CROPS. 493 



which to complete their feeding, is twenty-eight or thirty days. 

 This is supposed to depend somewhat upon the peculiar consti 

 tution of the race of worms which are fed, but more upon the 

 feeding and management. It is earnestly pressed upon the cul 

 tivators to commence the hatching of the eggs as early in the 

 season as the condition of the mulberry leaves will allow it to be 

 done with a certainty of a supply of food. The hatching of the 

 eggs should be artificially forced, in order, as far as possible, to 

 be contemporaneous, as where it is left to take place naturally, 

 there will be a difference in the time of hatching among the 

 worms of several days, which is an inconvenience to be anxiously 

 avoided. It is recommended in the first three ages to cut the 

 leaves fine, and for the very young worms in the first stage, they 

 should be sifted. In order to success, the worms must not be 

 neglected by day or night. In the first age they require twelve 

 feedings in the twenty-four hours; in the fourth age, eight or 

 ten ; in the fifth age, seven or eight. The feedings should, in 

 fact, be multiplied as much as possible ; as where, v/ith a view 

 of saving time or labor, the food of three or four times is given 

 at once, the worms become disgusted and lose their appetite, a 

 great deal of forage is lost, and bad results are likely to follow. 

 As overfeeding is injurious, so is fasting equally injurious. In 

 order to insure success, no neglect must be tolerated. Cleanliness 

 in every department is especially important. The worms must 

 not be crowded. They must likewise be occasionally assorted, 

 placing together those whose progress and condition are most 

 nearly alike ; and especially removing at once the feeble and 

 diseased. The best preparation for their mounting, when their 

 cocoon is to be formed, may be termed a small twig broom, 

 inverted and placed so that the upper part may be spread between 

 the shelves on which the worms are fed. The cocoons, after 

 they are completed, reserving those only which are designed for 

 the continuance of the race, are placed, for the destruction of the 

 chrysalis in steam, as being the most certain and effectual mode. 

 The cocoons, being completed, and the poor tenant of this silken 

 abode strangled in his own habitation, now pass into other hands 

 for the winding of the silk. 



In many parts of Europe, among those who cultivate the 

 silk-worm upon a small scale, some vacant room in the house is 

 occupied for the worms, and very often some vacant barn or 

 VOL. ii. 42 



