[ 175 ] 106 



To avoid the losses "n hich any slight luatteiiUou may iravn occasion- 

 ed, it will be better not to take off the cocoons before the eighth or nintii 

 day, reckoning from the time when the silkworms first rose. They 

 may be taken off on the seventh, if the laboratories have been conduct- 

 ed with such regularity tliat the time may be known with certainty 

 when this may be done. 



Begin on the lower tier of hurdles, and take the cabins down gent- 

 ly, giving them to those who are to gather the cocoons. Place a bas- 

 ket between two of the gatherers, to receive the cocoons; another per- 

 son should receive the stripped bushes, which may be laid by for an- 

 other year. All the cocoons that want a certain consistency, and feel 

 soft, should be laid aside, that they may not be mixed with better. 

 Empty the baskets upon hurdles' or trays, placed in rows, and spread 

 the cocoons about four fingers deep, or nearly to the top of the wicker 

 tray. When the cocoons are detached, the down or flos, in which the 

 silkworms have formed the cocoon, should be taken off. If the co- 

 coons are for sale, weigh them, and send them to the purchaser. The 

 baskets, the floor, and all things used, should be cleaned. 



Pullein directs, when g;ithering the cocoons, to make four assort- 

 ments. 1. Those designed for breed. 2. The dupions. 3. The firm- 

 est of those which are to be reeled. 4. Those of a looser texture. 



2. Choosing the cocoons for the production of eggs. 



About two ounces of eggs may be saved out of one pound and a 

 half of male and female cocoons. 



The small cocoons, of a straw color, with hard ends and fine webs, 

 and which are a little depressed in the middle, as if tightened by a ring 

 or circle, are to be preferred. There are no certain signs to distinguish 

 the male from the female cocoons: the best known are the following: 



The small cocoons; sharper at one or both ends, and depressed in 

 the middle, generally produce the male; the round full cocoon, with- 

 out ring or depression in the middle, usually contains the female. 

 These, according to Pullein, may be distinguished from the dupions 

 by the extra size, the clumsy shape, rather round than oval, of the 

 latter. As, however, all marks may fail, an extra number may be 

 kept of the best of those which are spun double, and when the moths 

 come out, the males and females being easily distinguished, an addi- 

 tion can be made from them to the defective side. 



]]y shaking the cocoon close to the ear, we may generally ascertain 

 whether the chrysalis be alive. If it be dead, and loosened from the 

 cocoon, it yields a sharp sound; when dead, it yields a dumb muffled 

 sound, and is more confined in the cocoon.* 



Sauvrige says, that the dupions, or double cocoons, constantly pro- 

 duce a moth of each sex; and, on this account, advises them to be se- 

 lected for seed; but it is a mistake to suppose that this equality in the 

 sexes of the dupions takes place, for Mr. Nysteu found, that of 20 dou- 

 ble cocoons which he examined, seven contained two malesj six, two 

 f-'imcdes; and seven, one male and one female, t ., 



■ Cours d'Agricwllure, vol. 9, p. 599. 



