14 SILKWORMS. 



But though this first attempt fell through, others since carried 

 out at different places, as Slough, Nottingham, Yately, etc., have 

 been more successful, and have demonstrated that it is quite 

 possible for good silk to be produced in this country. The 

 climate, however, is too changeable to permit of the permanent 

 establishment of silk-production, and the expenses attending the 

 process have always been found to be too heavy for it to be 

 financially a success ; it has been found cheaper to import the raw 

 material than to produce it on the spot. The rearing of silkworms 

 in our own country, therefore, is still merely a pastime, and 

 "educations " as the French call them, are carried out only on an 

 extremely insignificant scale, far smaller than any one would dream 

 of undertaking if it were done with a view to utilising the silk. 



Not only is this the case, but until the year 1718, England had 

 to depend upon foreigners even for silk thread ; she did not 

 practise the art of reeling and " throwing " the silk from the 

 cocoons, and so preparing it for manufacturing purposes. But in 

 that year Lombe, of Derby, having gone to Italy disguised as a 

 common workman, and taken drawings of the silk-throwing 

 machines in use there, set up, on his return, a mill in his native 

 town. This was on a very large scale, and produced daily no less 

 than 318 millions of yards of prepared silk thread. 



We must at the present day, therefore, distinguish three totally 

 distinct branches of the silk industry, the production of the raw 

 material, the transformation of this into thread suitable for 

 manufacturing purposes, and lastly the weaving of this into the 

 various beautiful fabrics used so largely for clothing and other 

 purposes, and it by no means follows that the same country will 

 undertake all three processes. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE SILKWORM ITS FORM AND LIFE HISTORY. 



HAVING thus given a brief outline of the history of silk culture, 

 we may now proceed to enquire what is the nature of the animal 

 itself to which mankind is so greatly indebted, which has con- 

 tributed so largely to his comfort and delight, has during so many 

 ages proved the support of so many millions of his race, and has 

 even brought itself into prominence as a cause of international 

 jealousies. We are most familiar with it as a pale, worm-like 

 creature of lethargic habits, and much given to gormandising ; this, 



