SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 143 



CHAPTER I. 



OUR CLIMATE ITS SUPERIORITY AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



I wish you, gentle reader, to allow me to have a talk 

 with you on our climate, as it is impossible for me to 

 write this book without beginning with that genial silk 

 climate. I have already written and said that we were 

 in the best silk country in the world ; and I still main- 

 tain the proposition. This will oblige me to make a few 

 general remarks, on what I consider the most important 

 point ; because our strength here is simply in the supe- 

 riority of our climate for the silkworm, and the adap- 

 tability of our rich soil for the mulberry. It has been 

 said : " Wherever the mulberry finds a congenial 

 climate and soil, there also the silkworm will flourish." 

 Such climate and soil has California in a pre-eminent 

 degree. 



The silkworm requires a pure atmosphere for the 

 preservation of his health ; and we have it here. 



It has been observed in Toulouse, the healthiest part 

 of France, that the silkworms raised in the huts of the 

 poor peasants, and -enjoying the pure air through the 

 cracks and broken windows, were better than those 

 raised by the rich. This shows that they need pure air. 

 We can supply them with any amount of such air. 



But who gave me the idea that we were in a silk 

 country ? In 1850, after I had seen the first summer, 

 it was the observing our fine climate without rain from 

 May to October ; and, consequently, without storm and 



