480 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



humidity, to the atmospheric heat, and to the 

 etate of the air which is contained, in order that 

 the worms may be preserved in their condition ol 

 vigor acquired by the progress ofage. It is scarce- 

 ly necessarj' to say that the litter heaped in the 

 baskets should be carried out of the house imme- 

 diately ; and that in the handlings required for 

 changing the leaves covered with the worms, 

 great care should be taken not to wound or hurt 

 the worms with the fingers. 



On the sixth day, without being an eye-witness 

 to the circumstances, it is scarcely possible to have 

 a correct conception of the voracity with which 

 the worm seizes on every thing presented to it. It 

 even attaches itself to the fruit of the mulberry tree, 

 which by chance are left among the leaves. This 

 day, there will be distributed in lour times, 975 

 pounds of leaves. The last meal should be much 

 the largest share of the four. It must not be for- 

 gotten to add more leaves in all the places where 

 the worms appear to need them, between the times 

 of the regular meals, in the prolonging of which 

 the worms now gnaw and tear all that is given to 

 them. They are now 3 inches long ; and if they 

 are very white, soft to the touch, and of a velvet 

 smoothness, they may be considered in the most 

 perfect health. 



The seventh day is that in which the worms 

 complete the greatest length which they can ac- 

 quire, and arrive at their full weight. If no more 

 than six worms are required generally to weigh an 

 ounce, they are then in their highest stale of vi- 

 gor. There will be distributed to them, in meals 

 decreasing in quantity from the first to the last, 

 nearly 900 pounds of leaves ; and giving interme- 

 diate supplies, if required by circumstances. To- 

 wards the evening, their extremity, which had 

 been white, assumes a yellowish color ; it is said 

 then that the worms are '■'ripening.''^ Their mas- 

 tication perceptibly lessens ; it is the same of their 

 weight, and of their length ; they discharge a con- 

 siderable quantity of excrement ; there is a con- 

 tinual exhalation and evaporation rising from their 

 bodies ; and if they have, in about seven days, 

 doubled their length, they are now going to de- 

 crease_as fast. 



On the eighth day, as the appetite of worms is 

 much lessened, there will be need of no more pro- 

 vision than 660 pounds of leaves, wiiich should 

 be chosen as good as possible, and from the oldest 

 trees. The first share should be the largest, say 

 .200 pounds, and the following meals be lessened 

 euccessively. And that the worms may ripen to- 

 gether, still, as before, some intermediate distribu- 

 tions should be made, wherever they are seen to 

 be needed. The yellow color of the worm now 

 extends from one ring to another; they become 

 shining ; are no more greenish ; they diminish 

 perceptibly in bulk ; they seek the edges of the 

 hurdles to evacuate all that ought to be discharged 

 from their bowels. In proportion as it is perceiv- 

 ed that they approach maturity, and, especially, if 

 there is too much moisture, the litter should be 

 removed, as quickly as possible. Strict attention 

 must be paid to the state of the atmosphere in the 

 laboratory, and to the removal or correction of 

 every thing that can be injurious in any manner 

 to the worms. 



On the ninth day, the thirty-first since the birth 

 of the worms, the provision of leaves will be only 

 435 pounds, to be distributed throughout, and wher- 



ever there is more special want. The worms are 

 becoming more yellow, the surface on the back is 

 more shining, the rings are orange, the muzzle is 

 more clear. Currents of air, and exposure to sud- 

 den chanires of temperature must be guarded 

 against ; though it may seem that the healthy and 

 vigorous worms may sulTer no remarkable incon- 

 venience, even if exposed to considerable incle- 

 mency of the weather. 



The worms, from their hatching to this time, 

 have grown to forty times their first length, and, 

 in a month, have increased to nine thousand times 

 more weight than they were when just come 

 forth from the efr^z. The most active period of 

 their short life is the space of nine days comprised 

 within the fifth age. There is yet, however, need 

 for great watchlijiness over the worms, that they 

 may arrive safely at perlect maturity, which will 

 not be until they throw off the skin that now 

 covers them and change to the chrysalis form, 

 losing, at the same time, half the bulk and weight 

 of their bodies. The transverse bands reappear 

 upon their backs, and the scaly prolongation of 

 the muzzle becomes blackish, brilliant, and very 

 strong. Their whiteness is much more decided 

 that it has been before ; and to the touch, they 

 have the firmness of flesh, as well as velvet soft- 

 ness, especially when healthy and vigorous. At 

 this lime the worms should be kept not only in a 

 warm enoucih temperature, but in air continually 

 renewed, if for no other purpose than to favor the 

 evaporation and aid the removal of the perspira- 

 tory fluids, which are transuding from the worms 

 continuall}', during the last part of their existence 

 in this form. 



In the last period of the fifth age, for the forma- 

 tion and perlect completion of the cocoons by the 

 uninterrupted spinning of the silk, until the moment 

 when the worm becomes a chrysalis, it is necessa- 

 ry that the silk-worm should have its body corn- 

 posed of but two substances, the one the silk ma- 

 terial, and the other purely of animal matter ; and 

 that the intestinal canal should be evacuated of all 

 the excrement al matter which it contained. It 

 is therefore necessary to keep the worms in the 

 most perfect state of cleanliness, and also to con- 

 tinue to give them leaves at the same time, not 

 only to finish this day, but still to wait some twen- 

 ty-four hours more for their maturity to be fully 

 completed; which will be known by the following 

 signs: 



On the tenth day, the thirty-second from their 

 hatching, when fi-esh leaves are given to the 

 worms, if they climb upon them and do not 

 eat — if they keep the neck stretched and the head 

 raised, as if searching for something — if they are 

 transparent, and of a fine yellow color — when 

 they raise themselves upon the hurdles where they 

 were supported, crawling slowly, and when they 

 reach the edges, endeavor to go farther — when 

 their rings disappear, and their greenish hue is 

 entirely changed to orange-yellow, the neck be- 

 comes wrinkled, and all the body becomes soft — 

 finally, if in placing one of the worms in the hol- 

 low of the hand, and looking at it facing the light, 

 it is perceived that the light shows through it — 

 then immediately every thing should be disposed 

 to favor the immediate climbing of the worm, for 

 the purpose of their beginning to spin their cocoons, 

 lest any fruitless efforts in searching for places to 

 Bpin, may exiiaust some of their silk. 



