248 I Senate 



I put them in a cool cellar after they had for some time been exposed to 

 the warm air. They mostly died at the time they hatched. As 1 was 

 very anxious to feed enough this year to obtain seed for next, at least, 

 I wrote to G. B. Smith, of Baltimore, to send me a small quantity by 

 mail if he had any ; on the first of August, they arrived at Claikes- 

 burg, a distance of 260 miles, in extreme warm weather. They had 

 just commenced hatching when they arrived. They hatched out well 

 and proved a healthy lot. Not a worm scarcely died till the fourth age, 

 when a few of them died in consequence of a long spell of wet weather. 

 On the whole they were a healthy lot and made me 36 i lbs. cocoons. 

 They were of the Mirable Jaune variety, or a cross breed of the pea- 

 nut, and some other valuable kind. My cocoonery was a building 

 erected by putting forks in the ground — laying' poles in these forks to 

 support the roof, covering the roof with boards and slabs, and the sides 

 with rough boards loosely nailed on. It was 20 by 16 feet. During 

 feeding it was my object to keep a stream of pure air sweeping through 

 the cocoonery, by opening all the windows and the doors. Besides this 

 I knocked off several boards from my building, in different places, that 

 the air might have a free circulation in every part. This I could per- 

 ceive had a fine effect on the worms. I had a fire-place in one end of 

 my building, and occasionally built a fire in damp weather. No other 

 artificial heat was used, and this did not have much effect, as the build- 

 ing was so open. My worms had two very long damp spells of weather 

 to contend with, and at ages when they were the most liable to suffer 

 — the one just at the fourth moulting, and the other just as they were 

 about to wind. The only varieties of worms that I have fed, are the 

 two-crop, and the peanut or Mirable Jaunes. The two crop were al- 

 ways very healthy, but the product of silk is too small to be an object 

 to feed them. 



1 have prmci{»ally fed on the Canton mulberry, with a few of the 

 multicauUs, and the Italian. I once fed a small lot on each of the 

 three kinds — the multicaulis, the Canton and Italian. The Canton 

 and Italian produced the largest worms, but I found on weighing I 

 had not given the same weight of leaves of the multicaulis as of the 

 others. The lots were all equally healthy, and the worms had no 

 preference for either. After the first year's growth from the cuttings 

 or larger trees, I have let them run their chance through the winter. 

 The tops have generally been killed with the frost, but the most of 

 the roots have lived, except on low, frosty grounds, where a consider- 

 able number have died. The Canton tree, so far as my experience 

 has extended, has proved more hardy than the multicaulis; the leaf is 

 thicker and heavier, and they grow thicker on the stalk. On a given 

 piece of ground I have thought the greatest weight of leaves could 

 be obtained from the Canton. As to the difference between early 

 and late feeding, I am not prepared to decide; I have succeeiled best 

 with those I fed in August; but the causes were probably in the man- 

 agement^ and the difference in the eggs. There is one thing in favor 

 of late feeding, in my estimation worthy of notice, especially where 

 but one lot is (ei\ through the season. The leaves are more fully 

 matured, and the largest yield can be obtained. 



One of my neighbors fed a lot of worms this season in June and 



