Prussia, and the climate of Pekin, in China, is colder than that of Scotland. But whatever success might attend an experiment of the sort, it is clear that, in a mercantile point of view, the project would never succeed, on account of the number of hands that would be required, and the higher rate of wages. In several parts of the East Indies, the silk-worm has been introduced, as might have been expected, with complete success; and, in Bengal alone, the factories find employment for upwards of two hundred thousand persons.

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE WORM.

Silk is the production of a species of Moth, called the Phalæna mori or Mulberry moth, and its original locality, as we have already stated, appears to have been China or Persia. The changes that butterflies or moths undergo, having already been described at page 212 of Vol. II., it will be needless to repeat them. The substance which the animal spins to protect itself when in the Pupa state, is the silk, which, before it is dyed or bleached, is of a bright yellow colour more or less inclining to orange. The Silk-worm in not the only creature that produces substances of this description, for many other kinds of butterflies and moths do the same; a kind of silk has also been manufactured from the webs of spiders, and as they require less attention than the Silk-worms, the plan might have answered, had it not been for the ravenous appetites of the little spinners, who, when brought together in any quantity very speedily devour each other. Certain shell-fish also produce a kind of silky thread; as, for instance, the muscle, but more particularly the pinna, a large kind of shell-fish found in the Mediterranean and other seas.

The time that elapses while the silk-worm is undergoing its changes, varies according to the warmth of the weather, and the quantity of nourishment with which it is supplied; the Chinese, who are very particular on this head, take the greatest pains to supply the little creature with food, as on this they say depends the quantity of silk which the worm will produce. They calculate that the same number of insects, which would, if they had attained their full size, in from twenty-three to twenty-five days, produce twenty-five ounces of silk, would only yield twenty ounces if their growth occupied twenty-eight days, and only ten ounces if forty days. During the first twenty-four hours of the creature's existence, the patient Chinese feeds the objects of his care forty-eight times, or once every half hour, and during the second day and night thirty times, and so on, reducing the number of meals as the worms grow older; the care bestowed on their culture, and the numerous precautions taken to preserve them clean and warm, are curiously expressed in the following extract from on old Chinese work on the subject.

"The place where their habitation is built must be retired, free from noisome smells, cattle and all noises; a noisome smell, or the least fright, make great impressions upon so tender a breed; even the barking of dogs and the crowing of cocks are capable of putting them in disorder, when they are newly hatched.

"For the purpose of paying them every attention, an affectionate mother is provided for the worms, who is careful to supply their wants; she is called Isan-mon, mother of the worms. She takes possession of the chamber, but not till she has washed herself and put on clean clothes, which have not the least ill smell; she must not have eaten any thing immediately before, or have handled any wild succory, the smell of which is very prejudicial to these tender creatures; she must be clothed in a plain habit, without any lining, that she may be more sensible of the warmth of the place, and accordingly increase or lessen the fire, but she must carefully avoid making a smoke or raising a dust, which would be very offensive to these tender creatures, which must be carefully humoured before the first time of casting their slough. Every day is to them a year, and has in a manner the four seasons; the morning is the spring, the middle of the day the summer, the evening the autumn, and the night the winter."

While it remains in the state of a caterpillar, the Silk-worm changes its coat four times, and previous to each moult refuses its food, and appears in a very sickly condition. As soon as its nest or cocoon is finished, and it has changed into the pupa-state, the cocoons are carefully removed from the place where the animal had formed them; and after those which it is intended to keep, that they may perfect their changes and lay eggs for the ensuing year, are removed, the remainder are placed in large vessels, each covered with a thick blanket; they are then exposed to heat sufficiently powerful to destroy the life of the pupæ. This is generally accomplished by placing the vessels in an oven, heated to about the same degree as that of a baker after his loaves are drawn; here they are suffered to remain for about an hour, they are then withdrawn, but the blanket that covers them, is not removed for the space of five or six hours.

The first process in preparing the silk, is winding it off the cocoons: for this purpose, after the rough outsides are removed, several handfuls at a time are thrown into a vessel containing water, and placed over a gentle fire, the water is then allowed to be heated to nearly the boiling point; a short stunted brush formed of heath or any other shrub of that description, is now gently moved about among the cocoons, and on withdrawing it from the water, the ends of the silk are found to have adhered to it in several places; the winder then gathers together with her fingers, as many ends as she intends the first description of thread to consist of, and hands them to an assistant, whose office it is to turn the reel as soon as the silk is laid upon it; the principal workwoman, in the mean time, continually adds to the thread the ends of fresh cocoons, as soon as the first are exhausted.

The silk, when reeled off in this manner, is called singles, and is used in weaving to form the weft, that is, the thread that crosses the cloth from side to side. Another description of silk threads, are called trams, and these consist of two or three singles twisted together; but the strongest and most valuable sort is the organzine, which is formed by placing skeins of singles upon a reel, and as they are wound off, they are, by the assistance of machinery, strongly twisted. Two or three of these are then taken, and the whole again twisted together to form a stronger thread; this thread is the organzine, and is used for the warp or length of the cloth.

The process of making organzine, is called throwing, and the throwsters form a very important branch of the silk business. Before the year 1719, the whole of the thrown silk used in England came from abroad, but at that time Sir Thomas Lombe and his brother erected a large mill at Derby for the purpose of forming organzine, and obtained an exclusive patent for its manufacture, for the term of fourteen years; at the expiration of that term, they applied for a renewal of their patent, but it was refused by Parliament, and the trade has since then been open to competition. Some idea may be formed of the extent to which the silk manufacture is carried on at present in England, by the fact that no less a quantity than four million, six hundred and ninety three thousand, five hundred and seventeen pounds of raw silk were imported for home consumption, in the year ending January 1831.

The substance on which this valuable caterpillar feeds, is the leaf of the Mulberry Tree; and Providence as if to ensure the continuance of this useful species, has so ordained it, that no other insect will partake of the same food; thus ensuring a certain supply for the little spinster.

The engravings which illustrate this article are copied from original Chinese