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acres in the county of Cork with 4,000 mulberry trees, but 
the design was abandoned, and the Company transferred its 
operations to Malta. 
At this period there was but one species of Silkworm (the 
Bombyx Mori) , reared for its silk in Europe. Now, however, 
a second species, the Ricinus or Assam Silkworm (Bombyx 
Cynthia), is become a competitor as a silk-producing insect. 
It was introduced into Prussia in 1856, and has since spread 
through Germany, and even into Sweden and Russia, with 
the most extraordinary results. As the produce of the two 
insects, however, is very different, I think that both species 
might be introduced with success. 
In 1825, Mr. John Murray published a pamphlet on the 
common species, in which he says, " I have often thought 
that the cultivation of the Silkworm would form a most 
valuable and profitable addendum to the poor-houses in 
England. The aged, and even the infirm, might find here 
an occupation of healthful interest to themselves, and relief 
to the burdened benevolence which supports them. There 
can be no question about the success of this method of 
culture in England, as, with all the disadvantages the 
individuals had to encounter, I have seen, I think, 61bs. 
weight of silk raised in one season by a poor family in 
"Whittlesea, near Peterborough." 
The last individual who brought this subject before the 
public was Mrs. Whitby, of Newlands, near Lymington. 
This lady, besides calling the attention of the Agricultural 
Society of England to the importance of the measure, at the 
meeting of the British Association at Southampton, in 1846, 
communicated the results of an experiment she had begun 
on her own estate ten years before, and exhibited specimens 
of raw and manufactured silk, produced from the worms of 
her own rearing and feeding. This lady's experiments have 
all been with the ordinary Silkworm (Bombyx Mori). She 
