1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



247 



Fig. 1. b, b, b, Part of outer wall of cocoonery. 



a, a, a, Parts of passages running lengthwise. 



d d, e e, Cross passages. 



f, Door. 



g^S; ff) ^c- Hurdles. 



i i, i i, <^c. Ranges of shelves. 



c, c, c, ^c. Upright posts. 



A single rovV of posts serves for one row of 

 shelves. The posts c, c, c, are of plank 8 inches 

 wide by 1| inches thick ; they reach from the 

 floor to the ceiling, ami are exactly 4 feet apart 

 from the centre of one to the centre of the other. 



They are to be accurately ranged with each other, 

 (in the direction of the length of the shelves,) 

 throughout the length of the row. It is to these 

 posts that the superstructure is attached, both lor 

 feeding the worms and accommodating them 

 when they are ready to spin. To explain the 

 manner in which the fixtures are put up, and to 

 render the whole description as intelligible as pos- 

 sible, the reader is referred to the following draw- 

 ing, fig. 2, which represents the position of the 

 posts, and so much of one of the shelves as is in- 

 cluded between two of the posts. 



Fig. 2. Horizontal plan, (on enlarged scale,) of the frame-work of a portion of the shelves. 

 a ' a 



f f f 



Fig. 2. c, c, Two of the upright posts, to which 

 are nailed, d d, and e e, cross-laths. 



a a, b b, Parts of the longitudinal laths, three- 

 fourths of an inch across, and 2 inches deep, nail- 

 ed to cross-laths d d, and e e. 



ffff, 8fc. Otiier cross-laths of same sizes, 

 nailed to a a, and b b. 



The boards which form the shelves is to be nail- 

 ed on this frame-work, and a hurdle to lie on the 

 space between the posts c, c. 



The first or lowest shelf ol'each of the four rows 

 or ranges, is 14 inches from the floor of the room ; 

 and the same space is preserved between the top 

 of the lowest shelf, and the bottom of the one im- 

 mediately above it, and so on from one to another, 

 until the proper height for the uppermost shelf is 

 attained. It is by this arrangement that a room 

 of moderate size may be fixed to contain a con- 

 siderable number of worms. The number of tiers 

 of shelves, in the same row. may be from lour to 

 eight, according to the height of the ceiling and 

 other circumstances. At 14 inches then from the 

 floor, laths or strips 2 feet 10^ inches long, and 2 

 inches wide by •} thick, ( lines d, d,) are nail- 

 ed upon the fiat sides of the posts (c, c,) and at 

 right angles to them. Other laths of the same 

 length and size, are then to be nailed on the oppo- 

 site sides of the posts, and the same heicrht above 

 the floor. The ends of these laths are connected 

 together by pieces of similar dimensions, (a a,b b,) 

 but of greater length, say 8, 12 or 16 fijet long, 

 (the posts being 4 feet apart,) running longitudi- 

 nally with the room. They are nailed to the ends 

 ' of the short laths. The spaces between the posts 

 (c, c,) are to be supplied with other cross strips 

 (/)/!/) ^''•) of the same size and length of d d, 



three inches apart from centre to centre, and fas- 

 tened at the ends to the pieces aa, b b. The frame- 

 work here attempted to be ilescribed, and on 

 which the floors or shelves are to be laid, may be 

 illustrated by comparing it to the sills and sleepers 

 of a house, before the floor is put down. The 

 only difl'erence in the two cases is, that in a house, 

 the planks of the floor are laid across the sleepers. 

 In the present case the planks of the shelf are 

 placed in the same direction ivith the sleepers 

 Cfyfifi 4*c.^ As the shelves are three feet wide, the 

 planks therefore must be sawed up in lengths of 

 three feet. They should be of very thin boards ; 

 half inch, or five-eighths at most, in thickness. 

 It is proper (o have them tongued and grooved, in 

 order to prevent the litter fi-om falling through, 

 and intprlering with the worms on the shelf be- 

 low. The floor is fastened down by first nailing 

 the ends of the planks to the laths a a, b b; and af- 

 terwards by driving one or two nails through the 

 floor into each of the cross laths or sleepers, d, 

 e,f. The floor is to he fitted round the posts, so 

 as to present an unbroken surface ; and, in order 

 to facilitaie the workman in this part of the busi- 

 ness, it would be best to procure boards of regu- 

 lar width, so that a specified number, 4, 6 or 8, 

 would, when dressed and jointed, reach fi-om the 

 centre of one post to the centre of the next. 



The worms are fed on hurdles placed on the 

 shelves — one hurdle on every shelf, and between 

 every two posts. Hurdles of" network are now in 

 general use at the north, though there still exists 

 a prejudice against them in the minds of some silk- 

 growers. In extensive cocooneries, however, it ia 

 diflicult to conceive how they can be dispensed 

 with. Their size should be made to correspond 



