cannot be found in the largest collections. Several will sell for $1 apiece. The 

 vast majority of species are worth one cent or even less. Is it possible to group 

 the rare and common varieties at five cents as a flat rate and so get rid of the 

 common species? It would take a year's output, or the outputs of several years, 

 perhaps, to prepare perfect sets. Meantime, with the help of my correspondents, 

 sets of Pacific Coast specimens could be offered, and possibly of almost all Ameri- 

 can specimens. There is no money to be made in selling singles except at high 

 prices. What I am gaying will apply to each locality. My advice is to raise and 

 gather every species and offer the lot at a low figure. When you know the valuable 

 varieties breed them in quantities, but unless you gain experience by breeding 

 common sorts your attempts to breed the valuable kinds will result in failure. 



FAILURES IN SILKWORM INDUSTRY. 



The rearing of silkworm cocoons is destined to give profitable employment to 

 hundreds of thousands of American women. The industry dates from 1 734 when 

 Governor Oglethorpe took eight pounds of silk from Georgia to England. Con- 

 gress and several of the state legislatures have made large appropriations at different 

 times to disseminate information and foster the industry. Societies and clubs of 

 women have labored to instruct beginners. At times seri-culture has been a 

 craze. Send fifty cents to Mrs. M. C. Reton, Mission Cliff Curio Shop, 4668 

 Park Boulevard, San Diego, Cal., for "Rearing Silkworms," by Carrie Williams, 

 and you will learn how the work is carried on in large establishments. The in- 

 structions regarding the care of larvae are very complete. Indeed, there is a library 

 of books on this subject accessible to the enquirer and no one need lack instructions. 

 I boldly assert that the principal reason why failures have been made in the past 

 is the lack of experience in the business of rearing larvae. I constantly urge my 

 pupils to rear all kinds of larvae, even the commonest species. If the financial 

 returns are small the knowledge which can only be gained by experience justifies 

 the labor. If you are a beginner do not confine your efforts to raising rare and 

 valuable species else you will surely meet with discouragement. When you have 

 had practice and experience in caring for common varieties of caterpillars you will 

 be able to profitably rear silkworms and other varieties that will insure an income. 

 No directions, however explicit, will enable the beginner to succeed with every 

 brood of larvae. Experience and nothing else will qualify you for butterfly farming 

 on a profitable scale, and the same may be said of seri-culture. History proves 

 that most of the people who attempted to learn silk-culture, many of whom invested 

 every dollar they possessed in mulberry trees, failed because they knew nothing of 

 l earing larvae except what they read in books. Butterfly farmers will not fail. 

 The market for the output of silk farms is always active, and the business can be 

 carried on wherever the mulberry will grow. In many parts of Europe a good 

 portion of the family income is derived from the production of silkworm cocoons. 

 It does not require capital, nor costly paraphernalia to obtain profitable results. 



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