1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



275 



which give 159 lb. 5 oz. silk, ~ 557 18 



Produce. 



159 lb. 5 oz. of silk, 

 Refuse ditto, 41 lb. 

 Seed, 55 oz. 



Expense, 

 Profit, 



3007 18 



4144 15 



102 10 



330 



4577 5 



3007 18 



1569 7 



1779. 

 Expenses. 



Seed, six ounces, half given to the 



peasants, three ounces, - - 18 

 Leaves, 15,607 lb. - - - 753 9 

 Spinning — the produce 446 lb. co- 

 - coons, half of which, 223 lb. to 



the proprietor, 29 lb. of silk, - 101 10 



Produce. 



872 19 



29 lb. of silk, 

 Refuse ditto, 



liOSS, 



754 

 21 2 



775 2 



97 17 



1780. — Upon his own account. 



Expenses. liv. f. dtn. 



Seed, 6 oz. - - - - 36 



Leaves, 370 sacks, - - - 957 13 



Gathering and attendance, - 1303 12 



Spinning 910 lb. of cocoons, - 265 

 Reducing 118 lb. 6 oz, of" silk into 



oriranzine, - _ . . 451 10 



Produce. 



Refuse silk, - - . 

 118 lb. 6 oz. of organzine. 

 Leaves sold, . - - 

 Silk kept ibr own use, 2 lb. 3 oz. 



Expenses, 

 Profit, - 



3013 15 



116 4 



4325 5 



28 



49 10 



4518 19 



3013 15 



1505 4 



This year the profit would have been much great- 

 er; but through the negligence of the women in the 

 night, not attending to the degrees of heat (fi'om 

 25 to 27 deg. Reaumur), many were suffocated. 



To Paduu. — One ounce of seed gives 60 lb. of 

 galeita (cocoons), and 8 lb. to 10 lb. of galetta 1 

 lb. of silk : the ounce of seed requires sixteen 

 sacks of leaves, of four pesi, each 25 lb.; and 

 twelve small trees yield one sack, but one gt'eat 

 tree has been known to yield six sacks. Price 

 of gathering, 20s. the sack. Expense of Uiaking 

 60 lb. of silk, 250 liv. Spinning, 30s. the pound. 

 Cocoons sell at 30s, to 36s. Silk this year, 25 liv. 

 the pound, sotile. 



Padua. — One ounce of seed gives in common 

 30 lb. of cocoons, and 8 lb. of cocoons 1 lb. of 

 silk : twenty sacks, of 80 lb. of leaves, are neces- 

 sary to feed the worms of an ounce of seed. 

 Price of gathering, 20s. the sack. The greatest 

 trees give ten sacks of leaves each ; a tree of 

 twenty years, four or five sacks. It is not the gen- 

 eral custom to divide this business with the pea- 

 sants. The common sort of silk worm is hatched 

 about the 5th of April ; the others the middle of 

 June; but silk demands a more expensive opera- 

 tion in the latter season. 



Venice. — There are three sorts of silk worms : — 

 1. The common one, which casts ils epiderm, or 

 sleeps as it is called, four times. 2. A sort known 

 at Verona, that casts only three times; the cocoons 

 smaller than those of the other sort. 3. The 

 new sort mentioned by Count Carlo Bettoni, the 

 seed of which hatch two or three times a year, 

 but the others only once. The seed of the two 

 first sorts cannot be hatched the same year it ia 

 dropped ; but that of the third will hatch of itself) 

 if it be not carefully kept in a cool place, 



Bologna. — One hundred pounds of cocoons are 

 made from 1 oz. of seed, and yield 1\ lb. to 85 lb. 

 of silk, of 12 oz. Price of cocoons, 20 to 25 baioc- 

 ca. Silk. 34/)aMis, at 6d. the pound. 



Tuscany. — Florence. — Making inquiries here 

 concerning the new sort of silk worm, I found 

 that they were not, as I had been before told, a 

 new discovery in Italy, but known long ago ; and, 

 what is remarkable, is prohibited by law, in order 

 to preserve the mulberry trees from being strip- 

 ped more than once. The silk made from them 

 is not more than half as good as the common, 

 and very inferior in (juantily also. They assert 

 here, that by means of heat they can hatch the 

 the eggs of the common sort when they please, 

 but not for any use, as they die directly ; which is 

 not the case with the new spicecis, or that as it is 

 called (/i trt volte. 



Their contrivance for winding silk is very con- 

 venient, and well adapted to save labor ; one 

 man turns, for a whole row of coppers, the fires 

 for those which are without the wall ; and the clo- 

 sets with small boilers of water, for kdling the an- 

 imal in its cocoon by steam, are equally well 

 adapted. 



At Martelli, near Florence, on a farm of 190 

 Htiori (34 acres) there are forty or fifty mulber- 

 ries, enough for 1 oz of grain, which gives 50 lb. 

 or 60 lb. of cocoons, and 6 lb. or 7 lb. of silk. 

 Price of cocoons this year, 2 pauls the pound ; last 

 year 2^- ; and in 1787 it was 3 pauls. In the cul- 

 ture of the trees they do noi practice such atten- 

 tions as the French in Dauphine ; they never dig 

 about them, except when young ; never wash the 

 the stems; they prune the trees when necessary, 

 but not by any rule of years. The best sort is the 

 wild mulberry, but it yields the least quantity; 

 next, the white fruit. 



In 1682, Siff. L>on Gio. Agemi di Giun, pre- 

 late of the Greek Catholic church, on Mount Li- 

 banus, exhibited tu the academicians Georgofili 

 of Florence, the 4ih of December, some silk 

 worms, in number, thirty eight, part of which had 

 already made their cocoona, and part ready to 

 make them, as accustomed to do 011 his own coua 

 try. with the leaves of the wild mulberry. The 

 seed was hatched in October ; the worm fed with 

 leaves, procured from warm gardens ; cocoons 



