SILK MANUAL, AND 



pai't of their time in attendinjr to the smallest 

 details of the mode of management pursued, and 

 in assisting in them with their own hands ; in 

 studying the cultivation and treatment of mulberry 

 troes, under the direction of a nurseryman from 

 the South attaches to the establishment; every 

 day during two hours, their worthy master assem- 

 bles them in instructive conferences, in which are 

 recap tulated and collated all the observations of 

 the day; in which are discussed all the advantages 

 which must result to the country in general, from 

 the interesting subject of their studies, under the 

 various points of view which their social position 

 may give rise to. How many truly logical ideas, 

 how much sound intelligence, how many amelio- 

 rating germs rendered fruitful by this powerful 

 reunion of observation and of facts, ought these 

 young and studious citizens, the legitimate hope 

 of the agriculture of the state, to have carried 

 with chem to their homes. To describe to you, 

 gentlemen, in a word, both their deep conviction 

 of the advantages which they have received from 

 their relations with M. IJeauvais, and the senti- 

 ments which his own generosity has given rise to, 

 I ought to say, that before separating, they unani- 

 mously voted to him a gold medal, as a testimonial 

 of their own gratitude, so sensibly felt, and so 

 worthily merited. A crowd of persons have en- 

 rolled their names to atrand the ensuing course. 

 One of these pupils, M. Peycams, a nephew of 

 M. Caussade, a proprietor in Gaudaloupe, has 

 particularly attended to reeling. At the request 

 of the principal colonists, he is going to that 

 island to instruct women of color the reeling of 

 the cocoons ; Tor which purpose he carries with 

 him a complete filature. 



But it is a fact, and one which M. Beauvais 

 acknowledges, and gives publicity to, in terms 

 which exhibit at once his character, his gratitude, 

 and his love of truth, that the brilliant results 

 which he has this year obtained — to do full jus- 

 tice to his own intelligence, to the high order of 

 his own mind, and to his assiduous perseverance 

 — he owes indisputably to the arrangement for 

 ventilation, which M. d'Areet has already made 

 you acquainted with, the plan and description of 

 which, under the name which he has given to it 

 of a salubrious " magnanerie," (habitation for silk 

 worms,) the Society of Encouragement has pub- 

 lished in its Bulletin. After various experiments, 

 this simple and economical arrangement has 

 proved to him at last, says M. Beauvais himself, 

 that he had discovered what he had been so long 

 endeavoring to obtain, an equal temperature and a 

 pure air constantly renewed; conditions which, 

 added to a minute cleanliness, assimilate, as near 

 as possible, the artificial mode of raising silk worms 

 in the narrow habitations in which Europe is 

 obliged to keep them confined to the most favora , 



ble condition in which nature may have placed 

 them.* 



The first application of the system of ventila 

 tion of M. d'Areet to the establishment of the 

 Bergeries, imperfect as must be an operation which 

 the want of time only permitted to be arranged 

 without suitable prepiiration, has resulted in a 

 success which cannot fail to strike every one. 

 God forbid that what remains for me to say should 

 weaken the merit of the applicant and of his rights 

 in your interest! On the contrary, M. d'Areet 

 has stated himself that it was M. Beauvais, who, 

 jjartaking of the opinion which that savant had 

 formed in travelling, of the mode or process {)ur- 

 sued in the South, had induced him to define his 

 own ideas on the subject, and to form a y)lan of a 

 salubrious habitation. French agriculture will 

 be pleased, therefore, I hope, to unite in the same 

 sentiment of esteem, the savant and the practical 

 man. I say French agriculture, because it does 

 not admit of a doubt, if the important experiment 

 which is submitted to you is to have so high an 

 influence on the production of silk, in the central 

 and northern parts of France, that it will much 

 more efficaciously still contribute to the ameliora- 

 tion of the method of process pursued in the 

 South. Let, therefore, those who are most cau- 

 tious, let those ancient cultivators, who have so 

 much right to entrench themselves under that 

 prudence which we respect in them, and which is 

 the treasure of their whole lives, at least, there- 

 fore, wish that similar attempts may be renewed 

 and propagated. But the subject is so important, 

 the question is so grave, that I ask of you, gentle- 

 men, permission to enter again into some details, 

 preceded by a short recapitulation of the condi- 

 tions essential to a successful process of manage- 

 ment, and of the means put in practice to the 

 present day, to purify and render healthy the hab- 

 itations of silk worms. If we study with care 

 the organization of these worms, which breathe 

 only through their stigmas, and if we analyse the 

 gases which they expire, particularly in the last 

 ages, we shall soon be convinced of the importance 

 of a mild and continual circulation of air, in a 

 room where millions of these little insects must 

 be amassed together, and s|)read upon the hurdles 

 from whence the unhealthy exhalations are 

 evolved. 



In observing, attentively, the continual labors 

 which these small bodies are performing, as well 

 as the efi^ects of dilation and contraction, which 

 are constantly taking place with these insects, 

 particularly at the period of their moulting, it will 

 be j)erceived that all their functions are performed 

 with more or less quickness and facility, accord- 



*ln China, there is a wild kind, which breed in the 

 open air upon the mulberry trees of the country, and 

 which they have not yet been able to domesticate. 



