135 [ 175 2 



they do occur, they are to be dreaded, and should he attended to with- 

 out delay. The diseased worms must be removed to a separate apart- 

 ment, where a change of air, aided by fires, may cure them. The dead 

 worms should be carefully buried, to prevent their being eaten by poul- 

 try. In one case of this disease, which occurred in Bucks county, 

 Pennsylvania, in the year 1772, oak leaves were laid in the way of the 

 worms, and were greedily devoured by them, and cured. In another, 

 these leaves were given by design, and with similar good effect. The 

 particular species of oak was unfortunately not mentioned. 



The Muscardine. — This is caused by a continuance of a hot, dry, 

 close, or calm state of the air; and shows itself by black spots in dif- 

 ferent parts of the worm. These spots afterwards become yellow, and 

 finally red, or of the color of cinnamon, which is diffused over the 

 whole body. The worm becomes hard and dry, and is covered with 

 a white mould. The disease appears in the fifth age. The remedy is, 

 to purify the air, by the use of the fumigations recommended by Dan- 

 dolo, and by the admission of fresh air from the external atmosphere, 

 and to cause it to circulate by means of ventilating openings in the room. 



The Tripes, or Mort Blanc. — This disease appears during moist 

 or rainy weather. Mr. Nysten proved by experiments,* that it also 

 proceeds from the confined exhalations of the worms and their litter. 

 They become flaccid and soft, and, when dead^ preserve the semblance 

 of life and health; but they soon turn black, and become putrid. The 

 remedies are obvious: In the first case, the air of the apartment should 

 be warmed, and made to circulate, by lighting fires in the chimney: 

 and, in the latter, by removing the diseased worms to a clean shelf or 

 table in another room. The means of preventing the disease are, 

 uninterrupted circulation of warm dry air, and rigid attention to clean- 

 liness. 



The foregoing account of the diseases of silkworms ought; not to 

 alarm the cultivator. They will be preserved in perfect health, if the 

 causes mentioned are avoided; or the prescribed m^ans, if used in time, 

 will cure them. 



CHAPTER XV. 



PREPARATIONS FOR REELING THE SILK. 



Mow to take off the flos, or loose silk, frotn the cocoons: the rea^ 

 sons for sorting them . 



Before the cocoons are reeled, it is necessary to free them from that 

 loose, fuzzy silk which is on their outside, and is called flos; it being 

 of so fine and loose a consistence, and partly broken by taking it from 

 the branches, or frames, where the worms had spun them, that it can- 



*Sur les Maladies des "Vers a Soie, p. 40. 



