28 
them separately, and it will be better perhaps to destroy them. The 
importance of keeping each batch together, and of causing the worms 
to molt simultaneously, can not be too much insisted upon as a means 
of saving time. 
As soon as the great majority have molted they should be copiously 
fed, and, as they grow very rapidly after each molt, and as they must 
always be allowed plenty of room, it will probably become necessary to 
divide the batch, and this is readily done at any meal by removing the 
net or tray when about half of the worms have risen and replacing it 
by an additional one. The space allotted to each batch should, of 
course, be increased proportionately with the growth of the worms. 
The same precautions should be observed in the three succeeding molts 
_as in this first one. 
The second and third castings of the skin take place with but little 
more difficulty than the first, but the fourth is more laborious, ana the 
worms not only take more time in undergoing it, but more often perish 
in the act. At this molt it is perhaps better to give the more forward 
individuals a light feed as soon as they have completed the change, in- 
asmuch as it is the last molt and but little is to be gained by the retard- 
ation, whereas it is important to feed them all that they will eat, since 
much of the nutriment given during the last age goes to the elabora- 
tion of the silk. 
It would, too, be found inconvenient if all the worms were to arrive 
at the spinning period together, as extra assistance would be required 
to place the brush on which they spin their cocoons. 
At each successive molt the color of the worm has been gradually 
whitening, until now it is of a decided cream color. Some breeds, 
however, remain dark, and occasionally there is an individual with 
zebra-like markings. 
As regards the temperature of the rearing-room, great care should be 
taken to avoid all sudden changes from warm to cold, or vice versa. A 
mean temperature of 75° or 80° F. will usually bring the worms to the 
spinning-point in the course of 35 days after hatching, but the rapidity 
of development depends upon a variety of other causes, such as quality 
of leaf, race of worm, ete. If it can be prevented the temperature 
should not be permitted to rise very much above 80°, and it is for this 
reason that a room with a northern or northeastern exposure was recom- 
mended as preferable to any other. The air should be kept pure all of 
the time, and arrangements should be made to secure a good circulation. 
Great care should be taken to guard against the incursions of ants and 
other predaceous insects, which would make sad havoc among the worms 
were they allowed an entrance, and all through the existence of the in- 
sect, from the egg to the moth, rats and mice are on the watch for a 
chance to get at them, and are to be feared almost as much as any other 
enemy the Silk-worm has. 
So much depends upon the conditions of development mentioned 
