199 



ning, with Prof. Cook's aid, some effective work, but the introduction of 

 foreign bees, which the Department should be able to undertake to bet- 

 ter advantage than any private individual or State institution, is ren- 

 dered more difllicult by virtue of the restrictions in the appropriation 

 already alluded to in discussing the subject of the introduction of par- 

 asites j and whatever is done in the other directions by the National 

 Department will be done most advantageously through the coopera- 

 tion of one or more of the State stations, many of which are far better 

 equipped and more favorably situated for apicultural work than the 

 Department at Washington. 



SILK CULTURE. 



This, again, is an important part of applied entomology, and, as most 

 of you know, I have for many years worked toward the establishment 

 of silk culture in this country. The result of these efforts has served 

 only to convince me of the utter impossibility of successfully entering 

 upon the enterprise on a business basis without protective duty on the 

 reeled, or misnamed "• raw " silk. Some five years ago, largely through 

 the then Commissioner's appeal, based on my own report and assurances, 

 Congress appropriated $15,000 for the express purpose of giving a thor- 

 ough test to the Serrell automatic reeling machinery, in the hope that by 

 its means the question of labor might be minimized and we could reel silk 

 at a profit. The previous attempts of the Department, which it had been 

 mylot to direct, to establish such reeling or market centers at San Fran- 

 cisco, New Orleans, and Philadelphia had proved unsuccessful, and the 

 promise was made to Congress that two years of experimentation under 

 my immediate direction at Washington would permit a definite decision 

 of the question. Two years passed, and the appropriation was increased 

 and continued a third year for various reasons stated at the time. At 

 the end of the third year I became convinced of the futility of continu- 

 ing the experiments indicated without protective duty, and so stated in 

 my report. While in Europe, in 1889, 1 paid particular attention to the 

 question, and visited the Serrell works at the Serrell establishment at 

 Ohabeuil, where I found that Mr. Serrell had abandoned his own reel- 

 ing machinery, which was stored in the cellar, and had gone back to the 

 use of the ordinary non-automatic reeling machines, though employing 

 improved automatic brushers and cleaners of his own invention, which 

 have such advantages that they are fast coming into use in France and 

 Italy. I felt more convinced than ever of the futility of continuing the 

 experiments at Washington, except with the protection indicated, es- 

 pecially as any improvement or valuable outcome of such experiments 

 would redound primarily to the advantage of a private corporation, and 

 doubtless benefit other countries more than our own. The hope of im- 

 provement and the attractiv^eness of the machinery to the average vis- 

 itor, among other reasons to which I need not now refer, have caused 

 continuation of the special reeling work against my advice. From the 



