63 [ 175 ] 



that of Miss Pether, who fed silkworms on cabbage lettuce, until the 

 last change of their skins, when she substituted mulberry leaves until 

 they began to spin their cocoons. The silk produced under this treat- 

 ment was pronounced by a silk manufacturer, and three dealers in 

 silk, to be equal to the average quality of the silk of the continent, 

 and much superior to that of the East Indies, With an Improved 

 mode of reeling, it would have been equal to the better sorts oi' 

 Italian silk.* Other food has also been employed with success. In 

 the valuable paper on the silk culture, before referred to, in the second 

 volume of tlie Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,! 

 it is stated that, in Italy, rose leaves are used; but the late vegetation 

 of that plant may prevent its general use. Mr. Loudon± mentions, 

 that M. Bonafous, an experienced cultivator of silkworms, found that 

 *' dandelion sustained them until the fourth change, when the leaves 

 of the mulberry were substituted." If this plant should answer in 

 the United States, the fact is important, as it is the first vegetable that 

 appears in the spring. § Various works, during the last thirty years, 

 have repeated the following statement, viz: that Dr. Bellardi, ol' 

 Turin, after a number of experiments, found that young worms eat 

 dried mulberry leaves with avidity. The leaves must be collected 

 about the end of autumn, before frost, and in dry weather, and at a 

 time when the heat is greatest; then dried in the sun, and laid up in a 

 dr);- place, after they have been reduced to powder. When given to 

 the worms, this powder should be slightly moistened witJi water, and 

 a parcel of it placed before the worms. This practice, according to 

 Du Halde, II is pursued in China, with this difference, that the leave* 

 are merely kept in earthen jars. IT 



When the egg assumes a whitish color, the worm is already formed, 

 and, with a glass, may be seen within the shell. The eggs should then 

 be covered with white paper, well pierced with a particular instru- 

 ment;** the paper so cut as to cover them all. The worms will appear 

 upon this paper, climbing through the holes. A clear muslin will 

 do as well as paper. To collect the worms, small twigs of mulberry^ 

 with only two or three leaves on them, should be laid on the papei> 

 and they should be increased as fast as tlie worms come out upon them;- 



* Trans. Soc. Arts, Lond. vol. 44, p. 71. Miss P. received a premium from the 

 Society for her silk. Mr. Swayne says that his worms, the eggs of which came from- 

 Turin, obstinately refused to touch lettuce leaves. Trans. Soc. Arts, vol. 10, p. 

 187". 



t p. 352. 



I Gardener's Mag. vol. 2, p. 346. Lond. July, 1827. 



§ Both lettuce and dandelion were long since mentioned, as food upon which yourig 

 worms could be sustained. Essay upon the Silkworm, by Henry Barham. London, 

 1719, preface. 



U History of China, vol. 2, p. 367. London, 1741. 



t The writer wishes it to be distinctly understood, tliat the above substitutes for 

 the proper food of silkworms ought only to be used when tliis cannot be had. Uue 

 attention, except in a very late spring, will always enable us to accommodate the 

 hatching of tlie worms to the vegetation of the mulberry tree. 



** A pricker, similar to that of a biscuit baker's docker, will answer perfecth. 

 The uso of the pierced paper must never be omitted. 



