100 ON SERICICULTURE. 



Ailant silkworm) which distinguish it from common silk. 

 Thus, Mulberry silk is more lustrous, but it will not bear 

 washing, and soon frays and wears through the creases ; 

 while the Ailant silk, cleaned with, cold water and soap, im- 

 proves in lustre and comfort in wear every time it is washed 

 for years, and is much more durable. Ailantine, besides, 

 takes no permanent injury from oil or grease, but the fabric 

 made from it must never be boiled or washed in hot water. 



" The progress of the silk industry in Australia may pro- 

 bably, in the commencement, be like that of wool. In its 

 early days it was disparaged, aud objected that there was no 

 market for wool in the colony. How diflferent is now the 

 case ! Let it not be supposed that the production of silk 

 can possibly be overdone. Insatiable markets are ready to 

 take all — even as many millions of pounds as can be 

 produced. It is more easy to overdo the production of 

 wool than of silk ; and paradoxical as it may seem, it 

 is yet true that the lower in money value the raw ma- 

 terial, the less probability of a glut, the more unifoim the 

 return and more profitable to the grower; for, as in the 

 case of cotton, a very small reduction in price of a material 

 laroely consumed invariably brings it into request for new 

 purposes. The Ailant culture may be advantageously com- 

 menced on the farmsteads of settlers, on sheep stations, on 

 unimproved purchased lands, and particularly on the long 

 bare downs or plains at present so imperfectly utilized. As 

 an adjunct to the growth of wool, the writer has no hesi- 

 tation in saying that the Ailant may be made to pay the 

 station expenses of every run; in fact, increase the profit to 

 the squatter for wool by 2d. to 4<:Z. a pound, and thus, witli- 

 out involving any extra outlay of capital, enlarge the capa- 

 bilities of the run for general purposes." 



Thus much for Australia, where it is gratifying to find so 



