MODES OF MAKING SILK. 57 



It is also asserted that the leaves of the Madura au- 

 rantiaca or Osage orange, have proved to be a valuable 

 food for the silk-worm. This beautiful tree which re- 

 sembles that of the orange, and proves hardy near Bos- 

 ton, only in dry and elevated situations, has the property 

 of retaining its foliage to a late period in autumn. 



SECTION XXI. 



MODES OF MAKING SILK IN DIFFERENT COUN- 

 TRIES. 



Give the silk-worms air, fresh and pure, let them be 

 comfortably warm and dry, and cleanly, and with suffi- 

 cient space to preserve them from contact, with plentiful 

 supplies of food. These directions alone are sufficient 

 to insure the most perfect success. 



Although the art of making silk was for ages involved 

 in obscurity, it is now- stripped in a great measure of the 

 dark vestments with which it has been so long and so 

 mysteriously veiled. We were shown in 18'35, by H. B. 

 Stacy, Esq., the editor of the Free Press, which is printed 

 at Burlington, Vt., specimens of sewing silk of different 

 colors and the most perfect beauty. Unaided by any 

 experience, and with no other instruction except that 

 which books afford, Mr. Stacy had succeeded in raising 

 tmd manufacturing several pounds of sewing silk of a su- 

 perior quality, and worth $10 a pound : yet Mr. Stacy had 

 never before seen a silk-worm, a cocoon, or reel, and 

 was himself astonished to find no portion of mystery at- 

 tached to the business. The cocoons produced by him 

 were very large, requiring but little more than 200 to 

 the pound. He is persuaded that the main profit de- 

 pends on full feeding, and making the greatest possible 

 amount of silk from every individual insect; 

 5 



