1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



787 



and 1 see not why they may not be used in prefer- 

 ence to any other fixtures lor winding. They cost 

 nothing, except the labor of procuring them li'oni 

 the woods and placing them on the shelves. The 

 only objeciion I see to them is, the cocoons cannot 

 be taken from the bushes with quite the same lii- 

 cility wiih which they may be removed from straw 

 or some other fixtures. Yet I do not believe this 

 will be found a matter of much moment. A little 

 more experience, gathered from didered sections 

 of the country will enable us to adopt the most 

 approved plan lor winding. Of tiie mammoih 

 white cocoons it requiied an average of 317 to the 

 lb., weiirhed just as taken from the skelves ; of the 

 sulphur it recjuired 300. 2SS of the huirest white 

 made one lb., and of the largest sulphur 247. The 

 committee will perceive from this statement that 

 the weight of rsiy cocoons (alls \\\r below thai of 

 those produced by many other gentlemen, in dif- 

 ferent parts of our country, notices of which have 

 appeared in the Journal of your society and else- 

 where. Why this inlerioriiy I caimoi tell. The 

 worms were fed on the shelves without hurdles, 

 and the litter was removed from the shelves about 

 every fourth day. Sometimes they went from one 

 moulting to another without having the shelves 

 cleaned. The shelves were cleaned without hur- 

 dles in the following manner. The attendant had 

 a thin iialf inch board, planed smooth, 18 by 24 

 inches. After the worms appeared to be through 

 their moulting, fresh leaves were given them, the 

 attendant took up these leaves, the worms adhe- 

 ring, and laid them on the board which she held 

 in her hand and thus removed litem to clean 

 shelves; if all did not attach to the first leaves, 

 others were strewed on, and generall}' the second 

 time going over all were removed. I know this 

 mode of operations does not meet with favor among 

 those who are for adopting the " high pressure rail 

 road system." Neveriheless with my present ex- 

 perience, one >ear with, and another without hur- 

 dles, this IS the plan I would adopt in future, at least 

 untU i am further enlightened. Many objections 

 may be urged against hurdles. They are expen- 

 sive. Hurdles to feed 1,000,000 of worms will 

 cost several hundred dollars. This expense is by 

 no means counterbalanced by the labor which 

 they will save; for it admits of doubt whether, after 

 all. there is much labor saved. The worms will 

 not all ascend on the fresh hurdles, and if the po- 

 licy of throwing away all that do not ascend rea- 

 dily, is adopted, probably one-half the worms will 

 be thrown away. If this is not done, leaves must 

 be thrown on after the hurdles are removed, and 

 the worms must be taken off as they are without 

 the hurdles. Another objection is the difficulty of 

 preventing the worms from winding under the 

 hurdles, and around them among the litter. Be- 

 sides the plan of feeding without hurdles is much 

 more simple, and on this account to be recommen- 

 ded to the great mass of persons who will feed. 

 My worms were ft^d as often during the day as 

 they needed h, say five or six times ; they were 

 never fed at night. During the wliole lime of 

 feeding, the weather was very variable, the ther- 

 mometer ranged from 60^ to 90°, with frequent 

 easterly storms of several days continuance ; one 

 storm lasted eight days, from August 16th to 

 August 23d, inclusive. Several storms were ac- 

 companied with severe thunder and lightning. 

 August 13th, a barn was struck with lightning 

 Vol. VII— 93 



and burnt to the ground, less than one hundred 

 yards from the cocoonery. The worms appeared 

 to experience no injury whatever from the thunder. 

 The damp wet weather undoubtedly retarded them 

 in their operations. At such times they were 

 not so vigorous and active, but every crop was 

 perlijcily healthy; few, if any, were lost the 

 whole season by disease. At one lime my shelves 

 were more crowded than theyshouhl have been, 

 and worms would frequently fall to the floor. 

 These seldom wound afier they were returned to 

 the shelves ; in this way I may have lost nearly 

 or quite the amount ofone lb. of reeled silk. 



In order to be prepared for cold wet weather, I 

 fitted up a furnace in my cellar wiih flues leadmg 

 up and around my upper room. I did not use 

 artificial heat, however, more than a few times 

 when the mornings were a liltle cool. Here I will 

 take occasion to remark that the plan of arlificial 

 heat, and of regulating the temperature of the 

 cocoonery by the thermometer is, I believe, entirely 

 unnecessary. If it is essential, success in the silk 

 culture is impracticable. All our writers on the 

 subject maintain that our climate is admirably 

 adapted to the silk worm iviihout arlificial heat, 

 and I believe it is. Multitudes who we hope will 

 make silk, never saw a thermometer, and if they 

 are tan(rhi, that in order to make silk they must 

 have cellars and furnaces, and flues, and thermo- 

 meters, it will be in vain to attempt to get them 

 at the business. The more simple and cheap 

 every thing is made, connected with ihe production 

 of silk the sooner will the culture be established in 

 our country. 



The whole number of worms feil on my quarter 

 of an acre was about 40,000. The weio-ht of leaves 

 which they consumed was 2,576 lbs. The amount 

 of cocoons produced was 130 lbs. weighed jnst as 

 talcen from the shelves without sorting or flossing. 

 After they were sorted and flossed, there was one 

 lb. of floss and four lbs. detective cocoons, leaving 

 126 lbs. of cocoons. These produced 12 lbs. of 

 merchantable reeled silk, 16 ounces to the lb., and 

 one lb. wastage, ends, &c. The silk was reeled 

 on the Piedmontese reel, the water iteated in ket- 

 tles set in a fiirnace, one kettle was used as a heat- 

 er, and the other to reel from. 



From the above statement it will be seen that 

 it required between 19 and 20 lbs. of leaves to make 

 one lb. of cocoons. Of these cocoons, without floss 

 ing or sorting it required 10 lbs. and lOozs.lomake 

 one lb. of reeled silk. After they were flossed and 

 sorted, it required 10 lbs. and 5ozs., or about 214 lo 

 215 Ibs.ofleavpsto make one lb. of reeled silk. This 

 shows a ijreater amount of leaves necessary to make 

 one lb. ofcocoons, and a greater weiiiht of cocoons 

 necessary to make one lb. of reeled silk, than the 

 estimates published in various quarters, and grea- 

 ter than experiments said to have been made ac- 

 tually required. All I can say is, the object of my 

 experiment was to arrive at facts, and the above 

 is a plain statement of facts as they occurred in my 

 experience. I am free to state, that even with 

 your very liberal premiums in view, my object 

 was not so much to see the very largest amount 

 of silk which could be obtained li'om the smallest 

 quantity of leaves, or to endeavor to reach the 

 very maximum which could under the most favor- 

 able circumstances be produced from the quarter 

 of an acre, as to make wiu.t might be termed a 

 medium, or average experiment ; to feed just as I 



