GENERAL REPORT OF THE JUDGES OF GROUP IX. uj In Kansas, sericulture has been attempted by E. V. de Boissiere, a French gentleman of means, who has set his heart upon surrounding his chosen home with a colony of operatives employed in the silk- culture and manufacture. He has built a mill for the manufacture of silk goods, and is confident that the silk to supply it will be produced in his neighborhood. His exhibits of raw silk and cocoons at Phila delphia were conclusive as to the favorable influences of the soil and climate of Kansas for sericulture. The remarkable character of the cocoons exhibited by M. de Boissiere so much impressed Mr. Le Bou- tillier, one of the American Judges of silk in Group IX., that he re quested Mr. Hayami Kenzo, of Japan, a member of the group specially expert in raw silk, to give him his personal observations. Mr. Kenzo thus replies, in a note to Mr. Le Boutillier, now before the writer: “ Having examined the cocoons from Kansas, we marked them as good as the best cocoons from France, Italy, and Japan. Having a doubt as to the correctness of our judgment, I looked them over again with great care, and came to the same conclusion as we had before. I suppose the mulberry-trees are cultivated in very rich soil, and, being not so old, are especially suited for feeding silk-worms. The chrysalids are large and healthy, and several have been almost en tirely transformed into butterflies. The best silks in good weights will be obtained from these cocoons.” It is obvious that a protective duty on raw silk for the general en couragement of sericulture in this country would not be justified. The culture offers no prospects of success, except in a few favorable localities; and a duty on the raw material would be oppressive to the manufacture. The question of encouraging the silk culture by legis lative provisions addresses itself only to the governments of the States which are specially adapted by soil and climate to this culture. The American Judges in Group IX. were so impressed by the exhibits and facts presented by Mr. Neumann and M. de Boissiere, that they were prepared to indorse memorials which might be addressed by these gentlemen to Legislatures of their respective States, asking for bounties on silk productions. The members of the group, how ever, separated without taking more definite action in this matter. In concluding the report on wool, we gave the yearly production throughout the world. We cannot do less for the more costly mate rial. The following statement, prepared by Mr. Franklin Allen, is believed to be a near approximation to the yearly production of raw silk in the several silk-producing countries of the world at the present time: