29 



and a half feet, affording room sufficient to pass all round 

 the frame, so that I could conveniently reach any part of 

 it. In making the shelves, it is well to have the lowest 

 one six inches broader than the one above it, and to 

 make the same difference in the other shelves above, so 

 as to break the fall of such worms as happen to tumble 

 down. A good form for the shelves is that adopted by 

 Mr J. Y. Tomkins of Baltimore, and which I saw in 

 the nursery of Gideon B. Smith, Esq. of that place. 

 It is about 2 J feet wide, by five or six long, made of thin 

 boards, with a piece two inches wide nailed flat on the 

 upper edge along the sides and ends, with legs about a 

 foot long in the corners. The legs do not pass through 

 the table, but leave a part of the hole on the upper side 

 for the feet of another table to set in. Thus contrived 

 five or six of these tables are set one above another, and 

 are taken down, cleaned and again set up with facility. 

 One of these shelves will accommodate 500 worms.* 

 It might be as well to put old newspapers on the shelves, 

 which might be taken off whenever it was necessary to 

 clean the worms, and then replaced. Thus I have done. 



THE DIFFERENT AGES, MOULTING, ETC. 



There are several varieties of silk worms.f The most 

 common varieties change their skins four different times. 

 These changes are called moultings, and the intervening 



* Farmers, however, who would make it profitable, should raise 

 one or^two hundred thousand, and rough boards will make the 

 cheapest and most ready shelves for use on an extensive scale. 



t I saw in the Nursery of Gideon B. Smith, Esq. of Baltimore 

 four different varieties. I would recommend, as most profitable 

 for rearing, the large white. 



3* 



