CULTURE OP SILKWORMS. 
3 
When kiUed and dnod the cocnons aru aort*^*! into yellows 
and whites, or as tlie Chinese ex|jres3 it, gold and silrer, all 
damaged eocoons lieinfj put by themselves, together with the 
pierced ooeoous which have been nsed for breeding purposes. 
The cocoons are sent to Hongkong and from there to Hang- 
ljau» where they are sold. A man being sent with each eonBig-n- 
ment of silk, the transport eyjienses are very considerable. In 
China the silk is reeled and sent haek ai^ain past Penang to 
Euroi>e. The priee of well reeled silk in Cliiua is 35 per kati, 
while badly reeled silk only fetches ^3. 
An attempt was made to introduce some female reelers from 
China, but without success, owing to the difficulty of getting 
them out tif the country. There is one woman in Lurut who can 
reel, but slie left China when very youug and is therefore 
noi an expert hand. The apparatus used in reeling is very 
simple, and tmly costs from to S5. 
In some observations that I made ou the yeild of silk I 
found that the average weight of the cocoons when fresh was 
10' 75 grains, <>51 going U) the pound. I estimated that 5,833 
cocoons would yeOd one pound of reeled silk, besides the floss 
silk. 
Mr, F. Light sent samples of the Ayer Kuning eoeoons to 
Messrs, C. S. Teunent & Co.. of Penang, who obtained the foUnw- 
ing interesting rej»ort on them from their corresjtondents at 
MarseilltiS. We thank you for your iiocoon samples marked 
Tj and D, whicli we have submitted to our broker. The coeoijus 
you send are unpiereed and are similar to what ;i re received fi uui 
liLnjgiil, and very good samples of their kind. Our broker has 
never seen anything of exactly the same kind. You will uoti**e 
that each cue* km has an outer euvehipe of tough silk, and tiiis 
should be removed in Penang and shipped as silk waste ; it is 
wi>rth from 1 to 1.50 francs iierkilci, landed temis (this is, about 
1 7-, to '2G cents jier kati ) . To give an exattt valuation it is ho we vl- r 
necessary to knnw what the silk contents of your cocoons are, 
that is, the weight of cocoons retpjirfHl to give one kilo of silk, 
and before this is known it is impossible to say what the coerHUis 
windd fetch, as spinners t!iemselves are in complete uucertanity 
before making a spinning trial of the ciicoous. Bengal and China 
unjiiereed eoeoons are freqtieutly sold with the f^juarantee that 
4 kilos weight of cocoons at a eertaiu temperature shall give one 
kilo weight of silk, and if the 4 kilos weight of cocoons give, say. 
I IUO kilos silk, the buyer pays 10 |ier <vni over contract pric;e, 
and rice twrm if the silk out-turn is less than one 1:'.li>. Thrre 
is a Silk Tnule Association here and at Lyons, by which the 
spinning trials are made, and the spinners* names are unknown to 
