NEW SILK MOTH. 
79 
produce of Bombyx Cynthia is of a far coarser and more durable nature than ordinary 
silk. In China it forms the greater part of the material of which the clothing of the 
middle-class is made, and is so durable that a garment descends from parent to child, 
besides having the valuable qualities of never contracting grease spots, and being 
waterproof. 
So useful an article of commerce, the culture of which had already extended from 
Italy to France, Switzerland, and Belgium, could scarcely help attracting the attention 
of Austria, where there is such variety of soil and climate, suited in some locality 
or other for almost everything which can be employed to any useful purpose in art or 
manufacture, provided it does not require tropical heat. Experiments were accord¬ 
ingly made at Trieste and Gortz in raising the new silkworm, and apparently with 
some success. It was however desirable to ascertain whether there was any promise 
for more northern latitudes. Accordingly a manufacturer of the name of Eichtner, at 
Atzgersdorf, at a short distance from Vienna, on the borders of the river March, a tri¬ 
butary of the Danube from the north, has taken the matter in hand, and has laid be¬ 
fore the Trade Union of Lower Austria, on the 17th of October, 1862, an account of 
his experiments, of which we now have an abstract before us. 
One great advantage attending the culture consists in the fact that unlike the 
common silkworm, the Ailanthus caterpillar requires scarcely any care, if a single 
harvest only is desired. If, however, two or more are sought for, the eggs must be 
hatched artificially, and the caterpillars fed on the leaves of Dipsacus fullonum, or ar¬ 
tificially forced Ailanthus , till the leaves are expanded in the open air. At present 
great difficulty has been experienced in running off the silk from the cocoon, and in 
consequence, the process of carding must be employed, which is wasteful, besides 
yielding a kind of silk resembling wool rather than common silk. But even here there 
is one advantage, viz. that the cocoon is far less injured when the moth makes its ap¬ 
pearance than in that of the old silkworm. 
All that is necessary where a single cyop only is desired, which is conceived to be 
the most useful plan for Austria, especially for small proprietors, the persons who 
are expected most to profit by the scheme, is to cover the hedge of A ilanthus , the most 
convenient form in wdiich the plants can be grown, with a common net spread over 
hoops, to protect the caterpillars from the house sparrow, which is peculiarly fond of 
them,—a curious matter, as they are so very different from any caterpillar to which 
sparrows are used.* 
The insect assumes the pupa state in from thirty-eight to forty days after the caterpillars 
first make their appearance, and in about twenty days more the moths appear. The 
pupse must be placed in some convenient box lined with cotton and covered with net¬ 
work for protection, in order that the eggs may not be lost, and may be conveniently re¬ 
moved by cutting to pieces the lining or net to which they are attached. Unfor¬ 
tunately the eggs retain their vitality only for a short time, and dependence therefore 
for the next year’s crop must be placed on those pupae which do not at once change 
to the imago. 
Experiments have been tried in the north-eastern corner of Moravia, at the northern 
foot of the Carpathian Mountains, which have been equally crowned with success, a 
circumstance which makes it not impossible that the insects may succeed in those parts 
of Great Britain where the Ailanthus will flourish. Success indeed is more probable, as 
the caterpillars are not impatient of moderate changes of temperature, though as au¬ 
tumn advances, when the nights are cold, they will begin to spin the cocoons, but -will 
not finish them, as they die before they can attain the state of pupae. There is the 
more reason to hope that they may succeed in England, as the degree of labour w T hich 
they require is so small as not to make it a very serious item of expense. 
At present, the experience is of so short a date in Germany that it is quite prema¬ 
ture to speak of the relative expense of production and profit. Herr Eichtner however 
is sanguine that without detracting much from other objects of cultivation, the small 
proprietor will find his end answered in having on his few acres a hedge or two of 
* The caterpillars are at first black with yellow spots, then yellow with black spots, then 
white with black spots, then emerald-green with indigo spots, when they are very fat and 
greedily sought by the birds. 
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