232 [Senate 



practical information, I have fed worms eight seasons ; have the mul- 

 ticauHs and white; made 12 lbs. of silk; last year, 34 lbs. After all 

 my difficulties, I am not discourag-ed. 1 shall pursue the business, as I 

 believe it can i3e made as profitable, even here, as any farming business 

 we can pursue, 



I prefer the peanut worm, as yielding much the most silk. 



I was much pleased last summer to see Mr. Gill's plan of tent and 

 cradle feeding. Let me tell my experience as to ventilation. When 

 I first began feeding, I used a common room in my house. My worms 

 were often diseased, but I supposed it to be a necessary incident of the 

 business. 



At length, as a matter of convenience, I took my worms into an out- 

 building, originally used for curing hops, boarded open, like an old- 

 fashioned barn. There were large cracks, so that the air could pass 

 freely through on all sides. Since then we have had very little loss by 

 disease. My feeding, therefore, must be styled open feeding, for it is not 

 so confined as a tent would be — and I know I have been successful in 

 ^ what I have attempted to do since I have used the above building. 



As to enlisting others in the business, there is one, within eight or ten 

 miles of me, doing much. As I have been longer in it than any other, 

 they are corning to me for information. Little can I do for them, ex- 

 ■cept to tell them wherein I have done wrong. 



[That is the best kind of instruction, friend Walker. — J. R, B.] 



Da. James Mease, Philadelphia. — I rejoice to see by the papers, 

 that you are to have a Silk Convention in New-York — regret that the 

 state of my health will deprive me of the pleasure I should have, could 

 I be one of the number. But although absent, I shall make a small 

 effort to aid the great cause. 



I urge the exclusive use of the Piedmontese reel, as essential to the 

 production of good raw silk, to the profits of the cultivator, and to the 

 •excellence of the fabrics made from it. The exclusive use of this reel 

 has been established and provided for by law in Piedmont, for more than 

 100 years ; and no attempts to improve it in Europe have succeeded. 

 Substitutes in the United States have been found inferior, or too expen- 

 sive. The original one which I imported, in 1S28, cost $14 — but much 

 neater ones are now made for $10. I shall be happy to put any gen- 

 tleman in the way of obtaining one. I also imported a machine (o 

 work up the perforated cocoons, and deposited it in the Franklin Insti- 

 tute, Philadelphia, in 1831, where it can be examined. Directions for 

 using it accompanied the apparatus. 



Elias Feneysley, Ellishurg^ Jefferson Co.,JY. Y. — Has fed three 

 seasons — uses the multicaulis and Italian whites — first crops good — 

 late crops had. Two seasons fed in a common room and corn-house. 

 This year built a cocoonery, 40 by 22 feet — did not batten the joints 

 — left the floor loose. In(^reased his grounds with trees, with a view 

 to a regular and permanent business. 



