REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 217 
the past by making fabulous calculations as to the profits of sill-culture. 
The figures here given are based on data furnished by men like Messrs. 
E. V. Boissiére and L. 8. Crozier, of Silkville, Kans., E. Fasnach, of 
Raleigh, N. C., T. N. Dale, of Patterson, N. J., &c., and on the current 
prices as quoted in the Moniteur des Soies. They arein every sense mod- 
erate estimates, but it must not be forgotten that they do not include 
capital invested in the shape of food-plants. As yet, and until Congress 
gives the necessary encouragement, it were safest for those only to em- 
bark in this culture who already have mulberry trees to use or who 
decide to feed Osage orange. 
PROFITS OF PRODUCING COCOONS: ESTIMATES FOR TWO ADULTS, OR MAN AND WIFE, 
Average number of eggs per ounce, 40,000. 
Average number of fresh cocoons per pound, 300, 
Average reduction in weight for choked cocoons, 66 per cent. 
Maximum amount of fresh cocoons from one ounce of eggs, 130 to 140 pounds. 
Allowing for deaths in rearing—26 per cent. being a large estimate—we thus get, as 
the product of an ounce of eggs, 100 pounds of fresh or 33 pounds of choked cocoons, 
Two adults can take charge of the issue of from 3 to 5, say 4, ounces of eggs, which 
will produce 400 pounds of fresh or 133 pounds of choked cocoons. 
Price per pound of fresh cocoons (1878), 50 cents. 
Four hundred pounds of fresh cocoons, at 50 cents, $200. 
Price per pound of fresh cocoons (1876), 70 cents. 
Four hundred pounds of fresh cocoons, at 70 cents, $280. 
Actual sales in Marseilles, December, 1878, of choked cocoons, 15 francs per kilo- 
gram, or $1.66 per pound, which for 133 pounds choked cocoons would be $220.78. 
Price per pound of choked cocoons (1876), $2.25; 133 pounds of choked cocoons at 
$2.25, $299.25. 
Freight, packing, commissions, and other incidental expenses, say $25, making as 
19 eee for the labor of two persons for six weeks, at the present low prices, 
195.78. 
Caleulating on the basis of $1.50 per pound of choked cocoons, which, as shown 
in the following estimates, a reeling establishment in this country could afford to pay, 
we get approximately the same amount, viz., $199.50. As already stated, the capital 
invested in food for the worms is not included in these estimates, nor is the first cost 
of the ounce of eggs deducted. The silk grower should raise his own ‘‘seed,” and the 
time required for this purpose is more than compensated for by the time saved in feed- 
ing during the first and second ages of the worms, when the whole time of two adults 
is not required as it is subsequently. 
APPROXIMATE PROFITS OF REELING. 
One pound of reeled silk requires 3% pounds of choked cocoons. 
An expert can in six days reel 43 pounds of raw silk. 
Price of best raw silk in French market, 1878 (market very low), $8.50 per pound. 
Nine pounds of raw silk, at $8.50, $76.50. 
ae discount for cash, commissions for selling, and transportation would reduce this 
to $65.42. 
To produce 9 pounds of raw silk would require the labor of two reelers for six days, 
at $1 per day, or $12; adding to this $2.50 for indirect labor, we get $14.50 as the cost 
of labor in reeling 9 pounds. 
Thus the labor to reel 1 pound of raw silk will cost $1.70, or that to reel 1 pound of 
choked cocoons, approximately, 50 cents. : 
Deducting the cost of reeling from the $65.42 obtained, we have $50.92 with which 
to» buy the necessary cocoons; say 33 pounds of choked cocoons for the 9 pounds 
reeled silk. If we use $49.50 of this sum for this purpose, it will enable us to pay 
$1.50 per pound for our cocoons and we still have $1.42 as a profit on every 9 pounds 
of raw silk manufactured. This, if we employed two hundred reelers, would be a 
yearly income of $7,384. 
It is safe to say that the process of reeling just about doubles the value of the prod- 
uct, and if the silk-raiser can reel his own cocoons he may safely count on this 
increase of its value, provided it is well reeled. 
What the actual profits are that accrue to the owners of the large filatures in Taras- 
son and other parts of South France or Italy, it would be impossible to state without 
having access to the books of the companies. 
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