1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



149 



refinery at Choisy-le-Roi, Mr. Bella, son of the 

 director of the model-farm of Grigaon; Mr. Bay- 

 nard, late prefect of the Haute-Alpes, and of 

 Maine-et-Loire, who is now cstablisiiing mulberry 

 plantations near to Bergeries. Afler having em- 

 ployed a part of their time, m attending to the 

 breeding of the silk-worms m all its minutest de- 

 tails, and assisting with their own hiuids, in the 

 cultivation and management of the mulberry tree, 

 under the direction of a nursery man of the south, 

 who is attached to the establishment, their worthy 

 master assembles them, for two hours in each day, 

 for the purpose of instructive conversation, when 

 they recapitulate, or compare all the observations 

 of the day, or discuss all the advantages, which, 

 from their elevated point of view and their social 

 condition, they are enabled to perceive, their coun- 

 try will derive, from the interesting subject of their 

 studies and experiments. What truly logical 

 ideas, what lights without shadows, what germs 

 of amelioration, rendered fruitful by this powerful 

 reconciliation of observations and facts, have al- 

 ready been produced by those young and studious 

 citizens — the legitimate hope of Agriculture and 

 the State ! To present to you, gentlemen, in a 

 single word, their deep conviction of the advanta- 

 ges they have gained, from their connexion with 

 Mr. Camille Beauvais, and the sentiments, which 

 his generous attentions had excited in their hearts, 

 I should inform you, that before their departure, 

 they unanimously voted to present him a gold 

 medal, as a brilliant testimony of gratitude, the 

 most sensibly felt and the most worthily merited. 

 This medal has been struck at Monnaie, but the 

 resolution is yet unknown to Mr. Camille Beauvais. 

 A great number of persons have already made ap- 

 plication to him, to be received at his establishment 

 the approaching season. 



One of these pupils, Mr. Peycams, nephew of 

 Mr. Caussade, Col. of Artillery and proprietor of 

 an estate in Guadaloupe, has paid particular at- 

 tention to the management of the_/i/(rfitre. He is 

 going to tliat Island, at the request of the jirincipal 

 planters, to instruct the black females, in the reel- 

 ing of silk, from the cocoons; for this purpose, he 

 will take with him the complete apparatus for a 

 filature. But Mr. Camille Beauvais acknowledg- 

 es, and has published in terms which at the same 

 time delineate his character, his gratitude and his 

 love fbr truth, that for the pleasing results which 

 he has obtained this year, and which were chiefly 

 produced by his own intelligence, the lofty reach 

 of his genius and his determined perseverance, he 

 is incontestably indebted to the apparatus for ven- 

 tilation, which Mr. D'Arcet has already made 

 known to you, which was applied to Mr. Grimau- 

 det's very complete magnanery, and the jilan and 

 description of which, the Society for the Encourage- 

 ment of National Industry has published in its 

 Bulletin, under the name of Salubrious Magnane- 

 ry, which Mr. D' Arcet had given to it. After va- 

 rious experiments, Mr. Camille Beauvais says, 

 this simple and cheap apparatus has finally prov- 

 ed, what he had conceived might possibly be at- 

 tained, and what he had fbr a long time sought; 

 an equal temperature and a pure air constantly re- 

 newed : conditions, which joined to caretid atten- 

 tion and cleanliness, approximate as nearly as pos- 

 sible, the artificial breeding of silk-worms," in those 

 limited apartments; where it is necessary to confine 



them in Europe, to the most favorable condition 

 in which they have been placed by nature.* 



The first application of Mr. D'Arcet's system 

 of ventilation, at the establishment of Bergeries, 

 has, at once, imperliict as must yet be an opera- 

 tion, which, fbr want of time, could only be con- 

 sidered as an experiment, had a success, which 

 cannot fiul to interest every enlightened mind. 

 God forbid, that what remains for me to say, 

 should diminish the merit of the applicator, and 

 his right to your respect! On the contrary, Mr. 

 D'Arcet has himself declared that it was Mr. 

 Camille Beauvais, who communicating to him an 

 opinion which that learned man had Ibrmed in 

 travelling, through the south of France, on the cul- 

 ture of silk-worms, and had requested him to con- 

 sider the subject, ami make a plan of a masmane- 

 ry. French agriculture will please then, I hope, 

 to unite in the same sentiment of esteem, the 

 learned and the practical man. I say French ag- 

 riculture, fbr it should not be doubted, if the inte- 

 resting experiment which has been submitted to 

 your consideration, should have such an impor- 

 tant influence on the production of silk in the cen- 

 tral and northern parts of France, how much more 

 elEcacious still, will it be in ameliorating the cul- 

 ture of the South! Will not the most cautious 

 men — those ancient agriculturists, who have so 

 great a right to intrench themselves behind that 

 prudence which we respect in them, and which is 

 the treasure of their lilij, wish at least, that such 

 experiments be repeated and extended? But the 

 subject is so important, and the inquiry so grave, 

 that I request, gentlemen, your permission, to en- 

 ter into some details, previous to presenting a 

 short summary of the essential conditions, fbrl,he 

 proper management of silk- worms, and the means 

 which are now employed, to render the air of the 

 magnanery salubrious. 



If the organization of the silk-worm is carefully 

 examined, and it is found that they respire only 

 by their stigmata,t and if the gas they expire, es- 

 pecially during the period of their last change, is 

 analyzed, no one can fiiii of being convinced of the 

 iinportance of a gentle and continuous circulation 

 of air, in an apartment where millions of these lit- 

 tle insects are assembled and extended on frames 

 which emit deleterious exhalations. 



On attentively observing the continual exertions 

 which are made by these small animals, both by 

 dilation and contraction, and which are repeated 

 without cessation, especially at the moment of 

 moulting, it will be seen that all their functions are 

 in operation with greater or less activity, according 

 to the heat, to which they are subjected, and it 

 will be readily perceived to what danger they are 

 exposed, fi'om sudden changes of weather. 



Great humidity in the magnanery is of itself 

 fatal to silk-worms, while it produces a fermenta- 

 tion. in the vegetable and other matter which col- 

 lects on the frames where they are fed, and thus 

 vitiates the air they breathe; tlierefbre, cultivators 



* There is in China, a wild species, whicli feed in 

 the open air on the mulberry trees of the country, and 

 which have not yet been domesticated. 



t The silk- worm, and the larva of other insects, in- 

 stead of breathing through the mouth, like other ani- 

 mals, breathe through the spiracles or stigmata, which 

 are holes in the rings on each side. 



