Journal of the progress of Silk TVorms, 265 



and active according to the atmosphere : at times they 

 were torpid, at others voracious. Among those hatched 

 the 10th of May, few began to spin. I hastened to make 

 the bushes round the frames, after having increased their 

 number with twelve more. 



June i5th to 30th. Notwithstanding the season has 

 proved rather cold and damp, during the two last weeks 

 of the month, the worms grow so much in size, that I 

 was under the absolute necessity of adding as many new 

 frames as the building could contain, and even to obstruct 

 the passages between them with ten of half the dimen- 

 sions. This growth of the worms beyond all ideas I 

 could have entertained, was the cause of many errors in 

 the directions 1 had prefixed to myself to follow. 



1. The quantity of leaves I had meant to consume in 

 feeding doubled, I was obliged to send for them twice 

 a day to old Stile's farm. The distribution of food on 

 so many frames could not be attended to by me perso- 

 nally. I was forced to give it over to playful girls and 

 boys. At one time the worms were super-abundantly 

 provided, at others badly supplied. 



2. My precaution of keeping divided the worms of 

 different ages, became useless. The multiplication of 

 frames required the removal of the worms by many hands, 

 none of which could or would pay attention to the origi- 

 nal divisions. Hence worms first hatched, were mixed 

 with those hatched last. 



3. The haste wherewith the bushes were raised along 

 the frames, did not admit of their being placed in the best 

 manner. Besides, having not been able to find broom 

 corn, I have been forced to use corn brooms, short and 

 tied. These brooms did not offer to the worms conve- 

 nient spaces for spinning. The intermixture of untied 

 stable brooms, remedied to a certain degree this evil. All 

 this has occasioned a great diminution in my crop. It 



