HABITATIONS, HURDLES, &iC. 65 



SECTION XXIII. 

 HABITATIONS, OR MAGNANERIE, HURDLES, &c. 



We have seen that the silk-worm is a hardy insect 

 which is capable of sustaining life, and of enduring, 

 unprotected, cold storms of rain, of wind, and of thunder. 

 If, however, mankind would assume absolute and exclu- 

 sive claims to the labors of the silk-worm, it becomes 

 necessary that they should at least afford them their 

 needful and friendly protection. The silk-worms re- 

 quire a shelter or habitation adapted to their wants and 

 comfort, equal in its style and structure to those which 

 are required for the protection of our flocks and our 

 herds, and our other domestic animals 



In Italy, France, and other parts of Europe, where 

 silk forms a branch of industry of the first importance, 

 the hovels of the peasant, the barns and other outbuild- 

 ings of the more wealthy, serve for a season the pur- 

 poses of the silk-worm. In India, as we have already 

 seen, and, in other hot countries, the silk-worms are 

 sheltered in buildings of a more light and airy struc- 

 ture, and covered with thatch. In Connecticut and 

 other climates equally favored, good silk has been rais- 

 ed in sheds and barns, and other 'outbuildings, which 

 answer well. Shelter is alike necessary to defend from 

 cold winds and humid currents of air, and from storms, 

 as well as from their natural enemies. These enemies 

 of the silk-worm include poultry, and birds of. all other 

 kinds which prey on insects; also cats, mice and rats, 

 and ants; these last are excluded from their approaches 

 by surrounding the pillars of the stagings, either with 

 quick lime, or some glutinous substance, or the posts 

 are set in basins of water. 



The houses for silk-worms should be in airy situa- 

 tions; they may be built of one or two stories, and may 



