Ailanthiculture. 241 
advanced in our treatment of these cocoons, and in proportion as 
the method of reeling is rendered simple and inexpensive, and the 
fabric produced is appreciated by the public, a demand will arise 
for cocoons, and the price rise considerably higher than that now 
quoted, 3 francs per kilogramme. 
So far as I am aware, no one in England knows how to reel 
these cocoons. I, therefore, submit an account of the method in- 
vented by M. Forgemol, forming part of a report addressed to the 
Imperial Society of Acclimatization, in France,* ‘ On the reeling 
of cocoons of Bombyx Cynthia and other species, naturally open, 
as brought to perfection by our peculiar method ” :— 
“The success of the great question of the cultivation of the 
Ailanthus and other silkworms, whose cocoons are naturally open at 
oneend, and which are capable of permanent naturalization, depends 
on the reeling of these cocoons into a continuous thread to produce 
raw silk (soie grége); without this there results but an inferior 
coarse flock of silk, of value doubtless, but unsatisfactory as a 
new material, because limited in its application to inferior pur- 
poses. The industrial and agricultural triumph would have been 
incomplete if these good and beautiful silks, now so familiar to 
you, had not been obtained from the cocoons from the Ailanthus 
tree. But the result is now obtained; these cocoons are now 
reeled off to perfection in one thread; and if the actual method of 
reeling still leaves something to desire, the path is so well marked 
out that complete success will doubtless soon follow. In reality 
the method of reeling the cocoons of the Ailanthus silkworm 
applies to all cocoons naturally open (as of Arrindia, Aurota, 
Selene, Cecropia, Hesperus, &c.). 
“‘ That being clear, permit me to remind you, gentlemen, that 
to you alone, and to an impulse received from you, is due the 
discovery of this mode of reeling. And without prejudging the 
future of these new productions, it seems right henceforth to pro- 
claim that by this result your Society has rendered the most signal 
services to agriculture and to industry. Certainly silks, both raw 
and otherwise, obtained from open cocoons, will in future be one 
of the greatest honours of the Society of Acclimatization. By 
way of experiment, seeking to follow in your steps, I myself, a 
short time ago, exhibited before you a particular method of reel- 
ing open cocoons. This method has since been-studied anew, 
and I have thought it right to bring before you the following 
* Revue de Sériciculture comparée, 1864, No. 9, p. 248. 
