200 THE CALIFORNIA 



very superior to that Japanese sort, in site and quality. 

 Until we find something better, it is the best var 

 that we could cultivate at present. I received thai 

 variety at the first, from France, but its origin is China. 



There are many other varieties of silkworms ; I will 

 mention a few here. Besides the silkworms of one 

 crop, or annual, we hare also those of two crops. 

 These go through their various mutations in twenty 

 days, and produce fine white silk, which has the valua- 

 ble property of retaining its clear white color. It pro- 

 duces two crops, though the quantity is leas than that 

 produced by the largo, dark colored, or by the large 

 white worm. 



At the silk establishment of the British East India 

 Company, at Jungepore, in Bengal, besides the com- 

 mon silkworm, which produces but a single crop annu- 

 ally, they have also another silkworm called dacey, 

 which produced eight croj* or harvests, and is supposed 

 to be indigenous. 



There is a variety of silkworm found in Friuli, so 

 very large that two of them, when fully grown, will out- 

 weigh five of the common kind, and their cocoons 

 wei#h almost in the same proportion ; the quantity of 

 food is one-tenth less in proportion to the weight of co- 

 coons produced, than for the common kind, but they 

 require five or six clays longer in their evolutions, be* 

 fore they begin to spin their cocoons, which arc heavy, 

 and measure almost l,oUO yards. One hundred co- 

 coons weigh a pound, and one thousand and ninety-one 

 will yield a pound of pure reeled silk. 



