Lady Dorothy Nevill has published, in an abridged form, a translation of an account given by M. Guerin Meneville of a species of silkworm, which has been sent to Europe by the Abbe Fantoni, a Piedmontese missionary in China. These worms feed upon the leaves of the ailanthus—the tree of heaven, as it has been called—which will grow upon any soil, and flourish well in towns or by the seaside; in a plantation of above 15,000 in France not one died, and in England it is equally hardy. The worms make an elastic opening in the cocoon for the exit of the moth. As yet the cocoons have not been spun off in a continuous thread, owing to their filling with water when placed in the basin, and the thread being broken by the consequent weight, but there is no doubt that a remedy for this will soon be found, and among the fabrics made from the ailanthus silk, and sent over by Father Fantoni from China, there are some made with silk in one continuous thread. At present, these cocoons are treated like the mulberry cocoons, and yield floss silk, which is manufactured in France under the name of gallette or fantasie, and of which there is an immense consumption. Mixed with thread and wool, it is largely employed in manufacturing fancy stuffs. The strength of this silk is immense, and to this is attributable the great durability of the Indian foulards, which are composed exclusively of it. Father Incarville says, ‟The silk produced by the ailanthus lasts double the time of the mulberry worm, does not spot so easily, and washes like linen.” Dr. Sacc, the eminent professor of chemistry at Wesserling, speaking of the castor oil silk, says, ‟One fact which diminishes the value of this silk is its brownness, which prevents its being used for clear colours; this disappears completely with the silk of the ailanthus worm, with which I would engage myself to produce white silk. That clever chemist and weaver, M. de Jongh, finds that the gloss of the ailanthus silk far surpasses any of the other known kinds of bourre de soi.” The habits of the worm and the whole process are described in these pages with remarkable clearness; and Lady Dorothy Nevill, who at Dangstein, near Petersfield, has made the first trial of the ailanthus worm in England, and has succeeded with it, has given all requisite information for this who in this country are disposed to undertake this new industry, concerning which she is warranted in expressing the hope that it may be destined to prove a fresh source of wealth for this country, as it already is for France.
