HATCHING THE INSECTS. 73 



SECTION XXVI. 



HATCHING THE INSECTS. 



THE eggs of the silk-worm are of a pale slate, or 

 dark lilac color, and of the size of a pin's head; those 

 of a yellow color are imperfect ; but the color of good 

 eggs is often given to bad ones by washing in dark col- 

 ored and muddy wine. When the mulberry begins to 

 unfold its leaf, and the largest have grown to an inch in 

 diameter, which in our climate, lat. 42 23', is towards 

 the last of May, and in settled fair weather, let the pa- 

 pers which contain the eggs be placed on tables in a 

 sitting room of a comfortable warmth, with windows 

 facing the south, but without exposing them to the sun. 

 In such a situation, the warmth of the atmosphere which 

 is usually produced by the sun, is sufficient to hatch the 

 eggs. When the eggs assume a whitish color, or in 

 about ten days, lay over them coarse muslin, or sheets 

 of white paper pierced full of holes, one twelfth of an 

 inch in diameter, or of the size of a large knitting nee- 

 dle, turned up at the edges to prevent the escape of the 

 silk-worm. Lay over the paper twigs containing the 

 young leaves of the mulberry ; and the insects, attracted 

 by the smell of the leaves, crawl through the holes and 

 fall to feeding. Those few silk-worms that hatch on the 

 first day, should be placed in a cooler situation than 

 those which come out on the second day, or stinted in 

 their supply of food, that they may be no more forward 

 than the rest. Twice a day the worms which are thus 

 hatched, are transferred to the shelves allotted to those 

 of the first age and allowed suitable space. Being care- 

 ful to preserve each day's hatching by itself, and mark- 

 ing the date on the hurdle. All usually are hatched in 

 from 48 to 72 hours. Fortunately, the systematic and 

 precise directions for hatching the eggs which I have 

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