55 [ 175 ] 



there is a small room, having two large doors, the one communicating 

 with the lahoratory, the other with the hall. In the centre of the 

 floor, there is a large square opening, which communicates with the 

 lower part of the building. This is closed with a wooden folding 

 door; this aperture is used for throwing down the litter and rubbish 

 of the laboratory, and for admitting mulberry leaves, which can be 

 drawn up by a hand-pulley. Such is the construction of his laborato- 

 ry, in which he places the worms after their third casting or moulting. 

 The above particular description of a very large laboratory, will bo 

 valuable to those who may hereafter engage in the business upon au 

 extensive scale. It will be seen that the great objects aimed at, arc 

 convenience, the preservation of a proper temperature, and the free 

 circulation of the air in the department; and the American cultivator 

 must attend to these, as cardinal points, whatever may be the dimen- 

 sions of the building or apartment in which the worms are reared. 



All buildings are proper for receiving the silkworms, provided that, 

 in proportion to their sizes, there be one or more fire-places, two or 

 more ventilators in the ceiling, on a level with the floor, and one or 

 more windows, by which light may be admitted, and yet not sunshine. 

 In the United States, the house erected expressly for the purpose of 

 rearing silkworms, should be placed in the coolest and most airy situ- 

 ation attainable, and in the shade of trees, if possible, because it is 

 always in our power to increase the heat of the apartment, when ne- 

 cessary, by means of a stove or open fire-place; but it is not so easy to 

 guard against a sudden increase of heat in the weather, and which 

 may nearly defeat the labors of the season, if it should occur in the 

 fifth age, when the worms are nearly done eating, as will be seen 

 hereafter. 



The apparatus of the Rev. Mr. Swayne* is to be recommended, on ac- 

 count of the small space occupied by it, the neatness in which it ena- 

 bles persons using it to keep the apartment, and the ease with which 

 the caterpillars can be fed, and their litter removed. It is particularly 

 valuable to those who are restrained in room. 



" This apparatus consists of a wooden frame, four feet two inches high, 

 each side sixteen inches and a half wide, divided into eight partitions, 

 by small pieces of wood, which form grooves, in which the siides 

 run, and are thus easily thrust in or drawn out of the frame, l^lie 

 upper slide (a) is of paper only, and designed to receive the worms as 

 soon as hatched; the two next, b b, are of catgut, the threads about one 

 tenth of an inch distant from one another; these are for the insects, 

 when a little advanced in size; the four lower ones, marked c, are 

 of wicker work, the openings through which the dung is to fall being 

 about a quarter of an inch square. Under each of these, as well as 

 under those of catgut, are slides m.ade of paper, to prevent the dung 

 of the worms falling on those feeding below them. Mr. Swayne after- 

 wards found that netting may he substituted with advantage, in the 

 room of wMcker bottoms. The meshes of the netting were about half 

 an inch square. 



* Trails. Soc. Arts, Londr^n, vol. 7, p. 148. 



