THE TECHNOLOGIST. [July I, 1865. 



546 PROGRESS IN SILK CULTURE. 



The Council of the African Aid Society have had an opportunity of 

 seeing the small coins — one mil each — now being struck at Her 

 Majesty's Mint in London, for Hong Kong. Those coins being each one- 

 twentieth of a penny, or one-fifth of a farthing, would be of the value 

 of six cowries. As nothing worthy of mention can be bought for a 

 lower sum than six cowries, those coins would respond to all the minor 

 wants of the native Africans ; while their being perforated, so as to 

 enable them to be strung as cowries are now strung, would render them 

 equally safe and convenient as cowries, while they would not be more 

 than one-seventh of the average weight of the smallest cowries used in 

 the interior trade. 



The Council of the African Aid Society beg leave, therefore, to 

 suggest to Her Majesty's Government that it would be advisable, and 

 of great general advantage, to introduce perforated coins of a similar 

 size and value into the currency of Lagos, Cape Coast, &c. The 

 Council also beg leave to suggest that the perforation, in a similar 

 manner, of other coins intended for circulation in native Western 

 Africa, would tend greatly to facilitate their use and favour among the 

 people. 



PROGRESS IN SILK CULTURE. 



A native silkworm has been discovered in New England, and is now 

 in the way to be extensively reared and disseminated to the great 

 advantage of the country. Mr. L. Trouvelot, as we learn from ' Silliman's 

 Journal ' for March, a gentleman living in the town of Medford, near 

 Boston, has succeeded in rearing successfully, and in great numbers, the 

 native worm known scientifically as Attacus polyphemus, and in pre- 

 paring from its cocoon an excellent quality of silk, possessing great 

 lustre and strength, and pronounced superior to Japanese and all other 

 silks, except the best Chinese, by competent judges. The silk is un- 

 wound by a simple process perfected by Mr. Trouvelot, each cocoon 

 yielding about 1,500 yards. 



This insect is very hardy, being found throughout the Northern 

 States and Canada ; and as it feeds upon the leaves of the oak, maple, 

 willow, and other common forest trees, may be easily reared in any 

 part of the country. Mr. Trouvelot has gradually increased his stock 

 from year to year, by raising young from the eggs of the few individuals 

 first captured, until he has at present seven wagon-loads of cocoons, the 

 entire progeny of which he proposes to raise during the coming season. 



The following report was read before the Victorian Board of Agri- 

 culture, by the judges on the specimens of silk for which the Victorian 

 Government premiums was offered : — " The undersigned have the 

 honour to report to the Board of Agriculture, the result of their exami- 



