Note 137 — Chapter VIII · GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, &c.

Mons. Marteloy of Montpelier, who made many experiments upon the rearing of silk-worms, presented a memorial upon the subject to the French minister, in compliance with whose recommendation, a few silk growers of Languedoc caused an experiment to be publicly made in the open air, in the garden belonging to the Jesuits’ college at Montpelier. The whole was placed under the direction of Mons. Marteloy, who had 1200 livres assigned to him to defray the necessary expenses. The experiment succeeded perfectly. This was in 1764. In the following year a second trial was made, and 1800 livres were set apart for the expenses. Owing, however, to the unfavorable nature of the season, this experiment failed entirely, the heavy and incessant rains making it impossible to keep the food of the worms in a sufficiently dry state. The rearing of silk-worms in the open air was not again attempted in that quarter; but the partial success led to the adoption among cultivators of a better system of ventilation, and the production of silk was about this time very much extended throughout Languedoc.—Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson.