252 [Senate 



business demands is grossly neglected; therefore the results (like 

 everything else in the agricultural way, which has not its due share 

 of care,) are unfavorable. And in my opinion^ the business, that is, 

 the growing part, will never arrive to a state of perfection, or yield 

 the grower a* handsome equivalent, until he gives his whole atten- 

 tion in the growing season. 



W. J. Cantelo, Weehawken Hilly Hoboken P. 0., JV. J. — Dear 

 sir: The following is a brief account of my process of rais^ing silk- 

 worms. I had this year from 5 to 6 ounces of eggs. I divided them 

 in three parts ; the 1st commenced hatching the 7th June ; the 2d on 

 the 13th J the 3d on the 20th. We fed them on the morus multi- 

 caulis of my own raising, for nearly three weeks, when ray own 

 trees, having planted them this spring, and not wishing to injure 

 their growth, I had resource to trees in the neighborhood, the leaves 

 of ^^hich were very poor, the soil being not good, and not suitably 

 cultivated. I found that at the 2d moulting, the 3d hatch were as 

 far advanced as the 2d, and they wound at the same time ; which I 

 attribute to ihe last hatch having had a steady heat from the time of 

 their leaving the shell, whereas the second lot had several very cold 

 days. An able writer on the subject has remarked, and my own 

 experience confirms it, that if exposed to a high degree of heat during 

 the first stages, they receive an impetus that continues during their 

 brief existence. The last of the worms wound the first week in 

 August. We were disappointed in a part of the leaves we had en- 

 gaged, and were again obliged to change their food; the only leaves 

 we could procure at the time were grown on the edge of a marsh and 

 very much in the shade, and were in consequence poor, and watery, 

 and all the worms that were near winding, which is their most critical 

 age, were immediately affected by them with a disease resembling 

 cholera morbus and almost all died; a few that were probably the 

 strongest, recovered by being fed with leaves well dried in the sun ; 

 they formed cocoons, but they were very indifferent. I estimate my 

 loss at 30,000. I mention this circumstance as a caution to persons 

 feeding, not to change a strong leaf for a softer or more watery one, 

 after the last moulting. Notwithstanding the disadvantages I labored 

 under, I obtained from the 5 ounces of eggs, 45 bushels of cocoons 

 in the gross. We have tried the various methods of stifling the 

 chrysalis. Carbonic acid gas, camphor steaming, and baking, but 

 find nothing equal to destroying them by the heat of the sun. During 

 the feeding the thermometer fell once to 64, and one day rose to 100°, 

 but it ranged from 76 to 86°^ Our feeding frames were lath hurdles, 

 4 feet by 9, in tiers of 5, one above another, pulling out on either 

 side like drawers, into a three feet alley way. 



For the winding I tried the branches of various trees and shrubs, 

 both with and without leaves; those without leaves were decidedly 

 preferable, but each had its disadvantage. From close observation 

 of the worm in its choice of a place to wind, the idea of the rack 



