Journal of the progress of silk Worms, 263 



May 17th to 22cl. During all these days the weather 

 has been variable, but on the average, cold and damp. 

 On the 20th, we were forced to light again the fire in the 

 house. 



1 am now made perfectly aware, that my mode of rais- 

 ing is exceedingly defective in an essential part, viz. in 

 letting the nits stick on the rags. The hatching is thus 

 so unequal, that even of those from which I took the 

 first V orms on the 11th, a great proportion of nits are yet 

 imhatclied. Thus it is pretty evident that the Italians 

 act more wisely in scraping the nits from the rags, and 

 collecting them in boxes. The equal degree of exposure 

 and heat of which the nits are susceptible in this way, 

 must greatly contribute to a regular hatching of the nits 

 laid at the same time. The improvident way I have pur- 

 sued, made me lose a good deal of my nits. 



The inconstancy of the weather as to cold and warmth, 

 has been very great during these days. On the morning 

 of the 27th, the air was so keen, an hour before the rising 

 of a bright sun, that the thermometer stood at 43° in my 

 piazza. In the nursery it would have stood lower, as the 

 building is by far more exposed, and open to the air. This 

 fact was evident by its effects. All the silk worms on 

 the different frames were in a torpid state from cold. The 

 leaves spread to them the evening before, were untouched, 

 and as fresh as if they had been just given them. Such 

 variations in the atmosphere render it impossible to trace 

 with accuracy, the stages of their progress in life: for 

 I do not see how a person can distinguish when the worm 

 remains inactive, and does not feed, whether it proceeds 

 from cold, or from the laws which nature has dictated to 

 his mode of existence. With close buildings, and the 

 addition of fire places or stoves, I conceive it practicable 

 to raise silk worms in any uniform and equal progress^ 



Rr 



