FARMERS' REGISTER 



617 



this toolc place on ihe ihiril day alter he Imd started 

 it cannot be looked upon olhervvise ihan as won- 

 deiful. 



In performina; the given distance, he has to 

 walk lour times every day between the two i)laces. 

 As suon as he makes Ins appearance within the 

 suburbs of Liverpool, he is constantly Ibllowed by 

 great crowds (of whom he much complains) of 

 anxious spectators, eager to look lor once upon a 

 man whose perlbrmance, when completed, will 

 be one of the greatest leats of walking ever ac- 

 complished. 



Mr. Townshend finishes his arduous task this 

 evening; he will be in tins town about 9 o'clock 

 in the morning, hall-past 1 in the aliernoon, and 

 6 in the evening; he will then proceed lor the last 

 lime to Prescot, and return to Liverpool at about 

 half-past 10, which will complete this feat unpa- 

 ralleled in the history ofpedestrianism. 



Last night, when he arrived at Mr. Taylor's, 

 Williamson-square, (at which house he has regu- 

 larly 6le[it, about live hciurs out of every (weniy- 

 lour, goiiiL'' lo bed at 12, and Ii^■-ing again at five,) 

 he complained very much ol' his feet being sore, 

 but his spirits seemed as buoyant as they were on 

 the first day, {Monday.)— Liverpool paper. 



CAUSES OF THE FAILURES IN REARING SILIC- 

 AVORMS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Fredericksburg^ Sept. \si, 1840. 



The last number of the Farmers' Register con- 

 tains (io me') unpleasant news relative to the ge- 

 neral result of silk culture, in Virginia, during? the 

 past summer; but it is proper that these liiilurcs 

 should be known, that persons intending to prose- 

 cute the business may piovide convenient and 

 proper fixtures, and exercise more care in time to 

 come. Some of Dandolo's directions for the pre- 

 servation of silk-worms' eg2s are good, but others 

 are unnecessary, and impracticable in our climate. 

 As a specimen take the following : 



" The linen cloths upon which the eggs are de- 

 posited may be left then in the same place, pro- 

 vided the heat of the room does not exceed 66° 

 to 68°."* 



Now, where in Virginia shall we find a place 

 free from dampness that can be kept at a tempera- 

 ture as low as 68^' "in July or August?" The 

 eggs from which my rearings were made the past 

 summer were Irequenlly exposed to a tempera- 

 ture, a short lime after they were deposited, as 

 high as 85° lo 8S°, and yet the worms pioceeding 

 from these eggs were more thrifty than any large 

 parcel that 1 have seen. The hatching of a por- 

 tion of the eggs was retarded by placing them in 

 the ice-house ihe lOih of February, and another 

 parcel were buried under ground, and these too 

 succeeded well. But i am not yet sure that this 

 plan will retard the hatching as late as the 1st of 

 August, because a thermometer occupyinjj the 

 same situation, under ground, stood- on Jnne 27ih 

 at sunrise at 67°, and ..n June 29th, at 2 P. M., 

 at 68*^. The plan which I adopt lor retardintr the 

 hatching differs in some respects fi'om any that 

 has hitherto been made public, and as it is proba- 



• Dandolo's treatise, p. 234. London edition, 1825. 

 Vol. Vni.— 78 



ble that some of your readers may wish to try it, 

 I will send you an accurate description in Novem- 

 ber or December. 



I will state my opinion relative to the causes of 

 failure in rearing silk-worms during the past sum- 

 mer: 



1. Closing too many of the windows and venti- 

 lators of the room in warm and damp weather. 



2. Crowding the worms so as to prevent theic 

 feeding with regularity, and which also checked 

 proper transpiration. Hear Dandolo on this point. 

 '' It must be acknowledged that transpiration can- 

 not exist without the contact of air. The heallfi 

 of animals requires that they should expel, by 

 means of the excreting organs, the superabun- 

 dant liquid and extraneous substances, which may 

 have been introduced into their organization by 

 nutrition." 



3. fVide hurdles or shelves and narrow pas- 

 sages have been a fruitful cause of disease when 

 in other respects the manacement may have been 

 very good. The^e witle hurdles with narrow pas- 

 sages render it inipussitde lo expel the large quan- 

 tity ol car6on(c aci'd generated, with thatunilbrmiiy 

 and rapidity required to ensure health. 



Hear Dandolo on this point aUo. 



'■The quantity of carbonic acid which is dis- 

 charged by the silk-worms is in greater proportion 

 when the worms are numerous, when the tempe- 

 rature is high in the laboratory, and when the at- 

 mosphere is laden with moisture. This same 

 acid is well known to be heavier than the atmo- 

 spheric air; and it would fill constantly the regions 

 of pure air, which are in immediate contact with 

 the silk- worms, if care were not taken to estahlish 

 currents of air to expel it.'" (Note at page 265. 

 London edition, 1825.) 



The success of Count Dandolo in rearing silk- 

 worms in 1814, when, as he says, ^' the crop of 

 cocoons generally tailed in Italy," is mainly attri- 

 butable to the an)ple space allowed the worms, 

 and the means which he possessed lor a very free 

 ventilation. This of course is nothing more ihan 

 my opinion, and it may pass for what it is worth. 

 These statements have reference only to cases 

 where the worms were healthy when hatched. 

 The best arrangement and management can avail 

 nothing for worms from diseased eggs. 



An opinion, that rearings of silk-worms are 

 more precarious in large cocooneries than in small 

 ones, has prevailed to some extent, both in Italy 

 and in this country. In Virginia especially, this 

 objection has been zealously urged by those who 

 contend that the culture of silk cannot be pursued 

 with profit on an extensive scale. 



Facts stated by Dandolo stand in direct opposi- 

 tion to this opinion. 



"In general the laboratories of the tenants, 

 farmers and comnion cultivators, have the ap- 

 pearance of catacombs. I say in general, for 

 there are some lew, vvho, although they may not 

 have all the requisites of rearing silk-worms in 

 perltjction, yet have care euffinient to preserve the 

 worms from any very severe di,^ease. 



" I have ofien l(>and. on en'e'iig Mie rooms in 

 which these msecis are itMiP'i, ih it uiey were 

 damp,* ill-lighted by lamps led with slinking oil, 



'^ Some persons have supposed that closinj;; the win- 

 dows and ventilators in rainy weather protected the 

 worms from dampne.=;3. This error has destroyed mil- 

 lions of silk-worms. 



