Pe and 
sult we see the great magnaneries disappearing from France and Italy, 
where in some establishments as many as 60 ounces were at one time | 
annually raised. We find this statement confirmed by looking at the 
French official statistics for 1884, where it is stated that the cocoons | 
produced in France during that year were raised by over one hundred — 
and forty thousand families, who utilized therefor about two hundred 
and eighty thousand ounces of eggs, or an average of about two ounces — 
per family. 3 
To beginuers I would repeat the advice so often given from this Office, © 
to hatch the first season but a small quantity of eggs; not more than | 
an eighth of an ounce. Experience counts in this as in other industries, © 
and it will be found that, where only a small quantity of worms are | 
being fed, there will be much more time to study their habits and wants. 
With a year’s experience there will be a better chance of profit the | 
second year. | 
It will not be safe for individuals to rely on reeling their own silk. 
The art of reeling in modern filatures and with steam appliances has © 
been brought to such perfection that none but skilled reelers can hope © 
to produce a first-class article. Skill comes only after full apprentice- | 
ship and practice. The only way in which silk-reeling can be managed 
profitably at present is where a colony of silk-raisers combine to put up — 
and operate a common filature. Though there is a ready market in the- 
United States for large lots of good silk, it will not be found so easy to ~ 
dispose of small lots of poorer quality. 4 
Two years ago Congress appropriated $15,000 for the encouragement 
of silk-culture, and the appropriation was repeated for the present fiscal — 
year. The appropriation was general in its nature, and the method of © 
encouragement left with the Commissioner of Agriculture. In my An-— | 
nual Reports for 1884 and 1885 details are given as to the work done - 
by the Department under this appropriation, and various questions dis- — 
cussed and conclusions reached as to the outcome of the two years’ ex- 
perience. These need not be repeated here. | 
Owing to the conviction that the establishment of filatures and their 
successful operation was the sine qua non in putting the industry on au 
firm basis, a large portion of the money thus appropriated has been de-_ 
voted to experiments in silk reeling. These experiments have shown © 
that the quality of cocoons produced by American silk-raisers is not yet © 
such as to enable this country to compete with others in the production 
of raw silk. The quality of a cocoon is most conclusively shown by the | 
quantity of silk which may be unwound from it. A good average re- 
sult, after the experience of European filatures, is the production of a 
pound of raw siik from 3.80 pounds of dry cocoons. The Government 
experiments at New Orleans showed a production of but 1 pound of silk | 
from 4.23 pounds of dry cocoons. The cost of producing silk from a 
poorer quality of cocoons is proportionately much greater than where the 
cocoons are of better quality, and the difference is much greater than — 
