188 TREATISE UPON THE 



merit the attention of the Ministry, by whom alone it should 

 be decided, whether it would be useful to the kingdom to 

 procure a new kind of silk, instead of that of our provinces, 

 or to have experiments made with care, which would deter- 

 mine the fact, and make it known whether we can succeed 

 in raising them. All that is necessary for us to add to what 

 we have said, is, that these worms are a source of wealth 

 for China itself, though each year so prodigious a quantity 

 of silk is gathered from the worms of the mulberry tree, 

 that, according to the saying of a modern writer, mountains 

 could be made from it. It is true that the silk of the wild 

 worms is not to be compared to the other, and never takes 

 permanently any die ; but, in the first place, it costs less 

 care, or, rather, scarcely requires any in the places where 

 the climate is favorable to the wild worms, because all that 

 is risked in neglecting them is to have a less abundant crop; 

 yet one is master of a larger quantity by multiplying the 

 number of trees destined for the worms. 2d, As the co- 

 coons of the wild worms are not reeled, but spun like floss 

 silk, much time and workmanship are dispensed with. 3d, 

 The silk they furnish is of a fine flaxen color, lasts double 

 the time of the other at least, and does not stain so easily; 

 drops even of oil or greese do not spread on it, and are very 

 easily effaced. The stuffs made of it wash like linen. 4th, 

 The silk of the wild worms fed upon the fagara tree, is so 

 beautiful in certain places, that the stuffs made of it dispute 

 the price with the most beautiful silk stuffs, though they 

 are plain and simple druggets. When we have said the silk 

 does not reel, and does not take the die, it is a fact we re- 

 late. European industry, aided and enlightened by the 

 enterprise of French genius, would, perhaps, invent the 

 mode of reeling the cocoons of wild worms, and of dying 

 the silk. 



