[ 175 ] 36 



from China, but was not much cultivated until about seventeen yeaf» 

 past. It is now highly prized by the manufacturers, as appears by 

 the report of the exhibition of French Industry, in the year 1819.* 



In Windham county, Connecticut, there is also a small pale white 

 worm, which eats but twenty days, and produces fine white silk, 

 though in less quantity than either the common large pale white, or 

 the dark colored worm; but it has the good quality of retaining its clear 

 white color, and does not turn yellow by washing, or by exposure to suri 

 and air. These worms produce also two crops. It is highly probable 

 that these white worms are of the same species as that last mentioned. 



The dark drab colored worms, which are very common in the 

 United States, and called <' black," live longer, and make more silk 

 than the large white worms. 



4. Silkworms of eight crops. 



At the silk establishment of the British East India Company at 

 Jungepore, Bengal, Lord Valencia, besides the Common annual silk- 

 worm which gave but one crop, found two others; the one common- 

 ly reared, and supposed to be indigenous, is called Dacey, producing 

 eight harvests. Another and worst, the China, or Madrassa, also 

 yields eight times a year.t This last may be the kind mentioned by 

 Arthur Young, who says, he " obtained a silkworm from China, 

 which he reared, and in twenty-five days had the cocoons in his ba- 

 sins, a^nd by the twenty-ninth or thirty-first days, a new progeny feed- 

 ing in his trays." He justly remarks, that " they would be a mine 

 to whoever would cultivate tliem."j: The American who would in- 

 troduce any of the best of these silkworms into the United States, 

 would render an essential service to his country. If circumstances, 

 however, should prevent the importation of the species before men- 

 tioned, it is presumed there will be no difficulty in procuring, from the 

 Isle of France, the eggs of those which came from Bengal in the year 

 1S15, and were reared under the direction of Mr. Chazel, and which 

 breed three times a year;§ or the variety of Madrass, which, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Anderson, finish their course in forty days, viz: six days in 

 eggs, twenty -two a worm, eleven in the cocoon, and one a moth, || 



On rearing two or three crops of worms in the United States, in one 



season. 



In those States where the heat continues long, more than one crop 

 of worms can be obtained in a season without artificial means, as the 

 following statement shows: 



<« In the month of March, 1826, Mr. Seth Millington,1F received a 



* Malphigi, long since, mentioned the existence of a variety of silkworms in Italj'v 

 which bred twice in a season. — De Bombycibus, p. 43. 



\ Travels to India in 1802, 1806, vol. 1, p. 78, Lond. 1809. 



± Annals of Agriculture, vol. 23, p. 235 



§ Transactions Soc. Arts, London, vol. 42. 



il Anderson's Bee, vol 8, p. 342, Edinburgh. 



^ Of Prairie Haut, St. Charles Co. Missouri: letter to the Secretary of the TreasM.-" 

 ff^ in- answer to the silk circular. 



