Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-04-04

| EDITOR SATURDAY PREss-S8y Your
correspondent, on silk culture well deserves the
tharks Of the community for his earnest en-.
dcavors to popuari1e this future gem Of
/ Hawaiian agriculture, and am pleased to
hear he agrees with me on some points, though
he does not agree on others, no more than !
ever can accept as absolute authorities certain
Of his ut,erances. But as, in all things, there
must be room for honest divergencies OF
opinion, would never have thought Of dis.
cussing any one Of his assertions, had he not
found it proper in his last letter Saturday
Press, March 3oth) to take me to task (poor
me . and pretend to make clean sweep Of
my arguments in the Bulletin (which did no,
concern himl, intmaiing plainly that, outside
Of what is done in Italy and France land
mehinks that this constitutes no; iHeonsder.
able portion Of the silk.growing world), my
experience can be Of no avail.
ist. lie says that many of my arguments ~
are only technical but pray, what is all that
he has written himself, II not purely technical.
since himself, no more than myself, has ever
tried sericiculture here ?
and. If my arguments cannot, in any
Plar ~ apply to the question in these
Islands" may not the same exactly be said Of
all his own assertions, until experience has
settled the matter1
5rd. About the BomIyr Rieini, I know
that its silk is not so valuable as the Bon6yr
mo1't, and said SO, though consider his
information on the matter rather antiquated,
but, at any rate, cannot see wherein it will
help his endeayors in favor Of this last to dis.
parage uselessly the other, whose advantages
would be that the necessary plant is now grow
ing wild on thousands OF acres of our lands,
where leaves could be procured for nothing,
thus utilizing both plants and lands now waste.
4th. Concerning the growth Of the mulberry
tree, having already indirectly answered in the
Bulletin, I shall only say ,ha,-whether in
tropical or other climates the mulberry is a
siosU ,g,orpt,, as all long lived trees must be
and I have now the practical authority OF
several reliable men that four.years-old trees
here are still only shrubs, understanding to
the tcxtual words Of one of my friends, well.
known agriculturist--would not give enough
leaves to feed one worm during enc week.
Further, your correspondent forgets, when
far from being real tropical even an
absolute semi.tropcal climate, and that our
vegetation is not, after all, so very differen,
from what it is, say in southern Italy, TO which
he attributes the "slow growth of cold
climates" There, as well as here, flourish
the vine, the fig. orange and olive trees, and
they don't appear TO grow here notably faster
than there; why then expect that the mulberry
tree will be an exception jus, to please your
correspondents sanguine impatiences And dc
his arguments apply better than mine to the
localized question:
9th. Now, about his reference to trees a,
Stockton, which, "mere shrubs a fesO Jsa,I
ago" Ia singular confession, anyhow are no'i
grown-up giants, in fact, like "full-growr
kukui trees" First, am afraid he has never
!. seen "ful.grown" kukuis, from being bold
enough to compare the modest mulberry &c
this lofty member OF the Kauai forests
secondly, perhaps, however, the Stockton
trees were not mulberry trees at all, but be
ionged to some other species Of the Artocarpeo
| family; thirdly, if really mulberry trees, ther
from those very dimensions so incompatible
with the ordinary humble habits of the white
mulberry, they must evidently have beer
black mulbenies, the very kind which he him
self proclaims the least fit for silk worms, ant
from which it would consequently be puerilt
I to deduce any augmentation; tourthly, tn,
argument itself Of the quoted growth, in ;
foreign land, whatever the trees may have
been, is indeed very poor one for applying t'
this country, for then have as much right I,
believe my own experience based on secula
knowledge than to be compelled to adopt hi
authority derived from such distant locality
they both bear the same relation to the pro
c bable capabilities of this country.
. 9TH. Finally, the question OF sexes in trees
E | am sorry to have to utter fiat contradiction
7, but am backed by all real authorities-mus
u affect the industry Of cocoons here well a
i elsewhere, for the simple reason that tn
, quality Of the foliage and its adaptation to tn
8 silk worms wants differ according to sex ant
S variety.
e Sth. do not wish to follow your cores
!, pondent's example and discuss--for mer
n pleasure Of argumentation--any of his asser
$ tions outside Of what l have done in sell
+ defense, bu, feel greatly interested to know
n what kind Of Bombyx it is, thar gives onl
a I2,ooo worms to an ounce Of eggs, and ye
" manages to produce I5o pounds Of cocoons ?
!, should like to send any amount Of those egg
y to my friends in Europe, who would, indeed
= be only too happy to save their leaves on S
l. small number Of worms with the prospectiv
d Of such large amount Of silk Why, the
would, ipso facto, double their production
II for, the finest results they have ever obtained
Il even with the fine large old Europea
!, varieties, were $50 pounds from, at least
10000 worms and more often, in an ordnar
!. healthy education" it takes nearly 4S,oo
d worms to produce only 100 pounds of cocoons
}. 9th. Now, about the idea Of making tn
|. ladies', growers, "meet socially" to reel thei
! silk! This is, indeed, a new Improvement;
" don't know whether it be patented or whethe
is il is only recent arcadian dream; at an
&c rate, the industrious peasant women OF ltal
r, and France, who attend to ilk-raising and ar
eager to do as much as possible Of it with thei
own hands, will feel much obliged foI tn
a notion, unless, after trying il once, they civ
d up in disgust even the worm raising, resu
d which would deeply regret to see here aris
from fancy teachings.
e Consequently, to finish, I shall venture, wit
s what little authority has been lett TO my utteI
u ances, to give one more word Of caution to IN
ladies who are apparently going 10 embaI
into the speculation. BY all means SOW. plar
and grow mulberry trees wherever it can b
done. Try 10 raise good worms and eventual
z, 10 produce eggs, but feel perfectly satisfied
!. you can sell advan,ageoasly your cocoon
h without running, the risk Of dep!ecia,ing you