ROOKS COUNTY, KANSAS
Olivier de Serres
Submitted by Larry Desaire
Olivier de Serres was interested in sericiculture then embrionic in France. He manages to make thrive mulberry
trees and worms with silk in a field in Pradel, France. He sells the silk worms in the graver of Villeneuve de
Berg. In November of 1598, Olivier de Serres went to Paris to regulate the difficult succession of his brother
Jean de Serres in court.
Olivier de Serres carried with him an enormous work entitled “Theatre of agriculture and mesnage of the fields”
in which he printed all his agricultural discoveries and his philosophy.
He wrote about new seedings of melon, artichokes, corn, hops, rice, and potatoes.
He wrote about the creation of the rotation and introduction of artificial meadows. The French peasant farmers
cultivated their fields only one year out of two because of a lack of manure. The remainder of the time, the fields
remained in fallow. He cultured alfalfa and sainfoin on the fallow ground to invent artificial meadows. These crops
regenerate the ground and fatten the cattle which produce the manure.
Henri IV decides in February 1599 to publish the chapter of the “Theatre” relating to the breeding of silkworms
in a volume entitled “Treated of the gathering of silk by the food of the worms who do it.” It is a success. The
following year the “Theatre” is published in its entirety.
In September of 1600, the king orders from Olivier de Serres 20 mulberry trees which will be mended In Tuilleries
and in Fontainebleau. On one of these fields was build the Institute of Olivier de Serres. Today the walls of the
old field are almost gone. But today, the field where he did his research at Pradel with Mirabel, they faithfully
adhere to the philosophy of the agronomist. They shelter a station of grainage for the Eurochryasalide project.
They have a Caprine experiemental farm, an experiement viticultural cellar, a center for agricultural vocational
training, a museum, a cultural place, and the national institute of Olivier de Serres.
Oldest of the Legends
A King of the Indies sent in gift cloths of silk to a Persian king into 3870 before Christ. This legend disputes
the Chinese origin of silk but it does not contradict silk was a significant currency of exchange with other countries.
The Legends of the sericulture reported in the writings of Confucius
If Ling Sue was a Chinese princess and the woman of the emperor Hoang-Ti, she lived in 2640 before the birth of
Christ. One day she took a cup of tea into the shade of a mulberry tree. A cacoon of a silkworm fell into the cup
of tea. While waiting to catch it, the cacoon was held. She had just discovered the silk wire. She taught the first
art to raise catepillars. She invented the means to reel the cacoons. This beautiful good princess deserved to
be placed by her grateful subjects with the rows of divinity from Chinese celestial empire.
The Lady with the Head of the Horse
Time of Gaoxin, an emperor mmythic, the father
of Cannu was removed by brigands. He horse alone returned to the stable. The mother of Cannu the Jura which would
give the hand of her daughter to whoever would bring back her husband. Nobody would do anything, so his horse leaps
out of the stable to go research for his rider and brought the father back to his daughter. When the horse returned,
he would start to neigh and he would not stop and the horse refused to eat or drink. The father took anger at the
horse and killed the horse, and tanned the hide in the courtyard. But when the girl passed the horse hide in the
courtyard, the skin of the horse sprang up and wrapped itself around the girl and flew away with the girl to a
mulberry tree where she was changed into a silkworm.
In the history of Silk our relative Oliver de Serres is noted in the same light as Marco Polo who was an Italian
traveler who traveled from Italy to Asia between 1271-1275. He remained in China serving the Chinese Emperor for
16 years. Marco Polo dictated in 1298 his memoirs The Book of Marco Polo which is also called the Book of Wonders
of the World. At one time this book was the only source of information on China and the Indies Orientals.
Our relative Olivier de Serres is also recognized right alongside Jacques Vaucanson who invented the first mill
to organize silk. The modern machines of today that organize silk are dependent upon the gears created by Jacques
Vauconson.
Oliver de Serres is also recognized right alongside Louis Pasteur, a creative biologist of microbiology. Louis
Pasteur discovered a fatal disease from the Provene of Pepper which infects the skin of the silk worm. He discovers
a method of producing and selection of the eggs that will become silkworms. The results of his research got him
the title of “Savior of sericiculture”.
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