114 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



deposit two thousand eggs. These papers, with 

 the eggs are laid away in a chest or desk until the 

 followingspring, when the process above described 

 is again rejieated. 



After this interesting insect has furnished the 

 fine material, the tow is picked off the balls, which 

 are tlirown into hot water and a stick is passed • 

 among them, to which the ends of the threads 

 attach themselves. For sewing silk, forty of them 

 are laid together and reeled. The thread thus com- 

 posed of forty fibres, is twisted hard on a large 

 spinning wheel, then doubled and twisted again, 

 and wrought into skeins. Tiie whole process of 

 manufacture is completed by scouring in the same 

 manner as woollen yarn to detach the glutinous 

 substance, which the worm employs in the fabri- 

 cation of its thread. 



From the Horticultural Register. 

 SIIiK CULTURE IN INDIA. 



Roxbury, November 19, 1835. 



Mr Dear Sir, — Having recently been reading 

 Milburn's Oriental Comnierce, I was much inter- 

 ested in the accoimt he has given of the silk cul- 

 ture in India : and as it contains some valuable 

 information, which I do not recollect to have seen 

 in any other work, on a branch of rural industry, 

 winch has claimed so much of your attention, and 

 is becoming so important to this country, 1 enclose 

 several extracts for publication. 



The made in which the mulberry plantations 

 are managed, is novel, and well worthy of experi- 

 ment ; for if it will not enable us to obtain, as is 

 there done, six crops of silk in a year, it is possi- 

 ble such advantages may be derived, as to induce 

 its adoption, — especially in the Southern States. 



The two species of silk-worms, which are de- 

 scribed as peculiar to Hindostan, might be a valu- 

 able acquisition ; especially thai of Arrindy, as 

 the Palma Christi, on which it feeds, flourishes 

 throughout the United States. 



The descriptions of the various kinds of silk 

 produced in Bengal, and the mode of ascertaining 

 their qualities, may be found useful to those who 

 have established manufactories in this country, 

 and as yet rely on the raw silk of India for their 

 looms. With great esteem, 



your most obedient servant, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



EXTRACTS. 



Silk Worm. — " In Bengal, the largest and best 

 cocoons are preserved for the grain, and preserved 

 in bags suspended to the roof of the hut of the 

 peasant. When the insect is ready to burst its 



prison, a few balls are placed in a large basket on 

 one shelf of a frame, provided for the nurture of 

 of the wonn. The frame in common use, con- 

 sists of sixteen shelves, placed in a shed upon ves- 

 sels filled with water, by way of precaution against 

 ants. After the moths quit their covering, atten- 

 dance is required to remove the males as sjon as 

 their functions have been i)erformed, and the fe- 

 males when they have produced their eggs. The 

 basket is carefully covered with a cloth, and in a 

 fortnight the worm quits the egg. They are first 

 fed with mulberry leaves, chojiped very fine ; as 

 they advance in their growth, they are dispersed 

 into more baskets, on the several shelves of the 

 frame, and are supplied with leaves, cut into lar- 

 ger pieces, and latterly with whole leaves, until 

 the j^eriod when the insect quits the food. As 

 soon as it recomtnences eating, branches of mul- 

 berry trees are thrown on with the leaves upon 

 them, and the insects eat with eagerness, and soon 

 fill the baskets on the whole number of shelves ; 

 they arrive at their full size in a little more than a 

 month from their birth, and changing their skins 

 for the last time, are disposed to begin their cones. 

 They are now removed to baskets, divided into 

 spiral compartments, where they spin their webs, 

 and cover themselves with silk. When the co- 

 coon is completed, a few are set apart for propa- 

 gation, and the rest are ex|)osed to the heat of the 

 sun, for the purpose of killing the chrysalis," 



"The peasants sell the cocoons to the filatures, 

 or winding houses, most of whom are in the em- 

 ploy of the East India Company." 



Cultivation oj the Mulberry Tree. — The follow- 

 ing is the mode of propagating the mulberry tree. 

 The waste land is opened with the spade in the 

 month of April ; good soil is brought and enough 

 is thrown, on to raise it one cubit.* The ground 

 is well broken with the plough, and levelled with 

 an implement, which in form resembles a ladder, 

 but which supplies the place of a harrow. The 

 mulberry is planted in October ; the slips are cut 

 a spanf long, thrown into a hole, covered from the 

 sun, and are continually watered, until at the end 

 of a fortnight they begin to vegetate. They are 

 then transplanted into the fields, in holes, distant 

 a span from each other, and nearly one span deep ; 

 four or five cuttings are placed obliquely, in each 

 hole, which is then filled up, so as to cover the 

 slips with afinger| of earth, closely pressed down. 

 As soon as the jilants appear, in December or Jan- 

 uary, the field is weeded. In April, when they 

 are grown to the height of a cubit, they are topped, 

 so as to leave a stem one hand§ high ; otherwise 



* The cubit of Bengal is eighteen inches. 



f The span is nine inches. 

 t The finger is three fourths of an inch. 



§ Tho hand is thr«« inQhes, 



