102 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



Osage ; some on Mulberry. From the first the young worms took to the 

 Osage with avidity, and I never raised a brood with less mortality; and the 

 experience of all those to whom eggs were sent was equally felicitous. In 

 two instances they were fed in the city of St. Louis, the atmosphere being 

 anything btit pure, and the leaves often laden with lime-dust and smokq. 

 In one case, where there was some difficulty in procm-ing leaves, the worms 

 were fed alternately on lettuce, Osage and Mulberry, and often made to 

 fast for a whole day ; yet they were proof against such hard usage, and 

 eventually spun their cocoons with but trifling loss. 



As soon as mine began to mount and form their cocoons, I recognized them 

 ■as a Syrian race which I had often seen feeding in Covent Garden Market, 

 in London, England ; and upon inquiry I learned from Mr. Cornaby that his 

 stock originally came from London, the eggs having been brought over bj^ 

 Mr. A. K. Thurber of Sjjanish Fork City. The cocoons are ovoid, rather 

 more pointed at one end than the other, and of two distinct shades of j^ellow, 

 viz., a bright golden inclining to orange, and a pale-greenish or sulphur. 

 ]S'ow this race, like most other inferior stock, certainly has the merit of con- 

 stitutional toughness and vigor; otherwise the worms could not have 

 endured the hardships they wei^e submitted to here last year. The worms also 

 form a very pretty cocoon and are therefore well calculated to give pleasure 

 and edification to the amateur. But the cocoons have little or no commer- 

 cial value ; the silk being inferior, and so loosely spun that the major part 

 of it would beat away and rise in flocks in the basin before the end would be 

 found. I took a number of them with me to France and had them fully 

 tried. It was this same Syrian race that was fed with Osage orange by M. 

 Mathieu Bonafous, in 1831 ; and though other races have been fed with it, 

 it is doubtful if they thrive as well upon it. 



Two advantages which the Osage has over the Mulberry must be men- 

 tioned in this connection. 1st. It is hardier, and the young leaves will resist 

 a late Irost which will kill those of the Mulberr}^ 2nd. The leaves do not 

 wilt so soon. It leafs out about the same time, though some plants in a 

 hedge-row are always in advance of others in this respect, and an early 

 leafing variety might undoubtedl}^ be produced in the course of a few 

 years, by propagating from such. 



The effect of the osage compared with the mulberry leaves is quite 

 marked. The osage-fed worms generally lose the fresh creamj^-white color 

 during the last age, and the skin becomes more or less shiny and slightly 

 greenish. The cocoons from these worms are also less firm than those from 

 Mulberry, the diiference being perceptible by trying alternately a handful 

 of each. 



For these various reasons I cannot. see any present advantage that is to 

 accrue from feeding osage, where mulberry leaves can be obtained, though 

 the former may be very useful on exceptional occasions. As, however, it is 

 within our power to improve the Syrian race which does so well upon it, 

 by choosing from year to year only the best and firmest cocoons for breeding 

 purposes ; and as the plant is native and so extensively cultivated, I hope 



