91 



FAKMKRS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



The worms have had, at four meals, nearly 15 

 quintals of leaves. No worms dead, nor dymg. 

 22d. The sky is still obscured, and the weather 

 continues cold. At 5 A. M. the thermometer in- 

 dicated only 62 degrees, notwithstanding the ni- 

 creased fires. None ol' the worms which have 

 made the fourth moulting have been found dead ; 

 and there are some dead of the small number 

 which did not then fall into the fourth sleep. All 

 of this kind are thrown away, without mercy. 

 The consumption of leaves becomes enormous; it 

 has been, this day, about 20 quintals. The worms 

 are in good appetite. 



23d. The worms are in the most ravenous 

 state, and could not be doing better. The sun re- 

 appears, and the temperature rises, without fire, to 

 71 degrees. The consumption of leaves is fright- 

 ful. The trees are stripped, and the fear of the 

 leaves failing causes me m.uch uneasiness. The 

 expenditure to-day is 23 quintals. The windows 

 remained open through the day. Still no bad 

 odor. We have not cleaned the hurdles since the 

 last moulting, but it will be dune to-morrow, not 

 so much for the purpose of removing the litter, 

 which is but of little thickness, and not heated, 

 but to give the worms more space, as they he 

 very thick. 



24th. After the morning meal, the worms were 

 removed, and the litter cleared away. There 

 were found on the hurdles very lew dead worms. 

 The strongest appetite (freze,) continues still, 

 but less violently, especially in the evening. How- 

 ever, 18 quintals of leaves have been devoured. 

 The number of mulberry trees yet to be stripped 

 is greatly diminished, and the fear of a want of 

 leaves increases every hour. 



The day has been very fine, and the interior 

 temperature has been kept to 71 and 73 degrees, 

 the windows being open from 10 in the morning to 

 5 o'clock in the evening. 



25th. This, the eighth day of the fifth age, has 

 been very fine. The temperature still 71 to 73 

 degrees. The appetite of the worms slackens 

 progressively, and the lear of there being want of 

 Ibod is much lessened. 'J'here still remain 37 

 large trees to strip. The consumption 13 quin- 

 tals. It is already observed, with pleasure, that 

 the worms are disposed to spin. They exhibit all 

 the signs of their maturity being near. They will 

 doubtless climb in two days. We must to-mor- 

 row fix the faggots of broom, (or hedge lor them 

 to spin in.) 



26th. The brightness and heat of the day yes- 

 terday have much hastened the maturity of the 

 worms. These circumstances will advance, by a 

 day, the term of their career. There were found 

 many of them this morning which had already 

 quitted their litter, and had climbed even to the 

 ceiling. After the meal at 10 A. M. there is a 

 general movement on all the hurdles; the worms 

 run here and there, searching for support. There 

 can be no mistake ; they arc ready to mount, and 

 this is especially the moment of delighc to the 

 amateur culturist. Four persons are engaged im- 

 mediately in placing the branches of broom upon 

 the highest shelf, in order that they may receive 

 the most ibrward worms from all the hurdles be- 

 low. This operation will not cease until all the 

 shelves are thus prepared. As liist as the broom 

 is placed, the worms climb to it with a degree ol 

 haste which I have never before remarked. This 



labor is finished at 5 in the evening, and nearly 

 half of the worms are already mounted. The 

 weather changed towards noon. The sky was 

 covered with clouds, and at G o'clock a storm oc- 

 curred, accompanied by loud cla|)s of thunder, 

 which operated to slacken the climbing of the 

 worms, but caused not the slightest derangement 

 to the labors of those already on the broom. The 

 consumption of leaves still diminished ; and no 

 fear remains of any scarcity. 



It should be observed that the quantities of 

 leaves used, and which have been slated lor the 

 latter days, were consumed by the whole mass of 

 worms of all the three divisions. With all the de- 

 sire to do so, it was impossible to estimate sepa- 

 rately the quantity eaten by each division ; and 

 the statement made, of their joint consumption, 

 is only to establish a fact which should warn all 

 persons, beforehand, of the enormous provision of 

 leaves which must be made lor the last age. 



27lh. On this, the forty-first day, and the last, 

 of the rearing, the worms of the first division are 

 all lodged in the cabins made by the placing of the 

 broom, and ihey are actively cngnged in spinning 

 their cocoons. The other two divisions are Ibl- 

 Ibwing near, to the like successful end. 



I leave for a time, sir, my wonderful spinners to 

 their labors, and in a continuation of my letter, 

 which will not be long in coming, I shall pre- 

 sent to you the product of this rearing, and the ob- 

 servations which it has caused me to make; and 

 1 will speak to you of the progress of the planting 

 of mulberries in our country, leaving the evidence 

 of results to show the advantages which the peo- 

 ple of Aveyron can draw irom this culture. 



Abiaks Cariiier. 



ESTIMATES 



OF THE EXPEKSE AND PROFIT OF AN ACTUAL 

 KKARING OF SILK-WORMS. 



[The following article is not less interesting than 

 the preceding, ol" which it is a continuation, and for 

 similar reasons. It presents a statement, in detail, 

 of the expense and profits of an actual rearing of 

 a brood of silk-worms — and not merely, like such 

 as has been so often published in this country, 

 an estimate of what the writer either supposes in 

 advance of facts, or wishes his readers to believe, 

 would he the cost and profit of operations yet to be 

 performed, and of which the value is yet to be 

 tested. Such a mode of estimate may show any 

 desired result, and therefore they may be had of 

 any desired amount in American publications, and 

 offering from .$100 to ^1000 of returns from the 

 mulberry leaves of an acre, to be fed to silk- worms. 

 The estimate of M. Carrier ma)' also be very in- 

 correct in the general result shown. But even if 

 so, he has exhibited the facts and stated the prices 

 which furnish his premises; and if the valuations 

 are wrong, the error may be corrected, or made 

 such as the reader may admit as certain, and the 

 product be then calculated according to the change 

 of the grounds of calculation. And though we 



