STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 151 



The time has come when the fresh green leaves have no attraction 

 for them. They move their heads from side to side and appear to 

 be looking for something. That something is a place upon which 

 to build their tomb. 



Wisps of straw or bunches of twigs are laid upon the tables. 

 The worms soon find them, and crawl up till, finding a suitable 

 place they attach to numerous twigs threads to support the 

 cocoon. Then the worms begin to spin the continuous silken 

 thread which forms their precious little nests. They arrange the 

 thread all around the body, describing ovals with the head. In a 

 few hours they are surrounded with a thin gauze of silk, through 

 which they can be seen working for dear life or death, which? After 

 a few hours more the worms have completely hidden themselves 

 from view; the threads have been woven thick and close, over 

 and over each other, until the gathered treasures of their short 

 lives have been expended. The3' fold themselves within their 

 beautiful winding sheets and wait the life beyond. 



A worm spends three or fourdaj^sin spinning its cocoon, though 

 all do not commence spinning at the same time. Some are longer 

 in finding a good place, others, having found a place and made 

 a beginning, fall back on the table, and are obliged to start anew. 

 It is very interesting to watch them at their work. They do not 

 seem to be exempt from the trials and perplexities of more intelli- 

 gent creatures. 



Four days after the last cocoons have been spun they must 

 be gathered. The firmest and best are placed in a partially dark- 

 ened room; and the others, which are to be reeled for silk manufac- 

 ture, are placed for about 3^ minutes in an oven sufficiently warm 

 to stifle the chrisalides. When this has been accomplished, the 

 cocoons are placed upon tables to dry or are immediately reeled into 

 skeins and made ready for the looms or other uses to which the silk 

 is applied. 



The imperfect cocoons together with the floss silk which 

 surrounds all the cocoons, are carded and spun at factories 

 and mixed with wool fabrics. The worms which produce white 

 cocoons are the best; the silk is stronger and has more lustre. 



Now, to return to the worms, which we left in the darkened 

 room. In from 12 to 15 days the chrysalis will put aside the 

 silken fibres of its tomb, and come into the world a full-grown 

 miller. The silk-worm miller is of a creamy whiteness, and 

 measures nearly an inch and a half across the wings from tip 

 to tip. 



