182 SILK. 



LABOR, PROFIT AND 



The labor required to attend to a given number of 

 worms is not easily computed, as many circumstances 

 must be taken into the account. If the large leaves 

 of the Chinese Mulberry are used, instead of the 

 small leaves of the White Mulberry, the labor will 

 be vastly lessened. Then the size of the trees, and 

 their distance from the cocoonery must be consider- 

 ed ; also the industry of the persons engaged. 



To attend to 500,000 worms, one person will an- 

 swer for the first week ; two persons for the second ; 

 four for the third ; and for the last ten or twelve days, 

 about eight or ten persons will be required. These 

 persons may be women and boys. 



As it respects the profit arising from the culture of 

 silk, many estimates have been made ; some of which 

 have been entirely too high. It has been reduced to 

 certainty, that one hundred and fifty dollars nett profit 

 may be realized from an acre of full grown trees. A 

 certain writer estimates the product of one million of 

 worms at 500 pounds of silk. I should say 400 Ibs. 

 would come nearer to the truth. Five hundred 

 pounds, at three dollars per pound, (after deducting 

 the price of reeling,) would amount to $1500. The 

 expense of labor would be about $300, which would 

 leave $1200 nett profit 



Various estimates have been made with respect to 

 the quantity of silk produced by a given number of 



