258 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



in the soil should always be avoided. The tree will not flourish in it, 

 nor will the worm do as well on the leaves grown from an alkali soil. It 

 must not be inferred from the above that other lands than our river 

 bottoms are not adapted to the silk culture — only, that they will produce 

 the greatest quantity of food to the acre, and are better adapted to silk 

 culture than anything else. Our foot-hills are eminently successful in 

 the production of the mulberry tree and the cocoons. Indeed, it is 

 believed that the quality of the cocoons raised on the high lands may be 

 superior, but the quantity cannot be greater than the low lands will 

 produce. 



I am aware that in most countries it is laid down as a rule that the 

 low rich land is not so well adapted to silk culture as higher, lighter and 

 less rich soils 



The reason given is that on the former quality of lands the mulberry 

 leaf secretes too much water, and is not so healthy, and does not contain 

 so much of the resinous substance which fills the silk vessels of ttfe 

 worms, and therefore does not make so much silk, or so fine, smooth and 

 strong a fibre. This rule does not apply with so much force in California, 

 where we have no rain from May to October, to be absorbed by the leaves 

 or drank up by the roots of the trees ; and consequently the leaves grown 

 on our low bottom lands, along the rivers, are dryer and contain more 

 resinous matter, and smoother and stronger fibre, than those grown 

 on lighter and higher soils, in countries subject to frequent summer 

 showers. It is a well established scientific fact that all vegetable sub- 

 stances grown in a dry climate, and without irrigation, contain more 

 saccharine and resinous matter, and consequently more nourishment for 

 man, beast or insect, than the same vegetables grown in a wetter cli- 

 mate. Our hay, for instance, has more resin, and consequently more 

 nourishment in it, than hay grown in the Atlantic States or Europe. So 

 with the leaves of trees. The mulberry leaf has more resin — and, as 

 before intimated, this is the material which forms the silk — than the 

 same leaf in damper climates. It must be remembered that after the 

 month of May all our rivers, which overflow during the winter season, 

 are within their banks, and their waters soon go down to low water 

 mark, thus leaving the lands along their borders from fifteen to twenty 

 feet above their waters. The principal portion of the leaves of mul- 

 berry or other trees standing on this land is grown after this period, 

 when the soil is dry and in good condition — even better condition for 

 making a healthy and even growth than if upon the hilly portions of a 

 country where rain and drought succeed each other during the summer 

 season. This evenness of the growth of the leaf without rain or other 

 climatic change is of the first importance, and is one of the strong 

 points in favor of our climate for silk culture. Another very strong 

 reason for recommending the mulberry for our overflowed districts is 

 found in the fact that they throw down very deep tap roots, as well as 

 lateral roots, and are therefore not very easily washed out, but may be 

 depended on to hold the soil to its place while the water is sweeping 

 over it. This fact undoubtedly led the Italian Government to adopt 

 this tree to protect their levees along the river Po and its tributaries, 

 and we should adopt it along our rivers for the same purpose, thus 

 making it contribute to the safety of our homes and the comforts of our 

 families. I would not discourage the silk culture on our hi^h land or in 

 the foothills, but these lands are also valuable for grain farming, and 

 the foothills especially for grape and tea culture — and while I would like 

 to see the mulberry, the vine, the tea plant, the orange, lemon and some 



