. THE SILK WORM. 167 



first will begin to spin ; and when the last are a week 

 old, the second lot of worms will ascend; so that 

 there would not be that trouble which would attend 

 cultivating the whole number hatched atone time, be- 

 cause many of them would be small, and the number 

 would be continually decreasing, as they ascended to 

 spin. By having the eggs in an ice-house, they can 

 be kept back at pleasure. 



It has been a notion with some culturists, that the 

 silk-worm will degenerate, as Buffon has said of the 

 American people. I am one of those who entertain 

 the belief, that by choosing bad cocoons for seed, and 

 by bad management, the worms will become deterio- 

 rated ; and, on the contrary, when good seed are cho- 

 sen, and the worms well attended, the breed may be 

 improved vastly. 



I have now treated of the cultivation of the Mul- 

 berry, and the rearing of worms ; I shall next pro- 

 ceed to treat of the art of reeling silk for the manu- 

 facturer. Much of the profit of the silk culture de- 

 pends upon reeling well ; and, therefore, the reeler 

 should apply him or herself to acquiring the art 

 thoroughly. Some persons have an idea that it is an 

 extremely difficult art to learn, but attention and per- 

 severance will soon overcome all obstacles. Practice 

 is all that is requisite. In a few trials the author of 

 this learned to reel, and made some sewing silk which 

 was as even and beautiful as any from the reels of It- 

 aly. There could be no more beautiful employment 



