92 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. V. 



In Italy the chrysalides come too early to life : 

 it is therefore necessary to destroy them, lest by 

 eating their way out of the cocoons the silk should 

 be injured. In order to effect this, they are col- 

 lected and placed in heated ovens, where the silk, 

 without singular precautions, is very apt to be in- 

 jured. In our climate the progression of the insect 

 tribe is slower, and in the case of the silkworm 

 sufficient time is afforded to wind off the silk with- 

 out killing the chrysalides. But besides the damage 

 which may be done to the silk in Italy, from sub- 

 jecting the cocoons to the heat of ovens, it is neces- 

 sary, in order to obtain eggs, to allow the most vig- 

 orous moths to eat their way out of the largest 

 cones : hence the silk of all such cones is as cer- 

 tainly lost in Italy as it would be preserved in Eng- 

 land. In the south of France the frosts are often 

 so intense after the mulberry-leaves are out as to 

 nip them. This is seldom the case in South Britain. 

 A further advantage in our favour arises from the 

 comparative absence of those sultry heats and those 

 thunder-storms so injurious to the life of the silk- 

 worm. 



In the year 1825, a company was formed for the 

 produce of silk in the British dominions, under the 

 title of " The British, Irish, and Colonial Silk Com- 

 pany,' 1 and was supported by individuals of the 

 highest rank and respectability, many of whom 

 were induced to give their countenance to the 

 project, by a patriotic desire to ameliorate the con- 

 dition of the Irish peasantry, by adding to them a 

 profitable source of industry. A royal charter was 

 obtained, and active measures were taken to pro- 

 mote the success of the design. A spot of ground, 

 of about eighty acres, was selected on the estate of 

 the Earl of Kingston, near Michelstown, in the 

 county of Cork, and in this place nearly 400.000 

 trees of the white mulberry were transplanted. 

 The whole proved unusually successful; very few 



