183S] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



147 



which gradually attain perfection in each 3fear, and 

 which you are anxious to verify, reward and ren- 

 der profitable to ail, there cannot but be perceived 

 the iiivorable indications and antici[)ated resuhs of 

 that great phenomenon, which characterizes mo- 

 dern society, — Progression. Every thing ad- 

 vances and is elevated, under the same secret im- 

 pulse — individual benefit, towards the same ap- 

 parent end — the public good; and in this univer- 

 sal mo\-cment, which is governed by an exalted 

 pliilanthropy, each receives quietly, in his turn, the 

 reward of his etTorts, under the common banner 

 of circumspect emulation, which neither contains, 

 or occasions the least germ of dissention, or active 

 opposition. 



But it is different, when one of those bold, ex- 

 clusive, and innovating ideas, which are occasion- 

 ally advanced, by ardent minds, and who^^e natural 

 enthusiasm is sustained by profound conviction, 

 which astonishes the multitude, and tends to dis- 

 place some ancient order of things. These com- 

 manding ideas, necessarily, disconcert inveterate 

 habits, as to the correctness of old o|)inions, and 

 excite ajjfainst them precedents, which are en- 

 veloped in the legitimacy of time. A conflict of 

 opinions is then produced, during which the hu- 

 man judgment Jong combats natural fixcts, a)id 

 truth, on whichsoever side she may j)reponderate, 

 will, sometimes, be very dilatory in her triumphs. 



It is, gentlemen, a spectacle of this kind which 

 is now offered for }'our consideration, by an able 

 agriculturist, who has established himself within 

 a i'ew j-ears, near Paris, on an indifferent, refi-ac- 

 tory and arid soil. It has been said, that this man 

 only wished to put his foot upon our land; that to 

 advance, he calculated but little on the profits of 

 the plouirh, and that he only sought a spot, where 

 he could realize the treasure, which, as yet. ex- 

 isted, but in his head. 



This treasure, which Mr. Camille Beauvais now 

 offers to j'our inspection, was not, in fact, gentle- 

 men, but an abstraction, which lie could thus have 

 stated: 



''To lay the foundation of his own fortune and 

 increase that of the nation, by an improvement, 

 which will certainly promote the cultivation of' 

 silk, in the centre and in the north of France." 



After many experiments, he believes, that he 

 has, at last, caused a new fountain of private and 

 public wealth to arise, out of his own arid land, 

 and far from desiring to engross it, for his exclu- 

 sive benefit, he invites us to draw fi-oin this foun- 

 tain, which will be inexhaustible, if his zeal lor the 

 public good, has not greatly deceived him. 



Mr. Camille Beauvais belongs to the South: he 

 had only to establish his niagnanery* in the South, 

 and to manage it, in conformity to "the system with 

 which he was already familiar; he knew the efforts 

 which had been vainly attempted in preceding 

 ages to breed silk worms in the North. Every 

 thing attracted him on one side, while all was re- 

 pulsive on the other; but he said to himself: 



"Every branch of industry is advancing; why 

 does that of silk always remain, very near what it 

 was, when it passed fi-om Italy into I'Vance? The 

 sciences, as physics and chemistry — the recent dis- 

 coveries in which have been so remarkable, and 

 whose aid can be invoked, were then scarcely 



* The name given to the apartment in which silk- 

 worms are bred. 



known to the husbandman; why then should this 

 branch ol' industry remain irrevocably confined to 

 its ancient cradle ? Should the losses, which have 

 sometimes been so discouraging, be attributed, 

 rather to the constitution of the precious insect, by 

 which this culture is maintained, than to the insal- 

 ubrity of the situation, and the variations of the 

 atmosphere, which have such a powerful influence 

 upon a file, at the same so full and so brief ? They 

 cannot be imputed to the north, where the silk- 

 worm is not now bred, when they so cruelly afilict 

 the delightful climate of the south, which is re- 

 puted to be exclusively pro[)itious to them. — 

 V/herevcr the mulberry tree grows and prospers, 

 ihe worm which liieds u|)on its leaf, ought to be 

 able also to grow and prosper. Do not perpetually 

 neglect the accidental conditions of beings 1 Why 

 cannot I create, under the shelter, where this 

 worm accomplishes its destiny, an isolated climate, 

 free from all local influence? I can, in fiict, more ea- 

 sily protect them from the less sudden changes of 

 the intemperate climate, ol the north, than they 

 can be screened from the capricious temperature 

 ol" the south. What do I say ? There is no lon- 

 ger either north or south ; for I perceive that it is 

 possible to command and combine, in their confined, 

 asylum, fire and water — those two great promoters 

 of all organizations, and to imitate for them those 

 winds, which maintain without, the salubrity of 

 the air, and scatter to a distance deleterious efllu 

 via." 



I have put these words in the mouth of Mr. 

 Camille Beauvais, gentlemen, not to extol or over 

 estimate his theory, but because they express the 

 bold and profijund thoughts, which must have 

 presided at his esiablishment, and contain the 

 principles upon which all his labors were prose- 

 cuted. It was at his own expense, and his own 

 risk, that, under the influence of his own convic- 

 tions, he, lor seven years, put these principles in 

 practice, with continually increasing results, with- 

 out being discouraged by a few mistakes which he 

 nobly confessed without being intinudated by the 

 inquietude of his friends, or the doubts which he saw 

 arise, like clouds, ready to obscure the brilliancy of 

 his first successful experiment, and to blast, perhaps 

 forever, his fondest hopes. 



It would be superfluous to enter, here, into the 

 general details of^ cultivation, vvhich every friend 

 of agriculture is invited to examine, at the estab- 

 lishment of Bergeries. They have been described 

 elsewhere; and that is not now the subject of in- 

 quiry; it is sufficient to say, that it is upon 67,000 

 mulberry trees, of the best species, and of the 

 most luxuriant growth, among which are to be 

 seen a great number of the Morus multicaulis, 

 that Olr. Camille Beauvais principally founds his 

 hope, of a second annual brood of silk-worms, 

 which he proposes to undertake. These trees, in- 

 cluding nurseries and established plantations, con- 

 tain sixteen hectares and a half of land. 



The establishment, in its present condition, is ca- 

 pable of rearing annually the number of silk- 

 worms which are produced from one hundred and 

 filty ounces of eggs. During the five last years 

 the mean product of an ounce of eggs in the es- 

 tablishments of the south, has not exceeded from 

 fifty to fii'iy-five pounds of cocoons, that is to say, 

 only about 10,000 silk worms out of the 42,000 

 egfjs, which an ounce contains, reached that last 

 period, which unites a simple worm to the enjo}-- 



