108 THE CALIFORNIA 



quality, and a saving of three fourths of the labor 

 required in other countries ; and when these advantages 

 are considered, in connection with the fact of the unlim- 

 ited market for the product and the trifling cost of ship- 

 ment, in comparison with its value, to any part of 

 the globe, it is hardly possible to overestimate the 

 benefit which the State is destined to realize from the 

 extension of the culture which Mr. Prevost has so per- 

 severingly labored to introduce and perfect. 



Mr. Prevost might rest easy with the " good thing " 

 he has secured in European orders for silk eggs, the 

 monopoly of which he might enjoy for years, at prices 

 almost equal to their weight in gold ; but, with the spirit 

 of a real benefactor, he desires that his fellow-citizens 

 shall know and share the advantages which their climate 

 offers for the prosecution of this interesting and" profitable 

 branch of industry, and he is ever ready to impart infor- 

 mation of value to those who may desire it ; and, as will be 

 seen by the letter quoted below, he will also furnish gra- 

 tuitously the eggs required to start with' to all who will, 

 for a number of years to come, engage in the business, 

 and provide trees for feeding the worms. And this 

 offer, if reckoned only at the money value of the eggs, 

 is larger than any of the liberal premiums which the 

 State has provided for the encouragement of new 

 branches of industry. 



The following is the letter referred to, written in re- 

 sponse to inquiries relating to the mode of propagating 

 the mulberry, with a view to preparing a plantation, or 

 orchard ; but as we presume the readers of the " Ga- 



