218 THE CALIFORNIA 



ginning of this book, how I came to that ; it was in 

 order to curtail the labor. With the exception of Dan- 

 dolo's work, that I have in French, I never had in Cali- 

 fornia, any other book on silk, till September last, when 

 at Sacramento, my old friend Mr. A. P. Smith of that 

 place, presented me two ; one, the " American Silk 

 Grower's Guide," by William Kenrick ; with whom 

 about the year 1838, I was acquainted. The second 

 book is " Mulberry Tree and Silk Worm," by Mr. 

 Samuel Whitemarsh. Both books were written in 

 1839. 



In regard to the feeding with branches I have just 

 read in Mr. Whitemarsh's book an article that pleased 

 me very much, as it coincides with my ideas, and so 

 well with all I have said before about it, that I cannot 

 help giving it to you here ; it reads thus : 



"When the mulberry branches cease to be worth six 

 cents an inch, I propose to feed with branches as they 

 come from the tree. I am persuaded that this practice 

 will be generally adopted in this country, as it has 

 many advantages, some of which I will enumerate. 



" In the first place, the foliage may be gathered in 

 much less time ; it will keep better till consumed ; the 

 same saving of time is gained in feeding, and much 

 more in cleaning off the frames ; the worms mount the 

 twigs while feeding, and remain afterwards, having 

 more advantage of the air, and more space than on a 

 flat surface ; the leaf will be entirely consumed, leav- 

 ing nothing but dry branches to remove ; the ordure 

 of the worms will fall through to the shelf, themselves 



