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in Boston. It was found in France that the cocoons 

 brought to market by the peasants, raised in hovels so 

 full of cracks as easily to be seen through and to admit 

 the air freely, were richer and heavier than those reared in 

 palaces and in the confined rooms of dwellings in cities.* 

 The apparatus of the Rev. Mr Swain, I should think might 

 be worth adopting, for those who are beginning on a small 

 scale ; in fact I have had something like it constructed 

 for my own use. This apparatus consists of a wooden 

 frame, four feet two inches high, each side ; sixteen inches 

 and a half wide, divided into eight partitions by small 

 pieces of wood, which form grooves in which the slides 

 run, and are thus easily thrust in or drawn out of the frame. 

 The upper slide is of paper only and designed to re- 

 ceive the worms as scon as hatched ; the others are of 

 wicker work, the opening being about a quarter of an 

 inch square ; under each of these are slides. This occu- 

 pies little space and is neat, and the persons using it can 

 easily remove the litter. I have used three tiers of rough 

 pine boards fixed upon upright posts, about four feet in 

 width, one above the other, with a space between of two 



* I saw at Philadelphia on the 21st of June last, worms raised by 

 Mr D'Homergue in a yard of mulberry trees, which bore heavy 

 rains and thunder storms, as well as cold windy days, a few of 

 which spun in 30 days and produced excellent cocoons. They 

 began to mount 32 days after hatching. I also saw a few worms 

 raised from eggs which were laid on the outside of a brick wall in 

 a northern exposure, which had stood all the severity of the winter. 

 I saw many thousands of excellent cocoons raised by Mr Du Pon- 

 ceau under the care of Mr D'Homergue in the heart of the city 

 of Philadelphia. I tried some on trees in the open air the present 

 season, but they did not succeed ; they obtained however to a con- 

 siderable size, but the frequent rains destroyed them. 



