THE OAK-FEEDINCi .SILKWOltM OK CHINA. .)/ 



l)ei-o-. The t^ilk^^ol■nls led upon this oak produce the best 

 silk ; the tree, however, is uot so common in the silk districts 

 as either of the other species. The next best quality of silk is 

 })roduced by feeding the insects upon the leaves of Querciis 

 Mongolica, those of Quercus obovata producing* the most inferior 

 descrij)tion. Two crops of silk are produced by the A nthercea 

 Fenn/l in one year — a spring and an autumn crop. Thecocoons, 

 which are very large, are carefully selected by the silk 

 growers after the autumn crop of silk has l)een collected, and 

 stored away in baskets, which are usually hung up in ordi- 

 nary living rooms for the spring. The ordinary heat of a 

 Chinese living room during the winter seems to be quite 

 sufficient to prevent the frost affecting the chrysalids. The 

 temperature of a Chinese dwelling in the mountain silk dis- 

 tricts is during the greater part of the winter considerably 

 below freezing-point. It is thought that the chrysalis would 

 not be aifected even if exposed on the trees during an ordinary 

 winter night in the Chinese forests, and if this be so, it will 

 j)robably prove hardy enough to bear our climate. Towards 

 the end of April the oaks upon which the caterpillars feed begin 

 to open their young leaves ; and to push forward the growth of 

 these leaves, so as to have food in readiness for the caterpillars 

 when hatched, twigs are cut off the trees, and placed either 

 in tubs of water in dwelling-houses, or in pools and mountain 

 streams. By the time the leaves have expanded, the moths 

 ha^'e made their escape from the cocoons, have paii-ed, 

 deposited their eggs, which are hatched on sheets of paper 

 upon which the young leaves of the oak are i)laced. The 

 insects are thus nursed and nourished for a few days, by 

 which time they have grown to about an inch in length. 

 They are then transferred to the trees themselves on the hill 

 slopes, the younger and most tender-leaved plants being 

 selected. Some days elapse before the caterpillar moults for 

 the first time ; it also changes its colour from black to green, 

 and increases considerably in size. It goes through four of 

 these changes, after each of which its bulk is increased, but it 

 retains its green colour. It now begins sjjinning its silk, and 

 of course encloses itself in its coc(Ktn, there again to take the 



