THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 101 



more, Md. In 1833 M. P. Farel published a paper on the value of the leavcs- 

 as a substitute for mulberry leaves in feeding silkworms*, citing the exjjer- 

 ience of M. Rudolphi, which was not favorable. In 1834, however, M. Farel 

 published a second paper showing h()vv M. Bonafous produced from osage- 

 fed worms, cocoons which were very regular, firm and aiDparently perfect 

 in every way — the worms being eight days longer in maturing than when 

 fed with mulberry leaves. In 1835, in the Bulletin of the same Association, 

 M. Delile, Prof of Botany and vice president of said Association, gave a 

 history of Madura and showed that very good cocoons were produced from 

 it. He says (" cette soie a ete parfaite, facile a tirer, sans perte du premier 

 jusqu' au dernier bout, dans tons les cocons") that the silk Avas perfect, easy 

 to unwind, and without loss from beginning to end in all the cocoons. 



Still later, M. Seringe, who wrote an interesting paper on the Osage 

 orangef also made experiments with its le'aveg as food for silkworms, and 

 found that the latter did well upon them. Yet no one in France ^o-day pre- 

 tends to use this plant in lieu of the Mulberry. 



In 1866 M. Prevost fed some of his worms on Osage orange,;}; and Mr, 

 Glover of the Department of Agriculture, likewise raised some successfully 

 upon it about that time. 



For the last four years Mr. Samuel Cornaby of Spanish Fork City. 

 Utah, has had very good success in feeding worms with these leaves. He 

 writes to me : 



Last summer [1871] our worms that were fed on Osage orange all did 

 remarkably well ; quite a number of persons in this place fed on Osage the 

 past season, and all with good success. Several of my neighbors remarked 

 to me that the worms preferred the Osage leaves to Mulberry, when the two- 

 kinds of leaves were within reach : that has also been my own experience. I 

 have never tried any other variety on Osage, but intend this season to try 

 some French Annuals. 



I have fed the same worms on Osage orange four successive seasons,. 

 and they continue j^erfectly healthy and vigorous ; in fact, I think they 

 have imjDroved since I commenced feeding on Osage. I do not know the 

 exact number of worms that have been fed here the past season on Osage, 

 but believe the number is not less than 50,000. 



In 1870 I attempted to feed some worms of Japanese origin on Osage 

 leaves ; but I obtained no cocoons, though some of the worms fed well to 

 within a few days of the spinning point. The worms themselves were not 

 of the hardiest, however, and while the fore part of May was unusually 

 cold, wet and changeable,, the last of the month was unprecedently hot ; 

 so that similar poor results might have been obtained even with mulberry 

 leaves. At all events, in 1871 I had perfect success in feeding Osage, and 

 obtained great numbers of cocoons. At my request Mr. Cornaby sent me 

 a number of eggs produced by his Osage-fed stock, and these were distrib- 

 uted among several friends, and part of them retained. Some were fed on 



* Des feuilles de Muclura comnie succedauees de celles du Muriei-. Bulletin de la Soc. d' Aqr. de 

 r Herault, 18,}.3. 



tNotice siir leMaclure Orange— Soc. Royale d'Agr. etc. deLyon, Decembre, 1835. 



IC'al. Silk Growers' Manual, p. 60. 



