No. 124.] 219 



ing the temperature, and the worms were very healthy, and some had 

 begun spinning, when the forepart of August commenced chilly easter- 

 ly winds, succeeded by a long continued easterly storm, for nearly a 

 week. The worms became sluggish the first day of the east wind, and 

 eventually became quite torpid and did not eat much. During the 

 course of the storm a considerable many died without any apparent 

 disease, ^.t the same time a neighbor had a crop of the same age, fed 

 on the ground floor of a dwelling, in which room there was neither 

 stove nor chimney, and the worms became torpid the same day as mine 

 did, but in the adjoining room was a stove which was gently heated the 

 first night of the storm, and a door to the feeding room thrown open, 

 so as to temper the air in the feeding room, through the storm. The 

 result was, tiiat the worms recovered of their sluggish or torpid state, 

 ate well, and did well, and none died. From this, and other experi- 

 ments made in previous years during very cool weather, I have come 

 to the conclusion that, in this region of high country, there are times 

 that it is necessary to regulate the temperature of a cocoonery, in order 

 to promote the health and labor of the silk-worm. 



I have never fed in an open shed or tent, nor has any one in this re- 

 gion, but 1 have no doubt but that it is a safe method where there is a 

 mild and equable climate, but in this region I doubt its practicability ; 

 being situate in nearly 43'' N. latitude, and between eleven and twelve 

 hundred feet above the level of tide water at Albany. We have in 

 every year during the time of feeding, some very cool weather, both 

 days and nights, when it would be necessary to regulate the tempera- 

 ture of the cocoonery by the heat of a stove I have in all cases used 

 a stove where I have regulated the temperature of a cocoonery. 



I have a preference for the peanut varieties of the silk- worm, and 

 particularly of the Singapore Nankin colored kind ; and a good 

 opinion of the mammoth, sulphur, and white. 



The trees I use aie the morus muticaulis, or I began with them, 

 but in this location they cannot be relied upon. The tops kill in 

 winter, and sprout too late in the spring for early feeding, and the 

 leaves are too succulent for safe and successful feeding in this loca- 

 tion. I only use them to feed young worms on for a few weeks, 

 and then change their feed to some other hard wooded kuul, viz.: 

 the morus alba of the Florence variety, which is harder than the 

 common Italian; and on the Canton, the Broosa, and on my new 

 kind that I obtained as the Oregon mulberry. My trees are mostly 

 planted in hedge rows, and cultivated with plough and hoe, or should 

 be. I have satisfactorily tested, and found a difference between the 

 multicaulis and the alba, the Canton, Broosa, and my new plant, and 

 find all the'latter/ar superior, in this region, to the multicaulis, as re- 

 gards the health of the worm, and the fineness of the cocoon, and 

 the quantity and quality of the silk. 



Among my acquaintance where bad success has attended their 

 feeding, ray opinion is that they were not sufficiently ventilated, nor 

 kept sufficiently clean, and by fee(nng too succulent leaves during 

 the last ages of the worm. 



I have generally found early feeditig the best and safest, though I 

 have had good success with some broods fed late. In this region, 

 after the commencement of the dog days, the leaves of the mulberry 



