148 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



lucrative amusement, as well as for the purpose of furnish- 

 ing accurate data to those who are interested in the history 

 of the raising of silk-worms for commercial purposes, we 

 shall enter still more into its details. 



An ounce of the eggs of the silk-worm moth contains 

 about forty thousand caterpillars, which, if all live, will 

 produce one hundred pounds of floss-silk. This number of 

 caterpillars will consume about a thousand pounds of leaves, 

 to furnish which about sixty white mulberry-trees will be 

 required. If these trees are properly cultivated they should 

 be planted about six feet apart, and after they are well 

 grown need very little care. 



From these data it may be seen how easy and how profit- 

 able is this species of husbandry ; and yet so little silk has 

 hitherto been produced in the United States that we have 

 imported it from Italy, France, and China. It seems al- 

 most incredible, but it is nevertheless true, that during the 

 year 1855 over twenty-five millions of dollars' worth of silk 

 was imported into this country from the above-named places. 

 We give the exact figures of the imports, viz. : 



Of raw silk $751,623 



Of manufactured silk 24,916,356 



Making in all $25,667,971) 



Italy, scarcely larger than our State of Florida, exports 

 annually raw silk to the amount of $500,000, and manu- 

 factured silk to the amount of $13,800,000 ; making in all. 

 for this one article of commerce, $14,300,000. 



Even in the small peninsula of the Crimea, silk-culture 

 is carried on to a very great extent, and in many places by 

 the Tartars, Greeks, and Armenians. We recollect making 

 a July excursion in that romantic country thirty years ago, 

 and our visit to one of the numerous silk establishments 

 there is still treasured up among the delightful incidents of 

 early travels. Before the break of day we left Sudak, on 

 the shore of the Black Sea, directing our way toward the 



