[ 175 3 



70 



When the little twigs spread over the perforated paper which co- 

 Tered the eggs of the silkworms in the small boxes, are loaded with 

 the young worms, these boxes are all put upon trays made to carry 

 them, and they are removed to the laboratory. 



When all the sheets of coarse paper, accurately numbered, have 

 been laid on the wicker hurdles, the small box of the corresponding 

 number, is put on the edge of the wicker hurdle, and with a small 

 hook, the twigs, covered with the worms, are gently lifted off the per- 

 forated paper on the box, and put upon the paper laid on the wicker 

 hurdles. A hook should be used, as the touch of the hands might in- 

 jure the insects.* In laying the twigs on the paper, care must be had 

 to allow space enough for mulberry leaves to be put over the twigs 

 and between them, that the insects may have room to stretch and pro- 

 perly distribute themselves. It should be noted here, that the silk- 

 worms produced from one ounce of eggs thus disposed, should occupy 

 a space of twenty square inches. Each sheet of coarse paper, on the 

 hurdle, will cover a space of nearly twenty-two square inches: being 

 twenty-three inches long, and twenty-one inches wide. Having a 

 care to lay the worms in squares of ten inches, four sheets of paper will 

 be' the number required to hold the produce of one ounce of eggs, 

 which will exactly allow the worms the space they need, until after 

 their first moulting. The sheets of paper will be four times the size of 

 the small boxes, and those four sheets of paper must bear the same 

 number as the box; and thus the worms will not want moving till their 

 first moulting has passed. 



As fast as the silkworms come forth, they should be moved in this 

 manner. 



2. We are to suppose that a portion of the silkworms is to be reared 

 in the house in which they have been hatched, and the rest to be 

 reared elsewhere. 



When the cultivator shall have taken home with him his proportion 

 of the silkworms upon these sheets of paper containing one ounce, he 

 must put the square of >silk\vorms into four small squares of ten inches 

 each, thus forming four quarters of one sheet, or rather four small 

 sheets. This division is easily effected, by passing the hands under 

 the litter of leaves to which the worms cling, and parting the leaves 

 gently, when it is required to divide the mass; it separates easily, 

 and may be subdivided at pleasure. The parts should be as even 

 as possible. If, in the first ages, all the care described is not taken, 

 numbers will be lost; they will be unequal, and contract numberless 

 diseases. 



3. We are to suppose all the silkworms are to be removed from the 

 house in which they were hatched. 



In a box calculated for removing easily, and proportioned to the 

 size of the sheets of paper, should be put several of these sheets, 

 covered with silkworms in layers above each other, at the distance of 



Tlio hook sliould be blunt, to prevent injury to the warms See plate 1, fig". 7, 



