8 — 
sult we see the great magnaneries disappearing from France and Italy, 
where in some establishments as many as 60 ounces were at one time 
annually raised. We find this statement confirmed by looking at the 
French official statistics for 1884, where it is stated that the cocoons 
produced in France during that year were raised by over one hundred 
and forty thousand families, who utilized therefor about two hundred 
and eighty thousand ounces of eggs, or an average of about two ounces 
per family. 
To beginners I would repeat the advice so often given from this Office, 
to hatch the first season but a small quantity of eggs; not more than 
an eighth of an ounce. Experience counts in this as in other industries, 
and it will be found that, where only a small quantity of worms are 
being fed, there will be much more time to study their habits and wants. 
With a year’s experience there will be a better chance of profit the 
second year. 
It will not be safe for individuals to rely on reeling their own silk. 
The art of reeling in modern filatures and with steam appliances has 
been brought to such perfection that none but skilled reelers can hope 
to produce a first-class article. Skill comes only after full apprentice- 
ship and practice. ‘The only way in which silk-reeling can be managed 
profitably at present is where a colony of silk-raisers combine to put up 
and operate a common filature. Though there is a ready market in the 
United States for large lots of good silk, it will not be found so easy to 
dispose of small lots of poorer quality. 
Two years ago Congress appropriated $15,000 for the encouragement 
of silk-culture, and the appropriation was repeated for the present fiscal 
year. The appropriation was general in its nature, and the method of 
encouragement left with the Commissioner of Agriculture. In my An- 
nual Reports for 1884 and 1885 details are given as to the work done 
by the Department under this appropriation, and various questions dis-- 
cussed and conclusions reached as to the outcome of the two years’ ex-. 
perience. These need not be repeated here. 
Owing to the conviction that the establishment of filatures and their 
successful operation was the sine qua non in putting the industry on a 
firm basis, a large portion of the money thus appropriated has been de- 
voted to experiments in silk reeling. These experiments have shown 
that the quality of cocoons produced by American silk-raisers is not yet 
such as to enable this country to compete with others in the production 
of raw silk. The quality of a cocoon is most conclusively shown by the 
quantity of silk which may be unwound from it. A good average re- 
sult, after the experience of European filatures, is the production of a 
pound of raw siik from 3.80 pounds of dry cocoons. The Government 
experiments at New Orleans showed a production of but 1 pound of silk 
from 4.23 pounds of dry cocoons. The cost of producing silk from a 
poorer quality of cocoons is proportionately much greater than where the 
cocoons are of better quality, and the difference is much greater than 
