44(J 



F A R M C U S ' K E G I S r E K 



[No. 1 



as carefully as may be, every one shoulil raise liis 

 own eiiffs, and only from the best cocoons, and the 

 most hcaliliy of the worms. And iliose who 

 have to buy, ought if possible to obtain their eggs 

 from liidse on whom they can rely lljr son)e care 

 and honesty in the manner of producing eggs for 

 sale, and (or truih in the characters and descrip- 

 tions reported. 



A sintrlc exception was named above to (he oth- 

 erwise universal healthiness and success ol" worms 

 of southern origin. 'J'hese were from eggs of one 

 particular rearing of 1S38. Of a portion of these 

 we lost every one, (by the contagious disease called 

 "the yellows,") while the worms of two other 

 kinds, (also l)oth souihcrn,) in the same house, did 

 as well as very bad arrangements and rough treat- 

 ment permilted. Three other persons who were 

 supplied vvilh eggs from that same stock, also lost 

 every one of their worms. These exceptions, so far 

 ns they go, seem to confirm the opinion of such 

 results being caused by the eggs being obtained 

 from a diseased stock. For though less likely to 

 occur, a southern stock may be as feeble, or dis- 

 eased, and as unfit to breed from, as any of the 

 northern. 



But even when there is not much disease ex- 

 hibited in a brood, and when the rearing, if taken 

 alone, miglit be deemed quite sui^cessful, we have 

 found much difference in the time of fi^eding worms 

 of southern and northern origin; and a few days 

 added to the time required lor rearing, is alone a 

 very serious objection, on account of the greater 

 expense of labor, of food, and the longer exposure 

 fo the risk of injury. We have just finished the 

 rearing ot" lour small broods, for experiment and 

 comparison, of the following diflierent kinds of 

 silk- worms. 



No. 1. Southern. Large gray worms, producing 

 orange cocoons, a second hatching, from the eggs of 

 one female, laid this season, and of the kind which 

 had hatched first prematurely in April. 



No. 2. Southern. Smaller while worms, jiro- 

 ducing sulphur-colored cocoons, also a second 

 hatching of this season. 



No. 3. Northern. "Yellow maminoth." 



No. 4. Northern. "Pea-nut" kind. 



All were hatched from the 18lh to the 20(h of 

 June ; and the worms were kept on the same ta- 

 ble, fed and attended to by the same persons, and 

 treated throughout with equal care; and the re- 

 sults were as follows : 



The two southern kinds did very well; some 

 few (not exceeding 2 per '■ent.,) in their latter 

 stages appeared yellowish and diseased, and were 

 thrown away as soon as observed, for fi^-ar of in- 

 fecting a highly prized stock ; and one or two 

 others of each parcel died after beginning to spin. 

 The earliest of the large gray, (No. 1,) began to 



spin at 23 days old — and the last on the 29lh. The 

 smaller sul phur-colored (No. 2,) were about a day 

 later in beginning, and the most sluggisii of them 

 were more behind the slowest of the gray. The 

 "mammoth" worms (No. 3,) were not only slower 

 in progress, but smaller at the same times, than the 

 southern gray worms (No. 1,) though they finally 

 reached about the same size. Three-fourths of 

 their number were thrown away, as diseased. 

 The first beginning of them to spin was at 29 days 

 old. The "pea-nut" eggs (No. 4,) were known to 

 have been of a healihy stock, (raised l»y S. 

 Whitmaish, esq., Massachusetts,) and the parent 

 worms had been properly selected for breeding; 

 and fiom i)arl of the same eggs, T. S. Pleasants 

 at Bellona, has raised this season, and has done 

 well. In our smaller trial, though the losses 

 by disease were very considerable, still the rear- 

 ing may be considered successlijl as to final 

 product. Uut these were six days later in be- 

 ginning to form cocoons than the large gray 

 worms, (No. 1,) and at 29 days old, the first were 

 lieginning to spin, with the latest of the others. 

 This is the only case known with certainty of 

 northern eggs of best quality, and of a good kind. 



The first moths from the cocoons of the large 

 gray worms, came out on the 24;h of July, (the37ih 

 day from the hatching of the e<iirs,) and therefore, 

 li-oin the 13lh uf April, to July 25ih, when the first 

 of the third were laiti, there were three successions 

 of eggs in existence, within 103 da^'s. Of this 

 parcel (No. 1,) the eggs were not counted, but it is 

 believed that all hatched, and that the after losses 

 ilid not exceed, if they reached, 4 per cent. The 

 product was 204 cocoons, nearly all very firm, and 

 nf excellent quality. Of the "pea-nut" eggs, 1297 

 by actual count, about 1100 hatched, anti all made 

 from them were 485 good cocoons, and 57 soil and 

 imperfect — showing a loss by disease of about 50 

 per cent., of the hatching. 



The greater slowness of growthof the "pea-nut" 

 kind we expect to diminish in our climate, and pro- 

 bably may disappear by another year; and in all 

 other respects they seem to he an excellent kind, in- 

 ferior only, as we believe from our little experience, 

 to the hardy gray worm. The cocoons of this se- 

 cond brood of the latter are firmer and bet'er than 

 those of the first hatching. If the eggs of these 

 should again hatch, making ihree successive rear- 

 ings from the same stock in a year, there will be 

 good reason to believe that this quality of repetition 

 in hatching will have become a fixed quality, and 

 thereby a new two-crop variety produced. The 

 pea-nut cocoons are remarkably firm. The sulphur 

 colored (No. 1,) we would reject, (even if it has 

 become a two-crop worm,) on account of its small 

 size. The "yellow-mammoth," if to be judged by 

 the result of this rearing, we consider as feeble, 

 unproductive, and wonhless, and not possessing in 



