The second article is from the pen of Dr. Helfer, upon those wild silk-worms which are indigenous to India. Besides the Bombyx mori, the Doctor enumerates the following seven species, formerly unknown:—1. “The wild silk-worm of the central provinces, a moth not larger than the Bombyx mori.” 2. “The Joree silk-worm of Assam, Bombyx religiosæ, which spins a cocoon of a fine filament, with much lustre. It lives upon the pipul tree (Ficus religiosa), which abounds in India, and ought therefore to be turned to account in breeding this valuable moth.” 3. “Saturnia silhetica, which inhabits the cassia mountains in Silhet and Dacca, where its large cocoons are spun into silk.” 4. “A still larger Saturnia, one of the greatest moths in existence, measuring ten inches from the one end of the wing to the other[139]; observed by Mr. Grant, in Chirra punjee”. 5. “Saturnia paphia, or the Tusseh silk-worm, is the most common of the native species, and furnishes the cloth usually worn by Europeans in India. It has not hitherto been domesticated, but millions of its cocoons are annually collected in the jungles, and brought to the silk factories near Calcutta and Bhagelpur. It feeds most commonly on the hair-tree (Zizyphus jujuba), but it prefers the Terminalia alata, or Assam tree, and the Bombax heptaphyllum. It is called Koutkuri mooga, in Assam.” 6. “Another Saturnia, from the neighborhood of Comercolly.” 7. “Saturnia assamensis, with a cocoon of a yellow-brown color, different from all others, called mooga, in Assam; which, although it can be reared in houses, thrives best in the open air upon trees, of which seven different kinds afford it food. The Mazankoory mooga, which feeds on the Adakoory tree, produces a fine silk, which is nearly white, and fetches 50 per cent. more than the fawn colored. The trees of the first year’s growth produce by far the most valuable cocoons. The mooga which inhabits the soom-tree, is found principally in the forests of the plains, and in the villages. The tree grows to a large size, and yields three crops of leaves in the year. The silk is of a light fawn color, and ranks next in value to the Mazankoory. There are generally five breeds of mooga worms in the year; 1. In January and February; 2. In May and June; 3. In June and July; 4. In August and September; 5. In October and November; the first and last being the most valuable.”
[139] See p. 40. Also p. 54. [footnote [63]
Dr. Anderson informs us, that in Madras the silk-worm goes through all its evolutions in the short space of twenty-two days. It appears, however, that the saving of time, and consequently labor, is the only economy resulting from the acceleration; as the insects consume as much food during their shorter period of life, as is assigned to the longer-lived silk-worms of Europe.
We extract the following paper, with slight emendations, from Ellsworth’s Report of the Patent Office for the year 1844, being a communication from Dr. Stebbins of Northampton, Mass[140]., to the Editor of the American Agriculturalist, as having some bearing upon the present subject.
[140] See Chapter XIII. [p. 211.]
“As requested, I forward you a sketch of Mr. Gill’s cradle for feeding silk-worms, (It is not necessary for us to give a drawing of it in a work like the present, which is chiefly intended for the general reader, and besides, this machine is already sufficiently known to silk culturists.) I have five patches of mulberry, (in all, ten or twelve acres,) two parcels of which you have seen. The one adjoining my garden, by estimation, may furnish foliage sufficient for a million and a half of worms. The mulberries consist of the white, black, alpine, broosa, moretta, alata, multicaulis, Asiatic, and large-leaf Canton. The two latter I prefer for my own use—the Canton for early feeding with foliage, and the Asiastic for branch feeding. The Canton is highly approved of for producing heavy and firm cocoons, which, by competent testimony and experiments, have been found in favor of the Canton feed as five to eight, and is the true species used by the Chinese, as testified by a resident Missionary, the Rev. E. C. Bridgman, and more recently by Dr. Parker, while on his late visit to the United States. I consider the peanut variety of worms the best for producing the most silk of a good quality.
“From an elevated plat near my cocoonery, you had a view of our extensive meadows spread out at the foot of Mount Holyoke. My cocoonery you have examined, with its fixtures for feeding silk-worms—the mode of open feeding, ventilator, and ventilating cradles. Since you left, the whole has been completed, with hammocks suspended over the cradles, easily put in motion, and so constructed that no offal can drop into the cradles beneath, nor interfere with the rocking motion or winding; the arrangement is much admired, and estimated to accommodate half a million of worms, or more, to be fed simultaneously. About half of the cocoonery has hurdles of lattice work, covered in part with gauze netting four feet wide and the same number of tiers in height. The cocoonery is supposed to be sufficiently open on the sides, ends, and roof, to admit a free circulation of pure air. The flooring is the natural earth.
“The past winter has been uncommonly severe on grape-vines and fruit; forest and mulberry trees; the Asiatic I found the most hardy of any other, and the Canton the earliest in foliage. On the 21st and 22d of May there were severe frosts, destroying garden vegetables, and injuring some early mulberry foliage; added to this, ice was formed in many places. The accounts from Vermont and New Hampshire are so disastrous as to delay early feeding; while in Northampton, June 14, at one of my plantations, you saw silk-worms in the act of winding, and others in a good state of forwardness. On the day of your departure, I received a letter from a distant silk grower, a staunch promoter of the one early and open crop system, that, on account of the unpropitious season and condition of his trees, he would delay fetching out his worms until the last of June, and then make his great effort upon one crop.
“To provide against premature hatching of silk-worms, or the disaster of an early frost, it is advisable to have foliage gathered and dried the year preceding; which, being pulverized and moistened with water, may be given to the worms until new foliage appears; and they will eat it freely.
“To obtain the most and best foliage of the mulberry, it will be necessary every Spring to cut or head them down within three or four inches of the ground, and preserve the stalks for bark-silk. I have a quantity of them saved with bark peeled from the large Asiatics to be used for making bark-silk, in addition to a quantity of mulberry-leaves preserved for making paper. The whole process, although not carried out, as yet, in this country, with either, has been successfully accomplished in France, from proof shown by M. Frassinet. I am endeavoring to have it tested here, by subjecting both stalk and peeled bark to the operation of steaming with soap and water, to facilitate the separation of the bark from the wood, and the outside cuticle from the fibrous substance of the bark, before trying the operation of the brake for dressing, carding, spinning, &c. Should it prove successful, it will be made public (See Mr. Zinke’s process, [Chapter XI.]). Hopes are entertained that what has been done may be done again; that Yankee ingenuity and perseverance may prove a match for foreign cheap labor(?).