Ailanthiculture. 9SG 
not to be worth calculation, whereas the loss between the third 
moult and spinning is more serious, and one that does not (like 
the former) admit of repair; the time and foliage already consumed 
by worms of that age cannot, towards the close of the season, be 
replaced. Fortunately, however, the loss in the larger Ailanthery 
was very trivial, as compared with what might have been expected 
in a first experiment. 
These are the only experiments on a large scale carried on 
in England with which I am acquainted, and they are suffi- 
ciently successful to encourage a hope that Ailanthiculture may 
prove a profitable industry in many parts of Great Britain, One 
especial advantage which it offers is, that it affords an intel- 
Jectual and interesting occupation to women and children, the 
need of which is much felt in our agricultural districts. As 
bearing on this point I quote a paragraph from the Report of the 
Acclimatization Society for 1865, p. 42:—I have introduced 
a notice of the Bombyx Cynthia, as a silk-producing insect, in 
some lectures recently delivered by me, and I am convinced that 
this branch of industry may be most profitably introduced into our 
union workhouses. There a large amount of labour is wasted 
because it has not been profitably applied. Plant, therefore, the 
Ailanthus shrub, and let the women and children attend to the 
worms. Pay them a per-centage on the result, and divide the 
inmates into sections, so that there may be honest rivalry. The 
sections would be stimulated to exertion by the personal interest 
each individual would have in the result, and section would soon 
compete with section for superiority. I see no reason why in 
reformatories, penitentiaries, and the like, some effort may not be 
made to rear these worms. In fact wherever there is unapplied 
child or female labour, it can be advantageously introduced. The 
ratepayers would not alone benefit ; habits of industry and method 
would be insensibly taught, and with care the present pauper 
might become a silk grower, either for the capitalist, or on his own 
account.” 
Hitherto experience has been too brief to draw therefrom any 
calculations as to ultimate profit, but in France the following 
tables have been submitted to the Imperial Government by M. 
Guérin-Méneville, as an approximation to the truth. Variations 
in the cost of labour, in the quality of the soil, and in climate, 
must, however, produce corresponding variations in the net re- 
sult. 
VOL. V. THIRD SERIES, PART II,—APRIL, 1866. R 
