236 THE CALIFORNIA 



soil. Second, on the amount of care given to the trees. 

 Third, on the age of the trees, etc. So it is very diffi- 

 cult to make an exact estimate ; we have to come to a 

 general one, and make it as near as possible. 



18th. That an acre will produce from forty to four 

 hundred pounds of silk, at a cost of not exceeding two 

 dollars per pound, ready for market. The value of the 

 raw silk is from six to eight dollars per pound, accord- 

 ing to quality. The quantity must be determined by 

 the circumstances above mentioned. 



14th. But for those that are not prepared to reel 

 their own silk, they can sell their cocoons as they are, 

 to the manufacturer, or sell them for exportation, [if they 

 choose. As there is, and will be a great demand for 

 them, one of our silk merchants, in our city of San Jose, 

 has already asked me how many thousand pounds of 

 cocoons I had to sell, as, he said, he would find me a 

 purchaser, who would buy them immediately. In sell- 

 ing cocoons, in proportion to the work done, they will 

 have pretty much the same profits. 



15th. Each cultivator may make a calculation to 

 suit his own soil and locality, by taking one hundred 

 pounds of leaves for one pound of reeled silk. Forty 

 thousand worms, well fed, will give fifteen pounds of 

 silk ; an acre of trees, or stools, in good situations, and 

 good soil, will certakily yield, here, at four years of 

 age, from fifty to sixty thousand pounds of leaves, and 

 probably more, which, at one hundred pounds per one 

 pound of silk, will be five hundred pounds ; but we must 

 leave a few thousand pounds for wastage, and then 



