O F S I L K. 147 



brufli be fwept off thefe receivers when there 

 is occalion 3 but thefe are unneceflary with 

 clofe hurdles. 



It is in this laft age that you will mofl 

 find the benefit of keeping the worms on 

 hurdles ; for as they will now eat during 

 nine or ten days before they are ready to 

 fpin, and will grow very large, making a 

 prodigious deal of litter ; they would, if 

 they were kept upon fhelves made of boards, 

 require to be cleaned every day, which 

 cannot be done without removing them 

 every time you clean them : but on hur- 

 dles made of fmall reeds, which are very 

 dry and light materials, and have vancan- 

 cies betvi^een them, the air will have accefs 

 to that litter which flicks and remains a- 

 mong the fibres and flireds of their leaves, 

 and it will not fo fuddenly grow putrid, 

 moift, and mouldy, as it would do if the 

 whole quantity of litter and fibres lay on 

 boards or flielves, which did not admit 

 the air underneath. 



It will, however, often happen that 

 pretty large Ihreds of leaves v/hich are not 

 eaten, fnall fo clog and fence up the interftices 

 of the hurdle, as to hinder the air from 

 paffing through, and will nake it necef- 

 L 2 fary 



