FARMERS' REGISTER. 



545 



Richmond and Lynohburn;, along the ridge divid- 

 ing the waters of the James and Appomattox 

 rivers, to be extended to connect with the pro- 

 posed southwestern railroad. Such a railroad 

 would secure to the state a large travel and return 

 trade to the southwest, in light and valuable pack- 

 ages, which, without it, will probably not pass 

 through the state. A second railroad, which would 

 add largely to the wealth of the country through 

 which it would pass, and to the corntnerce of Rich- 

 mond, has been surveyed, diverging Irom the (br- 

 nier in the neighborhood of Farmville, and pass- 

 ing in a southwesterly direction to the valleys of 

 the Staunton and Dan rivers, a short distance 

 above the junction of those streams. With her 

 great western and southwestern improvements 

 carried out, and these two lines of railroad, Virgi- 

 nia might again take rank among the Ibremosl 

 slate ol' the confederacy. 

 Aggregate iensth of canals in VirginiajlQG.QS miles 



do. 



do. 



railroads 



do. 36150 do. 



RETARDIIVG THE HATCHING OF EGGS, CAU- 

 SES OF SICKNESS AND I>EATH OP WORMS, 

 DURING THE SUMMER OF 1840j &C. 



Fioiullie Journal of tlie American Silk Society. 



This is a most important subject, and the writer 

 of this article feels the responsibility of the task he 

 has undertaken most sensibly. Scarcely less than 

 the success or liiiiure of the great enterprise ol 

 introducing the culture of silk in the United States, 

 depends upon it. In alT parts of the country the 

 early brootls of siik worms, that were known to 

 have been produced from good eggs, were success- 

 fully carried through their various stages, and 

 produced good crops of cocoons. It is believed 

 that all the exceptions to such a result were I'airly 

 attributable to deltictive eggs, or to attempts at pre- 

 mature hatching. As remarked by our correspon- 

 dent, 'P.' in the present number, this success was 

 attained even in cases 'where almost every rule of 

 good management had been disregarded.' But in 

 a great majority of cases the later brooils have ut- 

 terly failed. These failures have not been con- 

 fined to the tide water regions of the south, to the 

 middle states, nor to the west, but in all parts, at 

 the north, south, east and west, the people have 

 been equally unsuccessful with the later broods of 

 worms. The symptoms and character of one va- 

 riety of the diseases by which they were carried 

 off are v/ell described by 'P.' Oihers say theirs 

 were carried off by the yellows, and others by all 

 sorts of diseases mixed — some worms dying of 

 the yellows, some by the tripes, &c. &c. All who 

 have had late broods, however, will have seen 

 enough of the diseases without wishing further in- 

 formation on that score. A knowledge of the 

 cause of the diseases is what is now wanting, and 

 it is the object of this paper to point them out; 

 whether this task shall have been successfully per- 

 formed or not, remains to be seen. 



One cause of the diseases of the late broods, 

 undoubtedly was the improper mode adopted for 

 retarding the hatching. The egirs were kept ex- 

 posed to various temperatures till the germ had 

 commenced forming, and even until some few 

 were hatched, and then put into ice-houses, to 

 retard their hatching. Tliis unqucslionablv either 

 Vol. Vlll.— G9 



killed all the eggs thus treated, or eo chilled the 

 germs as to weaken the constitutions of the 

 worms, and thus make them subject lo the various 

 diseases at some period ol their lives. The writer 

 of this paper was personally acquainted with se- 

 veral instances of lailure from this cause. 



Another cause was clearly traceable to the sud- 

 den exposure of eggs, properly kept previously in 

 ice, to the extreme warm weather of midsummer. 

 This destroys many eggs. 



Another was the placing of good eggs in ice 

 after they had been exposed several days on their 

 passage from one place to another, during warm 

 weather. 



It would appear that the exercise of a little com- 

 mon sense would efiectualiy prevent injury from 

 any of the above causes. The directions tor keep* 

 ing eggs are plainly descriptive of the simple pro- 

 cess. They must be kept during the warm wea- 

 ther of the season they are laid, in a coo!, dry place, 

 a cellar, if possible ; if intended to bs retarded, 

 they must be placed in the ice-house or cellar, at 

 least in the forepart of winter, and not left exposed 

 till the warm weather of the latter part of winter and 

 spring shall have started the germ. If the eggs 

 shall have been kept in ice, they should be expos- 

 ed gradually to the natural temperature of the 

 atmosphere. After eggs have been kept in ice, 

 and then exposed to a warm atmosphere for any 

 length of time, say more than a lew hours, they 

 must not be put in ice again. 



Bat the great cause of most of our disasters, it 

 is believed, has never been suspected — at least the 

 writer of this paper is not aware of its having been 

 noticed by any writer. Neither can he prove to 

 demonstration that it is the great cause, or any 

 cause at all, of disease in silk worms; but he ex- 

 pects to be able to satisly all inquiring minds at 

 least of its great probability. The silk worm, 

 when left to uself, exposed lo the ordinary atmo- 

 sphere, hatches in the spring of the year exactly at 

 the time the mulberry leaves open. It is therefore 

 an annual insect, and requires exactly twelve 

 months to pass through the various stages of its 

 existence. If lor example a silk worm was hatch- 

 ed on the first day of May, 1S40, the eggs that it 

 would produce would naturally hatch on the first 

 day cf May, 1841. That it is by no means unrea- 

 sonable to suppose the existence of such precision 

 of periodical developement in silk worm?, we may 

 be satisfied by reference to the habits of various 

 other insects and animals. The American locust 

 requires exactly seventeen years lo perform iia 

 circle of existence, as has been clearly proved. 

 The swallow martin makes it appearance in its 

 usual haunts nearly, if not exactly, on the same 

 day of every year. But we will not consume time 

 in reasoning on the subject — believing the reason- 

 ableness of the assumption to be sutficienily ap- 

 parent. If we admit this position, we shall then 

 have arrived at the point desired, which is that 

 we cannot retard or delay the hatching of the 

 worms, for any considerable length of time beyond 

 their natural period, without doing violence more 

 or less to the constitution of the insect; and the 

 longer we do retard the hatching l)eyond this pe- 

 riod, the more injury we do the worm, until we 

 accomplish its death in the egg. Here we shall 

 be met with the case of the Messrs. Carson, who 

 retarded the haSching of a box of eggs fron) 1837 

 to 1839 ; and by various other instances of re- 



