18393 



FARMKUS' REGISTER. 



873 



country, 2 I'w. per lb. (28 oz.). At Mozzata, 

 2\ liv. At Brianza, 3 liv. The grain is hatclieii 

 in a chamber, heated by a chimney, and not a 

 etove, to 17deg. of Reaumur (70|Fahr.); but be- 

 fore being placed in this chamber, they are kept 

 eight days under a bed, with a coverlet upon them, 

 in boxes covered willj paper pierced : and when 

 hatched, lay the young leaflets of the mulberries 

 on the paper, to entice them out. The method oi 

 conducting the business here is the same as in 

 France ; the landlord furnishes half the grain, and 

 the peasants liaKJ and they divide the cocoons. 

 Price of grain, 2 liv. the ounce. Mulberries, of 

 all ages, are pollarded every second year; a mis- 

 chievous custom, which makes the trees decay, and 

 lessens their produce; ills never done in Dau- 

 phine, where the culture is so well understood. 



Milan. — iSig. Felice Soavo made some inter- 

 esting trials on silk-worms. 



At Lambrale, near, i\'lilan, 2 oz. of seed in 

 rooms, kept to the heat of 23 and 24 deg. Reau- 

 mur, hatched well, and kept healthy : the 28th of 

 April, the seed was placed in the rooms, and 

 hatched in the third, fourth, and fifth day : the 

 21st of May, the first cocoon seen, and at the end 

 of the month all were at work. The product 

 gathered the 3d of June; the product 92^ lb. co- 

 coons (28 oz.); eighiy-four of them having been 

 spun from four and five cocoons, gave 20.^ lb. (12 

 oz.) of silk, stronger and more shining than com- 

 mon; the consumption of leaves, 1420 lb. of 28 

 oz. Wood used for fire, 2800 lb. ; but the two 

 rooms would have served for 4 oz. of seed. In 

 the common method, without stoves, the consuni- 

 tion of leaves is 500 lb. tor an ounce of seed, and 

 the medium product is not above 15 lb. of cocoons; 

 and by this new method, the counsumption ol 

 leaves has been 710 lb. each ounce, and the pro- 

 duce 46^ lb. cocoons. Sixteen or seventeen co- 

 coons weigh an ounce in the common method, 

 but in this only thirteen or fourteen. The silk 

 cannot commonly be spun from five or six cocoons; 

 thes^e were spun easily from four or five, and 

 might have been done from three or four. To 

 gain a pound of silk, in common, 5 lb. of cocoons 

 are necessary ; but here the same quantity has 

 been gained from 4 lb. 



Lodi to Codogno. — In this dead level and wa- 

 tered district, there are very few mulberries ; none 

 except near the villages ; many of them, not all, 

 appear unhealthy ; ])erhaps by reason of their not 

 exerting the same attention as in Dauphine, where 

 there is, in irrigated meadows, mounds made to 

 keep the water from these trees. 



Codogno to Crema. — Mulberry trees here have 

 large heads, as in Dauphine, instead of being pol- 

 larded incessantly, as to the north of Milan. 



There is an idea in the Milanese, that silk was 

 introduced by Ludovico il Moro. France-co Mur- 

 alto reports, "Praviia inculta infinita duobus flu- 

 minibus ad novalia (Ludovicus), reduxit infinitas 

 plantas Moronum sad conficiendas etas, seu sericas 

 plantari feccrat et illius artis in ducal u, primus 

 fuit auctor." [t is said lo have been introiluced 

 into Europe 1)0 some I3asiliun monks, from Sirinda, 

 a city of Iiidoston, to Conslanlinople, under the 

 Emperor Justinian, in the year 550, by one ac- 

 count; and by another, in 525. In 1315, tlie man- 

 ufactory of silk was brought ia Florence to great 

 perlection, by the refugees ol Lucca ; but during 

 the filteenth century, no silk was taadc in Tus- 

 Vol, VII— oo 



cany ; for all used in that period was foreign, silk- 

 worms being then unknown. In 1474, they had 

 eighty-four shops that wrought gold and silver bro- 

 caded silks, which were exported to Lyons, Gen- 

 eva, Spain, England, Germany, Turkey, J3ar- 

 bary, Asia, &c. Roger I. King of Sicily, about 

 the year 1146, having conquered some Grecian 

 cities, brought the pilk weavers from thence into 

 Palermo ; and the manufacture was soon imita- 

 ted by the people of Lucca, who took a bale of 

 silk for their arms, with the inscription — Dei mu- 

 nus diligenter curandum pro vita multorum. In 

 1525, the silk manufacture at Milan employed 

 twenty-five thousand people; and it seems to have 

 augmented till 1558. In 1423, the republic of 

 Florence took off the duty of entree upon mul- 

 berry leaves, and prohibited the exportation ; and 

 some communities of Tuscany have records con- 

 cerning silk anterior to that period. 



In almost all the districts of the Milanese, 

 mulberry trees are met with, very old, with tow- 

 ering branches ; among which are those of Sfor- 

 zesca, planted under Ludovico il Moro, who lived 

 at the end of the fifteenth century. 



Venetian State. — Vaprio to Sergamo. — 

 There are many mulberries, mixed with the culti- 

 vation of corn and vines, in this tract of country. 



Jiergamo. — Four ounces ofseed are here given to 

 each poor family, which yield lour pest of cocoons. 



Brescia. — One hundred pcsi of leaves are ne- 

 cessary to 1 oz. of seed ; and ['ouv pcsi of hozzcli, 

 or cocoons, are the produce of 1 oz. ; and the peso 

 of cocoons gives 28 to 30 oz. of silk. Cocoons 

 sell at 45 liv. per peso. Leaves at 1 liv. ; and silk 

 at 22 liv. per lb. The trees are lopped every 

 three years; yet some are known that give 20 pes i 

 of leaves. Small ones half a peso, and one peso. 



Verona. — One ounce ofseed denmnds seventeen 

 or eighteen sacchi of leaves, each one hundred 

 Veronese pounds (or 74 lb. English). Twelve 

 ounces of seed are given to each family; and each 

 ounce returns GO lb. of cocoons, at 12 oz. the 

 lb. ; the price 24 sous the lb. To each ounce of 

 seed sixteen to eighteen sacchi of leaves, each 100 

 lb. of 12 oz., are necessary. The GO lb. cocoons, 

 at 24s. are 72 liv. or 36 shillings; which is tho 

 j)roduce of eight trees, or 4s. Cd. a tree, the half 

 of which is 23. 3d. It must however be remarked, 

 that these prices of cocoons vary so much, that 

 no rule can be drawn from them ; this price of 24s. 

 the pound is very low, and must arise from some 

 local circumstance. One ounce of silk to one 

 poimd of cocoons. They are here, as in the pre- 

 ceding districts, in the custom of finding the trees, 

 and half the seed, and the peasants the rest ; and 

 Ihey divide the cocoons. A tree of forty years 

 old will give four sacchi ; and if a planlation con- 

 sist of one thousand trees, they will, one with an- 

 other, give two sacchi. They make silk in the 

 Veronese to the amount of a million of pounds of 

 12 oz. There arc, near the city, some trees in u 

 rich arable field seventy years old, that > icid from 

 lour to six sacks of leaves each ; this is about 10s. 

 a tree at the lowest price of cocoons. 



'To-Vicenza. — There are many rows ol mul- 

 berries in the meadows, that arc neverduii; aroiaid, 

 and yet tiuite healthy, which proves that they 

 might be scattered successfully about grass-lands, 

 if any proof were wanting of so undoubted a fact. 

 In the arable landy, the' sui! all gravel, they are 

 planted twelve ridges apart- Some of the tree;; 



