262.^ on iilk rearing in Scotland. . ^pril- 1{^^ 



inquiries, to discover if any plant could be with safety sub- 

 stituted to the mulberry as a food for the silk. worm. 

 Many persons think such inquiries nugatory, from some 

 preconceived theories they have adopted on this head, but 

 all suth theories I despise •, and, on this principle, I have 

 been anj^ious in quest of facts only ^ and I have been so 

 fortunate very lately as to discover one that promises to 

 remove all our difficulties, if future experience fliall con- 

 firm it. 



Mifs Henrietta Rhodes, a lady who has made some suc- 

 cefsful experiments on raising silk worm« in England, had 

 foiiiid that the silk worm could with'safety be kept on let- 

 tuce for some time. This is pretty generally known by la- 

 dies who have turned their attention to this subject, but (he 

 found that, tn general^ they could not with safety be kept 

 upon that food above three weeks. If longer fed upon that 

 plant, the worms for the most part die without spinning a 

 v.ch at all. She found, however, that they did not always 

 die, but that, in some cases, they produced very good co- 

 coons even when fed entirely on lettuce. She, therefore, 

 v.ith reason, suspected, that the death of the animal must 

 be occasioned by some extraneous circumstance, and not 

 ircm the poisonous quality of the food itself; the circum- 

 stance fhe suspected, from some incidental observations, 

 was tlie coldnefs of that food, and, therefore, flis thought it 

 was not impofsible, but if they were kept in a very warm 

 place, while fed on lettuce, they might attain in all cases 

 a due perfection. 



General Hordaunt having been iiiformed 01 this conjec- 

 ture resolved to try the expe/jment. lie got some silk 

 worms eggs ; had them hatched in his hot house, and cau- 

 sed ihcm to be all ftd upon lettuce and nothing elst. 

 They prospered as well as any worms could do, few or 

 none of them died j and they afforded as fine cocoons as if 

 tliey had been fed upon mulberry leaves. As far as one ex.- 



