STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. - 239 



SILK CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



BY I. N. HO AG, OF YOLO. 



During tin's last spring a number of parties engaged in silk culture in 

 this vicinity, and myself among them, having lost our first feeding of 

 worms, and this fact having found its way into some of the newspapers, 

 accompanied with a hint that the industry was of such great importance 

 to the Slate that the people would be glad to know the cause of the 

 losses; whether they were of such a character as to prove detrimental 

 to the business generally, or whether they were only local and tempo- 

 rary, and easil} T avoided. In a communication I stated that, so far as my 

 loss was concerned, I was satisfied that the cause was local and tempo- 

 rary and easily remedied in the future. I said also, that I would, at a 

 proper time, give the public a full statement of those causes and my 

 experience in the business. My experience and experiments during the 

 summer have fully convinced me that my position was then correct, not 

 only as regarded my own loss, but that it is also true of all th"e other 

 losses that have taken place this season throughout the State — that is, 

 that they were local and temporary, and that they will prove a benefit 

 rather than an injury to the business. I propose now to redeem my 

 promise then made, and in accordance with the solicitation of many sin- 

 cere friends of pur State's prosperity, I will give a review of this promis- 

 ing industry in our State up to the present time. 



One j-ear ago the cultivation of silk in California was looked upon 

 with great favor by all classes of the community. All hoped and 

 believed it would at no very distant day assume an importance among 

 the profitable industries of the State, equal, if not superior, to that of 

 any other agricultural industry. So general was this belief and hope 

 that perhaps no other business was the topic of so much thought and 

 discussion among agriculturists, and indeed, among business men of all 

 classes, as silk culture. Manv of our most successful merchants and 

 capitalists were turning their attention in this direction and contemplat- 

 ing the engagement, as soon as practical, in the pleasing and profitable 

 business of cultivating mulberry plantations and the production of eggs 

 and silk. 



The press — that true indicator of public opinion and friend of general 

 improvement — was unanimous in putting down this industry as one 

 promising great inducements to individual enterprise and capital, and 

 certain to contribute largely to public prosperity. Indeed, the indica- 

 tions w 7 ere that California would, in a very few years, rival France and 

 Italy in the production of rich and beautiful silk fabrics, and relieve 

 China and Japan of that most profitable trade with Europe — the trade 

 in silkworm eggs, worth to those countries, annually, from six to ten 

 millions of dollars. 



Such w T as the prospect of our silk industry but one year ago, and how- 



