in the end? England has already shown what she can effect in this manufacture, without even the important assistance of a homegrowth of raw material which France enjoys. But even that advantage has its limits, and in the following paper, the reader will learn for what reasons it is that France has no hope of extending any further the support which this advantage has so long afforded her.

From the records of the Agricultural Society of Lyons, we gather some interesting intelligence respecting the subject of silk cultivation. It may be necessary to state, that this society has devoted itself altogether to the great object of perfecting the growth of the silk-worm in the whole southern provinces of France. In fact, the comforts and the wealth of the inhabitants of those provinces are altogether connected with this branch. It becomes, therefore, a matter of great consequence to this people to contemplate the extensive amount and rivalry with which their monopoly is about to be assailed, and to take such steps as will save their ancient trade from those infractions which the enterprise of European nations are about to make upon it. The manufacture of silk is now established in Bavaria, and in Wurtemberg; in Prussia the planting of mulberries is conducted under the liberal encouragement of the government, upon a very extensive scale; mulberry plantations have also been laid down in Holland, as well as on the banks of the Wolga. Not only have the states northward of France, colonised, as it were, the materials of support for the silkworms, but silk factories have been established in them which threaten the best produce of France, contending with them very firmly in the market. Indeed, not only do Switzerland, the north of Italy, and Austria, send silk goods to markets which were formerly supplied by France alone, but the provinces of the Rhine, and even manufacturers, as remote as the Russian dominions, bring silks to these markets. England has declared hostilities against the silk manufacture of France in a manner so determined, that the French are quite apprehensive of the consequences, and her regulations for encouraging the growth of mulberries in her colonies, cannot fail to give an immense stimulus to the production of silk throughout her dominions. The climate of Jamaica, and that of the Indies, are so favourable for this purpose, as to be capable one day of being turned into silk stations as well as sugar and cotton colonies; and, no doubt, British ships will be employed in bringing home silk for consumption in Great Britain, just as now they are occupied in importing unto that country sugar and cotton. Anticipations like this, are now the subject of deep meditation in France, and they give rise to an anxious spirit which has led, not only the government, but many local societies connected with agriculture, to consider what opportunities for improving the cultivation and manufacture of silk remain to be made useful in that country.

Hence we find, that the great community of Frenchmen, whose interests are immediately or indirectly involved in this important branch of commerce, are bestirring themselves, and are devoted to the investigation of such questions as these; what are the conditions exactly, under which the cultivation of silk is at present carried on in France? can improvements be introduced? what are the hopes of something being done, either by means of extending the production, and by its better management? These questions have been discussed at considerable length during the last few years in France, so that we may expect no small degree of light to have been thrown upon them by practical men. The Secretary of the Academy of Lyons, M. Grognier, has shown great learning and research in tracing the history of the silk manufactory from the era of the middle ages, principally with the view of exhibiting the principal changes of locality which this production underwent since that period.

In ancient times, silk-worms constituted a material of commerce peculiar altogether to the eastern world; it was not until the first century or two of the Christian era that they were brought even to Constantinople. The animals sustained the climate of the shores of the Bosphorus so well, that the cultivation of them spread over the Peloponessus, the surface of which, in a comparatively small interval of time, became covered with mulberry trees; the importance of which, in its connexion with silk works, may be judged of when we find that it led to the creation of a new name for the whole territory. From that epoch we find silk manufactures made, not only in India, China, and Persia, but also in Greece, and these were worn by the monarchy of the middle ages, and the chief persons about courts.

About the middle of the twelfth century, Roger II., King of Sicily, who had been a Norman prince, conquered some of the principal places in the Morea, in which he found numerous establishments for the manufacture of silk, and being a prudent ruler, he lost no time in transferring the manufacture to Palermo. The delay which occurred in the introduction of the silk-worm into Europe, was not owing to the want of mulberry trees, for they had been cultivated in it long before even the time of Justinian, but it was altogether because nothing was known of the worm, at least in reference to its weaving faculties. Being a native of the east, it naturally attracted the attention of the inhabitants of that portion of the world, who began by encouraging it in the formation of the silk, without having any notion of the use to which it was afterwards so happily converted. Authentic history shows that the Moors, during their domination in Spain, cultivated mulberry trees, and reared silk-worms, at an era when all the eastern silk came from Greece. The barons, on their return from the crusades, planted mulberries around their castles, and yet it would appear that no manufactures of silks were known in France

before the reign of Louis XI. That monarch not only planted mulberries in his park at Plessis-les-Tours, but founded the great manufacture of Lyons, to which, as a central point, he united Italians from Florence and Lucca, expatriated at the period in consequence of the sanguinary quarrels of the Guelphs and Gibbelines. The author of the treatise to which we are now directing the readers attention, states that he took some pains to ascertain the facts which he states in respect of the early history of the French silk manufacture, and he found that the manufacture of silk in Lyons was solely the work of Louis XI., cruel and tyrannical as he had been, and not of Francis I., as is generally supposed. It was about four years after silk was worked in Lyons, that it was introduced into Tours.

Whilst the pursuit of the history of silk forms a subject of great attention in France, the consideration of the details of its cultivation has also been extensively discussed. No less a personage than the Prefect of the department of the Rhine, M. de Gasparin, has taken a great deal of pains to diffuse interesting information on the subject, and he shows in a work, of much value, the principal difficulties which will attend any attempt in France to extend the cultivation of silk beyond its present limits, in the southern portion of that country. This gentleman speaks from personal acquaintance with the practical agriculture of that part of France, and his observations, therefore, will prove the more worthy of attention.

Scientific men were formerly of opinion, that the same climate which answered for breeding silk-worms, was also best fitted for mulberry trees, and that where the one did not grow, the other could not be cultivated. But this has only proved an unfounded theory, inasmuch as for ages, silk-worms which formed the riches of one country, when brought to another where mulberries grew in perfection, were seen to fail altogether in the nature of the production. The white mulberry appears to thrive very well in the cold regions of Silesia; the black species, which will sustain the silkworm, is indegenous to England, and to the whole of the north of Europe, as far as Upsal in Sweden; in these northern climates also, silk-worms have been reared, anda very fine silk manufactured from their silk. Thus is the position made out on undoubted evidence, that the natural limits of the cultivation of silk are not yet determined, and that there is no reason for believing that any obstacle exists to prevent the extension of this cultivation over the whole continent of Europe.

But, generally speaking, the cultivation of a particular article is not limited alone by boundaries which climate and temperature may raise against it; it is also subjected to those boundaries which economy places before it. As an example of the way in which this agent operates in practice, it may be mentioned, that up to Lyons the olive bears fruit, but beyond that this tree is not cultivated, because its produce would no longer repay the expense of its culti

vation. In truth, success in the attempt to produce vegetable food, will depend entirely on the amount of the population which may be made available to undertake its labours. Thus there are economical limits, as well as statistical limits, to the existence of a particular sort of cultivation in particular districts; and there are still other limits to it, which arise not from the want of population, but in consequence of the confirmed habits of that population in a totally distinct employment; and it is to this latter cause that most French writers attribute the want of cultivation of silk in the northern division of France. The various facts which have been collected in reference to this subject, furnish very intelligible grounds for explaining consequences which at first appear enveloped in mystery.

The establishment of silk cultivation in any given district must always depend, first, on the amount of the population,-and next, upon the mode in which employment is distributed amongst them: every thing in this department, as in almost every other, is accomplished by human industry. Now, when the period arrives at which the silk-worm is about to discontinue its existence in the open air, it requires a greater degree of strength, so that a considerable addition to its nutrition is essential. In the south of France, this season occurs generally in May, when the whole of the other agricultural labours are suspended in the farms, and the labourers are all employed exclusively with the silk-worms.Farmers, their wives, children, and servants, are seen pulling the leaves of the mulberry, carrying and distributing them to the silkworms; frequently even they are obliged to employ labourers from other districts to assist them in this work. Small proprietors, and a good number of labourers, are likewise employed in the cultivation of silk-worms. In the department of Vaucluse, the whole of the rural population is exclusively engaged, in the season of which we speak, with the silk-worms. There is no doubt but the other departments of agriculture must suffer from neglect during this time, but very fortunately the season usually arrives when the fallowing is completed, and the mowing season scarcely ever begins until the silk-worm one is over.

In the district just mentioned, it is the custom to let the land lie idle every second year, and, consequently, half of it is always out of cultivation. The object of this is to do away with a great portion of the expense of agricultural labour, since there is so large a share of it wholly devoted to the silk-worm. In those parts of the district where the practice of fallowing is abolished, where weeding and the formation of meadows offer so much new employment in the spring season, it is evident that the usual labourers will not have the activity necessary for supplying silk-worms.There is, therefore, an unavoidable necessity to call in strangers, which are a great source of expense, and the dread of which is very often the motive with farmers to give up silk-worm cultivation.

At the season to which we have just been adverting, there is required for as many silk-worms as will produce one hundred kilogrammes weight of cocoons per day, a weight of mulberry leaves equal to two hundred kilogrammes. The French kilogramme is about two pounds three ounces of our avoirdupois. An average workman would gather all these leaves in a day; besides, there is a woman necessary to take care of every one fifty kilogrammes of cocoons, and the calculation is, that this season one hundred kilogrammes of cocoons require two-thirds of a whole day. It is, therefore, obvious, that the quantity of cocoons furnished by silkworms in a given place is limited by the condition of the rural population in the May season.

But there are other circumstances which materially influence the diffusion of silk-worm cultivation; such, for instance, as the nature of the tenure held by the proprietor of a mulberry farm. In all places where the silk cultivation is in a flourishing condition, it is found that there is a remarkably small division of property-that is, the farms are very contracted. This is the case in the mountainous parts of Milan, in Piedmont, Provence, Languedoc, and Dauphine. In fact, the same remarkable state of things exists in China and India. Thus, every holder of land in these parts has his own supply of mulberry leaves, and is consequently exempted from the necessity of making yearly advances in order to purchase the leaves. Besides, the establishments are in general on a small scale, which is a strong reason, as shown by experience, for expecting that they should succeed. In places where the farms are extensive, fresh difficulties to silk cultivation are found: individuals who are actually engaged in the cultivation, are persons merely hired by the proprietors, and will not give that attention and care to the business which would be afforded by those whose interests are directly involved in the success of the speculation. Again-under such circumstances, the cultivation is more precarious, inasmuch as one failure affects at once an extensive establishment of silk cultivation. Neither will any facilities be given to this cultivation by the system prevailing in France, in some parts where land belonging to townspeople are left to farmers as agents for their cultivation. In short, it is the deliberate conclusion of every rational mind, that the present state of the relations between the owners of the soil and the tenants in France, will not allow of any extension of the silk cultivation.

Here, therefore, the hopes of the French would have been finally lost, were it not that a penetrating countryman of theirs had suceeeded in finding out a remedy. He discovered that, in some eastern countries, the mulberry was treated as we treat our cornthat is, it was sown as a yearly crop. An attempt to repeat the process has succeeded in the neighbourhood of Turin, and the French cultivators are delighted at the discovery, for it gets rid at once of all the obstacles which we have been describing to the pro