1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



351 



just ffiven to the public a translation of the two I 

 rreatises, of rare precision and cicanicps. To this 

 has been adiieil, Father d'Incarvilltvs treaiipe on 

 the wild siHvworms; and the wliole has been pub- j 

 iished at the royal printing olRce. The Frenc.ii 

 scienlihc men spealv of the worii as containing a 

 vast quantity ot useful details; and tiiey declare 

 that it will be the means of fxreatly increasinir the 

 wealth ol" France. Witiiout jrointf the whole 

 length of their sanguine anticipations, we can see 

 that the inlbrmation thus given is higiily in)por- 

 tant, and that it may be of great value to this 

 country as well as to "France. One peculiarity of 

 the work is, that the Chinese have liillowed no 

 fixed plan; there is no succession of ideas in na- 

 tural logical order in the Chinese writings. Down 

 they put whatever thought occurs to them; satis- 

 fied apparently, like the sibyl of old, with having 

 marked it down, but totally regardless of its fate 

 afterwards. It might be a curious question to 

 discuss the reason of this want of order; whether 

 it arose from habit, or from some defect of orga- 

 nization: this, however, is beside our present pur- 

 pose; we only desire to speak of the works before 

 us. In considering them, it will not be Ibund an 

 easy task to place all in proper order. The little 

 treatise by Father d'Entrecolles will be (bund of 

 use as a sort of guide; but as it may not be prac- 

 ticable to obtain this work, we purpose culling 

 irom the translations some of the facts which strike 

 us as useful and singular. 



The silkworm, when it has just burst into life, is 

 at first a little black caterpillar, about the length 

 and thickness of an ant. In this state, its growth 

 is so rapid, that after twenty-five or thirty days it 

 has arrived at a size some hundreds of times more 

 considerable. It then spins its cocoon, and is 

 transformed into the chr\salid form; it emerges 

 from thence a gay butterfly, engages in the work 

 of generation, lays its eggs, and dies. The care 

 of the Chinese follows the insect in all the phases 

 of its short existence, without losing sight of it a 

 single instant. The rapidity of its development 

 as caterpillar, requires that it should several times 

 get rid of its skin, and replace it by a larger co- 

 vering. Every one of these changes constitutes a 

 perilous crisis in the insect's existence; because it 

 then remains without movement, and as if be- 

 numbed, during the period that nature urges on 

 her handiwork. 



It is easy to conceive, that the temperature, the 

 food, and treatment, ought to be different lor the 

 insect when approaching its state of torpidity, 

 from those which are most beneficial to it when in 

 its time of health and vigor. The first and grand 

 pr'ivision, therefore, for successfully rearing a sea- 

 son's insects, ought to be, to obtain a collection 

 which, born at the same time, and under the same 

 circumstances, shall be endowed with constitu- 

 tions of like vigor, in order that the changes 

 of their activity, of their torpidity, and of their 

 final transformation, shall arrive simultaneously or 

 nearly so. It is almost impossible to picture to 

 one's self the multitude of cares which the Chi- 

 nese devote to ihis fljndamental condition. They 

 commence their attention in the very choice of 

 the butterflies destined to produce the enrgs, re- 

 jecting such members of the two sexes'as are 

 born amongst the first or the la?:t, and making use 

 only of the intermediate ones; and even using 

 fheir discretion in putting together, lor the work of 



generation, those insects which their experience 

 shows them are best suited lo each other. Next 

 the eg<is become the objects of their solicitude. 

 Here also they cast away the first and the last 

 which are produced; ami they p;iy rrrcat atten- 

 tion to having ihe batch equally distributed over 

 the paper on which they contrive that the layino- 

 should lake place. They thus avoid all heaping 

 of the eggs, which would, when the hatching 

 was concluded, place the insects in unequal cir'^ 

 cumstanccs; or if the eggs should, notwithstand- 

 ing their precautions, be heaped on each other 

 they reject the mass altogether as intelligible for 

 their purpose. Afterwards, they preserve these 

 eggs with a thousand precautions, causing them 

 to undergo various washings and other prepara- 

 tions, before the moment wlien tiie insect is about 

 to burst into life. 



So great is their ability in managing the educa- 

 tion (if we may so term it) of the silkworm, that 

 they generally contrive that all the insects should 

 come from the eggs in the same day. Here ao'ain 

 they reject the precocious and the tardy ones, in 

 order to retain and bring up only those of the 

 middle class. Having procured the fulfilment of 

 this principle of original simultaneousness, they 

 make every exertion to maintain all the phases 

 attendant on the insect's existence. The clever- 

 ness of the Chinese is such, as to enable them to 

 reduce the period of these chanses, at most, to 

 twenty-five, or even twenty-three days: whilst 

 our unskilfulness obliges us to prolong the period 

 to thirty or thirty-five days, to the serious detri- 

 ment of the silk produced; for the Chinese liave 

 ascertained this important fact to be true, that the 

 quantity of silk produced by the worm, is less in 

 proportion to the length of time that it remains in 

 the caterpillar form — the longer it remains, the 

 less is the produce; and the rapidity of the reduc- 

 tion is enormous. To make this position clear, 

 let us suppose that a number of worms, which 

 have been developed in twenty-five days, have 

 given twenty-five ounces of silk; if they remain, 

 through any want of nourishment or necessary 

 care, in the catterpillar state for twenty-eight 

 days, the amount of the silk produced will not^be 

 more than twenty ounces: and should they delay 

 to the thirtieth da^', not more than ten ounces will 

 be given. This is not only a very curious fact, 

 but of great importance in a commercial point of 

 view, and well worthy our serious attention. The 

 Chinese have been long aware of it; and hence 

 they deem no care too great which will hasten the 

 birth of the insect. We must also look with ad- 

 miration on the minute and delicate attentions 

 with which they regulate the insect throughout. 

 They are particularly cautious never to detach 

 the eggs from the papers on which they have 

 been deposited, to place them in heaps, as is so 

 unreasonably practised in France, but they leave 

 them their separate station and their hold on the 

 surfiice, both which are found to be liivorable to a 

 speedy hatching. They also take care never to 

 handle, or even to touch with the end of a pair of 

 pincers, the little worms when they are born, in 

 order to place them on the mulberry leaves: they 

 would fear to run a risk of tainting them. How 

 different is the practice in Europe, where it is 

 quite a matter of daily occurrence to detach the 

 eggs from the paper and place them in heaps: af- 

 terwards they are lied up in linen and transported 



