546 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. WeLster's table in our last Annual Report (p. 38G), we give the 

 result of an examination of ten straws received May 23 from Mr. 

 Donkin, of Grayson, Cal. : 



Above fourth knot from ear * 3 



Above third knot from ear , 13 



Above second knot from ear l~t 



Above first knot from ear o 



In second knot from ear 2 



In third knot from ear 6 



In fourth knot from ear 1 



Total number of larv88 in ten stalks 44 



Parasites. — By far the most numerous parasite bred during the 

 season from both the bisexual and unisexual forms has been Eupelmus 

 allynii (French). But one specimen (female) of Stictonotus isoso- 

 matis Riley, which we described in our Annual Report for 1881-'82 

 (p.l86), has been reared since the original description, which was drawn 

 up from one female and two males. We have, however, bred a most 

 interesting parasite of the Proctotrupid genus Dryinus from the 

 grande form and a new Pteromalid from both forms. 



SILK CULTURE. 



la our last Annual Report we reiterated the recommendations which 

 we had several times made that means be given for the establishment 

 in AVashington of an experimental silk filature, and expressed the 

 hope that we should be able to obtain a certain nunJber of Serrell au- 

 tomatic reels with which to carry out any experiments which might 

 be authorized. 



In pursuance of this recommendation Congress, at its last session, 

 appropriated $10,000 in aid of silk culture, and, among other things, 

 authorized '* experiments with automatic machinery for reeling silk 

 from the cocoon at some point in the District of Columbia." The 

 experimental reeling station at New Orleans had been closed at the 

 beginning of the calendar year, and on the 30th of June that at Phila- 

 delphia was also closed and its appurtenances loaned to the Women's 

 Silk Culture Association, in aid of which Congress also appropriated 

 $5,000. 



In pursuance of this act (June 30, 1886) an experimental silk filature 

 has been set up in one of the Department buildings in Washington. 

 It consists of a battery of six Serrell automatic reels and an automatic 

 cocoon-brushing machine, invented partly by the same engineer. 



Several objects will be held in view in operating this establishment. 

 Among them we shall endeavor to settle conclusively the commercial 

 value of Osage Orange as a silk-worm food, and, more important still, 

 as foreshadowed in our last report, will be the determination of the 

 question as to whether silk can be reeled with profit in the United 

 States by means of the most improved machinery. 



OSAGE ORANGE VS. MULBERRY. 



In reference to the first object, the work already done justifies the 

 statement that cocoons raised from Maclura-fed worms produce as 

 good a silk as when the worms are fed on Mulberry. The difficulty 

 found when these cocoons were reeled in France was that the rendi- 



