110 COMPLETE INSTRUCTION IN 



year for all classes. All are anxious to see the 

 outcome. The wealthy ladies are not afraid to 

 use their hoarded pin-money, gambling in stocks 

 of both cocoons and reeled silk. 



The reels on which these poor peasants reel 

 silk are crude as crude can be, nor can their silk 

 be either as good or as fine in appearance as it 

 might be made with proper care and scientific 

 manipulation. Yet this one small county 

 (Verona) of the province of Lombardy sends out 

 annually five million dollars' worth of silk. 



The mulberry trees in this part of Italy are 

 said to be a hundred years old. They are not 

 allowed to grow more than six to ten feet high, 

 and are about twelve feet in circumference. 

 They are pruned laterally every year, in the 

 autumn. They have a very gnarly appearance, 

 from having been pruned so many many times. 



This gentleman suggested that they try work- 

 ing on a different plan and with better ma- 

 chinery, as also better accommodations for the 

 worms. He was told that it had been tried, but 

 failed; that the tenants were so dishonest, they 

 had to be watched all the time, and this could 

 be done better when they were kept in separate 

 households. But even under this management 

 the owners lose many a skein of silk and many 

 a basket of cocoons, for the peasantry well know 

 that silk, to them, is as good as gold. 



