ON SERICICULTURE. 103 



due to the method of preparing the cocoons to be reeled : 

 time and experience may correct that fault. 



"A sure and immediate use for this kind of silk will be 

 found in all kinds of twisted and sewing silks. In this 

 branch alone the consumption is almost unlimited. The 

 spinning machines employed in it require a thread regular 

 and strong. Another use will be found in the manufacture 

 of furniture stuffs, foulards, and mixed goods, &c., &c. In 

 the production of Ailanthus silk on a large scale, there lies 

 a fruitful mine of great industrial wealth, to attain which 

 requires perseverance alone." 



The great impediment to the culture of this species in 

 Europe on a large scale is the absence of definite infor- 

 mation as to the question of price. The producer is able in 

 any warm sunny spo,t, where the daily temperature averages 

 65° — 70°, and at night does not fall much below 60°, to attain 

 with tolerable certainty a good crop of cocoons out of doors; 

 while indoors a large crop may with more certainty be 

 gathered, but at a greater expense, owing to the labour of 

 feeding them ; but he cannot be expected to undergo the 

 serious outlay of planting a large acreage with Ailanthus 

 trees till a certain remunerative price is offered for his 

 cocoons. The silk merchant, on the other hand, says, give 

 me so many thousand cocoons as are necessary to make 

 100 lbs. of silk, and then I will set a price upon your pro- 

 duct. And as to do this would require 100,000 cocoons or 

 more, the question in this country has not yet been solved. 



The next species is one closely allied to Cynthia, if not a 

 local variety of the same, viz., Bomhyx Ricini, originally 

 from Bengal. This species or variety, resembling Cynthia 

 very much in appearance, though somewhat smaller, has 

 many generations during the year; hence is quite unfitted for 



