SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 141 



was unable to fill it. The largest order I had was for 

 one hundred pounds, for Italy, and when I received 

 that order I had only three ounces to sell. All this 

 shows that in the future, besides supplying a large ex- 

 port demand for silk, we will also have to export 

 largely of eggs. 



The variety of mulberry to cultivate to obtain the 

 best quality of silk is the white mulberry (morus alba) 

 and its varieties, particularly the moretti. As to the 

 muUicaulis, I would recommend it only when the worms 

 are very young, but not afterwards. The feeding of 

 the worms continues only thirty-two or thirty-four days, 

 when they make their cocoons, and twelve days after 

 that they come out butterflies, and lay their eggs for 

 the following year. They have to be kept in a cool, 

 dry cellar to prevent them from hatching. 



Each female is expected to lay about three hundred 

 eggs. Three hundred good cocoons weigh about one 

 pound, and an ounce of eggs can produce one hundred 

 and sixty-five pounds of cocoons ; twenty-eight ounces 

 of selected cocoons give two ounces of eggs. 



REMARKS OF MR. HENRY HENTSCH. 



The memorandum of Mr. Prevost contains valuable 

 and correct information about California silk culture. 

 The main point on which the report must attract the 

 attention of the community is this, that California has 

 one "of the best, if not the very best climate in the 

 world for producing silk successfully, on account of 

 the absence of rains and storms during the months of 



