MB. W. SWALE ON SEEICICTTLTTJEE. 
169 
that little capital into good account by giving the tree a fair trial 
to produce food for the Ailanth silk-worm. 
Eggs arrived here from Melbourne for our Acclimatization 
Society in the beginning of our last summer months, and were 
distributed for trial ; and the result, I hope, will be more favour- 
able another season than the last trial with them has been. 
Success did attend the experiment to a certain extent ; but on 
their arrival we had very bad cold and rough weather. The pro- 
duction of several cocoons, liowever, was the result, under very 
unfavourable circumstances. The tallest Ailanth tree we have 
growing in Canterbury is not more than from 15 to 20 feet high. 
The trees would have been much taller but for the spring frost 
and the rapid growth they make late in the season. 
It appears from information which I glean, that the whole of 
the eggs were successfully hatched indoors and placed upon 
the trees afterwards. It was believed, however, that the worms 
would have done better had they been hatched outside and 
placed upon the trees at first. I hope the cultivation of the 
silk-worm will become very extensive in Canterbury before long. 
"We want manufacturers of every description here. Too much 
sheep-farming by half. I hope some day we shall be able to cause 
the silk-worm to produce two sets of cocoons during the season. 
His Excellency Sir George Bowen, our new Grovernor, on the 
occasion of his first visit to Canterbury, saw the experiment at 
work with the silk-worms, and expressed his satisfaction at the 
likely result of the experiment. I hope, being so highly flattered 
by Her Majesty's Eepresentative in New Zealand, we shall in the 
end produce from the Ailanthus tree a very strong silk — a material 
which has served for hundreds of years in China as the clothing 
of entire populations, and is called by the French people " Ailan- 
thine silk." 
I certainly have this fact to announce about the trees — that, if 
properly planted, in this part of the world they will flourish and 
grow and become great ornaments in our plantations, and, I think 
I may add, in all probability become as large as those at Sion 
House, the large one at the Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick, and 
elsewhere at home. The introduction of this tree is certainly a 
great acquisition. I am obliged to cut down for fire-wood blue- 
gums, poplars, and willows ; they have become such a nuisance on 
my property. 
It is a generally expressed opinion in the other Colonies, that 
