194 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



breeding places in Europe shortens the time of the Japanese 

 breeds to 32 days, and that of the Brianza to even 25 days. 



Silk-culture in Japan is confined to Hondo, the largest of the 

 islands. It constitutes here the most widespread and important 

 home industry, in most cases being carried on in connection with 

 other agricultural employments ; but as a rule it is the inhabitants' 

 chief source of income. Where it is carried out to a large extent, 

 one perceives from the large, clean houses, and their beautiful mats, 

 how it has improved the condition of the people. No other branch 

 of agricultural industry gives evidence of an equally beneficial 

 influence. In such districts there are, as might be supposed, 

 particular places in which the caterpillars are raised in larger 

 quantities. In some narrow valleys people even give up the 

 ordinary one-storied style of house, and added another storey 

 to the dwelling below, so as to have plenty of dry, airy rooms 

 for the silk-culture. I have noticed this, among other places, in 

 the province of Kaga, near Ushikubi. Wherever, on the other 

 hand, the breeder, through poverty or neglect, does not give his 

 silk-worms a room by themselves, — wherever at my entrance I 

 met an offensive odour and a swarm of flies, as in many of our 

 cattle stalls, there I also observed signs of ruinous disease (the 

 Pebrine not excepted). Thus, at a single change of bed, hun- 

 dreds of dead silk-worms had to be cast into the water that ran 

 past — as, for example, in the northern part of Mino. Like the 

 hatching rooms, also the storage arrangements are varied and 

 suited to the means at command — from the simple frame or sieve, 

 to the solid structure of a high stand with compartments. This 

 may be compared, as a rule, to two ladders standing vertically 

 opposite each other, across the rounds of which, at intervals of 

 25 to 40 cm., are placed the horizontal hurdles or beds, consisting 

 either of parallel laths or bamboo sticks, laid from i to 3 cm. 

 apart, and covered with thin straw mats. 



When the time of hatching draws near, the paper boards are 

 brought into the hatching room, or to a shady spot in the open air, 

 with the eggs, which have been kept up to this time in a dry place, 

 wrapped in paper and protected from mice. Here the silkworm is 

 developed in the ^gg gradually, as the warmth increases, Exact 

 observations in Europe have shown that this development begins at 

 a temperature of 10° C, requiring from that point onwards a total 

 heat of about 400° C, which is divided over 24 to 30 days of 

 April and early May, according to their temperature. It is mani- 

 fest, therefore, that hatching is hastened by artificial heat, increased 

 gradually, but not above 25° C. When the worms appear, they 

 are from time to time and in various ways, transferred to the beds, 

 which have been covered with delicate chopped leaves. This 

 removal is performed either by gently striking the under-side of 

 the cards, or stroking with a feather, or by laying over the eggs 

 a sheet of paper, punctured here and there, and bestrewn on the 



