216 [StiiATK 



aric! generally with good success 3 loss by disease in no ciop to ex- 

 ceed 15 per cent, and often not over three per cent. 



2d. I have fed in enclosed buildings, ventilated by doors, M'indows, 

 and openings under the latter, &.c., and heated by a stove when ne- 

 cessary. 



3d. The present season I fed in an open shed with decidedly good 

 success ; worms healthy and wound large fair cocoons. 



4th. I have fed every variety of worms that I could procure, and 

 give the preference to those called the Chinese Imperial ^ and a vari- 

 ety represented to me as peanut, superior to all other varieties of 

 that name that I have seen, still resembling some of thern in color, 

 &c., which is (the worms) white, and the cocoons white and nankin, 

 but large, firm and heavy, and reels freely. 



5th. 1 fed from the morus multicaulis in the first stages, and in the 

 last stage use all the morus alba (large leaf) and Canton that I can 

 procure — the latter kinds yielding the most silk, but the morus mul- 

 ticaulis producing a finer fibre, and which reels more freely, and in 

 feeding in this way secures both advantages in some degree. 



T'>e morus multicaulis should be cut off near the ground every 

 three years — one third of the field each year. The other varieties I 

 head down every year. I feed branches in the last stages. 



6th. I have hatched and fed worms in every month from April to 

 Aiio'ust, the earliest fed always producing the heaviest cocoons. The 

 latter equady healthy, when the eggs have been properly kept and ma- 

 naged. But few persons have succeeded in late feeding, from the want 

 of proper care of the eggs. 



7)h. The causes of bad success that have corae to my knowledge, 

 have been owing either to bad eggs, or badly kept ; or the want of free 

 circulation of air in the apartment.* 



8th and yth. . 



10th. The hatching of eggs can be perfectly retarded by being placed 

 in a tin box, enclosed in a wood one, and suspended in the body of the 

 ice, near the bottom of the ice-house. This is done by placing a long 

 box, cut in three lengths and stood on end, and placed in soon after the 

 filling of the ice is commenced. The top joints can be removed as the 

 ice seliles. The eggs at no time to be above the body of ihe ice. They 

 should be placed in the ice in February or early in March. 



So far as my observation extends, (and 1 have examined the subject 

 with much care,) 1 am led to the conclusion that eaily feeding, in open 

 sheds that can be closed on either side at pleasure, will be the most suc- 

 cessful method for general adoption. Yet from experience I believe that 

 feeding can be carried on successfully from May to October, on an exten- 

 sive scale, upon an artificial plan, when art is applied in aid of nature; 

 that is, to aid ventilation by fire, in warm sultry weather, and in cold 

 weather, to furnish a constant suppl}^ of fresh warm air. 



P. S. Dr. Charles Stuart of this State, by mere accident three years 



•See the details of my experiment, shovviner the necessity of thoroufrh ventilation, as 

 published in the Burlington tsilk Record in 1841. Also in the Annual Report of the N. 

 E. S. Convention, 1842. 



