13 [1*75] 



2d memoir,) advises a mean between them. The experiment of Sau- 

 vage was a single one. Dandolo writes after years of practice, upon 

 a very large scale, and recommends the degrees of heat which always 

 ensured him success. Other practical writers agree with Dandolo. 

 No one, it is presumed, will be at a loss to decide which of these au- 

 thorities is most worthy of being followed. 



The silkworms proceeding from one ounce of eggs, consume — 



1st. In the first age, (that is to say, when all are hatched, removed, 

 and distributed upon the sheeis of paper, which includes at least two 

 days,) six pounds of leaves well sorted, and chopped very small. 



2d. In the second age, they consume 13 pounds of leaves, chopped 

 rather more coarsely than the food in the first age. 



3d. In the 3d uge, they consume 60 pounds, still less chopped. 



4th. In the fourth age, ISO pounds, still less chopped than in the 

 third age. 



Some circumstances may modify the proportions ab r''e specified, 

 but these variations are not important, supposing the cultivator to act 

 with considerate intelligence, and to time well the batching of his 

 silkworms with the springing of the young leaves, and then their 

 growth with the progress of the leaf through tlie other stages of ex- 

 istence. 



The only case in which the quantity of leaves fixed, in these general 

 rules, for the consumption of the worms, will be found unnecessarily 

 excessive, will be, if the worms have been ill attended and fall sick, 

 pine away, and that many die. The quantity of leaves necessary for 

 silkworms was determined, after having made the most exact experi- 

 ments repeatedly ; taking for granted, that the silkworms are maintained 

 in the degrees of temperature indicated, and with the view, as much as 

 possible, to economize the leaves; because, when an exact sufficiency of" 

 food is given to the worm, it eats with greater relish, digests well, and 

 is strong. A great object in the art of rearing silkworms, is, to con- 

 trive to obtain the greatest possible quantity of fine cocoons, with the 

 least quantity of leaves. 



In managing upon this principle, the more leaves there are, the great- 

 er will be the proportion of cocoons, and consequently the greater the 

 profit. Over-feeding, however, must always be guarded against: it not 

 only causes a waste of leaves, but is the origin of many inconveniences 

 which assail the silkworm, as we shall show hereafter. The cares 

 which the silkworm requires in its four first ages, are neither numerous 

 nor puzzling; although it is in those ages, and particularly in tlie two 

 first, that the strength of its constitution is formed, upon which the 

 ultimate success depends. 



The two first days after it has cast the skin, it eats sparingl}'-, and 

 then becomes voracious: this hunger soon diminishes, and even ceases. 

 These phenomena occur in every moulting. Thus, notwithstanding 

 the strength of its constitution, if it is not treated with the greatest care, 

 at those tinnes when it requires care, it suffers, sickens, and dies: on 

 this account, it is thought it might be useful to give in this and the fol- 

 lowing chapter, a diary of the pare to be taken of silkworms, that it 

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