THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 73 



our founa and constantly attract the attention of the knowledge-seelcer ; but 

 as giving information which nia}' at any future day become invahiable in an 

 industrial sense. 



Though we maj- not, at present, be able to compete, in their own mar- 

 kets, with the cheaper labor of parts of Euroj^e and Asia, there is no reason 

 why, with proper intelligence, we may not produce our own silk as cheaj)ly 

 as it can be brought here from those countries ; and I am convinced that 

 should we ever be cut off by war, from those countries on which we rely for 

 our present silk suj^ply, w^e can easil}^ fall back on our own resources ; and 

 there arc few parts of the United States better adaj^tedto the raising of silk 

 than the southern counties of Missouri. Even now^, there is no reason why 

 the 3'oung j^eople, and those unable to do harder work, in thousands of fam- 

 ilies, in that section of the State more especially, should not spend a few- 

 weeks each year in the pleasant work of producing cocoons. The spinning 

 w^heel and the distaff have been superceded and driven from the household 

 by modern machinery; and the time which used to be given to their work- 

 ing in former days, might be profitably devoted now-a-days to silk-raising 

 and reeling. Such a substitution of the finer for the coarser fiber would in- 

 deed be typical of our modern civilization and progress compared with the 

 old. 



Not very manj' years have elapsed since grape-culture was considered 

 impracticable in this country, w^hile the practicability of pisciculture is only 

 just now beginning to be realized; and to one who is familiar with the de- 

 tails of sericulture abroad, it becomes very clear that, with the endless 

 variety- of our soil and climate, the production of silk might soon be added 

 to our constantly increasing resources — especially if fostered and encouraged 

 at the .start by wise government. It is not always wise to prophecy, and 

 yet, to me, the day is not far distant when there will be on our Pacific coast 

 silk-reeling establishments, worked it may be b}- the most skilled Japanese 

 labor — establishments which will create a ready market for cocoons reared 

 with us, even if we do not evect filatures or reeling establishments ourselves; 

 for the completion of the Union Pacific railroad brings us into direct com- 

 munication with the far West, and an import duty of about 10 per cent, on 

 raw silk, though it would of course be protested against by the manufactur- 

 ers, would give stimulus to this production and certainly benefit the countr}'. 



Nothing in that well know^n ''Boy's own Book" had half the interest 

 for me, in childhood, as the chapter on the Silkworm. The feeding of the 

 worms was the pet suinmer occupation of my boj'hood ; while the risks ven- 

 tured and obstacles surmounted to procure mulberrj' leaves for the same 

 purpose, are prominent among the reminiscences of after college life. Since 

 then I have lost no opportunity to inform myself of the details of the silk 

 industry, so that I speak from no little ex2:)erience. 



Before proceeding to the more specific consideration of these silk- 

 worms, I may as well state that mj- object is not so much to go into detail, 

 since whole volumes might be, and have been, written on the Mulberry Silk- 

 worm alone. My purpose is to lay before the people of Missouri such ex- 



