SILK WORMS. 147 



The author adds : Such are the cocoon rooms generally 

 used in the South. If the cocoon rooms of the South and 

 North are compared, of which we have spoken higher up, 

 it will be seen that their size and figure, (that is to say : 

 their round or oblong form) vary, according to a large or 

 small quantity of silk worms. But if these two kinds of 

 cocoon rooms are examined with care, it will be seen that 

 they have each their particular inconveniences. In the 

 South, where few silk worms are raised, the cocoon rooms 

 are small and narrow. The raising of silk worms in these 

 countries is an amusement ; therefore, they are not of much 

 profit. 



The cocoon rooms of the North are indeed large, but 

 they present serious defects. The accumulation of dry 

 branches, (or stalks of plants,) smothers a great number of 

 silk worms. The rain often wets the cocoon rooms, and 

 sometimes the wind also turns them over ; added to that, the 

 enormous difference that exists between the exterior and 

 the interior temperature. Hence diseases are created in 

 the cocoon rooms, which considerably diminish the^number 

 of cocoons. But as these customs are inveterate, it is very 

 difficult to reform them suddenly. There is, adds the Chi- 

 nese author, another method which has been communicated 

 to me by skilful raisers of the silk worms. 



They calculate nearly the quantity of silk worms they 

 raise, and select, in the yard, a wide space. They construct 

 there a light frame work, covered with straw mats, a long 

 shed, which the remainder of the year, may serve for other 

 uses. When the silk worms are prepared to spin, they es- 

 tablish the cocoon room there. At first they form the lower 

 part of each cocoon room, and proportion it to the dimen- 

 sions of the shed. Between the two ranges of the cocoon 



