318 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



abated than increased, and now I despair of it. 



Not more th;in one in twenty liave yet climbed, 

 (including (he oldest,) and in waiting lor the oth- 

 ers to do so, nnaided, I (ear that their energy and 

 healtli have already been wasting, judo;ing from 

 the shunken appearance, and soil llaccid I'eel to 

 the touch, of the worms oC the experiment lot, 

 and those stUl older. There seemed to be no hope 

 of saving them, except by the very troublesome, 

 laborious, and, to ihe worms, hurtCul procedure, of 

 lifting every one by hand, and putting them in 

 euitable places to spin. This was Ibrthwith com- 

 menced. The worms placed under the shelves 

 floored with coiton clotli, adhered well, and gene- 

 rally soon began to spin. From the sleek paste- 

 board floors, they dropped almost as ffist as put on; 

 and the two shelves so fixed were nearly useless 

 as spinning places. The wood-work, also was 

 planed too smooth ; and rougher surfaces would 

 have served better. Alter filling all these suitable 

 receptacles, next all the jelly and wine-glasses at 

 hand were put in requisition; and about two thou 

 sand little paper cones made and hung up, in each 

 of all of which a worm was put to spin. These 

 troublesome means served admirably in this case 

 of pressing necessity ; but, of course, such are out 

 of the question lor ordmary or profitable procedure 

 in rearing silk-worms. By all the means used, 

 all the worms of April the 13th, 14lh, and 15ih, 

 and part of the experiment lot, were disposed of 

 by night; and the hurdles, or shelves from which all 

 were entirely removed, were immediately after 

 cleaned olilie Iitlcr, which was about lour inches 

 thick, generally, mouldy beneath the surface, and 

 when turned up, ofl'ensive to thesmell. These and 

 all ought to have been cleaned some days before. 

 But, besides the twine ladders at the sides and ends 

 of the divisions, rows of twigs and slicks had been 

 set up across all, lo afford the worms more facilities 

 for climbing to the frame-work above ; and these 

 sticks served but the more to induce the worms to 

 form cocoons at their bottoms. Of course it was 

 impossible to remove, or even to thin the accumu- 

 lated litter, on any division, until after taking ofl' all 

 the worms; and even then, the partially finished 

 and very soft cocoons, there fixed, were necessa- 

 rily sacrifieed ; as well as such of the worms as 

 had already exhausted too much of their material 

 to recommence theirspinning. Such as were man- 

 itesily of this class were thrown away when the 

 litter was removed. JNlany of the finished co- 

 coons, however, though enveloped in, and even 

 covered by the litter, were firm and of good 

 quality. 



Food scarce to day ; and the most backward 

 worms, which are now ravenous, were neces- 

 sarily on short allowance. At night, a heavy rain. 



May 18th.— 32nd day, and 9th of fifth age. 



Morning 2 P. M. 9 P. M. 

 Temperature, ext. 63 67 58^ 



" int. 71 68 66^ 



Still raining, until noon, and interior air very 

 damp. Notwithstanding the great and increasing 

 coldness, it was deemed necessary to keep the door 

 open, for ventilation, which admitted the cold and 

 damp outer air freely fi^om the open door below. 



Several more hurdles cleared of all their worms, 

 and immediately afterof their litter, some of which 

 was hot at bottom, with fermentation. 



By night, (bund that, in our desperate haste to 



save the worms by removal, another great error 

 had been committed; some hundreds had been 

 moved lo places to spin before they were ready to 

 begin ; and alter they had been either lying quiet, 

 or crawling about, and fasting from 6 to 21 hours, 

 they had to be replaced on the cleaned hurdles, 

 were fed. and returned to eating with more or less 

 appetite. Some went to spinning very soon, and 

 after a very light meal ; more generally they con- 

 tinued sluggish, or continued to eat, and of course 

 will not spin, while any appetite remains. 



The course of the latest of the experiment lot of 

 worms (all hatched on April the 16th,) may 

 now be considered as finished, and every one of 

 the worms as now spinning. For though it may 

 be the case, that some of these are among the 

 number brought back, because of refusing to spin, 

 I do not believe it to be so. Though no separa- 

 tion was kept between the worms of different lots, 

 sfter they were placed to spin, still there is reason 

 to believe that all those brought back had been 

 taken irom the most backward remnants, which 

 were considerably behind the experiment lot in pro- 

 gress towards maturity. The spinning then of the 

 earliest of this lot began an the 28th day, (May 

 14th,) and the latest on this, the 32nd day — not 

 counting the 16th of April, during which they 

 were hatched. 



Morning. 2 P.M. 9 o'clock. 



May 19th.— Temp. ext. 56 80 67^ 



" int. 62 72 73^ 



Clear. — Procured fresh leaves, and fed the 

 returned worms, and all the still later ones which 

 had not yet been moved, continuing to place for 

 spinning all that seemed ready, until evening, 

 when no places were left for any more. There 

 then still remained from 800 to 1000 of the most 

 backward worms, part ot which had been brought 

 back after being placed too soon for spinning. 

 Not being disposed to provide leaves for, and to 

 vvait longer upon this slow remnant, and wishing 

 to clear my dwelling house of what might become 

 an offensive nuisance, if the sluggishness of there 

 worms was caused by disease, as I suspected, I 

 had all that remained put into baskets and carried 

 to a vacant room in another house, nearly half a 

 mile distant. Many of them were immediately 

 placed in situations suitable lor them to spin on ; 

 the greater number were spread over the floor, 

 the remaining and last supply of leaves sprinkled 

 over iheni, a number of crumpled newspapers laid 

 over and around, and then the worms were left, to 

 spin or die. 



Morning. 2 P.M. 9 P.M. 



May20th— Temp. ext. 58 81i 71 



" int. 66 76 77 



Most of the worms which are in the new location 

 are spinning^; but still others have not begun, both 

 there and in the first room. All such as were 

 visible, in both places, amounting to 150, were 

 collected, after fasting 16 hours, and given a tew 

 t>esh leaves. They eat a little, and being pro- 

 perly placed, soon began to spin. 



Took down, and had wound by hand, some of 

 the earliest cocoons. 



21st. About 50 more worms had crawled from 

 under the newspapers, and these, alter fasting two 

 entire days, were also removed, and supplied with 

 a little food. These, as well as the others, went to 

 spinning, and without a single exception, made 

 cocoons, and mostly of good quality. 



