IN NEW ZEALAND.

25

D.—No. 3.

The profit, therefore, in Mr. Hoag's case, was about 1000 dollars, say £218, an acre, and this return came in in about sixty days. Mr. Hoag is, I may add, a practical silk-grower, residing near Sacramento. He has about 50 acres of mulberry plantation this year, which I also visited. I have, in a previous part of this Report, casually referred to the fact that one of the cocooneries at Davisville was occupied by four Frenchmen, who, as an experiment, had been supplied by the proprietors with 25 ounces of eggs, and food for the worms, the gross returns from the transaction being equally divided between the men and the proprietors. The Frenchmen, of course, found all necessary labour, and defrayed all other expenses. The following estimate of the profits was supplied to me by Monsieur Blanc: — 25 ounces of eggs x by 38,000, number of worms in 1 ounce, = 950,000 ; 950,000 worms, allowing for casualties, produce 900,000 cocoons : 900,000 cocoons, divided by 350, the usual number of cocoons in a pound weight, give 2,285 lbs. 2,285 lbs. cocoons, at 4s. 2d. per lb. ... ... ... £476 1 O Half of this makes the proprietors' share ... ... ... 238 0 0 The Frenchmen's expenses will be — Their keep for six weeks, say ... ... ... £18 0 0 Six extra men for ten days ... ... ... 810 0 26 10 0 Giving them a net profit of £212 for six weeks' work. The quantity of leaves required to feed these million worms will be about 45,000 1b5.,—1,600 lbs. being the quantity allowed for an ounce of eggs, or 38,000 worms. If we allow 5 lbs. of leaves to each tree, and this is a low estimate, we find that 9,000 trees, two acres say, give a gross return of £476. This, however, I am inclined to think high, my own opinion being that from £120 to £150 an acre may be expected, and that the expense of cultivating and attending the worms may be put down at from £25 to £35 per acre, leaving £100 an acre as the clear profit. This is certainly an estimate, erring, if at all, in placing the return below that actually obtained. This year it is supposed upwards of 20,000,000 of cocoons will bo exported, when a more accurate estimate as to the profits can be obtained. I look forward, too, with much interest to the statement of receipts and expenditure of the Davisville Silk Nursery, which are to be laid before the Company in the course of a few months.