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^•OI . XVII NO. 4 



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ground ; and was soon as little spoken of, as if an 

 enterprise h:id been meditated which sensible men 

 ouglit to disavow. Notwithstanding this implioJ 

 reflection on tiie good sense of the supporters of 

 the plan, a few gentlemen shortly after might be 

 foiinil scattered through England, who still cher- 

 islied tlie conviction that the introd'.iction of this 

 insect was perfectly feasible. They planted mul- 

 berry trees and bred silkworms as an innocent 

 source of amusement; and to this day they con- 

 tinue to occupy their spare time in trying exper- 

 iments on a limited scale, on the best modes of 

 bringing up their favorites ; but if the project was 

 eafferly received here, in Ireland it was hailed with 

 enthusiasm as a certain mode of realizing a fortune. 

 The ardent imagination of the Irish easily over- 

 leaped the barriers which inexperience or want of 

 capital tlirew in the way ; and for any one not to 

 have implicit faitli in the silkworm speculation, was 

 looked on as a mark of meanness of spirit, or of to- 

 tal disregard to personal advancement. A joint- 

 stock company was even proposed, and a vast num- 

 ber of names were marked down for shares ; but 

 when the day of paying the first instalment came 

 round, the absentees were found to be so abundant, 

 "that the company dissolved itself," as a wag af- 

 terwards remarked, "even before it was formed." 

 The zeal of individuals was but little manifested in 

 mulberry plantations or silkworm nurseries. One 

 person only showed that he had been perfectly se- 

 rious in his enthusiastic advocacy of the enter- 

 prise ; he planted some thousands of the trees, and 

 when we passed through some dozen or fifteen 

 years ago, we saw the plantations in a most flour- 

 ishing condition. The Earl of Kingston it was who 

 had given this proof of his being serious in the 

 silkworm project ; and even to the last, we believe 

 he spoke witli every appearance of being thor- 

 oughly persuaded of the possibility of the plan. 

 Both in this country and in Ireland, the great ob- 

 jection was that the climate was too severe for so 

 delicate an insect as the silkwonn. The slightest 

 variations of cold and heat were known to affect it ; 

 and sudden changes were frequently found to cause 

 its destruction ; modern discoveries have proved 

 this notion to be hastily assumed, and perfectly ei'- 

 roneous. The insect is noAV known to be capable, 

 with proper management and due precaution, of 

 supporting our climate ; and it is with the inten- 

 tion of showing tJie truth of this important fact to 

 our readers, that we have determined to lay before 

 them some valuable information which has but 

 lately come to light. 



The source from which we derive this informa- 

 tion, is a treatise by the Chinese themselves, which 

 has been lately translated and given to the public 

 in France. When we consider the acknowledged 

 advancement of the Chinese in the arts and scien- 

 ces, evidenced by their knowledge of printing — of 

 the mariner's compa.ss — of gunpowder, and many 

 other curious discoveries, long before tlie inhabi- 

 tants of Europe, it is a matter of wonder that tlieir 

 literature has not been more carefully studied, and 

 the results of such studies made public. All that 

 we have until lately known of tlie Chinese, and 

 their habits, manners, customs, and knowledge, has 

 come at first through the early missionaries, and 

 next through the embassies sent over from tliis 

 country. A third spring of information has now 

 been opened ; and we are not over sanguine, in 

 predicting that a most important stream of curious 

 knowledge will be found to flow from it Should 

 it be asked, how it happens that this particular 



juncture has had the merit of making public the 

 contents of a Chinese work, we answer, that it is 

 the same cause which, in^ the days of Perseus, 

 caused the Roman parrots, when hungry, to salute 

 their mistresses in the Greek words they had been 

 taught, namely, self-interest, a most prolific source 

 of researcli and invention. Thus it was tliat the 

 work was translated. 



The production of silk, at the present day, in 

 France, amounts to a value of more than 00,000,000 

 francs a year; which is, however, quite insufficient 

 for the consumption, as the foreign trade alone 

 reaches 50,000,000 francs a year. Silk is one of 

 the principal products of China : for not only is it 

 used to a great extent in the fabrication of their 

 clothes, but a vast quantity is exported in tlie raw 

 state, as well as in the shape of fabricated articles. 

 For forty centuries have they devoted their attention 

 to study, in its minutest details, tlie rearing of the 

 worm wliich furnishes them with this source of their 

 national wealth ; and as a natural consequence, this 

 long experience, always stimulated by the sense of 

 self-interest, has caused them to discover a crowd 

 of attentions, of proceedings, and of practices, most 

 likely to procure for them certain and advanta- 

 ous produce. 



The missionaries were at once struck with the 

 importance of these practices to the European cul- 

 tivator of tlie silkwonn ; and tliey determined to 

 mark down some of their modes of treatment, for 

 the benefit of their countrymen. Two treatises 

 were drawn up, and afterwards published in France. 

 One of them, by Father d'Entrecolles, gives the 

 extract of au old Chinese work respecting tlie treat- 

 ment of silkworms ; and the other, composed by 

 Father d'Incarville (or rather, from notes left by 

 hin^,) describes the treatment given to three other 

 species of worms, which the natives designate 

 " wild silkworms," because their nature requires 

 that they should be permitted to live at full liberty 

 on the trees from whence they take their food. 

 Some of the methods of treatment described by 

 d'Entrecolles, were not long ago put in practice 

 by M. Camille Beauvais, a large breeder of silk- 

 worms at Senart. He found them to be most ser- 

 viceable, and most certain and faithful in their re- 

 sults ; but above all, he found that tlie adoption of 

 the Chinese treatment was of wonderful efficiency 

 in preventing accidents, which before had dread- 

 fully puzzled and annoyed hini. 



As the abridgment of a work is always incom- 

 plete in details, M. Beauvais thought that it would 

 be important to have the original Chinese work 

 translated. He applied to the Minister of Com- 

 merce on the subject, and laid before him the im- 

 portance of the case. M. Passy was at the time 

 minister ; and he applied, in his turn, to M. Stan- 

 islas Julion, as the first Chinese scholar in France, 

 or perhaps in Europe. He directotL this eminent 

 savant to undertake tlie task ; and Mi Martin (du 

 Nord,) wiio succeeded to the Ministry of Commerce, 

 made tlie work complete, by desiring M. Julien 

 also to translate the Chinese work on tlie culture 

 of the mulberry tree, which is always annexed to 

 the work on the treatment of sUkworms. M. Ju- 

 lien undertook this arduous task ; and has just given 

 to the public a translation of the two treatises, of 

 rare precision and clearness. To this has been 

 added. Father d'Incarville's treatise on the wild 

 silkworms ; and the whole has been published at 

 the royal printing office. The French scientific 

 men speak of the work as containing a vast quan- 

 tity of useful details ; and they declare that it will 



bo tlie means of greatly increasing the wealth of 

 France. Without going the whole length of their 

 sanguine anticipations, we can see that the infor- 

 mation thus given is highly important, and that it 

 may be of great value to this country as well as to 

 France. Oue peculiarity of the work is, that the 

 Chinese have followed no fixed plan ; there is no 

 succession of ideas in natural logical order in the 

 Chinese writings. Down they put whatever thought 

 occurs to them ; satisfied, apparently, like the sybil 

 of old, with having marked it down, but totally re- 

 gardless of its fate afterwards. It might be a cu- 

 rious question to discuss the reason of this want of 

 order ; whether it arose from habit, or from some 

 defect of organization : this, however, is beside 

 our present purpose ; we only desire to speak of 

 the works before us. In considering them, it will 

 not be found an easy task to place all in proper 

 order. The little treatise by Father d'Entrecolles 

 will be found of use as a sort of guide ; but as it 

 may not be practicable to obtain this work, we pur- 

 pose culling from the translations some of the facts 

 which strike us as useful and singular. 



The silkworm, when it has just burst into life, is 

 at first a little black caterpillar, about the length 

 and thickness of an ant. In this state, its growth 

 is so rapid, that after twentyfive or thirty days it 

 has arrived at a size some hundreds of times more 

 considerable. It then spins its cocoon, and is 

 transformed into the chrysalid form ; it emerges 

 from thence a gay butterfly, engages in the work 

 of generation, lays its eggs, and dies. The care 

 of the Chinese follows the insect in all the phases 

 of its short existence, without losing sight of it a 

 single instant. The rapidity of its development 

 as caterpillar, requires that it Should several times 

 get rid of its skin, and replace it by a larger cov- 

 ering. Every one of these changes constitutes a 

 perilous crisis in the insect's existence ; because 

 it then remains without movement, and as if be- 

 numbed, during the period that nature Urges on her 

 handiwork. 



It is easy to conceive, that the temperature, the 

 food, and treatment, ought to be different for the 

 insect when approaching its state of torpidity, from 

 those which are most beneficial to it when in its 

 time of health and vigor. The first and grand pro- 

 vision, therefore, for successfully rearing a season's 

 insects, oujht to be, to obtain a collection which, 

 born at the same time, and under tlie same circum- 

 stances, shall be endowed with constitutions of like 

 vigor, in order that the changes of tlieir activity, of 

 their torpidity, and of their final transformation, 

 shall arrive simultaneously or nearly so. It is al- 

 most impossible to picture to one's self the multi- 

 tude of cares which the Chinese devote to this fun- 

 damental condition. They commence their atten- 

 tion in the very choice of the butterflies destined 

 to produce the eggs, rejecting such members of 

 the two sexes as are born amongst the first or the 

 last, and making use only of the intermediate ones ; 

 and even using their discretion in putting together, 

 for the work of generation, those insects which 

 their experience shows them are best suited to 

 each other. Ne.xt the eggs become the objects of 

 their solicitude. Here also they cast away the 

 first and the last which are produced; and they pay 

 great attention to having tlie batch equ-illy distrib- 

 uted over the paper on which they contrive that the 

 laying should take place. They thus avoid all 

 heaping of the eggs, which would, when the hatch- 

 ing wa# concluded, place the insects in unequal 

 circumstances ; or if the eggs should, notwithstand- 



