tlie top of one arm, where it enters the rail, to another arm,
18^ inches.

From the axle of the aspel and the traversing bar I, 4,^.7 feet.
The law of Piedmont says 3 feet 4 inches and | the American
measure — that is from the guide v.-ires and the centre of the reel.
Seven rotations of the reel causes the traversing bar to move five
times from side to side.

The foregoing is a description of the most approved reel now
known in Europe or America. The description and cut will en-
able any respectable mechanic to construct one in all its parts. It
is said that this reel has recently been very much improved by
M. Gensoul, a French engineer, but in what these improvements
consists is not known in this country.

The reeling should be performed in dry weather, and women
are preferred to men, having smoother fingers, the fibres being
often broken by the rough hands of men. The air should be
calm ; the building lofty, open on one side and exposed to the
sun and air, but sheltered from the winds. A chimney or flue
should conduct the steam from the place of operation, and the
building should be so wide that wlien the winders are arranged on
each side the manager should have a central passage to enable
him to overlook the work. It is supposed that the floss has been
stripped from all the cocoons intended to be reeled, and that the
imperfect cocoons have been carefully separated from them.

When the apparatus is ready, the softest water must be chosen

REELIXG. 327

for soaking the cocoons. Experience must in general reorulate
the temperature ; but until that is obtained, we shall lend our as-
sistance. Some silk requires more, others less heat, some require
water from 168° to 190'^; others from 190° to 202°. Some point
between these should be chosen, and here a good thermometer is
almost indispensable until the superintendent has, by frequently
feeling the water, become familiar with the degrees of tempera-
ture, which he will by attention soon do. The temperature should
never reach the boiling point, or 212°.

The good white and yellow cocoons are most easily wound.
Cocalons call for the greatest care and skill ; they require cooler
water, and if expert!}^ managed, they will then make silk equal
to the best, but they furze out in hot water while winding. The
dupions, choquettes, and steamed or baked cocoons in stifling, if
kept a long time, require the hottest water. The dupions require
soaking for five or six minutes before being reeled. The un-
steamed or unbaked cocoons give otl' their fibres veiy freel)', and
require a lower temperature in the copper. The fire under the
copper, should be increased or diminished according to the de-
scription of cocoons to be reeled, the characteristics of which are
stated above.

The intention of the hot water is to soften the gummy sub-
stance they contain, and thereby facilitate the winding of the
filaments. The person havingr the management of the reelino-
should be prepared wiih a whisk of broom-corn, or of birch twigs,
cut sharp at the points; and beingr seated on the opposite side of
the basin frcm the reel and facing it, the water being of the
requisite temperature, and the basin on a charcoal furnace, he
must throw into the basin a handful or two of cocoons of one sort
and quality. They should then be pressed gently under the
water for two or three minutes, in order to soften the gum and
loosen the filaments. He should then stir the cocoons with the
whisk, ligrhtly and gently, jtist touching them, until one of the
fibres adhere to it, when, disengaging it and laying down the
whisk, he must draw the filament towards him until it discharges
itself freely from the floss or coarse silk which adheres to the co-
coon, and the fine silk appears. The thread is then broken ; the
loose floss collected and laid carefully away ; the whisk is re-
sumed, repeating the process, in each instance laying- the col-
lected fibres separately on some frame of wood near the furnace
for that purpose, or on the edge of the copper in which are the
cocoons, until so many fibres have been collected as are designed
to make a strand of fibres. These are placed together and drawn
through the outer or inner of the holes in the brass plate, resting
horizontally over the copper. The same process is repeated until
another strand is collected and also carried through the corres-
ponding inner or outer hole in the brass plate. The preparatory
operations are called the battue. If the strands are coarse they
are carried through the inner and nearer holes ; if fine, through

328 REELING.

the most, distant and outer holes. After being thus passed
through these holes, they must be crossed or put round one
another, in the manner in which a rope of two strands is
twisted, for about 20 to 25 times, before being carried through
the rampins or guide hoolis M M of the traversing bar I, which
should be made of brass or copper wire, as iron oxidizes and be-
comes in a short time rough. They are then carried forward and
fastened to one of the arms of the aspel or reel N. The dislunce
between the rampins on the traversing bar, is that which must
regulate the distance of the tiireads on the reel ; it being under-
stood that two hanks are reeled at the same time. The filaments
should not be allowed to cross until brought together at the holes
in the brass plate P. In reeling, if the silk filaments come off
in burrs or knobs, the water is too hot, and should be imme-
diately cooled by stopping the draught of the furnace.

In commencing tbe operation, one person should turn the reel,
and another attend the copper. The winding should begin slowly
with a regular motion, until the threads run freely and easily.
Should some of the threads prove false, as they sometimes will, a
new one must be added to complete the number intended for the
strand or thread. The new end required to be added is always
thrown into the centre and is drawn up with the rest. A few
additional cocoons should always be in the copper, with their
ends ready to supply any tliat may run out, thereby keeping the
strand uniform in size, which is one of the perfections of reeling.
The crossing of the threads forming the two strands thrown on
the aspel during the operation, is intended to give them a proper
roundness. It aids in drying the threads, causes floating fibres
to adhere, prevents the injurious gluing of the threads on the
aspel, and by its rotary friction removes their inequalities and
roughness, and thus causes a perfect adhesion of the fibres, in-
sures their strength, uniform thickness, and cylindrical form ;
without it they would be flat. Fine silk may be crossed 18 or
20 times ; coarse 20 to 25 times. A law of Piedmont regulat-
ing this procedure, appoints officers to inspect the filatures in
order to preserve the character of their raw silk.

Wo have now the reel in motion ; the operation, slow at first,
increases in speed if the balls give out freely ; but if they leap up
towards the brass plate P, the speed must be slackened, and the
spinner, who attends the balls, directs the motion. He then
strikes his hand down the fibre, and places the ball again in the
water, and increases somewhat the temperature of the water in
the copper. The speed must now be increased or diminished,
the motion always regular and equable. If the cocoons become
blurry or in knots, the speed should be accelerated to the quickest
motion, without endangering the breaking of the threads, or pre-
venting the spinner from supplying the strand with fresh fibres
to keep it even as the old ones run out.

The quicker the motion of the reel, the better tiie cocoons wind

REELING. 329

off, and the better the ends join to the thread. The fibres, when
given off freely, are less likely to break by a quick than by a
slow motion. The threads do not intermix on the reel, they are
distributed in such manner, that each thread ranges within a cer-
tain limit upon the asple, and no two threads lie upon the same
track, the traversing bar distributing them so regularly, that it
requires as some say 400, and others even 800 revolutions of the
reel, before a thread lies upon the same exact course of any pre-
vious one. The intention of this is to prevent the strands from
lying together, lest the gum should prevent their being unwound,
and also to enable them to dry on the reel, so that an equal de-
gree of tension may be preserved. When the skeins are finished,
another asple should replace the one just used, so that while the
first one is set aside to dry, the second may be in operation. It is
clear then that the spinner must be always replacing and having
in readiness fresh cocoons, while the reel is in motion, so that no
delay may be occasioned in the process. The operation is uni-
form, and constant attention and repetition will enable any person
to acquire experience in a few days, if not hours. The size of
the strand of filaments is regulated by the purpose for which
such silk is intended. They vary from Jive to twenty or more
fibres, according to circumstances. There should be no more
cocoons thrown into the copper than is intended to be wound, as
by being too much soaked in the hot water, tbey are apt to wind otT
inblurrs. The cocoons should be equally soaked, and when thrown
in, kept under, as they are apt to swim until saturated with the
water." In joining a new end to the strand, it may be necessary
sometimes to place it along with one in the winding, by rubbing
them with the fingers, or gently pressing them. The art of
uniting threads is acquired only by practice. The difficulty of
keeping the threads even is great. The filament of each ball, is
not of equal tenuity throughout, and the skill of the reeler is
therefore required, so to arrange and bring them together, that
the same thickness may be continuously preserved througrhout
the skein. This perfect equality is so difficult of attainment,
that the degree of substance in the silk is never exactly denned ;
and with the exception of threads of two cocoons so called, silks
are not distingfuished as those produced from three, four, or five
fibres, are said to be of three to four, four to five, or five to six
cocoons. Coarser skeins are not even so nicely defined ; but are
called from twelve to fifteen, from fifteen to twenty cocoons, and
so on. In beginning a thread of ten cocoons, from sixteen to
twenty will sometimes be required to preserve the uniform thread,
after a portion of the first layer has been unwound.

The quantity of silk reeled in a given time depends on the
quickness of the spinner in supplyinof fibres to the thread from
fresh cocoons. The spinner should have at her side a bowl of
cold water, and also some chips or shavings, with which to re-
gulate the temperature of the water in the copper. The cold
28*

330 REELING.

water is also necessary to cool her finffera in when loo mneli
heated. The facility of reeling depends niurh on a rig-ht lempe-
rature of the water. K too hot, the tlirt!a<l is technically dead, if
too cold, the ends will not join well, and the silk will be harsh.
The winding- cannot be performed in cold water, as the fibres
easily break, and with the least moisture, the filaments of the
strand or thread separate, which is not the case when hot water
is used.

In some of the French filatures, particularly at Cevennes, the
following- plan is adopted in reeling-. "In preparing fine silk,
the cocoons are not wound off entirely, so as to leave the pellicle
of the chrysalis bare, for two reasons : first, because the addi-
tional fibre required to be added, when the first and strong part
of the fibre is observed to be spent, might make the compound
thread too stout, and thus cause a waste of silk ; secondly, be-
cause the fibre of a cocoon which has been entirely wound oft',
besides being weak, also abounds in knots, which would cause
it to break in winding, and injure its uniformity, in which the
goodness of the thread mainly consists. Therefore, in winding
fine silk, when the cocoon has given oflf three-fourths and a half
of silk, that is, about 335 yards, it must be replaced by another
cocoon; the remainder of the first cocoons must be set aside,
and their silk added to that of an inferior quality. When the
first parcel of cocoons is nearly finished, take out, with the ladle,
all those on which some silk has been left ; let them be opened,
the chrysalides taken out, and the shells put in a basket with
the floss first pulled off. Those cocoons which are partly wound
off must on no account bo permitted to remain in the basin ; for
they will obscure and thicken the water, and injure the colour
and lustre of the silk, which can t'len be used only for dark
colours; besides this, the consistency of the silk is injured, and
waste ensues in the winding. The shells must be imme-
diately buried, or placed among the composts for manure. As a
general rule, the water in the copper should be changed as often
as discoloured. On commencing, the holes and rampins should
be always wet, to cause the thread to run easily. The waste
silk, whether the remains of cocoons, or of the floss collected
in the battue, should be carefully put aside. " Gather up the
fragments, that nothing- be lost," is a good rule in this case,
(/arded and spun like cotton, it will compose excellent fabrics.
The geering of the reel should always be complete; the mortise
in which the traversing bar plays should be oiled, the cog-wheels
should play in proper contact; and the Ijassinafis, or defective
cocoons found in the copper, which will not wind off with the
good ones, being full of knobs, nmst be taken out of the copper,
and kept and wound by themselves. The breaking of the fil-a-
ments arises from ill-formed cocoons, or the ini])roper heat of the
water. The whole thread is sometimes broken in its passage from
the copper to^the reel, through the stopping of loops in the layer

REELING. 331

by knobs, or by tlie reel ho'mg turnod by a jerking motion. They
should not be knotted, but sliofhtly twisted, which will sufficiently
unite them. The value of silk is increased or diminished accord-
ing to the quantity of knobs or knots with which the raw silk
abounds. If the silk be clean when the skein is opened, it is a
sign of being well reeled.

The soufflons, royal cocoons pierced, and other perforated and
imperfect cocoons, which w ill not stand the filature, are boiled in
water, the soufilons for half an hour, the perforated cocoons
somewhat longer, and the royal cocoons a full hour. They then
undergo a process to reduce the chrysalides, and prepare them
for making //e:/re/. Boiling and.heating will increase their beauty.
Of Jleuref, the royal cocoons make the best, next the perforated,
and lastly the souillon cocoons. The coarse floss and refuse of
the spinning, make very inferior silk. The cocoons from which
the moth has escaped, it has been shown, can be frequently reeled
as well as the best.

^Vhen the spinner leaves off work for a time, the cocoons
should be all raised out of the water with a ladle, till his return.
The better practice, however, is to let fresh hands relieve the
spinner and reeler, and keep the operation in motion throughout
the day. The reeler should watch the threads and the rampins,
that be may apprise the spinner when an}' thing is wrong,
for his eyes will be sufficiently ensraged about the cocoons.
The reeler should be instructed to rectify any thing amiss in the
thread near the reel, one hand being always unemployed. No
sand should be allowed in the water, as it will cut the fibres as
would a knife. The water containing it should be immediately
renewed. In a large filature, a boiler miffht be constructed to
supply the coppers or tin basins, and the latter be supplied
with heat from chips, to regulate the temperature, as charcoal,
unless in a fireplace, is dangerous, from the carbonic acid gas
evolved in combustion. In using the whisk, and in reeling, the
temperature of the water is soon ascertained, as, if too hot, the
cocoons rise to the brass plates, come off in blurrs, or are drawn
off by the whisk in lumps. If too cold, the whisk will not catch
the ends of the fibres.

A woman at Novi, in Piedmont, says one authority, will reel
one pound of silk in a day. Another says, with later improve-
ments, three pounds in tw'elve hours. Neither of them have stated
precisely the character of the material. One may with three
fibres reel a pound, while another with nineteen or twenty may
reel three pounds with less labour. Most of our statistics are
thus indefinitely prepared. M. Nouaille says a reeler and spin-
ner can produce one pound of four or Jive cocoons. This is to the
point, and means something. All agree that careful experienced
spinners will from the same material make a difference of 1^
ounce of reeled silk in from 7 to 8 lbs. of cocoons.

332 REELING.

When the necessary quantity has been reeled to form a hank,
pick off the loose fibres, then take a handful of the coarse silk,
and, after washing and squeezingr it, dip it lio^htly in cold water,
and with it rub the silk on the reel, at the same time strokinir it
with the palm of the hand. Open the windows, turn the aspic
or reel with a rapid movement for eight or ten minutes to dry the
silk, then lay the asple aside, and place another on the reel and
proceed as before. The reeled silk with the asple should be left
in a dry place where the sun does not shine. This operation
adds greatly to its lustrous appearance. The Piedmontese law
forbids any thing but the dry palm of the hand to be used.

To reel dupions, the water must be boiling hot. The reeler,
when the machine stops for the spinner to get ready, should pick
off the loose floss and lumps from the silk on the asple. Thn
strand should contain from 18 to 20, when intended for sewing
silk, or from 40 to 50 for coarse stuffs. Good choquettes have from
7 to 8 in the strand, and liad choquettes or chiqucs, as they are
sometimes called, from 15 to 20 fibres in the thread or strand.
The satiny cocoons do not require the water to be so hot, but
regulated as the cocoons are free, or otherwise, to give off their
fibres. The water in the copper should be changed often, and a
few only put in at a time. Before throwsting the silk is examined
and selected so that different kinds may not be in the same par-
cel. Where the silk is of a good quality and well reeled, this
tedious and expensive process may be dispensed with. The
Piedmontese government have strict laws, obviously intended to
insure the quality of the silk and sustain its reputation, but actu-
ally to preserve in the hands of the wealthy a monopoly of the
business, whereby the poorer cultivators are unjustly restricted
from the conversion of their own produce, or to derive from their
own labours the advantages of which they are capable.

Disbanding the silk from the reel. This is a simple opera-
tion, but yet judgment is requisite. The cocoons, if not well
sorted in reeling, will produce different degrees of tension ; and
this will be somewhat the case under all circumstances. To
obviate this difficulty is an important point. Some cocoons, be-
ing longer in the water than others, will contribute to this cause.
They do not all give off their fibres witii equal facility, and hence
an inequality of tension, which, though slight, has its injurious
effects. To make the disbanding perfect, the skein should re-
main six or eight hours on the asple, which brings any inequality
of tension more uniform. By this time the threads are dried and
the fibres united: an important point. Before disbanding, the
several hanks should be squeezed close together, the end of tiie
strand marked so that, when it is to be unwound, it may be easily
discovered ; the hanks are then tied with threads of the refuse
silk, at the places where they bore on the bars, and also at the op-
posite end to the first tie ; it may then be slided off the bars,
doubled and laid by in a dry place.

THROVVSTING. 333

THROWSTING OR TWISTING.

Before describing the process o{ throwsting or twisting silk, it
may be necessary to explain the several changes into which raw
silk passes, in preparing it for the loom. These may be classed
\inder six heads, and we will name them in the order in which
they stand as respects value and fineness. It may be proper to
remark that throivn silk is that which has been twisted in a mill
or machine called a tJirowsiing machine, by placing as many fila-
ments together of the raw silk as is intended to make the de-
signed material. The raw silk is always assorted and thrown
with reference to its fineness or adaptation to certain fabrics.

1. Singles ; or silk of the first quality.

2. Organzine ; or silk of the second quality.

3. Tram ; or silk of the third quality.

4. Sewing silk of the first and second quality.

5. Cordonnet; or twist of the first and second quality.

6. Filoselle ; or floss, fleuret, flurt, or ferret silk.

The silk, when prepared as above, is said in England to be
throvsted, and in French to be moulince or milled. The choquettes
or chiques is a thread prepared in a different way for the manufac-
ture. The five former of the enumerated classes of silk, namely,
singles, organzine, tram, and sewing silk and twist or cordonnet,
are twisted on le moulin a forclre, or the throwsting mill, and the
latter on the travelk, a machine made on the same principle, but
of smaller dimensions. The floss is made by carding and
spinning as cotton, and is to the finer silk what tow is to flax.

Singles ; called k puil, {Fr.,) or hair silk, is made from the
first quality of raw silk, and is throwsted single as unwound from
the swifts. It is used for woof, or shoot, when the warp is con-
stituted of cotton.

Organzine, or organsin (Fr.) is the next in fineness, and is
used for warp of staffs made of silk.

Tram, or la tram, (Fr.,) which means woof, is the third in
quality, contains the greatest number of fibres, and is used when
all the cloth or stuff is to be of silk.

Sewing and twist silk require the greatest abundance of
labour. The former (sewings) require three times, the latter,
(twist,) six times as much doubling and twisting as the former.
These are the perfection of thrown silk.

Throwsting. — In a former part of this work, the history of the
introducdon of the throwsting mill into England has been detail-
ed. Since then, vast improvements have been made in throwst-
ing mills, under the skill of able engineers, by which much of the
fabrics of the French, and all that of the English looms are now
prepared. Amongst the Italians, the throwsting macninery in-
vented when the Messrs. Lomhe first carried off their improve-
ments, are unchanged. Even in France, up to a recent date, no
improvements have been made in throwsting organzine, although

334

THROVVSTING.

the most extensive manufacturers in the world, and most of that
material are derived from the Italians.

Before raw silk can be used for manufactures it must take one
of the three forms before described, namely, singles, organzine,

or TRAM.

Raw silk, in its progress towards organzine, passes through
six processes.

1. The winding it from skeins, upon what are called bobbins,
in the winding machines.

2. Sorting it, when so wound, into different qualities.

3. Sjjinning or twisting each individual thread in the mill.

4. Bringing together upon fresh bobbins, two or more threads
already spun or twisted.

5. Twisting these two or more threads together by means of
the mill.

6. Sorting the skeins of twist or organzine, according to their
different degrees of fineness.

The machine for winding the raw silk is called a winding ma-
chine, one segment of which is here given, the other parts bemg
only reduplicates of the same, extended by the usual connections,
to any indefinite length.

Fig. 16.

THROWSTING. 335

The skeins being opened they are extended upon one of the
reels represented by A A, which is called a swift .• this is formed of
4 rods passing through or fixed in the axis, so as to form a double
reel of 8 spokes, 4 of them making right angles with each other,
and standing opposite and parallel to 4 spokes on the other side.
These parallel spokes are connected together by bands of strings,
thus forming a kind of lantern wheel, and the bands can be fixed
so as to vary the diameter of the wheel, in order to suit aiiy kind or
s?ze of skein to be placed upon it. This provision is rendered
necessary by the circumstance, that the raw silk of most coun-
tries is so wound as to be equal in circumference to a yard, ac-
cording to the standard measure of the country, and as some
difference exists in these standards, the reel which would suit the
silk imported from one quarter, would, without some such provi-
sion, be unsuited to that of any other country.

The swifts may be made to revolve freely upon wire pivots ;
but as it is needful to wind the silk from them, and to deliver it
upon the bobbins, with a uniform degree of tension, simple
means are employed for creating the necessary amount of friction,
either by means of a spring, or by hanging a looped wire upon
the axis withinside the reel. To this loop a small leaden weight is
attached. B B are what are called the bobbins ; these are made
of wood, and consist of a hollow axis, on each extremity of which
is fixed a circular disc, the uses of which discs are to cause the
revolution of the bobbins, in a manner which will be described,
and to confine the silk upon the hollow axis. These bobbins can
be easily placed in or withdrawn from the frame. D is called
the layer. This is a light wooden rod 'having wire eyes fixed in
it, one opposite to each bobbin, through which eye the end of the
thread upon the reel is passed when it is attached to the bobbin.
This layer has a lateral motion communicated to it, by means of a
crank fixed upon the cross spindle E, which crank is turned by
two bevelled wheels fixed at the end of the horizontal spindle G.
The whole is put in motion by the bevelled wheel on the upright
shaft F, which is connected with another bevelled wheel on the
spindle G. This, revolving, carries with it the wheels or discs
H H, and the discs of the bobbins resting upon these are carried
round by the friction caused by their own weight, and occasion,
consequently, the delivery of the silk from the reels upon the
bobbins. The motion of the layers causes this delivery to be
uniform over the axis of the bobbins. The constant attendance
of our children upon this winding machine is requisite, in order
to join the ends of any threads which may be broken in winding,
and when the skeins are exhausted, to place new ones upon the
swifts. When the bobbins are filled they are lifted out of the
frame, and empty ones are placed in their stead, to which the
skein being attached, the operation is continued. During the
time occupied in removing the skeins upon the swifts, or of re-
moving and replacing the bobbins, the process is still continued

336

THROWSTING.

with the unexhausted swifts and unfilled bobbins, each being in
that respect independent of the other.

The third operation, that of spinning or twisting the thread
thus wound upon the bobbins, is performed with the throwsting
mill. The particular construction of this mill is frequently varied,
but the principle of its action being always the same, it would be
useless to describe more than one of its modifications. Mills of
great power and considerable extent are generally used for this
purpose in England, but on the continent it is by no means un-
usual for artisans to purchase raw silk and to employ their wives
and children in preparing it for weaving. The machines which
are then used are necessarily small, and are turned by hand ; from
the form in which it is usual for them to arrange the spindles,
the apparatus is called by them the oval. This throwsting mill
is now chosen for description in consequence of its simplicity.

Fig. 17.

The number of spindles which it contains is thirteen, and of
these, to avoid confusion, only six are shown in the diagram, or
cut, the remainder would be arranged behind those which are
seen. Upon each of the spindles the hollow axis of a bobbin,
before described, is placed, so that the bobbin has liberty to turn
freely upon the spindle. Upon each spindle, just above the bob-
bin, a piece of hard wood is so fixed by a pin as to cause the
wood to revolve with the spindle. To this wood is fixed a piece
of wire called a flyer, //, bent in tlie form here given. At each
extremity of tlie flyer an eye is foruied ; of these the lower eye
stands opposite the middle of the bobbin, and the upper eye is

TUROWSTING. 337

exactly over the centre, and a few inches above the top of the
spindle. The thread from the bobbin is passed through both
these eyes, and also through another wire eye, fixed in an oval
frame L, which has a traversing motion to and fro, communicated
to it bj' means of a crank, or an eccentric pin, K, This is fixed
in a cog wheel, turned by a pinion upon the perpendicular axis
E, the end of the rail /, being supported upon a roller, to cause
its more easy and regular motion, so that the threads are guided
with regularity to the reel K, in the same manner as by the layer
to the bobbins in the winding machine before described. Motion
13 communicated from the crank B to the spindles, by means of a
wheel D, connected with a pinion on the upper end of the vertical
axle E, which also, at its lower end, has a drum F to receive the
endless strap or band a a. This encompasses the oval frame G,
and gives motion to all the spindles, being so confined by the
rollers d and a as to press with the requisite degree of force upon
the spindles, and to give all of them an uniform celerity.

It is now evident, that every revolution of the spindle and flyer
must give a twist to the thread drawn from the bobbin. Whe-
ther the twist shall be hard or slack, depends upon the compara-
tive celerity of the spindles and bobbins, and this proportion is
regulated by the relative sizes of the wheel h, and the pinion i,
whence the reel and bobbin receive their motion. For ditferent
manufacturing purposes, silk must be thrown or twisted with
different degrees of hardness ; this is provided for by the power
of changing the wheel and pinion h and i, for others of different
proportional diameters.

For the purpose of clearer elucidation, one of the spindles is
shown without a bobbin, while the rest are all mounted, and
supposed to be in action. The skeins upon the reel should be
made of a uniform length, and this is attained by a train of
wheels consisting of a pinion n, fixed on the principal spindle R,
turning a wheel o, which has a pinion fixed to and turning with
it, giving motion to a larger wheel p. This, again, has another
smaller wheel upon its spindle, with a pin fixed in it, so that at
every revolution, it raises a hammer and strikes upon a bell s,
whereby the attendant has notice of the quantity wound on the
skeins.

When the machine is employed for the first operation of twist-
ing raw silk for organzine, which requires a strong and close
twist, the wheel h must be of greater and the pinion i of less
diameter than are here represented, in order that the reel K, and
the bobbins, may receive a slower motion, in proportion to the
speed of the spindles.

The silk is now in the form of singles, the only difference be-
tween which and the single twist in course of preparation for
organzine, besides the degree of hardness noticed above, is, that
in the latter process the crank must be turned in an opposite di-
rection, SQ as to give a reverse motion to the machinery. Organ-
29

338 THROWSTING.

zine silk is of the nature of rope, where the combined strands
are twisted in an opposite direction to that given to the separate
threads, whereas, singrles and tram are twisted only in one direc-
tion, similarly to twine, or to the individual strands of which
the larger rope is made.

When silk is intended to be dyed in the skein, the twisting in
this machine is but slight, and its direction must of course depend
upon its ulterior destination, whether fur tram or for organzine.
Silk thread, intended for organzine, is, in this first operation,
twisted in a left-hand direction.

The next operation is to bring two, three, or more of these
twisted threads together upon one bobbin. The number of the
threads depends, of course, upon the substance which it is intended
to give to the organzine, and a careful sorting of the threads must
be made, so as to bring together such only as are of an uniform
texture. To effect this, a machine is used very similar to the
winding machine alread}' described. Instead of gathering the
silk from the bobbins on a reel, in its first twisting in the throw-
ing machine, when the object is to prepare organzine, it is usual
to transfer it to other bobbins. In the operation of doubling,
these bobbins are placed in front of the winding machine, where,
of course, they take the place of the swifts, and stand two, three,
or more in a row, according to the number of strands to be si-bse-
quently brought together in the organzine, in the manner shown
by the following figure.

Fig. 18. Doubling Machine.

The threads in the bobbins are passed over one and beneath
another wooden rail m and 71, with both of which they are brought
in close contact. These rails, being covered with cloth, serve to
cleanse the silk in its passage, equally well with the less artifi-
cial means offered by the fingers of the person employed in
winding.

In their passage or transference from one set of bobbins to the
other, each thread passes through a small piece of wood e, which
slides freely up and down in a mortised hole through the fixed
board /. The use of these slides, which are equal in number
with the threads to be brought together, will soon be seen. All
the threads are then passed through the wire eye d, of the layer
D, which it is niQre convenient to place behind the bobbin, caus-
ing the wire to be bent over it, us shown in the figure. The

THROWSTING. 339

bobbins to be filled, rest upon and take their revolving motion
from the wheels F, as in the winding machine. The degree of
tension given to the silk threads in winding causes them to raise
the sliders e. Should any one of the threads break, the slider
through which it passed, no longer supported by it, strikes upon
the bent lever / v, which moving upon its centre u\ causes the
hook V to catch into the notches made for that purpose in the disc
of the bobbin B, and this immediately stops its motion. The
winding of the required number of threads thus proceeds with
as much certainty as the winding of one would do. It is the
business of the attendant to repair the broken thread, when the
slide e being again raised, the weight .r, attached to the bent
lever 1 1\ raises the end /, frees the notched bobbin from the hook
r, and the machine is once again in motion.

The bobbins, thus filled with double or triple threads, are once
more carried to the throvvsting machine, and are there spun or
twisted together by an operation similar to that already described,
with the sole difference before mentioned, of giving a reversed
direction to the spindles and flyers. In this operation, the silk,
now converted to organzine, is transferred to reels instead of bob-
bins, and then, being made up into skeins, is sorted for sale or
use. Previously to this, however, and in order to prevent its
crinkling when removed, a tendency to which it has acquired in
twisting, the reels are subjected for two or three minutes to the
action of steam, which is found effectually and permanently to set
the twist. This is a modern improvement, it having formerly
been the practice to steep the reels in boiling water, a more
tedious and less effectual operation. The degree of hardness
given to the twist is varied according to the purpose for which it
is intended ; and depends, as already described, upon the relative
diameters of the wheel and pinion h and i, of the throwstlng ma-
chine.

The silk thus thrown is called hard silk, and must be boiled,
in order to discharge the gum, which otherwise renders it harsh to
the touch, and unfit to receive the dye. The silk is for about
four hours in a plentiful proportion of water, into which a quan-
tity of soap, equal to about one-third of the weight of the silk,
has been placed; this assists in dissolving the gum, and in ren-
dering the silk soft and glossy.

By this boiling, the silk, which has already in the previous
operations of organziuing, lost in the proportion of from five to
seven and a half out of each one hundred pounds of its weight,
is further diminished to twelve, and sometimes even to eleven
and a half ounces, for every pound. Considerate carefulness is
called for in this operation, to prevent injury to the threads from
burning, which sometimes will occur, and occasion material loss
to the manufacturer, or to the dyer, to whom the process is in-
trusted. If by reason of the viscid gum contained in the silk,
the skeins adhere to the bottom of the copper in which they are

340 THROWSTING.

boiled, the heat is, hy that means, necessarily intercepted in its
passage to the water, and accumulated in the silk, which is, in
consequence, partially carbonized and spoiled. Even when the
injury thus occurring to the staple of the thread is less apparent,
it frequently discovers itself when put into the loom, causing
infinite trouble and delay to the weaver, who often, in such a case,
cannot weave, in a working of twelve hours, more than, in the
absence of injury to the silk, he would have woven in half that
time ; and the injury to him is therefore one of very serious con-
sequence.

After this boiling, the silk is well washed in a current of clear
water to discharge the soap ; and when subsequently dried, al-
though its weight is so sensibly diminished, its bulk is, on the
contrary, visibly increased, and it is seen to have acquired that
peculiar glossiness and softness of texture which form its princi-
pal and characteristic beauty.

The gum which has been now discharged served the useful
purpose of causing the adhesion of the fibres, as originally wound
from the cocoons. This end is now more effectually attained by
the twist the thread has received in the throwing mill ; and the
gum would henceforth be considered as a foreign matter, impair-
ing the beauty and destroying the flexibility of its texture.
Were the boiling performed before the twisting, this operation
would scarcely be at all completed, and at best only an entangled
wooly or downy substance would be obtained, wholly unfit for
manufacturing purposes. Before a thread of useful texture could
be then got, the silk would require to be spun by some process
similar to that followed with cotton or wool, or such indeed as is
necessary with the waste silk, drawn from the cocoons in the
first operation of reeling, and with those cocoons which are in-
jured or reserved for breeding, and which it is found diflicult or
impossible to wind in the filature.

It has always been asserted, and, if the assertion be correct, it
's a curious fact, that, notwithstanding the great advantage of su-
perior machinery, the English throwster is unable to produce
organzine silk equal in quality, and at as small an expense, or
with as little waste, as that prepared in Italy. It was long held,
and is still believed by many, that the Italian throwster, who is
also most usually a dealer in silk, reserves the finest qualities for
his own operations ; and exports only that which is inferior.
Supposing, however, that the difference in the value of the thrown
silk is such as is stated, it is perhaps nearer to the truth to be-
lieve that the climate may influence the quality of a substance so
delicate, since it is well known that, during certain states of the
atmosphere, the throwing of silk is performed in England at a
comparative disadvantage. Or, it may be, that the fibre of the
silk is injuriously affected by its being packed before twisting, or
liy the lengthened voyage to wliich it is subjected in its transit to
that country; and the higher estimation uniformly evinced by

TIIROWSTING. 341

throwsters for silk of the new crop, over that which has lain
sometime in the warehouse, would seem to indicate another cause
for the alleged superiority of Italian org^anzine. It is owing to
this preference of foreign thrown silk, that, in the face of a high
protecting dutv, it has always met with a certain, though limited
demand from the English weaver.

We find in the Congressional reports (Doc. No. 158) a notice
of Messrs. Terhoven, brothers, of Philadelphia Coui'ty, who have
recently invented a simple and ingenious machine for winding
silk from cocoons, and for doubling and twisting the thread at the
same time. These operations, it is believed, have never before
been united in the same machine. It answers the object intended
perfectly. A fringe weaver, who has seen the silk thread finished
on this machine, pronounced it equal to any imported. The in-
ventors have received a medal worth twenty dollars from Scot-
land for this invention.

An improved engine for tramming silk, by U. V. Spenton of
Winchester, (Eng.,) as taken from the London transactions of
the Society of Arts, vol. 41, page 169, 1823; for which a silver
medal was granted, and one of which machines is now in the
office of the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, is thus
described.

The delivering bobbins (varying from two to four, according
to the thickness of the component thread) are placed upon as
many vertical spindles, the vertical position allowing the threads
to quit the bobbins without any motion or revolution of the
bobbins themselves. Some way above the bobbins, the
threads pass singly between two horizontal slips of cloth or
felt, which by their friction, give, at the same time, a certain
degree of tension to the threads, and clear them from any dust or
other light matter. Each thread then passes through the eye of
its own drop-wire, whence they all converge and unite in the eye
of the guider, from which the compound thread is distributed on
the surface of the receiving-bobbin as it revolves. Each drop-
wire consists of a piece of wire turned up, so as to form a righ:
angle, of which the vertical leg is about two inches long, and is
terminated by an eye through which the thread passes; and the
horizontal leg is about four inches lonj, terminating likewise in
an eye, through which passes a pin, connecting all the four drop-
wires, and forming a pivot, on which each is capable of moving
freely. Each thread, in passing through the eye of its drop-wire,
slips down a little, and, being in a state of moderate tension, sup-
ports it at the elevation of half an inch or more above the position
to which it would otherwise descend. When, therefore, a thread
breaks, its drop-wire immediately falls and strikes on the edge
of a wire frame, moving on a horizontal pivot, and so adjusted
that the weight of the drop-wire immediately inclines downwards
that side which it touches, and consequently raises the opposite
side. To this opposite side a tail of wire is attached, which,
29*

342 DYEING.

when raised, catches on a kind of racket-wheel, fixed on the same
spindle as the receiving bobbin, and consequently stops it. The
broken thread being- repaired, is again passe«[ through the eye of
the drop-wire, and supports it above the frame; the opposite ends
of the frame then become preponderant; the tail, or stop,
descends out of the way of the racket-wheel, and the revolution
of the receiving bobbin immediately recommences.

This apparrtus is very simple and efficacious, but is liable to
two inconveniences : first, that the thread usually breaks close to
the pieces of cloth by which it is compressed, and some trouble
and loss of time are occasioned in drawing the threads out pre-
vious to tying it: secondly, that, when a smaller number of
threads than four are trammed, the vacant drop-wires must be re-
moved, otherwise their unsupported weight would, as above
described, throw up the stop, and prevent tlie revolution of the
receiving bobbins.

The specimen of this loom, as above mentioned, being deposited,
we presume, for public inspection, and to afford drawings and
models, renders it unnecessary to give here any illustration by
cuts or diagrams, none such being sufficient to fully meet the
practical operator, and to such only could it be useful.

CHAPTER II.

DYEING.

[Infhe following pages vpcin iye'ing, &c,, every word is left out
whose omission would not render the sense obscure.]

To CLEANSE AND UNGUM SILK. — This operation consists in
depriving silk of the principles which affect its whiteness. When
the silk is made up into hanks, as is elsewhere described, dis-
solve 15lbs. soap for 100 lbs. silk. Cut the soap in small pieces
to promote its solution. Fill a kettle with pure fresh water, free
from calcareous impregnation, and in proper quantities. The pro-
portions are, 7 or 8 lbs. water to 1 lb. silk; ^'„ or j\ is sufficient
for most colours. For yellow unbleached silks add 50 or 60 per
cent., for unbleached white silks 25 per cent., of soap. Close
the furnace door, with a few live coals in it, to keep the bath hot,
but 7iot boiling in no case, as it would injure the lustre of its tex-
ture. Put the hanks of silk into this bath, hanging on sticks or
pegs, and changing them till they are ungummed,as may be seen
by the flexibility of the silk when deprived of its gum. This
silk is to be wrung upon pins, to remove the soap, dressed and
shaken upon pins and the hands, run a cord through the hanks^

DYEING. 343

8 or 10 on a line. Place these hanks in a bag closed at both ends
and open in side. When in, sew up the side, each hag with about
30 lbs. silk. These bag's must now be boiled a of an hour, in
fresh soap and water, checking it when boiling over with cold
water, and stirring the bags to keep them from burning. The silk
thus operated upon is intended to remain white.

White Silk, or boilin<j; si/k to be dyed ivhite. — There are five
parts or shades of white silk, called in China, Indian ichite. Paste
white, Milky ivhite. Silver ivhite, and JjIuc Azure white. These
are distinguishable by the eye, the three first are boiled and un-
gumnted, as above; to the two latter azure blue is added in the
ungumming. This azure blue is thus made; wash 5 oz. indigo
thrice in moderately hot water, pound it in a mortar, and pour boil-
ing water over it. Leave it to settle; when it subsides decant
the clear liquid carefully for use. This, by dyers, is termed azure.

The silk is now prepared, as in the last instance, for white.
When to be dyed : —

In a large kettle filled with clear water, of 30 buckets, put H
lbs. of soap ; boil when the soap is dissolved, put the silk in the
kettle over rods, passing through it and resting on its brim. For
China white add a little annotto to the baths for a reddish tint.
The silk should be turned on the rods, the end being in the liquor,
and every part an equal time in the watery solution. For Indian
white add a little azure; also for the other whites add azure, in
proportion as the shades require. Four or five dippings will
complete the work. The silk is to be wrung upon pegs, suspend-
ed to dry, and fumigated if required.

Sulphuring. — The silk in this operation should be extended
on poles 7 or 8 feet from the floor, in a high apartment. For
every 100 lbs. of silk 1^ or 2 lbs. of roll brimstone is used. It is
put into an earthen pan, covered at bottom with a layer of ashes.
The rolls, coarsely pounded, are to be placed on the ashes and
lighted. The apartment is then well closed, the chimney, if there
be one, well stopped, and the brimstone left burning daring the
night. The next day ventilate the room, and with the doors and
windows open dry the silk. In winter a dish of charcoal to dry
the silk should be used, the room being closed.

To BOIL SILKS WHICH ARE TO BE DYED. — For common colours
put 20 lbs. of soap to 100 lbs. silk, and proceed as before, except
hat as the silk is not to be ungummed the boiling may continue
3A hours, filling up from time to time with water. When the
dye is to be blue, or green, yellow, or other colours, 30 lbs. of soap
per 100 lbs. of silk are necessary, and the boiling, as before, to be
in 4 hours, and then taken out. The bag, being taken out, is laid
on a frame, and ripped, the silk taken therefrom ; if the liquid has
not sufficiently penetrated, known by slimy appearances, it should
be again put in, and boiled some hours. The silk loses -} in boiling.

Aluming. — After washing and beetling the silk, to divest it of
the soap, a line is put through them as when put to boil. They

344 DYEING.

are then put into the alum, taking rare tliat each hank is properly
exposed to the alum water, and kept well under. They must re-
main there 8 or 9 hours, from night till morning, then washed and
wrung with the hand over the vessel, and washed in a river or
other bath of clear water, and beetled when necessary. A cask of
40 or 50 bucketsful should have 40 lbs. of alum, first dissolved
in hot water, and poured in and well stirred to mix it. Put into
this 150 lbs. silk. If it be too weak add 25 lbs. more alum dis-
solved with the same precautions. The alum is increased, and
more silk is added until the bath begins to smell bad. Steep the
silks intended for dark colours and draw off; then clean the bath
for a new operation. This aluming is the " soul of dyeing." If
the alum contains iron, which may be known by dissolving a few
drops of the solution of the prussiate of potash, when a blue pre-
cipitate will take place, then dissolve tlie alum for 10 or 15 days,
in shallow vessels in the air, when the iron becoming oxidated, it
will separate in the form of rust. Filter the solution, evaporate
the water and recrystallize it.

The indigo blue tub. — For 8 lbs. of indigo take 6 lbs. of the
best potash, and for each pound of potash 3 to 4 ounces of mad-
der and 8 lbs. of bran, watered several times to take off its flour,
and when washed well pressed to take off the water. Set it by
itself on the tub bottom; boil the potash a quarter of an hour, in
a kettle two-thirds full. Then leave it to settle and put out the
fire. Two or three days previously to this 8 lbs. of indigo sliould
have been steeped in a bucket of hot water; in this it should be
carefully washed, changing the water, which assumes a reddish
colour. This is the bath usually made by silk dyers. Put into
this dye the silk or stuff, the shades of which are to be deepest.
The colour will be deeper the longer it remains, until the liquor
becomes weak. The tub for the above quantity of indigo must be
5 feet deep and 2^ in diameter at the mouth, and 1^ foot at the
base.

Crimson Silks to be dyed in crimson with cochineal, should

be boiled in 20 lbs. soap to 100 lbs. of silk. Wash and beetle
the silk at a stream, to take out the soap ; put it in an alum so-
lution in its full strength, from night till morning, (7 or 8 hours.)
"Wash the silks and twice beetle them at a stream. A previously
prepared bath or trough filled with river water, about ^ or .f, and
when boiling add some powdered nut galls; boil on for a little
while; then add 4 drachms to 2 ounces of the nut galls to every
pound of silk. If the galls are finely powdered and sifted they
may be put in with the cochineal. The silk is then washed,
beetled, and spread upon sticks by hanks, thick, because crimson
colour is not subject to be unequally set. The cochineal, pound-
ed and sifted, is now thrown into the bath, and well stirred, and
must have 5 or 6 boils. From 2 to 3 ounces to each pound of
silk is put in according to the shade. The proportion of cochi-
neal is 2^ ounces, never more than 3 ounces. These ingredients

DYEING. 345

are put into a ptire tin vessel, (not into copper or brass tinned.)
The cochineal and galls are boiled, put into a bath, and for every

1 lb. cochineal, 1 oz. of a solution of tin in aqua regia, called com-
position, is used. This composition is made with 1 lb. sp. nitre,

2 oz. sal ammoniac, and 6 oz. of grain tin. The two latter are
placed in a sand stone pot, upon which pour 12 oz. water, and
then add the sp. nitre. One ounce of this composition to 1 lb. of
silk is used. The galls and cochineal being boiled, the kettle is
left to cool. The silk is put into the tub to be steeped from 5 to 7
times. After this the bath must boil 2 hours, steeping the silks
towards the end of this time. Now withdraw the fire, and wholly
immerse the silks, leaving them to remain from 6 to 8 hours. The
silk is now to be washed and to get two beetlings, and be wrung
and dried. Chaptal says, by giving silk a ground of yellow, be-
fore dyeing as above, a poppy or flame colour may be obtained
as handsome and more economical than that produced from the
carthamus or bastard saffron.

Green. This colour, composed of yellow and blue, is diffi-
cult to give to silk, because, in place of applying the yellow upon
the blue, w^e give the blue upon the yellow.

The silk, which is boiled as for common colours, must be well
alumed ; then cooled in a stream ; the silk is then distributed in
little hanks of 4 or 5 ounces, to make the dye uniform. Weld,*
the Reseda Ltiteola, is to be boiled as for the yellow, and a bath
of it prepared with clear water, so strong as to give a good
ground of yellow colour. Dip the silk in this bath with great
care, so that the colour shall be equal, and a perceptible green.
"When the ground (colour) is nearly at its height, some shreds
of silks should be dipped, in order to see whether the colours
have a fulness of ground. If enough, and the decoction of weld,
and make a new trial. When the colour takes, wring the silk,
cool in a stream, and beetle. The silk is then to be dressed,
reformed into hanks for the tub, steeped, hank by hank, in a cold
blue vat, and finally wrung and dried with care and speed. The
15 or 16 clearest shades of this kind of green need only be
steeped in the tub in order to be entirely completed.

For deeper greens, or to vary the shades, add to the weld a
decoction of logwood, or of old fustic, or of annotto. A little
copperas is added to produce very deep greens. The apple and
sea-green require a light yellow.

Lilac, a very light and brilliant tint of the violet, or of the
purple, should receive the blue with caution, and sparingly. If
the baths are too strong, mix fresh water with some potash in
clear, cold water, to prepare a bath for blueing and greening the
lilacs at will. When the bath is prepared, stir it up. Then it

* The weld plant should be cultivated by our farmers : no crop will
pay better.

346 DYEING.

assumes a green colour, which imperceptibly diminishes. When
the bath begins to lose its first green colour, and appear like in-
digo, put in the silk. The potash gives the red more of a violet
tint.

Violet with Logwood. Take dyed silks, alumed and washed
in the usual way ; boil logwood chips in water. It will give
blue, if made cold. When the logwood is warm, the colour is
spotted, unequal, and less beautiful. This decoction will not
last more than three weeks or a month.

If the alumed silk be steeped in a bath of Brazil wood, it may
be dyed with the usual heat : after tiiis, a decoction of logwood
may be added, and the silk immersed ; in this case, the bath
may be warm, which it must not be if the silk had not first been
steeped in the first decoction. The potash is sometimes substi-
tuted with a bath of alum in clear water, for the alteration of the
tint — always when the silks are loo much charged with the dye,
by being too long in the bath.

Violet with Brazil wood and Archil. After boiling and
impregnating the silk with the alum water, put it into a vat, more or
less clear, of Brazil wood, according to the shade intended to be
given. When taken out, the silk is beetled in a stream of clear
water, then put into the bath of archil to complete the colour; is
washed a second time, and beetled. It is tlien put into the tub,
wrung, dried quickly, as in the case of greens and blues.

Yellow. Alum, 3 oz. to 1 lb. of silk ; sugar of lead, 1 oz.
to 1 lb. of alum ; fustic, 1 lb. to 1 of silk ; water, 2 gallons, as
the shade may require. Immerse the silk over night in a solution
of alum and sugar of lead ; wring and dye it in the fustic.
Chaptal says, that silk intended for yellow colour is boiled with
22 lbs. 1 oz. 1 dr. of soap to 110 lbs. 5 oz. 10 drs. of silk; it is
afterwards washed, alumed, and put on the rods.

The yellow bath is prepared by boiling 2 lbs. 3 oz. 5 drs. of
weld to the pound of silk, } of an hour. Strain this decoction
through a sieve ; cool till the hand can be kept in it, then im-
merse the silk. This process is repeated, and more silk iuimersed,
till the strength of the dye is exhausted.

To extract all the virtues of the weld, and impart a golden hue
to the yellow produced by it, 1 lb. 1 oz. 4 drs. potash to 22 lbs.
1 oz. 2 drs. silk are put in the vat. The second bath of weld is
poured boiling hot on these, and well stirred to hasten the solu-
tion. When the bath becomes clear, decant a part of it to the
first bath, and again immerse the silk. A golden hue may be
imparted to the yellow by means of annotto.

Yellow on silk in hanks. Silk to be dyed, is boiled in the
proportion of 20 lbs. soap to 100 lbs. silk. When boiled, it is
put into the alum water and again washed, (called refreshed,)
and dressed, then placed upon rods, in hanks of 7 or 8 ounces
each, and steeped in the yellow bath.

DYEING. 347

For dyeing clear )'ello\v, {jaune franc,) or yellow in ^ain,
weld only is commonly used.

Put into a kettle 2 lbs. weld to 1 lb. of silk. Boil a hour, the
weld on blocks of wood, to mix well with the water; strain;
cool till the hand can bear it ; put in the silk ; work it well till
the colour is uniform. Keep the barque full, and the added water
of a proper temperature ; (all lonpr troughs should be kept full ;)
the silk is now immersed : while this goes on, weld is boiled
a second time in new water. Take out the silk ; empty the
trough one-half; fill it up again with the new decoction, in
quantity equal to what was abstracted ; stir up the bath, to mix
the liquid ; this is kept hotter than the first, but moderate, lest
part of the colour taken by the silk should be destroyed. Steep
in this new bath the silk : during which, dissolve potash in pro-
portion of 1 lb. to 20 of silk. Put the potash into a small kettle,
pour into it some of the 2d weld liquor, boiling hot, stirring up
the potash. When this has settled, and is clear, lift out, a 2d time,
the silks ; put them on the frames; throw into the bath two or
three ladlesful of the clear potash water. Stir well, dip the
silks again, and wash anew. After seven or eight washes, ex-
amine to see if the colour be a proper one. If not, add to the
bath a little potash ; and proceed as before, till the colour is of
the desired shade.

To make a yellow, approaching to that of a jonquille, with
the potash, put into the bath a little annotto.

Poppv. The poppy colour is procured by precipitating the red
of bastard saff"ron held in solution by potash. With this view,
when silks are washed, drained, and put on the rods, lime juice
is poured into the bath till it acquire a cherry colour. It is then
stirred, and well worked, until it has acquired a sufficient colour.

To produce a lively, full poppy, the silk is wrung on coming
out of the first bath, which it exhausts, and is then put into the
second. Five or six baths are requisite to impart to it a flame
colour. The poppy colour is heightened by putting the silk
through tepid water, acidulated with lime juice. A ground of
annotto, 3 or 4 shades paler than aurora, is requisite for silks, be-
fore exposing them to the colouring principle of the carthamus
plant.

Black. Chaptal's directions to dye raw silk (soie crue) which
has been reeled off dry.

The silk bein? cleansed, is to be bleached, by being sulphured
or charged with sulphureous acid; then washed and passed
water saturated with a little soap ; then take | the weight of
silk of gall nuts; make a strong decoction of them; boil the silk
therein for a short time ; let it remain in the vat 3G hours ; wash
and wring it. The silk is so saturated with tannin, that 100 lbs.
of silk thus galled will weigh 135 lbs. Put in this bath, sul-
phate of iron and gum, according to the quantity to be dyed ;
heat it ; dip the silk therein, and when deeply black, put it in a

348 DYEING.

trough of cold water ; turn it on a roller, that all parts may be
equally exposed ; then pass it throuqrh cold soap suds. Dyers
have a tub on purpose for black, and when the dyeing composition
is exhausted, they renew by a refresher, (brevet.) When the
deposit is considerable, it is taken out, and iron filings added to
the liquid. The dyeing of the silk is finished by heating the
cauldron containing the dye, occasionally stirring it, to prevent
the sediment from heating too much.

The liquor must not boil : add more or less gum and iron solu-
tion. When the gum is dissolved, and the liquid nearly boils,
it is left for one hour, the silk, divided into three portions, is then
immersed successively. The silk is slightly wrung, and aired
three times. The great point is, to press out the liquor with
which the silk is impregnated, and wlien to fill it again there-
with ; but above all, to air it well, as that deepens the colour.
After the three wringings, the vat is to be heated, and more gum
and copperas added. The reheating the vat is called giving afire.
Two fires are commonly given for a light black, and three for a
deep dye. Sometimes the silk is left in the vat, after the last fire,
for 12 hours. Commonly 30 kilogrammes (66 lbs. 3 oz. 6 drs.) of
silk are dyed in one operation. This is technically called a heat.
One fire only is required for half the quantity. When the dyeing
is finished, the silk is rinsed on the rods sec, art.

When the silk is dyed, it must be softened, by immersing it
for a quarter of an hour in soap and water, in the proportion of
from 2 to 3 lbs. of soap to 100 lbs. of silk, and then dried.

Chaptal says, a full, clear, permanent black may be obtained
by using a solution of iron immediately after a strong galling.
The stuff is immersed in a decoction of logwood, and next into
this decoction, conjoined with a solution of iron and verdigris,
and this to be repeated till the colour is very beautiful. With
this view, 110 lbs. 5 oz. 10 drs. of silk, 44 lbs. 2 oz. 4 drs. of
nutgalls, 06 lbs. 3 oz. 6 drs. of sulphate of iron, calcined to red-
ness, the same quantity of logwood, and 11 lbs. 9 drs. of verdi-
gris, were employed.

The silk is to be first wrung out of the galls ; allowed to dry,
and then strongly shaken by the hands, in order to ventilate and
detach it from the galls.

The same process of rubbing, shaking, &c., is to be employed
in respect to the logwood bath ; and the silk is to be carefully
washed after each immersion in the solution of sulphate of iron.
Ivn the last logwood bath, is to be dissolved 2 oz. 15 drs. of gum
arable, to 1 lb. 4 oz. 4 drs. of silk. The black is softened by
passing the dyed silk through soap and water. By combining
vegetable astringents with the nutgalls, a softer and more agree-
able colour was produced. Oak bark, a species of agaric, pome-
grate bark, &c., may be employed for this purpose.

Blue. By Mons. Raymond.

When the silk has been cleansed, immerse it \ of an hour at

DYEING. 349

the ordinary temperature in water containing -^ of its weight
of the sulphate of the peroxide of iron. Wash ; hold it for A an
hour in a bath, nearl}' boiling, of soap and water. Wash again ;
put in a cold weak solution of prussiate of potash, soured by sul-
phuric, or muriatic acid. As soon as it is immersed it becomes
blue. In ^ of an hour wash and dye it. This dye becomes dull
in the sun, but will regain its brilliancy by being kept in the
dark.

Chaptal says, to obtain Turkish blue, the deepest of all, the
silk should be immersed in a strong, warm bath of savary, before
putting it into the vat.

To obtain the Royal blue, also a deep colour, and permanent,
cochineal is employed in place of savary.

This last blue may be successfully imitated, by first immersing
the silk in a solution of loz. 7^ drs. verdigris, to 1 lb. 4 oz. 4
drs. of silk. The silk is afterwards disposed in a bath of log-
wood, in which it assumes a blue colour, which is fixed by pass-
ing it through the vat.

Silk to be dyed bl\ie, is usually boiled in a bath of 44 lbs. 2 oz.
4 drs. soap, to 110 lbs. 5 oz. 10 drs. silk. It is carefully washed,
and twice put through running water; afterwards made into
skeins ; plung-ed into the vat by means of the wooden roller until
it has acquired the desired shade. It is then wrung, shaken in
the air, washed, again wrung, and hung up to dry.

When silk is to be dyed blue without boiling, the whitest
kinds are chosen ; they are dipped in water that they more readily
imbibe the dye.

EXTRACTS FROM A GERMAX TREATISE ON DYEING SILK.

[_T/ie following receipts are proportioned to 10 lbs. of silk boiled.']
A HANDSOME YELLOW. Take 1} lbs. alum: 20 lbs. St, Mary's
thistle [the carduus Marie] and i lb. woad ashes. Dissolve
the alum in 10 buckets water; pour it into a vat; fix the silk
upon rods, steep it ; work it well an hour; wring it; lay it aside
wet. Into 10 buckets water in a kettle add the carduus Marie,
boil A of an hour; strain; let it cool to suffer your hand in it;
steep the silk in this ; work well half an hour; wrins; ; and lay it
by wet. The pails with the alum water, as well as those with
the decoction, must be filled and kept full during the working
process to near the top. In filling up, or supplying the evapora-
tion, do not cool it below what your hand can bear. Put the
carduus Marie the 2d time into the kettle, with fresh water;
boil again; take out the silk; dip out some of the liquor in
which you had previously worked the silk; add as much of the
2d boiling to it; stir the liquor alwa)-s before you steep the
silk in it ; steep the silk again, and work it well for half an hour ;
keeping up a higher temperature than at the first operation, but
not too hot, or it will injure the silk. Now dissolve the woad
ashes in a kettle, pour on it some of the 2d liquor, boiling hot ;
30

350 BYEIN6.

Stir well, and then let it settle ; next pour tlie clear part of this
solution into the yellow liquor, first taking out the silk ; stir
well; steep the silk again, and work it well 15 minutes. Then,
or sooner, take out a small quantity of the silk ; wring it, examine
its shade, if the colour is not good, add a small quantity of the
solution of woad ashes to this liquor ; steep the silk again, and
let it be well worked until the colour is obtained. To give the
silk a deep golden tint, add to the solution of woad ashes some
annotto.

Citron yellow. Take 1^ lbs. alum, 8 lbs. safflower; Jib.
alum.

Dissolve the alum in 10 buckets of water; pour the solution
into a vat ; steep the silk in it ; work it well half an hour ; wring,
and lay it by wet. Throw away the alum solution as useless,
and put 10 buckets of fresh water into a kettle; add 8 lbs.
safflower and } lb. alum ; boil for half an hour, strain the decoc-
tion into the vat; steep the silk in it; work it well } of an hour;
wring; dry, and beat it well. The left liquor will dye a pale
yellow.

Another citron yellow. Take IJ lbs. alum; 14 lbs. saf-
flower, and } lb. alum.

To 10 buckets water in a kettle, add 1} lbs. alum; dissolve;
pour into the vat; work the silk in the solution ^ an hour; wring,
and lay it by wet. Next pour 10 buckets fresh water into the
kettle ; add 7 lbs. safflower; boil ^ an hour ; strain into the vat;
work it well for 15 min.; wring, and dry it. The yellow liquor
now pour back into the kettle; add 7 lbs. safflower, (remaining,)
also 4 lb. alum; boil the whole ^ an hour; strain into a pail ;
work the silk well in this i hour ; wring; dry and beat it well.

Citron yellow in a different way. Take \\ lbs. alum ; 7 lbs
French berries.

Dissolve the alum in 8 buckets water; pour this into a vessel ;
immerse the silk in it; work it well ^ an hour; lay it by wet;
and throw away the solution. Then boil 10 buckets of v^ater:
put into it the French berries; boil for | of an hour; add a small
quantity of alum to the berries ; strain into a bucket; immerse it
in the liquor; work well ^ an liour; wring well. To make the
colour deeper or lighter, add or diminish the Fr. berries.

Citron yellow another way. Take 2 lbs. alum; 6 lbs.
quercitron bark, ground.

Alum in 10 buckets dissolved; pour it into the vat; immerse
the silk in it, work it well 2 hours; wring; lay it aside wet;
throw away the alum water; put 10 buckets fresh water into a
kettle; the ground quercitron bark into it; boil one hour; strain
into a pail; immerse in this liquor; work for an hour; wring
well; dry. Preserve the yellow liquor.

A PALE YELLOW. Take 2 lbs. alum.

Prepare as above. Then warm tlie liquor used in the forego-
ing operation ; put it in a pail ; immerse ; work well half an hour ;

DYEING. 351

wring well ; wring on a post ; beat it well ; and it will be glossy.
It need not be rinsed.

Citron yellow. Take 3 lbs. alum, and 1 lb. 3 oz. quercitron
bark. Put the alum in a kettle with 10 buckets of water; let it
dissolve; pour it into a pail; immerse the silk; work it well and
longer than usual ; wring ; rinse, and lay it by wet. Now put 10
buckets water in a kettle; warm it; put the quercitron in a
bag ; boil until the strength is extracted ; immerse the silk in it;
work it well ^ of an hour, and it is a handsome lively citron.

A HIGH VEXLow COLOUR. (10 Ibs. sUk.) Add to the above
yellow lii'juor a few ounces soda, according to the deep or bright
shades desired ; but not until the silk is completely saturated
with the liquor of quercitron.

Orange. (10 lbs. silk.) Add to the above liquor at the same
time with the soda, a proportional quantity of annotto, and work
it well in.

A PALE YELLOW, Or sfrow coloiir. — Take less alum and quer-
citron, and dispense altogether with the soda and annotto.

Buff. — To produce the many different shades of this colour,
proceed with the quercitron in the same manner as directed in the
dyeiniT of the same colours with turmeric and weld, (dyer's weed.)
But 1 lb. of quercitron will equal 10 lbs. of either the turmeric
or weld.

A VERY LIVELY GLOSSY YELLOW. — To incrcasc the above to its
most lively and glossy hue, take instead of the alum, a solution
of tin dissolved in a mixture of 3 parts spirits of salts, and 1 of
nitric acid. Mix this with 20 times its own volume of water,
and immerse the silk, first well alumed. Do not rinse. It may
be coloured immediately. The solution of tin may be preserved.

A TURKISH BLUE. — Take 2^ oz. cochineal ; 10 oz. aquafortis;
H oz. English tin, and ^ lb. alum. The silk must first be
coloured in a keep, to a medium blue. Then place in a kettle 10
buckets of water, into which put 2J oz. cochineal, and boil it
well for 10 minutes. During the above process, dissolve the tin
in the aquafortis, sec. art. Next pour the solution with :^ lb. of
alum into the said kettle, stir well ; immerse the silk, work it
well for I of an hour, keeping up a steady, slow, continued boil.
Then take it out, wring and beat it well to restore it to its natural
gloss. By doubling the alum and substituting ^ lb. of cream of
tartar, the aquafortis may be dispensed with.

A REAL PINK. Take 15 lbs. of safRower; 15 quarts strong
vinegar ; % oz. oil vitriol ;. 1 lb. 14 oz. potash, and 4 oz. cream
tartar.

Put the 15 lbs. of safflower in a bag, tie it tight, immerse it 48
hours in running water, taking it out every 6 hours ; tread it well
with your feet, and continue till the yellow matter is worked out
of it, then take it out, put it in a pail, and pour on it six buckets
of river water. Next put 1 li), 14 oz. potash in a crock to dis-
solve it in water, decant the clear liquor on the safilower in the

352 DYEING.

tub, mix well, set it in a cool place for G hours. After this take
out the safflower with the liquor ; strain in a pail, put in this half
a bucket of water ; press it out to extract the colourinjr matter;
pour 15 quarts of vineg-ar and 'j of an ounce of oil vitriol into the
liquor. Next take 10 lbs. of silk on rods; put it into this mix-
ture, work it well for 4 hours. Rinse in a stream ; wring- well,
and lay it aside wet. Lastly, dissolve 4 oz. cream tartar in soft
water; decant the clear part of this into a tub, with 8 buckets of
river water. Immerse the silk, which was before a light red, in
this solution — work it well } of an hour. Wring and dry it. For
a pink of a higher colour, or for a lighter, take vwre or less saf-
flower, and add a small quantity of vinegar.

A HIGH COLOURED CRIMSON. Take 1} lbs. cochineal; 1 lb. galls;
4 oz. cream of Tartar ; and ^^ lbs. Roman alum. Byreducin;^
the quantity of cochineal to 10 oz. and substituting for the re-
mainder 3 lbs. of persico, or cutbear, the colour will be nearly the
same, but with a slight bluish cast.

To use the receipt above, dissolve the alum in 10 buckets of
■water. Decant the clear liquor into the vat, and immerse the
silk in it, working it well for 4 hours. Rinse in a stream ; wring,
and lay it by wet. Then to 8 buckets of boiling water, add 1^ lbs.
finely powdered cochineal, 1 lb. do. nutgalls, and 4 oz, cream of
tartar. Boil these slowly for 15 minutes, cool with 2 buckets of
water, work it well in the liquor, the boil being continued for IJ
hours. Rinse, wring, and dry it.

A HANDSOME CRLMHON. — Take 3 lbs. of Roman alum; i oz.
argol,* (cream tartar,) ^ lb. East India galls well powdered ; 25
oz. cochineal.

Put 8 buckets rain water, lukewarm, in a kettle, into this 3 lbs.
Roman alum ; dissolve; put the solution in a pail, immerse it;
work well eight hours; wring lightly, and lay it by wet; heat
8 buckets spring water ; just boil it ; put in ^ oz. argol and A lb.
powdered galls; boil all well 10 minutes; strain in a pail ; pour
the liq. back into the kettle; put in 25 oz. cochineal pulverized ;
boil 10 min.; cool with ^ bucket water; immerse the silk in it;
work well for 2 hours; keep boiling; rinse; wring strongly,
and dry it. Take 10 buckets water in a kettle, heat it just to
bear your hand ; work well for ^ hour; then wring it, dry it —
done. An ounce argol may be used.

A DEEP RED, Take 1 lb. fine galls; 2^ lbs. alum; ^ lb. com-
position, and 5 lbs, madder.

Put into 8 buckets of water 1 lb. fine galls ; boil 15 minutes ;
take it out ; run it through a sieve into a vat : steep the silk in
it; work it well for 2 hours; take it out, rinse, and dry it,
'J'hen put into a kettle 8 buckets water, 2i lbs. of alum, and i lb.
of the composition; unite them in the water. Pour the mixture

* Red argol is the tartar from red wine; white argol is the impure de-
posit from white wine. Cream of tartar is pure argol.

DYEIXG. 353

into a vat, Steep the silk in it, work it well for 4 hours; then
take it out, rinse, and lay it by wet. Lastly, put in a kettle 10
buckets water, and 5 lbs. madder. Work the silk well in this
until it boils. Rinse and dry it.

A REAL BROWN. Take 6 oz. annotto, 1 lb. potash, 3 lbs. alum ;
5 oz. nutofalls fine; i oz. cream tartar; 2 oz. turmeric, and 10
oz. cochineal.

Boil the annotto in 10 buckets water, and put it with 1 lb. of
potash into a kettle. Boil ^ of an hour ; strain the liquor into a
tub, immerse the silk, work it well for 2 hours, rinse, wring- and
dry it. Next to 8 buckets water add 3 lbs. alum; dissolve it;
put the solution in a vat. Steep the dried y^ellow silk, work it
well for 3 hours, wring and lay it by wet. Now prepare a kettle
with 8 buckets water. Bring it to boil. Put in it 10 oz. coch. ;
boil for 10 minutes, cool it with a bucket water. Put into it i
lb. cream tartar, and 2 oz. turmeric. Stir well, steep the silk,
previously alumed ; work it well for 2 hours. Rinse in running
water, wrinsr, and lay it by wet. Now immerse it in a keep
(dye tub) light or dark to your taste. The liquor of logwood
will make it equally handsome, but not of a colour so lasting.

A REAL CRIMSON, another way. Take 2A lbs. Roman alum; 2
lbs. fine pulv'd. galls ; 1 lb. -1 oz. cochineal; ^ lb. argol, and
8 oz. spirits of ammonia.

Put 8 buckets water in a kettle; into that 2 lbs. pulv'd. galls;
boil ^ of an hour; strain into a pail ; steep the silk in it; work it
well 4 hours ; rinse, wring and dry it. Next take a kettle with
8 buckets water, dissolve 2 lbs. Roman alum ; pour it into the
vat, steep the silk in it, work it 4 hours in same; wring it, and
lay it by wet. Lastly, take six buckets water ; pour it into the
kettle ; add the argol and the sp. ammonia ; boil all together 10
min.; cool with 2 buckets water; work the silk well 2 hours,
keeping it boiling: Then suspend it on rods over the vat ; pour
the liquor from the kettle into it; immerse the silk in this liquor
until it is cool ; rinse, and dry it in the shade.

To preserve the full benefit of the cochineal, pour the used
alum liquor into it, and heat it again. This will give you many
lighter shades, from the rich peach blossom, down to the lightest
lilac colour. You may, lastly, take silk of a yellow ground and
colour it in it, a reddish yellow.

A HANDSOME RED. Take 8 oz. annotto ; H lbs. potash ; 2^ lbs.
alum ; 6 lbs. Brazil wood ; 5 buckets sharp vinegar ; and 6 oz.
composition. [This composition is given on page 345.]

Take 8 buckets water in a kettle ; let it boil : have ready pow-
dered 8 oz. annotto ; put the annotto and the potash into the
above water, heated ; boil for ^ an hour ; strain into a pail ; steep
the silk in it; work it well 2 hours; then rinse, wring, and dry it.
Dissolve H lbs. of alum in 8 buckets water; pour this into a
pail ; fix your silk upon rods ; work it therein 2 hours ; wring, and

30*

354 DYEING,

dry it. When dry, sleep the silk in warm water; soak it well ;
wring, and lay it by. Next pour the 5 buckets vinegar into a
vat; also the 6 lbs. Brazil wood; let stand 48 hours; pour the
liquor out of the vat into a kettle; boil 10 min., then strain it
into a vat; the parts remaininor into the kettle again; pour 3
buckets water upon it; boil for ^ hour; and pour the liquor
with the other Brazil wood into the vat. Again pour 6 oz. com-
position into this Brazil wood liquor; stir well; steep the silk,
first well soaked in water for 2 hours. If the liquor still con-
tains any colouring matter, take it out, pour it into the kettle
again; work t!ie silk another time in it, keeping it moderately
warm: rinse in running water; wring, and hang it up to dry.
Eight, instead of five buckets vinegar Avill greatly improve the
colour. Omitting the composition altogether, the colour will be-
come darker. If a darker and fiery hue is wanted, add 2 lbs. of
Brazil wood, and I lb. of composition to the above.

A CITRON YELLOW, With querciirou hark. Take 2A lbs. alum;
^ lb. acetate of lead, 2 oz. chalk, and 3 lbs. quercitron bark.

Take a kettle with 8 buckets water; put in it2A lbs. alum; dis-
solve it; pour the solution into a pail ; cool it; add ^ lb. acetate
lead ; stir well ; put in 2 oz. chalk ; stir well again, and continue
at intervals for 12 hours ; let it settle ; pour olf this liquor into a
pail, without stirring up the sediment ; steep the silk in tliis ;
work it well for six hours ; wring, and lay it by wet. Next take
a kettle with 8. buckets water; put in it the quercitron; boil for
^ of an hour; strain into the vat; steep the silk previously satu-
rated in the above liquor into this; work it well an hour; rinse,
wring, and dry it. For a higher colour, add 1 lb. m^re of quer-
citron; saturate the silk in the above liquor; then boil in a kettle
8 buckets water, with the 2 lbs. quercitron for | of an hour ; strain
into a vat ; steep the silk ; work it well 2 hours ; wring, and dry
it. Lastly, take another kettle with 8 buckets water; put in ^
lbs, more of quercitron; boil for ^ of an hour; filter into a vat;
work in the previously coloured and dried silk for 2 hours; rinse,
wring, and dry it.

A HIGH COLOURED, AND DEEP CITRON YELLOW. Take H Ibs. alum ;

3 OZ. acetate of lead ; \h oz. chalk, and 8 lbs. French berries.

Dissolve, in a kettle of 8 buckets water, 1^ lbs, alum; pour
the solution into a pail, or cask with a spiggot 6 inches from the
bottom; let it cool ; put in it 3 oz. acetate lead ; stir well with a
rake; add 1^ oz. pulv'd. chalk; stir the whole well every hour
for 12 hours ; then take out the rake ; let the sediment subside for
12 hours; then draw oflTthe liquor, not disturbing the sediment,
which otherwise would create stains difficult to remove ; pour this
decanted liquor into a vat; work the silk well in it 4 hours;
wring and dry it; after this, moisten it with warm water; rinse
in a current; wring, and lay it by wet. Lastly, take a kettle
with 8 buckets water; bruise 8 lbs. Fr. berries in a mortar; put
them in the kettle ; boil ^ hour; filter the liquor; steep the silk

DYEING. 355

in it; work for i, hour; wring-, and dry it. The liquor left
will colour a brighter citron yellow ; the same may also be used
with turmeric or weld, in dyeing yellow.

Nankeen. Take 2 lbs. powdered galls ; 1§ oz. annotto ; 4 oz.
potash, and i lb. soap.

Put 1 lb. powdered galls in a kettle with 8 buckets water;
boil 10 min.; strain the liquor into a pail ; let i lb. soap dissolve
in a bucket of warm water: pour it into the galls; put into a
;rock with water, 1 oz. annotto, and 4 oz. potash ; boil for ^ an
hour ; add to the half of it the galls liquor in the pail ; stir well ;
steep the silk in it; work it well i of an hour; if the silk be a
proper redness, add such proportion of the annotto liquor as is
necessary to give it the desired tint; put the silk in again ; work
it well 1 of an hour : rinse, and dry it. The nankeen colour must
not remain long without being rinsed, as this would create stains
in it.

A HANDSOME TuRKisH BLUE. Take 1^ Ibs. alum; 2^ oz.
cochineal; ^ lb. composition; | oz. indigo, and 3 oz. sulp. acid.

The silk, being boiled in soap and water, must be rinsed in
running water, WTung, and well beaten ; then coloured to a hand-
some light blue, in a cold or warm keep, rinsed in a stream,
wrung, and dried. When dry, moisten it in Avarm water, wring
it^ and lay it by wet. Next, prepare a kettle with 8 buckets of
water; dissolve in it ^ lb. alum; pour it into a vat; steep the
silk in it ; work it well for one hour ; wring, and iaj' it aside wet.
Lastly, put in a kettle 8 buckets water; boil it ; put into it 2h oz.
cochineal ; boil for 10 min.; cool with a bucket water ; add \ lb.
of the solution of tin, and ^ oz. indigo, previously dissolved in
3 oz. sulp. acid ; stir well ; immerse the silk, coloured blue, in
this coch. liquor; work well till the liquor begins to boil; let it
boil another hour, working it all the time ; rinse ; wring, and
dry it. If you desire a nearer approach to red, take more cochi-
neal.

A HANDSOME GREEN. Take 2 lbs. alum and 4 lbs. quercitron.

Dissolve in 8 buckets water in a kettle 2 lbs. alum ; pour it
into a tub; previously to this, colour the silk, in a cold keep, a
handsome light blue ; rinse in a stream ; wring ; steep the silk
in the alum water; work well 3 hours; wring, and lay it by
wet. Lasfli/, put 4 lbs. quercitron into a kettle with 8 buckets
water ; boil well ^ hour ; filter into a tub ; prepare a mixture of
indigo and sulph. acid, (nine parts acid to one of indigo, at 100°
to 112^ Fahr. ;) pour this into the quercitron liquor in the tub ;
stir well ; steep the silk ; work it well i hour; wring, and dry
it. If the colour requires, aid a small quantity of turmeric to
the j^ellow liquor. Let the silk not be coloured too dark in the
cold keep ; as a handsome green is difficult to procure on a
ground spoiled by keeping it in the dark. If the colour is
light, it is easier regulating it in the final dye to the required
shade.

356 DYEING.

Bkst blue, (ultra marine.) Put copper filings, free from
alloy, into a glass vessel, with muriatic acid in double quantity.
Let tliem stand 24 hours or so, till the /nur. acid attain a blue or
deep green colour. Pour off the clear spirit of salt (mur. acid)
into another glass vessel, add fresh mur. acid to the copper filings,
repeat the process until the filings are dissolved, leaving the resi-
duum remaining. To these solutions together, add the spirits of
ammonia to saturate the mixture. Then moisten the silk in warm
water, all its parts being equally soaked. Then wring it ; steep
it in the above solution or mixture; work it till it has attained the
intended colour ; take it out ; wring it well ; rinse it in a stream ;
and dry it in a shade. To the remaining liquor, add a small
quantity of spirits of ammonia, and other handsome blues can
be made.

For a dark blue, take H oz. indigo; ^ lb. oil of vitriol; 1^
lbs. alum ; 4 oz. logwood, and | lb. of alum.

Finely levigate and sift the 1^ oz. indigo; put ^ lb. of oil of
vitriol in a stone jar, to which add the former. Stir well with a
long, new pipe-stem, or such like thing, till the ferment ceases.
Set it by for 24 hours; then add a little water, and stir again;
after which, set it by till wanted.

Next take a kettle with 8 buckets of water; put in it the 1^
lbs. alum, and dissolve it completely. Then pour the solution
set aside into a pail, steep the silk therein, working it well for
an hour; then take it out, wring, lay it by in a wet state for use.

Put 8 buckets of water into a kettle; pour the indigo solution
into it ; mix by stirring ; put in the silk, stir it therein for an
hour. Then rinse in running water, wring, and set it by wet.
It is now a liglit blue colour.

To deepen it, or render it dark blue, take a kettle wath 16
buckets water, brought to a boil ; put therein 4 lbs. logwood,
boil for J of an hour. Take half this liquor, and strain it into
a tub; put into this tub } lb. alum, previously dissolved; stir
well, and steep the light blue silk in it, working it well ^ of
an hour. Take it out, wring, and keep it in a wet state. Throw
away the liquor in the tub.

Lastly, pour into anotiier vat the remaining 8 buckets left in
the kettle; run it through a sieve ; steep the silk in the liquor,
and work it well for ^ an hour. Then take it out, rinse it in a
stream, wring, and dry it.

A VIOLET BLUE, (iflfr the jnanner of the fores;oing. Take 1 oz.
indigo; ^ lb. oil vitriol ; i lb. alum ; 4 lbs. logwood, and 1 lb.
Guinea or red wood.

The indigo must be dissolved in the oil of vitriol, as in the
foregoing receipt, and kept ready for use ; then dissolve in a
kettle of 8 buckets of water, 1:^ lbs. alum, pour the solution into
a tub, work the silk well one hour, take it out, wring it, and keep
it wet. Next, fill a vat with 8 buckets of water; pour into this
the above solution of indigo, stir well, work the alum-dressed

DYEING. 357

silk therein ^ an hour, take it out, rinse in running- water, wring-,
and set it by in a wet state. Lastly, put 8 buckets of water into a
kettle with 4 lbs. logwood and 1 lb. of Guinea or red wood. Boil
the whole well for | of an hour, run this decoction through a
sieve into a vat, steep the blue coloured silk in it ; work well for
^ an hour, then rinse in running water, and dry.

A DEEP RED. Take 5 oz. annotto ; 1 lb. potash ; 2^ lbs. alum ;
and 5 lbs. madder.

Into a kettle with 8 buckets water, put 5 lbs. madder finely
p jwdered ; add 1 lb. potash ; boil ^ hour ; filter this into a tub ;
steep the silk in it ; work well an hour ; rinse, and dry it; dis-
solve 2h lbs. alum in a kettle, which pour into a vat; steep the
silk in it ; work it well 2 hours ; wring, and dry it. Lastly, put
8 buckets water into a kettle; add 5 lbs madder; heat it, but do
not let it boil ; steep the silk (first in warm water, to saturate,
and wring it out) in the above lukewarm madder liquor; work
it well till it begins to boil ; let it boil ^ hour longer, working it
continually ; wring, and dry it.

A GREEN. Take 1} lbs. alum; 1 lb. potash, and 8 lbs. tur-
meric.

The silk must be first dyed in a cold keep to a handsome light
blue ; the colour laid cautiously throughout ,• rinse in a stream ;
wring, and lay it by wet. Immerse the silk next in warm water ;
let it be equally saturated ,- wring, and lay it aside wet. Next, pre-
pare a kettle with 8 buckets water; put in 1 lb. potash and \\
lbs. turmeric : boil them well for 10 minutes; filter into a vat;
steep the silk in this liquor ; work it well ^ an hour ; wring, and
put it by wet. Lastly, put 8 buckets water into a kettle ; add to
them 1^ lbs. alum; dissolve it; pour the solution into a tub;
work well ^ hour ; rinse, wring, and dry in the shade.

CONCLUSION.

Statistics relative to silk, are far from being brought to that
state to which, by experimentalists, they questionless should be,
for the explicit and definite guidance of the young culturist. Few,
if any, have aimed at a mean, or a well defined avera<i;e, as the
unit of calculation, throughout the entire volume of manipulation,
from the mulberry seed, or e^g of the silk worm to the cocoon;
or, rather, to the pound of silk, the yard of fabric, or even to the
amount passed to the credit of each that shares in the division of
labour in this important order oi national industry. In all things
relative to one genus or species, notwithstanding varieties, or
deviations occasioned by contingency, an average, as before ob-
served, does and must exist, however confused views and vacillat-
ing practices, a sort of navigation that never dreamt of polarity,
may determine to the contrary. Instead of establishing this unit,
or common measure, examples are given from all the varieties of
the mulberry, species of the silk worm, and methods of treatment ;
and to increase this vibration from right to left of a right line,
whatever that line be, ratios are given, without reduction, from
the pounds and ounces of different European countries, which
vary one from the other, as much as the pound avoirdupois does
from the pound troy. The consequence of all tliis is, that dis-
crepancy is frequently made to appear, where real agreement ex-
ists; or the latter has been supposed, whilst the former has been
concealed.

No writer has exemplified a course of treatment, which can,
with greater safety be referred to, as the unit in this respect, or
standard to which all may attain, than the Count of Varese.
Though in the appendix, a Milan pound of 12 ounces is adverted
to, yet in the body of the work, it is evident that the count is
conducting his calculations, by the poids de marc of Char-
lemagne; a pound of K! ounces, each of 576 grains ; one of which
being equal to "S^OS of an English grain, the whole pound was
equal to 7561 English grains.* Now, it is of this pound he is
speaking, when he informs us that 210 of his cocoons, from the
common worms of 4 moultings, weighed 1 lb. And as the Eng-
lish avoirdupois pound is equal to 7,000 grains troy, it must fol-
low, that such was the excellency of his feeding and management,
and therefore his cocoons so heavy, that it required only 222 of

* We have only to refer to page 338 to be satisfied that he calculates
by an ounce of 576 grains, and to page 336 to be assured that the pound
to which he constantly refers, is one of 16 ounces: i. e. 9,216 grains
equal to 7,561 English troy grains,

358

CONCLUSION. 359

them to weigh a pound avoirdupois ; a result similar to this, is
precisely such, as under similar circumstances, we should have
expected.

Su>nbtr. of cocoons to the pound avoirdupois. We are fully
aware of the widely discrepant quotations on this subject by
different writers, not having a standard of any kind whatever in
view ,■ which, therefore, range at all ratios from 160 to 600, and
even upwards, to the pound. In proportion precisely as we
neglect or starve the insect we shall diminish the cocoon ; and it
remains to be shown, that Americans, if only they have the en-
thusiasm of the Italian prototype, cannot come so near to the
standard as to raise cocoons of such excellency that -250 shall
be equal to 1 lb. avoirdupois. When this can be demonstrated
in the affirmative, on the possibility of which, with the condition
specified, we have no doubt; we shall not hesitate to say, that
250 cocoons to the pound, are the standard, the unit of calcula-
tion, of the medium circumstances we contemplate. Rejecting
examples of extraordinary deviations, either from the species of
insect employed or negligence of treatment, the mean of the 14
examples quoted in the subjoined note,* not of this character, is
245 cocoons to the pound avoirdupois; affording sufficient pre-
sumption, that under circumstances already specified, especially
with the aid of the multicaulis tree, the careful culturist will
realize cocoons of 250 to the pound. And with this evidence be-
fore us, we are inclinable to add, that in every case, where more
cocoons of the common worms are requisite to weigrh one pound ;
the only allowable inference is, that the feeding and treatment
have not been equal to what were exemplified at Varese.

Founds of cocoons to the pound of silk. On this subject we have
taken the trouble not only to collect 30 examples from the most
respectable authorities, but also to reduce them, as in the sub-
joined note,f to a common ratio. The result, or the average
of these 30 examples is, that it requires 9 lbs. 4^ oz. of cocoons
to yield 1 lb. of reeled silk. It will be seen by reference to the
note, that the minimum quantity yielding 1 lb. of reeled silk is
5 lbs., the maximum 13 lbs. 10 oz : 10 examples of the 30 were
each 8 lbs., and only 3 examples below 8 lbs.; 4 examples be-
tween 8 and 9 lbs.; one of 9 lbs.; one 9^ lbs.; 3 of 10 lbs., and 7

* 222,Dandolo; 200, in Georgia; 160, A. Benjamin; 300, Roberts;
300, Cheney ; 306, Busti; 337, d'Homergue; 250, Kenrick; 256, Pul-
lein; 240, Judge Br\-; 206, Mrs. Davenport; 206, Silk Culturist; 239,
Bonafoux; 206, Stevenson.

-(■ Two examples of only 5 lbs. each; one of 7 lbs. 8 oz.; 10 of 8 lbs.
each ; 8^ lbs.; 8^ lbs.; 8A lbs.; 8| lbs.; 9 lbs.; 9| lbs.; 3 of 10 lbs. each ;
11 lbs.; 4 of 12 lbs.; 12^ lbs.; 13/g. lbs.; 13f lbs. Authorities ; Dandolo,
De Hazzi, Bonafoux, Congressional Report. Dr. Lardner, Cobb, Kenrick,
Roberts, Silk Culturist, Fessenden, Stevenson, Busti, Davenport, Murray.
Transac. Am. Phil. Soc.

360

CONCLUSION.

exceeding 10 lbs. The arithmetical average 9 lbs. 4^ oz. We,
therefore, are fully warranted in stating 10 lbs. of cocoons to 1 /b.
of reeled silk, as the whole number unit of calculation at this stage
of our statistical investigation. And as i.iO cocoons have been,
under the conditions specified, taken as the number weio'hincr 1
lb.; it must follow, on the same condition, that 2,500 such cocooivi
will yield 1 lb. of reeled silk ,• which is equivalent to a requirement
of 2,500 vjorms that shall survive from the ea;^ to the cocoon to pro-
duce 1 lb. of reeled silk. Again, as of the 3(5,244 eggs that weigh
one ounce avoirdupois, (see page 293,) 26,650, with Dandolo's
care, are supposed to survive. From every ounce of silk worm
eggs, therefore, at the same rate of treatment, we may expect 106
lbs. 9 oz. of cocoons, or 10 lbs. lOi oz. of reeled silk. Hence,
we may derive the following table of the proportionality that
practically may exist between from 1 ounce to 40 ounces of eggs,
or to more than a million of surviving worms, and their product
in the weight of cocoons and of reeled silk.

OuDces

of
Egss.

Worms surviv-
ing to tlie
Cocoon.

Weiglit

of
Cocoons.

Weight

of

Reeled Silk.

1

26650

11)6. oz.

106 9

lbs.

10

oz.

10^

2

53300

213 2

21

5

3

79950

319 11

31

15i

4

106600

426 4

42

10

5

133250

532 13

53

H

10

266500

1065 10

106

9

20

533000

2031 4

213

2

30

799500

3196 14

319

11

40

1066000 4262 8

426

4

From these data, it must necessarily follow, that an average
cocoon will weigh V'^]", or 28 grains, and will contain Vi'^p^ ^^
grains of silk. Kf;lative to the length of fibre contained in a
cocoon, quotations vary commonly from 300 to to 800 yards ; but
Count Dandolo will give us example of those whose fibre exceeds
half a mile, and in one case (p. 331) of cocoons, whose fibre is
each equal to 1295 yards, or nearly three quarters of a mile ! Of
each cocoon, the proportion of silk that can be reeled to the floss

CONCLUSION.

361

that can only be spun, is, by the most reputable authorities,
quoted as 19 to 1. One pound of reeled silk is ordinarily manu-
factured into 16 to 19 yards of the silk called gros de Naples,
which, at average prices, is worth from §10 to $14: i. e. §5 for
the raw material, and from $5 to $9 for the manufacture per
pound. Different authors give from 300 to 600 as the number of
eggs laid by each female moth. Dandolo quotes 510 ; conse-
quently, about 78 female moths, or 156 moths of both sexes, are
requisite to the production of one ounce of eggs.

Feeding statistics. We have yet three important inquiries
before us. In order to obtain any quantity of reeled silk, from
10 lbs. to 400 lbs. and upwards, or the silk yielded by the worms
surviving from 1 ounce of eggs to 40. 1st, what will be the
weight of leaves requisite in each of those cases ? 2dly, the
extent of land necessary for their growth .■' and, 3dly, the average
nett profit on each acre employed in the production of silk?

1st. On accounting for the different number of worms for
which the Counts de Hazzi, Dandolo, and M. Bonafoux, calcu-
late, and the difference between the weights of Bavaria and Mi-
lan, we shall find a striking agreement between them relative to
the quantity of leaves requisite, during each of the ages of the
silk worm, respectively. The calculation of Dandolo was for
144,000, or the worms surviving to the cocoon of 5 oz. of eggs,
as is stated below.

For five ounces of eggs.

For one ounce.

Ages.

Of sorted
leaves.

Refuse.

In all.

Id all.

1

lbs. oz.

30 0

lbs. 07-

4 8

lbs. 02.] lbs. oz.

34 8 6 143

2

90 0

15 0

105 0 21 0

3

300 0

45 0

345 0 69 0

4

900 0

135 0

1035 0 207 0

5

5490 0

510 0

6000 0 1200 0

Total.

6810 0

709 8 7519 8 1503 14f

For the maintenance, then, of 144,000 surviving worms, or
the worms surviving from 5 ounces, equivalent to 576 English
pounds of cocoons, or 57 lbs. 9i oz. of reeled silk, 7519 lbs.
8 oz. of the white mulberry leaf 'must be taken from the trees;
and as the pound used in Dandolo's statistics was equal to
7561 English grains, and our avoirdupois pound to 7000 grains,

31

362 CONCLUSION.

It is evident that his 7519 lbs. 8 oz. of leaves are equal to 8123
lbs. nearly of leaves, according to our pound avoirdupois ; for
which lie obtained 600 lbs. of cocoons; and since he informs us,
that "in the year 1814, which was unfavourable, my cocoons
yielded me about 15 ounces of very fine silk from T^ lbs. of
cocoons." We have evidence that he obtained 75 lbs., equal to
81 lbs. of our weight, from 600 Milanese pounds of cocoons;
■which is at the rate of 100 lbs. of white mulberry leaves nearly,
('■'If^,) for every pound of reeled silk; to which, according to the
evidence before us, 80 lbs. of multicaulis leaves are equal, on ac-
count of the greater quantity of nutritive matter, and less of
refuse, in each pound of the latter. Hence, at this rate, 6498 lbs.
avoirdupois of multicaulis leaves are sufficient to rear the worms
proceeding from 5 ounces of eggs, or to the production of 81 lbs.
of silk, at the rate of c.lture accomplished by the vigilance and
care of Dandolo during an unfavourable year. This is at the
rate of 1300 lbs. nearly of multicaulis leaves for every ounce of
eggs ; or of 45 lbs. of multicaulis leaves for every 1000 worms.

Hence, the weight of multicaulis leaves requisite for the
worms that may, and should, with successful treatment, proceed
from one ounce, is equal to 1300 lbs.; from 2 ounces, 2600
lbs. ; from 3 ounces, 3900 lbs. ; from 4 ounces, 5200 lbs. ; from
5 ounces, 6500 lbs. ; from 10 ounces, 13000 lbs. ; from 20 ounces,
20000 lbs. ; from 30 ounces, 39000 lbs. ; and from 40 ounces,
52000 lbs.

At page 221 and 222, we have not calculated on more than 6^
lbs. of leaves from 1 multicaulis plant of the third year's growth.
Mr. Roberts, in the last edition of his manual, allows 15 lbs. for the
foliage of the multicaulis of the 3d year, and 16 lbs. for its 4th year;
and as by planting 8 feet asunder in the rows, and 1^ feet from
tree to tree in each row, 3630 trees may be planted in one acre,
which, at the ratio specified by Mr. Roberts, would yield 58080
lbs. of leaves, more than sufficient for the feeding of 1,000,000
surviving worms, which, at 2500 cocoons to the lb. of reeled
silk, are equal to 400 lbs., that, at ^4 per lb. would yield
^1600 per acre.

The particulars of the expense of cultivating this acre, and
for feeding the 1,000,000 worms, &c., he estimates as follows :
" Interest on 1 acre of land, valued at ^20, at 6 per cent, is
^l 20; manure for ditto §520 00; ploughing and harrowing,
^5 00 ; wages of one woman for 6 weeks, at ^3 per month,
^4 50; board for ditto, at ^2 per week, ^12; wages ef one
woman for 5 weeks, at ^3 per month, ^5^3 75 ; board for ditto, at
$2 per week, ^10 ; wages of 5 children, from 7 to 10 years of age,
for 4 weeks, at^l per week each, ^20 ; board of ditto, 4 weeks, at
^1 50 per week each, ^30 ; expense of reeling silk, ^50; inte-
rest in cost of the cocoonery, ^48 ; or expenses in all, ^204 85.
Which, deducted from the ^1600 stated above, would leave the

CONCLUSION. 363

nett profit of $1395 14 per acre. We hope that Mr. Roherts'
results will be realized. He has taken 16 lbs. for the yield in
foliage of the multic.aulis on the 4lh year. We have taken not
more than about half of this ; and if the half of this profit per acre,
or $69~, or even ,|^500 per acre be obtained, it will certainly be
considerably more than can be realized from one acre, by any
other species of crop whatever, now in cultivation, or which can
be generally available

■£B::

MULBERRY TREES AND SILK.

THE MORODENDRON SILK COMPANY,

OF PHILADELPHIA;

Chartered by the State of Pennsylvajiia, for the raising of the Mulberry
Tree, and the Production and Manufacture of Silk.

This Company, whose Silk Farm and Cocooneries are situated
on the Philadelphia and Wilmington Rail Road, in the imme-
diate vicinity of Philadelphia, is prepared to receive orders for
the MoRus MuLTicAULis mulberry tree ; also, for silk worms'
eggs of the most approved quality, and in quantity equal to the
demands of the market, in lots to suit farmers or companies, on
the most accommodating terms. Every thing sold by this com-
pany will be warranted genuine and in good condition, and will
be forwarded, per order, to any part of the country.

The mulberry trees of the Morodendron Silk Company, are
produced from the best stock in the country, and are acclimated
and hardy to stand the winter. They have neither been produced
from trees imported nor raised in hot-houses, but are warranted
among the most healthy and vigorous on this continent. They
have also taken the utmost care, in the selection of their eggs,
to preserve the stock of the very first quality. Farmers, there-
fore, before purchasing, will do well to call on the Actuary in
this city, who will furnish them with every thing wanted to
make a safe and sure commencement in the silk culture.

All ORDERS, addressed to John Clarke, Superintendent of the
Morodendron Silk Company, Philadelphia, will receive prompt
attention.

ily* Mr. Clarke proposes to receive on commission, and keep
constantly on hand, for sale, all kinds of materials necessary for
the supply of farmers, planters, and gentlemen who may be de-
sirous of entering into the silk culture, such as Reels, Spinners,
Throwsters, and all the usual furniture of a cocoonery.

Office, No. 8 North Ninth Street, Philadelphia.

364

THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT &, CO,

PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, PHILADELPmA,

WILL PUBLISH ABOUT THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 1839,

MITCHELL'S SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY,

ACCOMPANIED BY

AN ATLAS OF SIXTEEN IVIAPS.

The author, Mr. S. AuGcsxrs Mitchell, is favourably known to the public,
having for a number of years past devoted his attention to the compiliiisr and pub-
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prosecution of this business, has induced many of his friends, teachers in different
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Geography forms at present an essential branch of elementary education, and is
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Within the last twelve or fifteen years the great attention paid to Geography in
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To most of the works in question the objection attaches of failing to represent
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divisions. The same objection exists in relation to South America and some other
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To obviate these omissions the author of this School Oeography has endea^'oured
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The preliminary part of the work, or the description of the definitions, will be
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arranged chiefly in the nxfAhoA oi question and answer, yet presenting, it is believed,
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The Pictorial Illustrations will comprise from one hundred and fifty to tico hundred
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The Maps composing the Atlas are from original drawinsrs, and encraved in the
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teachers are well aware of this fact, it being frequently complained of These ob-
jections the publishers will obviate to the utmost extent that the plan prescribed
for this work will permit.

The Atlas will coniain the following Maps .-

The World on the Globular Projection —The World on the Polar Projection —

North America — The United States — The Eastern States — The Aliddle States —

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PIXXOCK'S ENGLAND — Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Gold-
smith's History of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the death of
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PINNOCK'S GREECE.— Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Gold-
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PINNOCK'S R03IE.— Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's
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institutions, and antiquities of the Romans; with questions for examination at
the end of each section ; with 30 engravings, by Atherton.

THE COLU3IBIAN ORATOR.— Containing a variety of original
and selected pieces, together with rules calculated to improve youth and others in
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the American Preceptor, Young Lady's Accidence, &:c.

DAVIES' ARITH3IETIC. — The Common-school Arithmetic; pre-
pared for the use of .iVcademies and Common-schools in the United States. By
Charles Davies, Professor of Mathematics in the Military Academy at West Point.

RUDDIMAN'S RUDIMENTS OF THE LATIN TONGUE,

new and improved edition, with notes, by William Mann, A. M.

PIERPONT'S A3IERICAN FIRST CLASS BOOK.

NATIONAL READER.

INTRODUCTION TO DO.

YOLNG READER.
PARLEY'S AMERICA, new and revised edition.
EUROPE, " "

ASIA, ' '

AFRICA,

ISLANDS, '

TALES OF THE SEA,
ROME, " "

GREECE, " "
WINTER EVENING TALES,
JUVENILE TALES, "
ANECDOTES, "
SUN, MOON AND STARS,

FOUR QUARTERS — comprising America, Europe,
Asia, and Africa. In 1 volume.

TOGETHER WITH A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF

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SCHOOL BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT, & CO.

CLARK'S CAESAR. — " C. Julii Ccesaris Qu'b extant Interpretatione et

notis. Illui^tiavit Johannus Godvinus, Professor Rejrius in Usiim (ielphini."— Tlie
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and containing various emendations in the notes. By William Mann, A. M.

GOLDSllIITK'S NATURAL HISTORY.— Abridged for the use of

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GUY ON ASTRONOMY, AND KEITH ON THE GLOBES.

BRIDGE'S ALGEBRA.

AINSWORTH'S LATIN DICTIONARY.— A new abridgment of
Ainsworth's Dictionary, English and Latin, for the use of Grammar Schools. — Into
this edition are introduced several alterations and improvements for the special
purpose of facilitating the labour and increasing the knowledge of the young scholar.
By John Dymock, LL. D. A new American edition, with corrections and im-
provements, by Charles Anthon Jay, Professor of Languages in Columbia College,
New York, and Rector of the Grammar School.

MANUAL OF CLASSICAL LITER.ATURE.— From the German
of J. J. Eschenburg, Professor in tlie Carolinum at New Brunswick. Second edi-
tion. With additions. By N. W. Fiske, Professor of Moral and Intellectual Phi-
losophy, (lately of the Latin and Greek Languages,) in Amherst College.

CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES.— Being part of the Manual of Classical
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SIMSON'S EUCLID.— The Elements of Euclid, viz. the first six books
together with the eleventh and twelfth. The errors by which Theon, or others,
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tions are restored. Also the book of Euclid's Data, in like manner corrected. By
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nometry.

ROSS'S LATIN GRAlVtM.AR.— A short, plain, comprehensive, prac-
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accurate knowledge of the Latin" Cla.~sics, having the signs of quantity affixed to
certain syllables, to show their right pronunciation, with an Alphabetical Vocabu-
lary. The ninth edition, revised and improved.

ART OF FLOWER PAINTING.— A series of Progressive Lessons
intended to elucidate the Art of Flower Painting in Water colours, with several
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Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. have also become the Publishers of

MITCHELL'S POCKET MAPS.

All of which have been corrected and improved, and they offer them to the trade,
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maps :

American Traveller— Map of the United States, showing the Canals and Rail
Roads, with descriptions of the same— Map of the United States, royal sheet,
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and Vermont— Map of .Massachusetts, Connecticut, anri Rhode Island— Map of New-
York-Map of Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and Delaware— Map of Virginia and
Mar\lnnd— iMap of North and South Carolina and Georgia— Map of Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama— Map of Kentucky and Tennessee— Map of Missouri and
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of Florida ami West Indies— Map of Europe— Map of the United States— Map of
Pennsylvania— Map of Ohio-Map of Indiana— Map of Illinois— Map of Tennessee
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Map of Michigan— Map of Arkansas— Map of Texas— Map of New- Jersey— Map of
North America— Map of South America.

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