•298 



-NEW ENGLAND FARM EH 



MARCH 37, iggg. 



have been received through the kindness of J. H. 

 Mey, Esq. and captain Charles Hunt. 



No work has appeared in Europe or this country 

 which is destined to be so interesting and valuable 

 to sericiculturists, as the Propagateur ; for it will 

 contain the results of experiments, made by the most 

 intelligent and experienced gentlemen of Prance, 

 who are deeply concerned in that important branch 

 of national industry, to which it is consecrated ; 

 and who chiefly reside in the very region, where it 

 has been so long and successfully prosecuted, and 

 where unexampled exertions are being made, to 

 render it more profitable to themselves and benefi- 

 cial to their country. 



From a careful examination of the very able 

 and instructive communications, with which the 

 numbers are enriched, it is apparent that the atten- 

 tion of the government, as well as that of the cul- 

 tivators and manufacturers of silk has been roused 

 in an unprecedented manner, Avithin a few years : 

 and that there is a more extensive and zealous 

 co-operation than has been witnessed, since Oliver 

 de Serres, introduced the white mulberry into 

 France, — " a tren?' as the eloquent Bourdon justly 

 remarks, "which -is so full of the blessings of 

 God." 



Pecuniary premiums, and gold medals have been 

 offered, experimental plantations, magnaneries, and 

 filatures established, and normal schools founded, 

 and placed under the superintendence of able ])ro- 

 fessors and skilful machinists, by the government, 

 in many of the departments ; and Henry Bourdon, 

 appointed a special agent, to visit annually all the 

 departments where silk has been or is becoming an 

 object of culture, whose duty it is to make detailed 

 reports, of whatever is worthy of notice, to the 

 minister of public worUs, agriculture and com- 

 merce ; and so favorable has been the influence of 

 these enlightened and liberal measures, it may be 

 confidently assumed, that this precious and beauti- 

 ful branch of rural economy, has made such rapid 

 strides, tliat the product of indigenous silk has 

 been increased, at least, thirty per cent; and if 

 the sarae patriotic policy and spirit, by which the 

 sovereign and people are now actuated, is continued, 

 it will be doubled within a few years. 



The first great cause of the attention of the 

 government being roused, and the cultivators of 

 silk so intensely excited, was the publications of 

 the illustrious Dandolo, in 1817 on the " Art of 

 rearing the silk worm," and his establishment of 

 a practical school at Varcse, for teaching the best 

 method of managing mulberry plantations and silk 

 worms, which became the resort of young men 

 from all parts of Italy and France, and who gave 

 the name of Dodolories to the improved structures 

 which they erected on the model of that at Varese 

 for the accommodation of the colonies of eilk 

 worms. 



Bonafous, Pillaro, and numerous other distin- 

 guished scientific men, and practical cultivators, in 

 various parts of France, actively co-operated with 

 Dondolo to improve the methods of conducting 

 mulberry plantations and the education of silk 

 worms. Gonsoul invented the apparatus, now 

 universally adopted in the large filatures, for heat- 

 ing with steam, the basins of water, in which the 

 cocoons are placed to be reeled ; by which the silk 

 ia more perfectly cleansed of the gum, is more uni- 

 form in size, perfect in color and beautiful, and its 

 strength, elasticity and splendor increased. For 

 this discovery and several others, of vast utility in 

 science and the arts he received medals and diplo- 



mas and other marks of distinction from the gov- 

 ernment ; and on transmitting to him the Cross of 

 the Legion of Honor, the minister of agriculture 

 and commerce, emphatically observed, in the offi- 

 cial note, which accompanied it: "This dkcora- 

 Tio.N was gai.neb o.n the battlf.-kield ov In- 

 dustry." 



The cultivators of silk have been enabled to 

 wonderfully increase the product of their establish- 

 ments, by the improvements for artificially heating 

 and ventilating the magnaneries, which Darcet, 

 Beauvais and Conabe have made known ; and the 

 movable tables, contrived by Vasseur, as substitutes 

 for shelves, and other modes of accommodating the 

 silk-w.orms during their growth and labors, and to 

 aid the ventilation, seem to have perfected the 

 whole apparatus for the most successful mode of 

 conducting the magnaneries, and have been con- 

 sidered so valuable, — as from 50 to 75 per cent. 

 of space is gained thereby — that he has been re- 

 warded by an appropriate gold medal. 



Thus, notwithstanding the active rivalry which 

 has been maintained by the silk manufacturers of 

 Great Britain, and the encouragement which has 

 been offered to those of Russia, Sweden, Austria, 

 Prussia, Belgium and Switzerland by their respec- 

 tive sovereigns, and the importations of manufac- 

 tured articles from India and C-faina, the manufac- 

 tories of France have continued to increase, and 

 the value of the fabrics, which are annually made 

 at Paris, Tours, Lyons, St Etienne, St Chamond, 

 Avignon, and Nismes, is estimated at 200,000,000 

 of francs. 



But after all the great efforts which have been 

 made to extend the culture of the mulberry and 

 the rearing of silk-worms, in the middle and north- 

 ern, as well as tlie southern departments of the 

 kingdom, there is annually imported into France 

 from Italy, Turkey, India and China, large quan- 

 tities of raw silk. 



It will be pei'ceived from the following state- 

 ments, made by Baron d' Hombres-Firmas, Vis- 

 count De Retz and Mr Puvis, that it is evident 

 the eggs of several varieties of silk-worms were 

 brought from Bengal by the Bonite ; and that from 

 the small number submitted to experiment, and the 

 ■unfavorable circumstances attending them, there 

 h">s not yet been a fair opportunity of ascertaining 

 whether either will be considered an acquisition 

 or not ; and it will require another year to test the 

 character of each race. From these circumstances 

 it is very desirable and important, that the persons 

 who may receive portions of the eggs sent by Mr 

 Mey, should carefully separate the cocoons of the 

 various kinds of worms which may appear, to enable 

 them to obtain eggs of those species which present 

 the best characteristics. 



There is a very interesting article by Mr 

 AudoJiin, of the Institute, in the the fifth number 

 of the Propagator, on the cause of a very fatal 

 epidemic, called the Muscardine, which often ap- 

 pears among the silk-worms, and the mode of pre- 

 venting its ravages, which I shall translate and 

 send to you for publication. 

 Very respectfully, 



Vour ntost ob't serv't. 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



Hawthorn Cottage, Roxbury, i 

 March 20, 1839. j 



REFOBT 



Of an experiment on the culture of the silk-roorm of 

 Bengal, made at Alais, in the Department of 



Card, hythe Baron D' Hombres-Firmas, Ckeva'ier 



g ytbe Legion of Honor, correspomletd of the Insti- 

 tute a.'"' "■f^'^ ^y^'- ■■Jgricultural Society, S,-c. 



The Mini^"''^'' °^ Agriculture and Commerc. 

 having been plej'^'^'' '° ^^nd .me some of the silk ■ 

 worm eggs which ><^''^ brought from Bengal bj 

 Captain'Vaillant, in thb Corvette Bonite, I submit a 

 summary account of the litu'* <^tperunGnt which. 1 

 have made. 



Generally, in our part of the cO^'ntry, the crof 

 of cocoons has been indifferent this yov, and it is 

 a great calamity. The late frosts destroyed nearly 

 all the leaves of the mulberry trees, which had just 

 been developed ; and we were unable to feed the 

 silk-worms, which had begun to hatch ; it therefore 

 became necessary to throw them away, as well 

 as the eggs which were in motion, or ready to 

 open. 



My experiment was made in my apartment, 

 where the temperature was kept sufficiently high, 

 and the air continually renewed. I found daily in 

 my garden a few handfuls of tender leaves, which 

 furnished numerous repasts to ray silk-worms. 



The eggs which I received were still attached 

 to the paper on which they had been laid by the 

 insects in Bengal. Those which had made the 

 voyage in vases hermetically sealed, were marked 

 No. 1, those which were put into bamboo cases. No. 

 2, and the others, which were merely enveloped in 

 paper. No. 3. 



On examining the eggs with a magnifying glass, 

 many of them appeared flatted, and several had 

 small depression in the middle. Nearly half of 

 them did not hatch. I often examined the Bengal 

 eggs and compared them with those which were 

 destined for our farmers ; but the latter had been 

 well hibernated, while the others were passing the 

 equator ; it is to this cause, that I attribute their 

 hatching spontaneously, and is probably the reason 

 why seven-fifteenths of them perished. 



On the 14th of April, I perceived some little 

 worms among my three parcels of eggs, and imme- 

 diately placed them in the hot-house to protect 

 them. The hatching continued for several days, 

 and consequently the worms were of unequal size, 

 whicli I arranged in several divisions without seek- 

 ing to equalize them by causing some to fast and 

 giving more heat and food to those which were the 

 latest, as is done in our large establishments. 



My worms, when hatched, were about two milli- 

 metres long, and were black and hairy ; they had' 

 more than doubled in size at the first moulting j 

 as they increased, they appeared spotted, and then ■ 

 whitish, and resembled, perfectly, our common silk 

 worms, except that they were smaller, and when 

 ready to ascend, they were of the size of the latter 

 at their fourth change. 



Some died after the fourth change, without my 

 being able to ascertain the cause of the disease. I 

 had 203 cocoons, 52 of which were yellow and 151 

 white. The cocoons are very small, elongated and 

 pointed, and of the kind which are called satin or 

 velvety, and but little esteemed ; some of them are 

 sufficiently firm, but still light; it required ten of 

 the most beautiful to weigh 12 grammes. 



The cocoons of our country appear in every re- 

 spect, preferable to those of Bengal, in the opinion 

 of our silk reelers, to whom I shew them ; but they 

 think, with me, that it is not from the first experi- 

 ment, and made on so small a scale, that we ought 

 to decide. 1 shall carefully preserve the eggs of 

 this crop, and hope to succeed better next year. 



.'Hois, June 15, 1838. 



