910 THE AMERICAN .FARMER. 



The young worms may be removed from place to place by means of a small camel s hair 

 brush, but should be handled as little as possible. The best mode of feeding and caring for 

 them is by continuing the use of the feeding net first mentioned. As the worms increase in 

 size the net must have larger meshes, and, if it should be used every time fresh food is fur 

 nished, it will save a large amount of time and care. It entirely obviates the necessity of 

 handling the worms, and enables the person having charge of them to keep them thoroughly 

 clean; for, while they pass up through the net to take their fresh food, their excrement drops 

 through it and is always taken up with the old litter beneath. It also acts as a detective of 

 disease; for such worms as are injured, feeble, or sickly usually fail to mount through the 

 meshes, and should be carried off and destroyed with the refuse in the old net below. This 

 placing on of the new net and carrying away of the old is such a great convenience and time- 

 saver that in France, for many years, paper stamped by machinery with holes of different 

 sizes, suited to the different stages of the worms, has been used. The paper has the advantage 

 of cheapness and stiffness, but a discussion as to the best material is unnecessary here, the 

 aim being to enforce the principle of the progressive rise of the worms. Details will suggest 

 themselves to the operator. 



Where the nets are not used, there is an advantage in feeding the worms upon leaf- 

 covered twigs and branches, because these last allow a free passage of air, and the leaves 

 keep fresh a longer time than when plucked. In this feeding with branches consists the 

 whole secret of the California system, so much praised and advocated by M. L. Prevost. The 

 proper stamped paper not being easily obtained in this country, mosquito netting will be 

 found a very fair substitute while the worms are young, and when they are larger 1 have 

 found thin slats of some non-resinous and well-seasoned wood, tacked in parallel lines to a 

 frame just large enough to set in the trays, very serviceable and convenient; small square 

 blocks of similar wood being used at the corners of the tray to support the frame while the 

 worms are passing up through it. Coarse twine netting stretched over a similar frame will 

 answer the same purpose, but wire netting is less useful, as the worms dislike the smooth 

 metal. 



Many rules have been laid down as to regularity of feeding, and much stress has been 

 put upon it by some writers, most advising four meals a day at regular intervals, while a 

 given number of meals between moults has also been urged; but such definite rules are of but 

 little avail, as so much depends upon circumstances and conditions. The food should, in fact, be 

 renewed whenever the leaves have been devoured, or whenever they have become in the least 

 dry, which, of course, takes place much quicker when young and tender than when mature. 

 This also is an objection to the use of the hashed leaves, as, of course, they would dry very 

 quickly. The worms eat most freely early in the morning and late at night, and it would be 

 well to renew the leaves abundantly between five and six A. M., and between ten and eleven 

 p. M. One or two additional meals should be given during the day, according as the worms 

 may seem to need them. Great care should be taken to pick the leaves for the early morn 

 ing meal the evening before, as when picked and fed with the dew upon them they are more 

 apt to induce disease. Indeed, the mle should be laid down, never feed wet or damp leaves 

 to your worms. In case they are picked during a rain, they should be thoroughly dried 

 before being fed ; and on the approach of a storm it is always well to lay in a stock, which 

 should be kept from heating by occasional stirring. Care should also be taken to spread the 

 leaves evenly, so that all may feed alike. During this first and most delicate age the worm 

 requires much care and watching. 



As the fifth or sixth day approaches, signs of the first moult begin to be noticed. The 

 worm begins to lose appetite and grow more shiny, and soon the dark spot already described 

 appears above the head. Feeding should now cease, and the shelves or trays should be made 

 as clean as possible. Some will undoubtedly undergo the shedding of the skin much more easily 

 and quickly than others, but no feed should be given to these forward individuals until nearly 

 all have completed the moult. This serves to keep the batch together, and the first ones will 

 wait one or even two days without injury from want of food. It is, however, unnecessary 

 to wait for all, as there will always be some few which remain sick after the great majority 

 have cast their skins. These should either be set aside and kept separate, or destroyed, as 

 they are usually the most feeble and most inclined to disease; otherwise, the batch will grow 

 more and more irregular in their moultings and the diseased worms will contaminate the 

 healthy ones. It is really doubtful whether the silk raised from these weak individuals will 

 pay for the trouble of rearing them separately, and it will be better perhaps to destroy them. 

 The importance of keeping each batch together, and of causing the worms to moult simulta 

 neously, cannot be too much insisted upon as a means of saving time. 



