PREFACE. 
IX 
far as is in the power of imitation, these 
insects in such a situation, must be the 
most successful, whatever be the latitude 
in which they happen to be. 
Fortunately our hopes of success depend 
not alone on either the truth or fallacy of 
mere argument ; we are in possession of 
facts that equally corroborate our anticipa- 
tions of success. 
In Russia the cultivation of this branch 
of commerce has been established for 
several years in a latitude as far north as 
54°, and with such success as to warrant 
the establishment of manufactories for 
working* the native silk, and the hope that 
a few years will render that country inde- 
pendent of Persia for the supply of this 
valuable produce. 
In Germany and Bavaria it has likewise 
succeeded. 
Some years back, silk was grown in 
Prussia, of a quality which was consi- 
dered superior to that even of Italy ; a fact 
that gives strength to an observation con- 
tained in a paragraph in the Stockholme 
Journall for March, 1824, and reprinted in 
