STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 243 



annually for eggs imported from China and Japan, simply to secure this 

 one requisite. . 



That the eggs used in feeding worms in California the past season 

 possessed this necessary quality, can scarcely be doubted, from the fact 

 that they were raised in this State, and no trace or symptom of disease 

 has ever been discovered in our California worms, though thoroughly 

 examined and tested by the best of experts from France, Italy and Ger- 

 many. 



The next requisite to success is, that the eggs, being healthy when 

 produced, must be preserved in a like healthy condition until the time 

 for hatching. It must be remembered that the eggs of the silkworm 

 will hatch without artificial heat, and that those of the annual variety, 

 of which I am now speaking, will not hatch, even with a degree of heat 

 sufficient to cook them, until they have passed through a natural or arti- 

 ficial winter, or been exposed for a length of time to a low degree of 

 temperature, and after this are subjected to a higher degree — changes 

 similar to those from autumn to winter, and from winter to spring. All 

 authorities agree that the best mode of thus pi'eserving them is to keep 

 them in a dry, cool place. If allowed to remain damp too long they 

 will mildew, and be destroyed. The shell of the egg loses those gummy 

 protective qualities with which it is supplied by nature, and the fluids 

 thus exposed disorganize and part with the vital principle. They become 

 dead and stale, like hen's eggs treated in a similar manner. So long as 

 the fluids of the egg remain uninfluenced by a return of warm weather, 

 or too great a degree of heat, so as to induce the formation of the worm 

 in embryo, the degree of cold to which they are exposed does not seem 

 to affect them. While they remain in their original condition, as when 

 laid, even freezing does not hurt them. Hence, eggs deposited on the 

 body of a tree, or on any other object, and exposed to all the changes of 

 a severe winter in a temperate climate like that of the Atlantic States, 

 or of the higher altitudes in our State, are frequently preserved well, 

 and, upon the return of spring, hatch and produce strong and healthy 

 worms. This experiment has been successfully made by Miller & Isourd, 

 of Nevada City. However, reason would teach us that after the worm 

 has commenced to form in the egg, then an exposure to too low a degree 

 of temperature would either check the growth and injure the strength 

 and vitality of the embryo worm, or absolutely kill it, according to the 

 condition of that embryo and the degree of cold to which it was exposed. 

 This is found to be the fact in practice, as many of our silk growers can 

 testify by a costly experience. The same rule holds good when applied 

 to the eggs of any other insect, or to the eggs of birds. 



A careful observer of the weather in the spring of the year can fore- 

 tell with almost a certainty whether the insect tribes will be numerous 

 or scarce in the approaching season. A uniformity of weather in the 

 spring is generally followed by a multitude of insects of all varieties, 

 while, if a warm spell is followed by a cold snap, the insects are gener- 

 ally scarce for that season ; the germs of the insect world having been 

 started by the warm weather, are destroyed by the return of the cold. 

 So, for instance, if a hen's egg be sat upon by the hen until the embryo 

 chicken shows vitality, and is then allowed to become too cold and 

 remain so too long, life is either destroyed or the strength and vitality 

 of the future chicken is impaired, according to circumstances. 



In the light of these recognized principles governing the germination and 

 growth of insects, let us examine into the treatment to which most of the 

 silkworm eggs in this State were exposed last winter and spring. Proba- 



