THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



of a large and fashionable young woman's school in that city, 

 had, through a recent long stay in Italy, become much interested 

 in silk culture as a household side-industry. She corresponded 

 with us, and, convinced of her ability, I got her to write a new 

 manual of silk culture. And then I went to Europe to study the 

 industry, to buy eggs and reeling machinery, and to engage 

 expert reelers. 



I looked up the reels first, and finally, going to Lyons, a great 

 center for that sort of thing, I bought, with the help of the 

 American consul, Mr. Covert (a cousin or nephew of Ezra 

 Cornell), the very latest thing in the shape of a three-basin 

 reel. After much trouble, Mr. Covert, who was courtesy and 

 helpfulness personified, succeeded in finding a mother and her 

 daughter, both expert reelers, who would come to America. It 

 was a great undertaking for these two French women, and they 

 made many stipulations, among them the very natural one that 

 in case of illness or death they should be returned to France at 

 the expense of the United States government. 



The matter of the reel once settled, I went to the South of 

 France and then on to Italy, studying in both countries the way 

 the peasants raised the silkworms in their own homes, the 

 methods of the buyers of cocoons, and the conduct of the bacchi- 

 cultural laboratories for the safeguarding of the eggs against 

 the causative micro-organisms of pebrine. 



It was during this visit to Italy that I first met a certain 

 Duke and Duchess. The Duchess was American by birth. Their 

 large estate was in northern Italy, and practically all the peasants 

 on the estate raised silkworms. In a near-by town was a large 

 establishment from which I arranged to buy eggs for our govern- 

 ment. Thus the place was admirably adapted to my mission in 

 every way. There were large plantations of mulberry trees of 

 difFerent ages, and not only did every peasant's home contain the 



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