BEARING SILKWORMS. 89 



the great national secret. They went direct to 

 Constantinople, and presented their canes with 

 their valuable contents to the Emperor Constan- 

 tine. 



As early as the twelfth, century, silk-weaving 

 was a recognized industry in England. The silk 

 then used was obtained from Syria, in cloth. 

 These faBrics were unraveled, and the .silk shreds 

 rewoven with other materials. It is said they 

 were more beautiful than at the first. This 

 practice is mentioned by Aristotle. 



When cotton was introduced from India, about 

 A. D. 1260, owing to its cheapness, it iff a great 

 measure superseded silk, which had been a 

 flourishing industry for four thousand years. 

 In 1644, the silk industry had retained only 

 enough activity to supply local demands and the 

 government requirements. However, intercourse 

 with other nations has revived the silk industry 

 in China, so that at the present time silk is 

 produced in every province. The best silk comes 

 from Che Kiang, especially from its northwest 

 corner. But even this does not equal Italian or 

 French silk. Some full-grown trees will yield 

 seventy tp^one hundred pounds of leaves. But, 

 as a rule, the Chinese do not allow the mulberry 

 tree to grow more than five or six feet high. 

 They live for fifty years in China. In some 



