The union Democrat., 1867-10-26

les forward, and if not disturbed. will in the
course of twelve or eighteen hours more ex.
tricate themselves from their old skin. or
coating, and leave it ss firmly attached to the
hber as when fastend there by them at the
commencement of the process
| Ii will be observed, according to my exper.
renee and calculation, that seventy eight tons
of mulberry leaves will make one million of
coeoons, and that three acres of mulberries
will yield ninety tons of feed. Three acres,
then, Will give us ample feed for one million
OF the large Chinese cocoons. Those cocoons
will weigh about l. 400 pounds after being
we'll dried and the chrysals losing all of its
animal matter and becoming light shell
within the cocoon, in which state we shall
lose over seventy per cent. in winding, which
will give US 420 pounds of raw silk. This,
at 81 per pound, will give s., 9i0 for two and
half acres of mullberries Now for the ex.
pense; Six men for the first age, $40 eight
men for the second age. $50 twelve men fol
the third age, SS4; twenty men for the fourth
age. Sl4O, and thirty men for the fifth age
S2l0; making the expense of feeding S532
| Winding, at one dollar per pound, $500
making expense in full when put in hanks of
raw silk, S952; leaving about $4,000 for two
and a half acres, or $500 net per acre The
will be two and a half acres of mulberries,
say S5Oo per acle q cocoonery ana reels,
about SIS, 900 making $40 500. But it must
be remembered that by increasing your plan.
tation to eight acres you can make 3, 600, 900
of cocoons in one season without any adii.
tional cost Of building, by the following pro.
cess: See that you have sufficient eggs for
Matching this number Place them in tin
box with perforated sides and ends keep the
box in a dry, cool place through the Winter.
At The latter part Of the Winter put them in
an ice house, where they will he kept at
temperature of about 40o On the lSt of Nav
take GOO 900, which will he in weight -
ounces. and hatch them. By the lst Of June
these will be so far ont Of the way that YOU
may hatch another % ounces, and so for
July and if you have eggs you hatch the
fourth batch for August, which will give the
nice sum of IS, 900 net profit on four millions
ot cocoons. To preserve the cocoous whole,
the ehrysalis must lie killed This may be
done by the rays of the sun, or artificial heat
In Enrope and other silk countries they are
compelled to use the latter mode but in Cal
iornia we usually have sufficient heat from
the sun to kill them in forty eight hours, by
exposing the cocoons to its rays. This is
most decidedly the best method, thereby saw.
ing time and labor and preserving the full
brilliancy and texture of the silk. After hav.
ing gone through this process the cocoons are
in good state preservation, or are ready TO
be reeled into hanks of raw silk. The enemies
OF the silkworms are rats, MICE ants, birds,
bats, and in some cases cats have been known
to cat them. They are very easily protected
from all these enemies hv care and attention
while feeding. Mice will destroy them from
the eggs to the cocoons. have had no trouble
with any of these pests but the mouse. and
have watched them so closely that we have
not lost fifty coeoons or worms by them.
In choosing cocoons for eggs, we should be
careful to choose those of the largest. but
firm and hard. and Of the most brilliant lus.
ter, as it is believed and admitted by some of
the most eminent silk raisers of France that
we can in this way greatly improve upon any
variety that we may import into this State.
After we have chosen a sufficient number
of cocoons to furnish eggs for the next years
feeding, they are placed thinly upon SHELF
and in eight to ten days from the time they
have finished spinning they are transformed
into chrysals, which Immediately emits
from its mouth an oily substance againt one
end of the cocoon, and simultaneously with
its head commences showing and pushing
motion, when in few hours it will emerge
again into the world. They a:e then male
and female, and all are put into box, and
as fast as they pair they are taken out and
placed upon table. In this position they
are allowed to remain about six hours. They
are then separated and the males put into
box. The females are placed on sheets of
white paper. and in three or four hours she
will lay her eggs to the number of three or
four hundred. This process is gone through
with every day until the millers have laid all
their eggs. This will finish the existence of
the silkworm for this year.
1t may be asked by some what are you 60.
ing 10 do with the cocoons or raw silk after
you have made it? l will answer, we have
silk factory at San Jose. But you say that
China and Japan are so close, and as there is
no import duty on raw silk. that the manu-.
factory will make us compete with them or
will not buy from u.s. Very trne Well,
then, we will raise our own silk and Join to-
gether under CO operative system and build
factory here at Sacramento. Then we will
be under the protection Of the manufacturing
tariff and shall be able to compete with the
world in producing manufactured silk. Three
or four months in the year we can be employ
ed in producing, and the balance of the year
good silk-weavers and foreman, and learn the
art Of weaving silk ourselves; and if we do
not choose to do this, we can pay all of our
operatives in the factory good salary, and
we will have no trouble in obtaining them.
Manufactured silk is as good as gold in COM
me-ce, and my firm conviction is that in
few years Sacramento city will be the great
est depot for silk in the world. She is sur
rounded with the choicest mulberry soil in
the world and climate en,inentlv adapted
for silk raising, which have proved to my
satisfaction in Matching and making three
different patches of cocoons during the last
two seasons.
E9 The Houses OF the Arabs are never
without lights. They burn lamps. not only
all night long, but in ell the inhabited apart
ments of the house. The custom is so we'll
established in the East, that the poorest peo-
pie would rather retrench part of their food
than neglect it.
u.s. The most sensible thing we have seen