261 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



pounds, or about two thousand pounds or one ton per day — making in 

 all about twent3 T -five thousand pounds, or twelve and one-half tons, of 

 leaves. It will be seen by the above statement that, while the worms 

 occupy but little space and eat but little during the first half of their 

 lives, they spread out rapidly and eat voraciously during the last half. 

 Consequently, while the work of feeding and attending to them is light 

 during the first three ages, or first half of their existence, it becomes 

 very considerable during the last two ages. 



These considerations have led, of late years, in most countries where 

 to economize labor is desirable, to the adoption of what Mr. Prevost 

 styles the California mode of feeding. After the first two moultings, 

 when the worms begin to move about pretty easily, instead of picking the 

 leaves one by one from the tree and feeding them to the worms on a 

 flat surface, you take your pruning shears and horse and wagou and go 

 into your plantations, cultivated in dwarf form as heretofore indicated, 

 beginning at one side of the field and clipping off a portion of the straight 

 shoots from each tree as you follow the rows back and forth, throw them 

 by the armfull into the wagon until you have gathered the required quan- 

 tity for one feeding, and drive to the cocoonery. Taking an armful of 

 these branches, you lay down four in the form of a square on each paper 

 containing worms. The worms gather along the branches and devour 

 the leaves. The next feeding you proceed in the same way, laying the 

 branch each succeeding feeding on those before laid on; thus you build 

 up a little square pen for each collection of worms all through your 

 cocooneiy. .The worms work up from the stripped to the fresh branches, 

 and in this wa} 7 they are raised from the flat surface, where they are 

 necessarily in contact with their own offal and filth, up into the air 

 above it. This mode of feeding has many advantages, both in the man- 

 ner of cultivating the mulberry tree in plantations as dwarfs, to which it 

 has led, and in the feeding of the worms. First — You can gather the 

 food much easier and faster. Second — You can produce much more to 

 the acre than by the old orchard style of standard trees. 



First — The greater facility of handling a given quantity of food. 



Second — The greater length of time the leaves thus adhering to the 

 branches will remain fresh. 



Third — It gives the worms a freer circulation of air, keeps them clean, 

 and consequently more healthy and vigorous. 



1 have heretofore omitted speaking of the number of times worms 

 should be fed during the twenty-four hours. Some say eight, some say 

 ten, and so on, but I would lay down no absolute rule, but would say, 

 keep some fresh food constantly within the easy reach of them all — 

 night and day. Adapt the artificial feeding, as near as you can, to their 

 mode of eating in a state of nature on the living and growing tree. In 

 this, after all, is the great secret of success. Study to adapt every oper- 

 ation conuected with the cocoonery, and the treatment and feeding of 

 the worms, as near as you can, to their wild nature. Keep the building 

 clean and sweet- let no other smell be perceptible but that of the fresh 

 mulberry leaves- raise no dust; make no noise; move about quietly; 

 give them their food carefully. Indeed, let them go through all their 

 changes and transformations as though in the quiet recesses of their 

 native forests, only protecting them from the excesses of nature which 

 are injurious to them — such as exposure to the rays of the mid-day sun, 

 to the storms of wind or rain, to the flashes of lightning or peals of 



