SILK CULTURE. 911 



As soon as the great majority have moulted they should be copiously fed, and, as they 

 grow very rapidly after each moult, and as they must always be allowed plenty of room, it will 

 probably become necessary to divide the batch, and this is readily done at any meal by 

 removing the net when about half the worms have risen and replacing it by an additional 

 one. The space allotted to each batch should, of course, be increased proportionately with the 

 growth of the worms. The same precautions should be observed in the three succeeding 

 moults as in this first one. 



As regards the temperature of the rearing-room, great care should be taken to avoid all 

 sudden changes from warm to cold, or vice versa. A mean temperature of 75 or 80 F. will 

 usually bring the worms to the spinning-point in the course of thirty-five days after hatching, 

 but the rapidity of development depends upon a variety of other causes, such as quality of 

 leaf, race of worm, etc. If it can be prevented, the temperature should not be permitted to 

 rise very much above 80, and it is for this reason that a room with a northern or north 

 eastern exposure was recommended as preferable to any other. The air should be kept pure 

 all of the time, and arrangements should be made to secure a good circulation. Great care 

 should be taken to guard against the incursions of ants and other predaceous insects, which 

 would make sad havoc among the worms were they allowed an entrance; and all through the 

 existence of the insect, from the egg to the moth, rats and mice are on the watch for a chance 

 to get at them, and are to be feared almost as much as any other enemy the silk-worm has. 



The second and third casting of the skin takes place with but little more difficulty than 

 the first, but the fourth is more laborious, and the worms not only take more time in under 

 going it, but more often perish in the act. At this moult it is perhaps better to give the more 

 forward individuals a light feed as soon as they have completed the change, inasmuch as it is 

 the last moult and but little is to be gained by the retardation, whereas it is important to feed 

 them all that they will eat, since much of the nutriment given during the last age goes for 

 the elaboration of the silk. At each successive moult the color of the worm has been gradu 

 ally whitening, until it is now of a decided cream color. Some breeds, however, remain 

 dark, and occasionally there is an individual with zebra-like markings. During these last 

 few days the worms require the greatest care and attention. All excrement and litter must 

 be often removed, and the sickly and diseased ones watched for and removed from the rest. 

 The quantity of leaves which they devour in this fifth age is something enormous, and the 

 feeding will keep the attendant busily employed. 



Summed up, the requisites to successful silk-worm raising are: 1. Uniformity of age in 

 the individuals of the same tray, so as to insure their moulting simultaneously. 2. No inter 

 mission in the supply of fresh food, except during the moulting periods. 3. Plenty of room 

 so that the worms may not too closely crowd each other. 4. Fresh air and as uniform tem 

 perature as possible. 5. Cleanliness. The last three are particularly necessary during the 

 fourth and fifth ages. While small, the frass, dung, and detritus dry rapidly, and may 

 (though they should not) be left for several days in a tray with impunity, but he who allows 

 his trays to go uncleaned for more than a day during the ages mentioned will suffer in the 

 disease and mortality of his worms just as they are reaching the spinning-point. 



Preparation for Spinning. With eight or ten days of busy feeding, after the last 

 moult, the worms, as we have learned before, will begin to lose appetite, shrink in size, become 

 restless, and throw out silk, and the arches for the spinning of the cocoons must now be pre 

 pared. These can be made of twigs of different trees, two or three feet long, set up upon the 

 shelves over the worms, and made to interlock in the form of an arch above them. Interlace 

 these twigs with broom corn, hemlock, or other well-dried brush. The feet of each arch 

 should be only about a foot apart. The temperature of the room should now be kept above 80, 

 as the silk does not flow so freely in a cool atmosphere. The worms will immediately mount 

 into the branches and commence to spin their cocoons. They will not all, however, 

 at the same time, and those which are more tardy should be fed often, but in small qiiantities 

 at a time, in order to economize the leaves, as almost every moment some few will quit and 

 mount. There will always be a few which altogether fail to mount, and prefer to spin in their 

 trays. It is best, therefore, after the bulk have mounted, to remove the trays and lay brush 

 carefuUy over them. The fact that the worms already mounted make a final discharge of 

 soft and semi-fluid excrement before beginning to spin makes this separation necessary, as 

 otherwise the cocoons of the lower ones would be badly soiled. As the worms begin to spin 

 they should be carefully watched, to guard against two or three of them making what is called 

 a double or treble cocoon, which would be unfit for reeling purposes. Whenever one worm 

 is about to spin up too near another, it should be carefully removed to another part of the 



