Since two thousand years before Christ, when the empress of China discovered the mode of rearing silkworms, reeling silk, and weaving it into a soft and beautiful fabric, these industries have given occupation to multitudes of women and girls. Over two hundred years ago King James the First of England sent over to Virginia the first silkworm-eggs which America ever contained, together with the mulberry-tree, the natural food of the worm; but after the year 1760 little attention was paid to them until about fifty years ago. Interest then declined, until within a very few years. But it is not likely to decrease so long as silk is used for a variety of purposes; and that made in America proves to be superior, in many respects, to the imported fabric.

The first step toward silk-culture is the planting of the mulberry-tree for the food of the worm. The osage orange can be used, but the white mulberry is the best where food must be planted. These are raised from seeds and cuttings, as well as from roots, which can be set out either in spring or autumn.

When the leaf-buds of the mulberry begin to unfold in the spring, we are ready for the eggs, which can be procured at the office of any silk association in the country. The mother-moth laid them late in winter; and they have been kept dry, hung up in woollen cloths. The room devoted to them is warm and dry, and filled on the sides with long frames, holding racks four feet wide, and bordered, to keep the worms from falling to the floor. These are lined with paper, on which the eggs rest. On the fifth day these tiny things, about the size of a mustard-seed, hatch; and the larvae go hungrily to work on chopped mulberry-leaves. They stop to rest only four times, - during their moulting-seasons, which divide life into five distinct periods, - on the fifth, eighth, thirteenth, and twenty-first day after making their appearance. During this time they are yellowish-white, naked caterpillars, and, when fully mature, three inches long. They eat from six to eight times daily, devouring in their brief existence one hundred times their weight of food. During the last ten days of larvae life, the gum gathers in the bag in the under jaw, they grow quiet, eat less, and make ready to wind themselves in silken robes, and go to sleep to await resurrection in another form.

This period of apparent death, but real pause, while the insect gathers up its forces to undergo a change to a higher existence, is only about thirty-five days after the worm first appeared; and it takes about fifteen more before we behold the result of transformation, if we do not arrest the process. But how does it go to work to spin its winding-sheet ?

We strew the rack with twigs, or bits of rolled paper, and wait to see. Out of an opening in the under lip the silk-bag sends forth its liquid gum, from which two delicate threads are drawn, and attached to convenient supports. Bending the neck up and down and from side to side, they first weave an outer covering of floss-silk, and back and forth, within that, finer, stronger strands, till every part is covered. Within these layers is still another and finer, firmly glued each to each. One thousand yards of silk of hairlike fineness are spun by the curious creature, out of the little gland which secreted its juices from the green leaves that gave no evidence of any such substance.

The yellow cocoon is then about the size of a peanut, over an inch long, and so light that two hundred and fifty of them weigh only a pound. If kept warm, the chrysalis bursts its prison-cells in sixteen days, grown into a perfect moth, ready to lay its eggs, and live its singular round of life.

But the watchful guardian cannot allow this destruction of the cocoon. She throws it into hot water with its fellows, by which means the worm is killed. They are now ready to ship to dealers or manufactories, where they are reeled by experts, and the silk prepared for dyeing and weaving

While silk-culture is yet in its infancy in this country, there is little doubt of its importance, as a source of income on a small scale, to girls at home. Attention is needed only during warm weather, and even little children can feed the silkworms. The cost and profit of rearing them depend on so many things, that it is difficult to give any general estimate. The Woman's Silk-Culture Association of the United States, with an office on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, undertakes to furnish all supplies, and buy cocoons or reeled silk from producers. Here is their scale of prices: Dr. To 100 mulberry-trees (from two to four feet high), sufficient to plant an acre of ground........$8.00

Twenty-six ounces of eggs, at $5 per ounce ... 130.00

Total...........$138.00

These ought to yield about 937 pounds of cocoons, at $1 per pound, amounting to $937.

But the $798 remaining is by no means clear profit. The simple cost of eggs and trees is vastly increased by the care

These ought to yield about 937 pounds of cocoons, at $1 per pound, amounting to $937.

But the $798 remaining is by no means clear profit The simple cost of eggs and trees is vastly increased by the care of the trees, and the cultivation of the land, which they greatly exhaust, to say nothing of picking the leaves, and feeding the tender larvae before the cocoons are spun. There is also a large room or shed to prepare and heat, and the expenses of racks and frames. Taking all things into consideration, we can readily conclude that none of our girls will be able to grow rich from the culture of the silkworm, although a fair renumeration may be expected.