STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 149 



«lim, blue-black, genteel-looking, piratical fellow, that comes sud- 

 •deuly, eats voraciously, and disappears quickly. I have seen them 

 attack a patch of mangel wurzel beets and riddle the leaves, by 

 swarms, in one day ; but a weak solution of paris green lays them 

 out expeditously. It has no such adhesiveness and tenacity as the 

 Colorado potato beetle, and does not threaten to be generally pre- 

 valent. I will look it up in the books and identify it in the Secre- 

 tary's Portfolio, if I can. 



Mrs. Sargeant being present was then invited to read her paper. 



A BEGINNING IN SILK-WOBM CULTURE IN 

 MINNESOTA. 



By Mrs. H. B. Sargevnt, Lake City. 



Finding myself in possession of some silk-worm eggs in the 

 spring of 1883, I thought the proper thing to do would be to allow 

 them to see the light, and enjoy the term of life allotted them on 

 this mundane sphere. As I had no acquaintance with them, 

 never having seen a silk- worm, I began to look around for some 

 instruction as to the way and manner in which I should receive and 

 entertain my expected guests. I soon found that a book giving 

 instruction on this subject was published by the Woman's Silk 

 Association, at Philadelphia. T procured the book and was enabled 

 to provide for their comfort when they arrived. 



The food of silk-worm is the mulberry. Of the mulberry there 

 •are said to be some seven or eight varieties. As a vegetable pro- 

 ■duction it is said to be entirely subservient to the wishes of its 

 producer. It will, under favorable circumstances, grow to the 

 height of forty or fifty feet, or, it can be trained as a tall and orna- 

 mental shrub or dwarfed to a thick and impenetrable hedge. 



It was about the Tth of July last, when the mulberries which had 

 •been started the year before promised a supply of food, that I 

 brought the eggs from the cool temperature of 40^ and placed them 

 in a room with a temperature between 75° and 80° of summer 

 heat. Just here I would say that the room for these little silk 

 |)roducers must be perfectly neat and clean, free from odors, with 



