December 29, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 589 
be near. From this propensity the breeders of silkworms call 
the period between the cessation of their appetites and the com¬ 
mencement of cocoon-spinning the mounting or ascending season. 
This desire to wander is brought to an end by the discovery of a 
suitable nook or resting-place where the cocoon can be fixed. 
At the beginning of its task a silkworm throws threads on 
different sides of the space chosen in a rather irregular manner. 
Some of these are stoutish cords, serving to fix the cocoon ; others 
are spun loosely, being a sort of floss silk, forming an envelope 
for the compact structure which is thereafter woven with such 
regularity as to allow the thread to be unwound entire if care is 
exercised. Coiling itself round, and employing its body as a 
measure, the worm draw’s out and works in the thread until all 
its silk is exhausted, this operation taking about three days. For 
a time its proceedings can be w’atched, but as the silk accumulates 
on the cocoon the worker is hidden from view. The calculating 
Itobinet, in his comments upon this species, tells us that according 
to his reckoning a silkworm has to move its head three hundred 
thousand times in the construction of its cocoon. Say the average 
time is three days—that is, seventy-two hours, by a process of 
reduction we discover that there must be about sixty-eight move¬ 
ments in each minute. Another naturalist has informed his 
readers that the thread of forty thousand cocoons joined together 
would pass a silken band round our earth at the equator. 
Fig. 95.—Adult Silkworm (Bombyx Mori). 
Its labours being completed, the silkworm then assumes an 
attitude of repose, the body thickening, and the legs disappearing, 
until in tw’O or three days more it undergoes pupation, and the 
larva skin is thrown off. There are curious and exceptional in¬ 
stances of a couple of worms uniting to form a double cocoon ; 
from these the moths are apt to emerge more or less crippled. In 
two or three weeks’ time, the chrysalis or pupa contains a moth 
ready to be developed, and on bursting its shell the insect liberates 
itself from the silken prison by applying a liquid to the walls. 
M. Gufirin-Meneville, on dissection, found a gland in the head 
from which this is emitted by the newly emerged moth ; and then 
having well moistened the cocoon, it is able to open up a passage to 
the outer world. The threads are by this process disunited, though 
not actually broken, therefore the moth is never allowed to pro¬ 
ceed as far if the cocoon is to be utilised. We may observe here 
that the cocoons vary in colour according to the race. The com- 
Fig. 96. — Full-sized Cocoon Fig. 97.—Small Indented 
of B. Mori. Cocoon of ditto. 
moner colours are white and yellow. White cocoons produce a 
silk which is considered to be of the highest value and greatest 
beauty ; the bulk of the silk is, however, obtained from cocoons 
of various shades of yellow. One race of silkworms yielding 
yellow silk has a particularly large cocoon, but the silk is not 
esteemed as much as that afforded by cocoons of medium size. 
Then there are races whose cocoons are greenish white or decidedly 
green. Still more singular is a breed belonging to Tuscany, with 
cocoons of a rosy tint (figs. 96 and 97). 
It has been already stated that the East appears to be the 
native region of this species, B. Mori, and that from Turkey the cul¬ 
ture of the silkworm passed into other European lands, Italy and 
France having in the eighteenth century had the pre-eminence, 
and the latter country retaining to the present hour its importance 
as a nursery for the silkworm, in spite of fluctuations arising 
from domestic disturbances or failures in rearing the species. 
We shall hereafter notice more minutely the details of silkworm 
management in France, its successes and its difficulties, since these 
have an important bearing upon the experiments that have been 
made, or may yet be made, in Britain. Leaving this for the 
present, we would note that recently the rearing of the silkworm 
has been tried with good results in so many lands, that it may 
really be styled a cosmopolitan insect. 
India, which has within its boundaries such varieties of climate, 
offers fine opportunities for silkworm culture in many extensive 
districts. Large Mulberry plantations have been made in the 
Mysore territories, and much excellent silk produced by this silk¬ 
worm has been sent into the market, especially from Bengal. 
Though in 6ome parts of India the Mulberry is found to grow 
with too great rapidity, in most of the provinces it flourishes quite 
as well as in the colder regions of the West. And it is favourable 
for the extensive rearing of Bombyx Mori that its suitable food 
may be obtained in all inhabited countries, save a few tropical 
ones, by the planting of Mulberry trees, a circumstance which 
does not belong to the history of other silkworms, where, though 
a species may be “ acclimatised,” a substitute must often be 
sought for in place of the natural food plant. 
The vast island of Australia appears likely to furnish us with 
good supplies of silk in course of time. A recent statement from 
Melbourne is that its climate admirably suits the growth of the 
Mulberry and the development of the silkworm. In other parts 
of Australia the settlers have shown themselves anxious to try the 
culture of silk. The Sandwich Islands and the West Indies have 
been suggested as suitable for this purpose. Persia, one of the 
early homes, probably, of the silkworm, has districts with large 
plantations of Mulberries where silk might be easily produced in 
quantities, but at present only a little is obtained every year. 
From California we get the report that the silk-growers have 
already planted nearly ten millions of Mulberries, and they have 
succeeded in getting two or even three broods of the silkworms 
in a season. A lady resident at the Cape of Good Hope has dis¬ 
covered that the Mulberry thrives in the colony and the worms 
are reared easily ; further north, in Natal, silk of first-class quality 
has been obtained. The modern Chinese, however, intent upon 
pushing their fortunes in foreign lands, have rather neglected one 
industry of their ancestors at least. Travellers report that in 
many localities the hills are covered with Mulberries where no 
silkworms are reared.—J. R. S. C. 
WORKJOiitheWEEK.. 
Svrf i 
rAfV^L 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 
As soon as pruning and nailing wall trees is finished standard 
trees should have attention, removing all superfluous shoots and 
branches, thinning out the spurs where too crowded, in order to freely 
admit sun and air to mature the crops of fruit. Only trees that are 
much crowded with wood should be treated in this manner. Trees 
infested with moss and lichen should have the bark scraped so as to 
remove the moss, and may be afterwards dressed with strong brine, 
and young trees may when wet be dusted with quicklime. The 
heads of young standard trees should be pruned, removing any shoots 
crossing each other or likely to interfere with the formation of sy m- 
metrical open heads. Trees which have attained considerable size 
and are unproductive, or if the variety is of inferior quality, may now 
be headed down, and in spring grafted with varieties that experience 
has proved suitable to the soil and situation. Soil and locality have 
much influence upon the health of the trees and the quality of fruit, 
some kinds of Apples and Pears being excellent in some parts whilst 
in others they are practically worthless. Therefore in forming new 
plantations of fruit trees it is always advisable to plant largely of 
the kinds succeeding in that locality, and to plant moderately of 
other kinds, until their suitability becomes known. 
Bullfinches are already appearing and will require close watching, 
