98 On the Treatment of the Silk- Worm, 



and beautiful part of our dress, I can have no higher re- 

 compeuce than having been in the shghtest degree use- 

 ful to my country. 



Robert K. Lowry. 

 Siena, in Tuscany, 3d October, 1804. 



P. S. I omitted mentioning the use to which the 

 balls which have produced the butterfly are put, the 

 webs of which are of course cut. These, after being 

 steeped in lukewarm water for a few days, are dried, 

 and then carded in much the same way as cotton, but 

 requiring wire of much greater strength. In the same 

 way is used such of the silk which, by the colour, is in- 

 ferior in quality, and should be separated from that in- 

 tended to be spun off, and applied to finer manufacture. 



JDESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE. 



A. The boiler. 



B. A bason of cold water, in which the second ope- 

 rator, who supplies the boiler with the silk balls, dips 

 the fingers, to prevent their being scalded in taking out 

 the skeletons of the worms remaining floating, after the 

 silk is wound off, and which it is necessary to do every 

 four or five minutes, to prevent the boiler from being 

 unnecessarily incumbered. The water of the boiler 

 should be changed every six hours. 



C. A square board, against which die first operator 

 leans, to avoid the heat of the stove. 



