47 



rearing silk worms ; almost any building will answer for 

 that purpose. 1 have reared them myself with success in 

 a barn, in my cellar kitchen, and other rooms of my 

 dwelling-house, and in the lower story of Tremont House 

 in Boston. It was found in France that the cocoons 

 brought to market by the peasants, raised in hovels so 

 full of cracks as easily to be seen through and to admit 

 the air freely, were richer and heavier than those reared in 

 palaces and in the confined rooms of dwellings in cities.* 

 The apparatus of the Rev. Mr Swain, I should think might 

 be worth adopting, for those who are beginning on a small 

 scale ; in fact I have had something like it constructed 

 for my own use. This apparatus consists of a wooden 

 frame four feet two inches high, each side ; sixteen inches 

 and a half wide, divided into eight partitions by small 

 pieces of wood, which form grooves in which the slides 

 run and are thus easily thrust in or drawn out of the 

 frame. 



The upper side is of paper only and designed to re- 

 ceive the worms as soon as hatched ; the others are o f 



* I saw at Philadelphia on the 21st of June (1831) worms raised 

 by Mr D'Homergue in a yard of mulberry trees, which bore 

 heavy rains and thunder storms, as well as cold windy days, a few 

 of which spun in 30 days and produced excellent cocoons. They 

 began to mount 32 days after hatching. I also saw a few worms 

 raised from eggs which were laid on the outside of a brick wall in 

 a northern exposure, which had stood all the severity of the winter. 

 I saw many thousands of excellent cocoons raised by Mr Du Pon- 

 ceau under the care of Mr D'Homergue in the heart of the city of 

 Philadelphia. I tiied some on trees in the open air the present 

 season (1832) but they did not succeed; they obtained howpver to 

 a considerable eize, but the frequent rains destroyed them. 



