1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



289 



the silk culture ; not only to the improvement, but 

 to ihe inf roduct.ion of it 'in those countries gene- 

 rally. This will no doubt surprise man}' ot our 

 countrymen, bu! if! not tlie lep? tiue. The French 

 j)eriodicals are laboring hard to introduce it into 

 France generally. The}'^ even publish diaries 

 of the work (s=uch a?; thai in the ihird number ol 

 Ihe Journal*) to show to the people that they can 

 make silk there, to teach them iiow to do it. and 

 the profit ol" the culture. The truth is, that in the 

 larger portion of the fsouth of Europe, the silk 

 business is as new as it is here ; and even in those 

 districts where it is cultivated, the systems of cul- 

 ture are Jienerally of the rudest character. Hence 

 the efforts of public men there to improve the bu- 

 .siness. They recommend by precept and exam- 

 ple, cocooneries and fixtures constructed expressly 

 ibr the business ; and lay down in the most nn- 

 nute manner, rules for the management of the 

 worms from day to da^v. [t will, therelbre, be 

 well for us, as beginners and learners, to com- 

 mence right, and to practise the art in the best 

 possible manner; to begin, indeed, at the highest 

 grade to which the Europeans have arrived, and 

 to improve eVen upon that. 



Cocooneries. — In the construction of cocoone- 

 ries, retrard should be had to convenience of form 

 and eligibility of the site. A loner low building is 

 more convenient than one several stories hifrh; 

 and a high airysituaiion is preferable to a low one. 

 A building intended to accommodate 1,000,000 of 

 worms, must be eighty feet long by (orty leet in 

 width, one story hiizh ; or in that proportion. I 

 think a better form would be one hnndred feet long j 

 by thirty-two in width, which would adord the j 

 Bame room. A plain frame building is best. It j 

 should be weather-boarded, and instead of laths' 

 and plaister, the walls should be tiijlitly boarded I 

 also. There should be windows ev^ery six or eiirht - 

 feet on each side, with shutters; and ventilators 

 alono- the sides near the floor, and under each row I 

 of hurdles, and also in the ceilinc, to admit of a 

 free circulation of air when necessary ; and so ar- ] 

 ranged with shutters that they may be closed at I 

 pleasure. The building should be raised three or j 

 ibur feet from the ground, on [)iliars, to insure its ! 

 freedom ft-om damp, and to admit the passage of I 

 pure air from below. This also renders it more j 

 inaccessible to rats and mice, which are very de- 

 structive to silk-worms. It will be a great advan- 

 tage if the building have an upper story or half' 

 story, as it will protect the cocoonery in the lower ! 

 story from the heat of t'.ie sun, and will be very j 

 useful as a store room for cocoons, and many other i 

 uses. Where there are high treee to shade the ! 

 roof, they will be found of irreat benefit ; but they 

 should be trimmed of their branches as high as the 

 top of the building, to guard atrainst dampness, 

 and to secure a \rce circulation of air around the 

 building. Fire places should be provided in each 

 side and end of the cocoonery, for the purpose of 

 drying the atmosphere in damp weather. Or, 

 what is still better, air furnaces may be provided 

 in small cellars under each end of the cocoonery, 

 for this purpose. 



The fixtures ibr a eocooney are properly con- 

 structed hurdles or shelves on which to feed the 

 worms. There are, probably, no two cocooneries 



* M. Amans Carrier's — republished from Farmeis" 

 Register, (p. 89, vol. vn.)— Ed. F. R. 

 Vol. VII~37 



] in existence alike in this respect. Some have 



I nothing but sim;)le board shelves, six to eight feet 



} long, supported upon elects at each end, and made 



I to draw out and in at pleasure. Others have 



i frames of the same dimensions, with net-work 



j bottoms, and provided with sliding shelves two or 



i three inches below to catch the ordure that falls 



liom ihem, I have prefijrred the latter to simple 



{boards; but Mr. Whitmarsh, who has lor many 



I years fed worms extensively, and who at first used 



net-work hurdles, prefers the simple boards, and 



now uses them altogether. Of course there can 



be but little, if any advantage in the former, or he 



would not have abandoned them ; and there must 



be some advantage in the latter, to authorize liis 



laying aside the net-work and resorting lo the 



board shelves in his extensive establishment. 



Hurdles. — The net-work hurdles may be made 

 most cheajily in the following manner: The frames 

 are formed like the outside frames of a window 

 sash, ol' seasoned pine or poplar stufl, an incli 

 thick, and about two inches wide. Mark ofl' the 

 sides and ends on the upper surfice with com- 

 passes, three-lburihs of an inch apart, and place 

 iialf-itich tacks with heads in the marks, driven 

 nearly to the head. Then take a ball of doubled 

 and twisted coiiou iwine. lie the end to the first 

 tack on one corner, and pass it to tlie other side, 

 around the heads of two of the tacks next to the 

 opposite corner, drawing tightly, and return to the 

 second ttick on the first, passing round the head 

 of that and the next, and returning to tlie third 

 I and Iburth tacks on the other side, and so on till 

 I all the lacks are occupied, and driving down the 

 j lacks so that they will confine the iwine. Then 

 j turn the hurdle the oilier way, and lasten the end 

 ' of the Iwine to the first tack in tlie coiner and pass 

 I the double twine alternately over and under two 

 < of the cross threads to the other side, passing the 

 loop over two tacks drawing them tightly" and 

 I driving down the lacks; thus continuing till the 

 vihoie hurdle is finished. The meshes will thus 

 l)e three-(]uarters ofan inch square. I have made 

 them by perforating the frames with a brad-awl ; 

 and others make them by sawing the Irames 

 across at the proper distances, about a quarter of 

 an inch deep and passing the twine through the 

 track made l»y the saw. I think those made with 

 tacks much the simplest, and as good as any other. 

 ISlessrs. Jenks and Ramsburg of Frederick make 

 them in that way. A couple of men can make 

 twenty to tliirty in a day. Others make regnlnrnet- 

 ting, and stretch it over the corners of the lianies, 

 and confine it to them with cords. The size of' 

 these hurdles depends upon the lidncy of those 

 who make them. They are generally four to six 

 leet long, and two to three lifet wide. I think two 

 and a half feet by four, the most convenient size. 

 Standing posts. — To support the hurdles, up- 

 right posts are required from the floor to the ceil- 

 ing, just far enough apart, lengthwise, to admit 

 Ihe hurdles between them. If the hurdles are 

 five feet long and two and a half wide, then 

 the posts should be five feet apart in the clear, 

 lengthwise, and two feet apart the other way. 

 Gleets nailed across these posts, one foot apart, 

 beginning one foot Irnm the floor, serve to sup- 

 port the hurdles, which may be drawn out and 

 in like a drawer. The posts may be made from 

 three-inch joists. For small esiablishtnente, or 

 when the room 'is required tor other purposes after 



