ON SERICICULTURE. 147 



But not only is this halo of promise diffused over Aus- 

 tralia, New Zealand, the Cape of Good Hope, India and 

 otiier of our Colonies, in Great Britain itself success in 

 Sericiculture, aftei* so many failures, seems at length within 

 our grasp. Turn to the " Annual" of 1869 and read pages 

 96, 98, where the question of cultivating Bomhyx Mori in 

 Great Britain for the sake of its eggs is for the first time, I 

 believe, broached. I am fortified in this view by the dictum 

 of Mons. Taurigna, a French Sericiculturist of some autho- 

 rit}^, who stated to the Silk Supply Association that, in his 

 opinion, many parts of Great Britain are especially adapted 

 to the production of sound and healthy seed, and that we 

 ought to rank highest in Europe as a seed-importing country. 

 So confident am I on this point, that I shall put it practically 

 to the test, and trust next autumn to be prepared to enter the 

 continental market with a supply of eggs of ^. Min'i reared 

 in Great Britain.* 



But I can go yet further, and am authorized to state that 

 for the past three years silk of the most excellent quality, 

 equal to the best Italian, has been produced in England, 

 near Farnborough, by Captain Mason, who has about three 

 acres planted with the White Mulberry {^Moriis alba) — a 

 hardy, quick-growing tree much better adapted to the pro- 

 duction of good silk than the Morus nigra: in fact, many 

 previous experiments in England have failed solely because 

 the Morus nigra was, through ignorance, substituted as a 

 food plant for the Morus alba.f 



Captain Mason has rigoiously tested each step of his ex- 



* I shall be glad to communicate with anyone desirous of co-operating 

 with me on this point. 



f The Morus alba will grow well on sandy or gravelly soils, but fails 

 entirely on chalk and clay. 



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